poems for the brave ones

J. M. Walker. (They/he) poetry & trans beauty. Dm me for a copy of my book <3

[notyoursaviour]

La letra con amor, entra. (via)

[princeoflilies]

I should write more. I am writing more.

I think the thing is, I’m just not in love.

[princeoflilies]

“YOU ARE AN ARTIST EVEN AT YOUR DAY JOB”

[princeoflilies]

Happy Early Birthday, Dearest Boy Jude.

You turn 24 one week from today.

Currently, you sit at the kitchen table you’ve known since your first memories. The knife scratches and yelling matches this table has withstood would stun any observing onlooker. Tonight the kitchen is empty, a collection of dirty dishes and warm lights over smudged floor tile. You are struck with a passing thought.

Every person you ever loved romantically has sat at this same kitchen table. 

Some playing songs off your dad’s guitar in hopes of impressing you, some sharing Fritos and bean dip with your mother. Some twirling you around in your long skirt for a square dance, others beaming as your twirl them into your button-clad chest. You call them all friends now, a genuine and true title. Some you see more often, others wish you happy birthday every other year. In all the swirling memories of these lovely people near your old kitchen table, you are struck with a lasting thought.

Every name you ever answered to has known this same kitchen table.

You shared potato soup with your sister when your hair was long, you sipped coffee with her today and ran your hands through your crew cut. Your hair may have changed, your lovers have spun away,  one thing stays the same. 

The dreaming, dancing, loving human with big eyes and bigger dreams sits at this table and writes out their heart. Spills it, easily, a cascading warm waterfall in spring. It’s near winter, the words flow warm all the same. He’s spent months trying to crack the ice of a tired writer’s self-conscious hesitancy and yet here we are: the moment he sits at the kitchen table, the love comes swirling back. The words welcome him home.  Happy early birthday, Jude boy. 

[raiain]

the moon asks a question by dirgewithoutmusic

illustrated by purutsukid

[princeoflilies]

NUMBNESS became a stumbling word you used

when people asked

“How are you?”

and you laughed and shook your head,

“That’s a loaded question!”

You curl up in cold covers, scold yourself for craving another’s

soak in old memories

and shake off present cobwebs

go weave a new story, boy

go sing a song of silk.

“NUMBNESS & TRYING AGAIN” -JMW

[princeoflilies]

forgive me, fall

for feeling nothing at all

and everything at once.

- “SEASONAL SENSATIONS.” -JMW

[princeoflilies]

And then I found heart

Under huge skies and old bar stools, stories of Sundays past

The young boy who made dinosaur noises,

the old woman who winked and served whiskey, neat or sweet

The friends with flaming eyes and learned lessons,

tales of sober nights and sunny days

Between the barstools and the smiles, this is where the love remains.

“welcome back to Texas.” -JMW

[princeoflilies]

I haven’t been writing. I forget the moon’s face, the starlight in the rubble the summer in the cricket’s songs I forget what love feels like what wide eyes and fast heart beats and curly hair and sunsets and soft fingertips and jazz music and city winds and warm chests can feel like. I forget how to write about those that I love, I forget how to write at all.

“Seeking.” -J. M. WALKER

[princeoflilies]

“A collection of poems for the lovers dismissed by the world, J. M. Walker’s first book is an exploration of gender, sexuality and self. Brought to life by the illustrations of Lynda Cortez, it is a song of encouragement and empathy meant for anyone to enjoy.”

Check out my first poetry book!

For the Brave Ones [J. M. Walker, Lynda Cortez] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A collection of poems for the lovers di

[princeoflilies]

To see a sister in suffering collapses the sail  of my ribcage and throws my ship off course, but I’ll be damned if I don’t unfurl that sail and pray for wind. You are a sunrise  all gold, no orange pink gasps and sultry purple smiles I’m sorry that someone tried  to build a 47 foot tall parking garage to block out your sky but I will stand with you tearing it down brick by crumbling brick if we have to. Your laugh is a gold echo from my favorite childhood memories, smearing icing on my face dropping cake crumbs on the ground You step across the earth and the grass sinks to your stride, bowing and mutter to one another “the queen, the queen, there goes the queen!” The elements of air and earth know you, they adore you. Soon,  so will the rest of the world.

“AMBER: FIRST OF YOUR NAME” -J. M. WALKER

[princeoflilies]

Every time someone calls me by my name, I hear them saying “I love you.”

“JUDE” - J.M. Walker

[laundry-list]

“Sometimes I spend my evenings matching socks, remembering how helpful I was to my mother when it was laundry day I like putting pairs together finding patterns, lining up the seams wrapping the tubes of thread around one another to keep them warm no matter the season I think my mom taught me to fold because she believed in love Hear me out: even socks have matches. Even the little tube-cloths we wrap around our ten smelly pigs are born with a mate or find one eventually when laundry day comes. Sometimes it just isn’t laundry day. Sometimes it’s Thursday and you’re wearing mismatched socks.”

— “laundry day” -NMW (via princeoflilies)

[princeoflilies]

“A collection of poems for the lovers dismissed by the world, J. M. Walker's first book is an exploration of gender, sexuality and self. Brought to life by the illustrations of Lynda Cortez, it is a song of encouragement and empathy meant for anyone to enjoy.”

Check out my first poetry book!

For the Brave Ones [J. M. Walker, Lynda Cortez] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A collection of poems for the lovers di

[princeoflilies]

While you

were drawing floor plans,

I was writing novels.

We both would leave

our beds too large

for our five year old frames

to greet our desks

to meet our friends,

pencil and paper.

We began the romance early, knowing creation would be our lives.

Each of us, in our own way

Began to shape worlds.

“LOVE AT FIRST GLIMPSE & GRASP” -JMW

[princeoflilies]

I had a poem, I was wondering if you could read it and let me know what you think.

Sure, I’d love to anon friend!

[princeoflilies]

I love you because you fill

my life with music.

I catch myself dancing alone in my room,

clasping the thought of your shoulders.

“BOYS IN BLAZERS.” -J. M. Walker