rooted

can i love another
like i love you?
is there anything 
i wouldn't do for you?
you ask me to love this world
the way you do, and
here i am, with arms wide open
yelling out to a stormy October sky
what i vow against to November's. 

and here are trees
and there are seas
and such is the way
for my present complaints,
to be rooted or free
two years feels like eternity,
but so does ten percent of anything. 

i've never written good poetry,
but does that still matter? does it
still matter what i write so long as 
i write? 

Seasoning

To dilute a sea, use salt.  

To preserve a meat, use salt. 
To restore a taste, use salt.
To heal a heart, use salt.
To inflame a wound, use salt.
To destroy a field, use salt.
To fight a war, use salt.
To befriend a man, use salt.
To protect a path, use salt.
To light a world, use salt. 
To spark a sneeze, use pepper.

Freedom to Speak

By Asche Keegan

I am my own person,

Fiercely opinionated and fiercely independent.

But my family tells me,

“Sometimes you just have to go along with it;

It’s safe.”

Safe.

            Safe.

                        Safe.

So in public,

I bow my head.

I bite my tongue.

I nod along, and

I write what

I don’t believe.

But I’m tired of staying safe.

You can not lasso my language
And corral me into a corner.

A match can light a fire;

A fire can light a forest;

And the next thing you know all of California is

Burning, 

Burning,

 Burning

With the whirlwind of words I’m spitting out.
For my tongue is my mace; my pen is my sword.

You can not take my weapons away

Because you disagree with what I say.

I’ll gather up others who believe the same,

And I will tell them we aren’t secret messages to be

Rolled up,

Bottled up,

And cast away to sea.

We will melt the bars that entrap us

With the ferocious heat of our words.

We will torch the gags and straitjackets‒‒

Burn all the symbols of the world that hated us.

And when we stand above the carnage of a world aflame,

Word by word, we’ll build another just the same. 

“Surf”

By Asche Keegan

I hold fast a heart of sand.
          It crumbles in the sun
      And firms against the waves.
                 Splashing back and forth between two extremes
    And when searching for a soul to save,
Most are looking for the sun
     As a fleeting retreat to mark footprints into.
           My heart burns warmer than it seems

         Yet when times are hard, I harden too.
      Withdrawing into a compact form
                  Your feet bounce off me, as on dry land.
              It takes a special soul to dig
For a shell they don't know is there.
       But when the waves fall back, I’ll crumble again
                        Because I hold fast a heart of sand.

MY Pros and Cons List

Original Poetry by Asche Keegan

For a moment

I think I fell in love with myself
Through the sassy shake of my head
Serenading my detrimental determination
With a complete and utter lack of dread.

I think I fell in love with my stubbornness
When I stepped all over my toes
And laughed at hours spent staring
At the blood from a broken nose.

I think I fell in love with my beauty
From blonde braids swishing behind my shadow,
My glasses gleaming in grim light, and
A gangly form I may never outgrow.

I think I fell in love with my ambition
My sweat slapping the steps I trod
My goals are lofty lists of length
But I will complete them, no matter how odd.

I think I fell in love with my reason,
The mathematical figures driving digits
Through my head and analytical decisions
Politics and divination, calculated in minutes…

I think I fell in love with my emotional highs
But loved my emotional lows all the more.
While one is silver, the other’s gold,
They show me what my friends are for.

I fell in love with my rebellious side
A running, rumbling, wild red-head
Shouting in the streets for change
Justice is her mantra, though “Love!” is what she said.

I fell in love with my undying loyalty,
My devotion to my friends.
I fell in love with my “family baggage”
Though I always hope it ends.

I fell in love with politics,
The push and pull of debate
The calm collected competition
Translucent triumphs left not to fate.

I fell in love with my God
Through the glory of a song
His luminous love lit my soul
I want to sing for Him all day long.

For a moment

I fell in love with myself
All my strengths and weaknesses
Highs and lows; Joys and sorrows
My praises and my grievances.

For a moment

I fell in love with independence!
I fell in love with joy!
I fell in love with love itself—
But instead I fell for a boy.