If You Run and Other Poems

By Alexis Tolkkinen

If you run

If you run from yourself 
            you run from the creator, 
and like jonah 
           you too will be thrown back to shore 
three days you will sit in despair 
three days you will die without seeing death 
three days until you resurrect 
washed away by memories only 
found in pain, 
each push of a wave reminding you to stay sane 
to run back to your meaning 
before it loses its touch, 
to swim back to your feelings 
before life feels too much, 
to love without an anchor pushing you down 
         and to be thankful for the whale 
for without her you would drown.

How dare you consider tears

How dare you consider tears 
a curse 
when they are the closest thing 
i have to rain

Sadness Is Gone

What a beautiful feeling 
to finally be free 
of sadness, 
to feel the cold chill season turn to spring 
and watch birds dance in the breeze like
wisps waiting to perch in 
my being. 
Many times sadness has tricked me, 
buried me in ash, 
tore my demeanor until i was only a shell 
of a thing 
But now, at this moment, I am free 
and that is the most beautiful 
secret i will always keep.

Alexis Tolkkinen is a writer from Xenia, Ohio who hopes to start the ‘Peace Tree Poetry’ organization to help those in crisis through poetry.