Living and not livingin and out of timecatching missing blessing moments sad sublimeexperience remembered getting polished scarred long process redemption holding up letting down guardtreading on the thin linebetween human-hypocritebetween quickly sharing thoughtsor grinning and bearing itG-d let him not grow lazyhim being known as me.

Your dog will never ask himself, 
"Could I have done better 
with someone else?"

I don't agree with the precise phrasing. But the author of this is on to something. 

The meme below, along with my life, inspired me to birth this poem:

I think often about silence:
when I'm silent,
when I'm speaking,
when I'm listening,
when I'm thinking pre-response.

I think we want
to value each other's words,
but there's a journey waiting
from wanting to value words
and understanding:

the layers of words
on words on words,
the meanings in the spaces,
the metaphors and emotions,
the mysterious balance...

...of what is left verbally unsaid,
but if you listen for the frequency,
you can tune in to the the silence,
where an important part
of all of us lives.

FACEBOOK SONNET NUMBER TWO:
A RESPONSE TO SHERMAN ALEXIE

It's not just exes
and old classmates
warped retellings
of man's inhumanity

It's more than pretending
that childhood continues
that the past is the present
more than behaving immaturely

It's not just gossiping
more than shaming friends
or glorifying celebrities
or even seeking the spiritual

It's a place where we connect
and, yes, feel a little less lonely.