Chain Gang

Each one brought her own hammer
Whilst I firmly held the pin
And together we chiseled
Trying to unleash my soul, never once

Asking how or why it became trapped

Parking Lots

I have no problem
Being indecent with you
Anyone who wants to see
What raw passion looks like

Can check in on our brew before it steams

Before Now

I know now that I had
Not tasted lips of desire 
Not felt the soul of a tree
Nor heard the songbird's lyrics

And never truly seen my heart beat

Words and Women

Only in the dark dead of night
Would they reveal themselves to me
Perhaps testing my resolve to be with them
Now my endurance is their apparent concern

As I chase them upstream against my currents

Our Song

He plays a tune
I've never heard before
And couldn't imagine learning
Yet when he plays it I can't stop thinking

I helped him write it

Awe Struck

I'm in love with your face
Even it will never meet mine
I'm in love with your name
Knowing it will never be mine

I want everything about you if only once

Converged

I don't really like
To write about
The same thing twice
Although everything I've written

In truth has only one subject

Under The Counter

I yearn for a touch
I'm not allowed to miss
Nipples not permitted in my mouth
Lips that swell as if allergic to my flesh

An affliction I would gladly give you until morning 

A New Year

I'll love you until
You stop loving me
I know when that will be
Someone else with softer hands

Will show you the smile you lost with me

For Someone Else

All the lonely girls
Calling all the lonely boys
To come over if it's no trouble
Help them to get rid of the feels

So that they don't eat away the pie they baked

Christmas Spread

At this table by our hands
My whole family will feast
At his table by our hands
Coming together as his children

My whole family will feast

Lamb is no Sheep

The young child asked
Kept asking over and over until he
Grew and realized, question everything
Accept no man's word as final word above God

Always break down your temple and build it again

Dumped Me

You gave it all
Took the bucket and
Turned the whole thing over
You got emptied and I drowned

Died happily with you in my lungs

Unwrapped

The best gift you could give me
Would be for you to leave
Come back a year from now
As the person you want to be

I would cry those few hundred tears for your one smile

Lost Layers

Here's a hard truth
But I'll phrase it as a question
Do you even want me
To love you for who you are

Or have you put even more makeup between us

Dorm

She has no room
In her heart for my progress
When I'm where I need to be
She'll be alone for real, hoping

Someone can open the doors she's shut

Scathingly Yours

He wants all the fun
Wants me to take on
All the misery he turned away
So he moves on to something better

And condemns who I was as someone worse 

Queen Street

It's your throne
I'm happy sitting here
Waiting for your orders
But your chariot awaits impatiently

To deliver you from drink to greater conquests

Well I Never

Looking good is easy
Looking great is a task
Looking amazing is a burden
Looking stupendous is daunting

Looking like you, that's simply unheard of

Extra Meatballs

Like a kid again
What a feeling this is
We bounce around
From cafeteria to cafeteria

And lunch was always the best course

Amarillo Soul

All of the light
Every single ray
That lights my face
On this cloudy day shines

From your smile to mine

Saltwaters

So often I would
Hold on to the last tear
Thinking if I hadn't done so
I would dry right up and perish

But the sun leaves us with enough rain to grow

Dogma

Pastor, pastor enough now
With all due respect you went to school
Like me, you read books to better understand
Tell me all you know about this book but

In the book of life my dogear is bending a higher page

Tell Me More

Only this
Sweet caress of loneliness
Knows the way into my bed
Soothsaying me with her promises

And stories of lovers who found each other through her

With Both Hands

Of course
I want to show you off
You don't have to be a trophy
But quite frankly I feel I won you

By that I mean with you I feel like a winner

Perimeter Search

Come 'round these parts
Headed deep in them woods
In a hella hurry at that, mmm hmm
Man runnin' that fast into darkness

Ain't got no more credit with the light

Bating

I have tried dying
A hundred times now
Still I wake up the same, me
I don't want to awaken

I want to live or die in my dreams

It's Settled

I'll know when I know
That night when we stay up
Laughing our ugliest laughs
Forgetting about the sun

We brought our own light

Mens Castus

I am nothing so long as I live
I am a droplet in a sea of living things
Indistinguishable from my brethren
Endlessly consuming this surrounding sin

To purify it, discharging in the end my own sacrifice

Actus Castus

I'm not afraid anymore
Of being remembered poorly
Well, I mean they may do a poor job remembering
But anyway now I'm more concerned with

Living up to what I suspect they'll say at my funeral

After Pursuit

Really and truly
I don't want to share this with anyone
I used to think nobody wanted it
Now that I have it I realize I just want

To help people get their own

Tallgrass

You and your ambition will perish
Deep into the soil I will bury you
For eons, until your city has crumbled
When you rise again, pure as tall grass

Only then will you be worthy of this planet

I Get It Now

They already wrote this song
The one I need right now
To describe how much
I want to hold your hand

I want to hold your hand

Lay My Organs

The morning sun has
Finally pried my eyes open
The nestling of a body laying beside me
Gives my heart the most satisfying feeling

Of rest, now that the body is finally yours

In Happiness

They come and go you know
And it hurts most
When you're standing still
But real friends never truly leave

And anyhow, I'll catch you soon over there

Toil No Trouble

No prophet, no noble man
Ascended to the highest form
Without first suffering intolerable work
Through crashing against my own walls

I will sieve this insufferable animality

No Dreams

Been trying to close them eyes
Envision that place of full laden trees
With rays of god piercing through
Instead of just letting them open

Walking my ass right there to paradise

Wild West

They won't need your money
Or your way of doing business
Or your way of having fun
The cultural swing is already

All that is feared is your new guns and ocean vessels

Remnants

Baby, goodbye
I have to say that because
When I leave I'll be cut in two
And when I come back I'll be

The half of me you never held on to

Aortic

Blood in my veins

When I see you I can actually

Feel the blood in my veins

Coursing through me with purpose

Actual desire to live, a real life

Up Too Late

Through indiscipline
I set myself back, on purpose
Way way back is what I hope
To the time when discipline didn't matter

Perchance to remember what I used to enjoy

Balance Owing

Suffer until you've paid
Sleep until you've woken
Cry until only laugh is left
Never take time away from these

Or they will impolitely take it back

The Rocker

The empty chair stares back
It will let me fester if I so choose
It will let me sit with this feeling
Until my feelings have sat on me

That slumber of the worst sort

Life and Yoga

My gaze is to the sky
My heart is on the ground
I am uncomfortable in this pose
This is not what I want to, oh

Wait, that was a nice feeling after all

Cerebellum

Each day I remind myself
Of the difference between
Problems and frustrations
Knowing what I endure is

Simply a mental experience

Soothsayer

Unhappy is easy to spot
Everyday is a fight against me
Feeling more and more that I'll
Never be comfortable in who I am

Which is why I always search for her

Each Night

My anguish still pleases you
To know I still care enough
To pain through this night
And the next, having

Only you share my bed

Why Never Me

Why can't you see
I'm right here
Who else loves this much
Isn't my love enough, don't let

My flesh alone sunder our beating hearts

Half Full

Each poem is a tear
Placed carefully in a jar
So one day when people are over
They'll know how hard it was to get there

Without having to see me drowning in them

T-Shirt in December

This year has been hard on me
And also easy on me
Like all things
But never

Unkind

Combos 2

Purple and blue
I don't know these two
Without black somehow involved
The colours of royalty and despair

The unknown colours of Africa until Europe

Family Looms

You are so boring
And soon we will be too
He said to his father mid talk
It was then his father knew his son

As he knew himself when he too approached sacrifice

Social Unit X

Between me and the sea
Are all these blasted rocks
Blood soaked and daunting
In plentitude but also individually

How I still dream to wash clean my coverings

Amateur

Lover, listener, confidant
Writer, poet, wielder of soft words
For you I was all of these
But never your favourite, no

Always better always more you wanted, and deserve

It's My Window

I hear the sky tremble
I know when she will fall
And the tears, oh the tears
But we're so parched, we can't go on

I won't waste a single drop of her sadness

The Difference

Each of them
Shared but one poem
In all my time knowing them
But from you I have words everlasting

That is how I know

Beyond Physique

I know you often feel
I only see you with my eyes
I assure you with complete certainty
When my eyes are closed you are still there

Evermore vivid than midnight fireworks

Pent Up

Months later when she
Returned and opened the box
To her surprise he had turned
Into a hissing venomous snake

What to expect, locking him away with her rages

And Again

You continue to do it
Even if you know it hurts me
Even when I tell you it hurts me
Especially because it hurts me

I hope your impulses treat you as well as you treat them

En Ciel

Angels were made
In a desperate attempt
To describe what it feels like
To bask in the light that surrounds you

On an otherwise starless night

Original Sin

He believes in life over choice

And war and capital punishment too

And the police as they are 

And the goodness of capital greed

Because a fetus' skin has not yet been sun kissed

Bad Gyal

Someone who knows
She doesn't have to
Be loud to be important
Or be important to be loud

That's that shit right there

If God Is Light

Sometimes the truly brave move
Is not to leap headstrong through the night
But to patiently accept fate in the light of day
That courageous act of sitting still and receiving

The orders of the universe as they pierce through your flesh

Free For All

While packing her old life
She gave away little pieces
Of her old identity to the people
Who cared most for her fragments

Her puzzle now put together what use are pieces

Now or Later

She asked each day for more
Cornered him to cough it up
Knowing he had such a big heart
She was certain he was holding out

Holding some love back for someone

Inescapable Soapbox

I crave the silence
Freedom from today's idolatry, which
Perhaps is no different than yesterday's
Or tomorrow's for that matter

I suppose the time has come for unsheathe my tongue

Concerted Effort

He pushed her
From adagio to vivace
She pushed him
From adagio to allegro

Away from one another but back on path

Late Winter

Most years the ground freezes
Well before I can handle it
Glory, glory! He must want me to see spring
Why else has he blessed me lately

With so much time to find the last winter nuts

On Gloom

Do not fear
That dark cloud of grey
It casts less darkness
On us below than has it

Rays of light above to contend with

Emptied Desire

My insides
Smell like summertime
When they burst from me
Searching for you

Another perfect season washed away

Combos 1

Neon red and black
Unique feeling
Electric generational
From darkness but

Into a deeper darkness

Weep

I weep
Knowing your face is
Not close to mine
I weep

Until it is

Show and Tell

Girls bare their bodies
Keeping their spirits hidden
Begging poor confused boys
To see more beauty in their spirits

To see more beauty than their bodies

It's colour, stupid

These aren't new times
Well before I was born they asked
Muslims leaders how dare they
Openly defend themselves with arms

While peaceful Christian kills peaceful Christian

By The People

How many of your heroes
All American heroes
Born and raised
Were murdered by the CIA

Both of mine were

I'm not there

You have this
Conception of the
Fragile and hostile male ego
Which you got from too much television

Yet sadly, so did we

Lightness of Being

How far you have run
And I have found you
Giving up every freedom
Of that far off land

Knowing now they were shackles

Books On Display

So many trees
Just so I can show
I've seen so many words
Now both are dead and

Cases are only good for death

As You'd Like

Black, meaning
You can't see me
You don't understand me
And you are childishly terrified

Is what you're free to call me for as long

Pill or Liquid

My heart wants
Less and less of you each day
Yet each day it needs you
More often than ever before

Knowing there is no small dose of you

Final Round Knockdown

He's right again
But I will not let up on this
Fight and a hundred more
Because I know he doesn't love me

Which is worth all those fights and then some

Soaked

I wore her
Not like a jacket
Facing my rain but
Like swim trunks crashing

Between her ocean tides and my manhood

Crumby

Always a headache
But sort of beautiful too
The way you worked through
Your lies one by one until you found

Your way back to me

Free At Play

There is a song
Inside
You have not yet composed
Though you know the melody

Though you have lived the words

Like Toy Soldiers

As you get older you watch
Certain changes unfold in your kinfolk
Bones become brittle while hearts harden 
And everyone wants only to protect their own

Such a sorry sight watching them fiendishly hoard privilege 

Optical Advantage

I wish I could see
As well as this camera
That we go well together
We're the type of pair through the ages

That have always made the cutest babies

See Him Through

Perhaps never have his thoughts
Aligned well with public opinion
He's always had a fire for finding out
Why everyone else seems so confused

Now the confusion is his and as expected, no takers

Fine Thanks

A long time has passed
Since her feelings have made any sense
To those who would first call themselves loved ones
Loved indeed they were, loving another matter altogether

Now when asked she won't bother fatigue them with honesty

Unfurled Identity

It's true he let himself go
On and on he went into sorrow
Past the brimstone and farther still
Perhaps never to return and regardless

Never again as he once was

Tight Lipped

Today she simply refuses
To lend them anymore happiness
When each of them know she's all out
Yet each frown she hopes will prove her poverty

Causes someone else to beg that she empty another pocket

Trodden

He has that sort of face
You know the type, worn
He hasn't been known to smile much
Yet it seems at some time he may have

All the same it seems as though smiling would take some effort

Portrait of Gloom

His mind is fixated on distraction
He cares not for his day to day
Even his nights are no longer a comfort
Purpose cares not for a man who is above pursuit

Gloom however has lustful eyes for a stagnant soul

Prometheus

Now is the part
Where you all thank me
For my perpetual sadness
So that you can live on remembering

You were happier without me

Set The Stage

Everything tonight
Was carefully put in place
Not for you to fall in love with me
But for you to share in all the reasons

Why I have fallen in love with you

Sleep In Your Eyes

I wish I was your dream guy
If you could see me and I could have you
I would feel the same about you then as I do now
I would still have enough kisses in my heart for you

To last us through the night until you wake from this slumber

The Love Trap

Love for you is an old imaginary friend
You tuck away in box once you've outgrown
Only to revisit him in boredom or sad nostalgia
For me love is the air I breathe, the moment she escapes me

At once I pull her in, until again she cries to be set free

My Gentle Read

In these times
When nobody understands
Remember that you are the author
And I have only reached out my hands

To turn your beautiful pages

Aww Yuh

How long have you worked here
Yea, I come every so often not much
I like you, you seem like a nice person
Outside of here, I can just tell

Is MasterCard okay

Marshal

He tugs downward
At my ankles for my demise
Every time I move away
So I will stand here calmly

Until you come to rescue me

Favourite Place

I hide where we all hide
Behind the laughter and good times
In both our boredom and misery
We are all waiting to be found and loved

Without necessarily having to trade love in return

Mine Own

Been trying to capture
Experiences I don't own
Somewhere I found out
It was easier to lay claim

On the dreams that I did

Cirque

Any day now she could decide
This is too much or not enough, so
You ask why would I ever ask for a decision
Because every day she fills my heart and

It will soon become too heavy for this balancing act

He Checks Out

I've had this burning feeling
That I've masked in question
Does he love me or just want me
Like all the others his eyes don't lie

But when he answered me I knew neither does his heart

Separate Ways

I met a boy who
Knew who I was
From start to finish
Loved me right through

Never got to thank him for reading

Learn To Relish

In times of privilege
I concede I ought to help more
But something should be said for
Taking a few moments to honour

The beauty that cannot be seen in toil

New Platform

The trees and the waters
The clouds and the sunshine
Boy and girl, war and peace between
My poetry is as empty as my life

But as rich as my desires

Webbed Veil

She said to him
I have loved many others
Without knowing what love is
Which only now through you

I've come to realize I was lying

As We Walk

I knew I was sure
Not when I couldn't
Stop thinking about you
But when it started to hurt

Thinking of myself without you

By Threads

His tie is straight
Pocket square neatly folded
Now is when he waits, worried
Will she care for his threads

Will she only care for his threads

Natural Concert

Your hair is the stave
Passing between the strands
Are notes of lust and longing
In the gentle breeze that carries them

Alongside this mighty percussion in my chest

While It's Hot

I understand completely
That there are a lot of feelings
Floating around in only my head
But I'm not brewing up this soup

For only my own sustenance, here try some

Come True

Sometimes I feel
Like I could do anything
Oh really, and
What exactly makes you -

You.

Prisoners In

We in chains, we in chains
You can't come, I can't go
Your fears and my wisdom have
Shackled two lovers in adjoining cells

And I will sing this song through the bars until sunup 

Age Old Story

My dear sweet boy
I have heard your voice
Nearly a hundred times before you
Each time lacking only confidence himself

Let me assure you again this worry is undue

Lost Voyages

Often I endeavor
To give the lifeless life
To make love where there is none
To break down the most cemented walls

Yet never successfully have I so endeavored inwardly

On The Road Again

I only dabble in being present
My mind doesn't settle on now
It settles on the ages
I was born a time traveller baby

I do however bring you gifts from the past and future

Please Don't Advise

I am bored with
And tire from your
Manipulative backtalk
This is what I want, you

Can't force your happiness here

By Command

In my damn sleep
I see these words
They are there
Festering

I couldn't be anything else

Alleviate

They suffer
Over pain
You and I we
Suffer for privilege

In times of gloom, remember

Wild World

What we put into time
Time gives back to us
How we share this space
Is how space embraces us

The universe is a living calculating fabric

Bar Scene

Tonight on this table
Are empty glasses
Once filled with truth serum
By my dance it seems I did not drink enough

By your sunken face, you have had too much

FWP

We are vicious things
All day we stare up
At those grey clouds and we
Envy them for their place in the sky

Yet seldom we weep for those below upon whom we blindly tread

Squeaky Clean

I'm so afraid
If I were to remind you
Of the moment we shared
With obsessive compulsion you would wash

Your heart and mine clean from your sleeve

Drink

Do you love me
With all my heart
Do you love me
I can't answer that

Right now

I will do

You've never looked better
And never worse, motioning
For someone who is not me
Insisting to call my name as you howl

Into the night to somewhere far from this bed

Feeling Used

Your lips once tasted
Like diamond rings in the perfect light
Now they are of the sort of onyx
Still ever precious but waiting for

The sort of dark character to make them shine

Find Me

What love is there
Left in my heart but
That inescapable yearning
For you whom I do not know

And you whom I may never

Viceregal Remittance

I'll never smoke again
I'll never eat a candy bar
Hell I don't think I'll eat period
Now I know I could live just fine

On just one kiss a day

You Time

I know honey
You don't want to smile and
Give in to our desire to see you happy
Tonight you want to be with yourself

And try one more time to have a pleasant talk

Infidel

After endless hours inside
The outside world is no longer
A close and peaceful memory but
Rather a distant ex lover whom we long for

With each passing day I wish more to betray these walls

Mind you

So concerned
These words might be
Literally about you
Not at all concerned

These words are literally about me

Cold Turkey

I feel so uneasy
In this solitude
My skin is burning up
Insides feel so empty and cold

I really had myself hopped up on business

Commercialized

I buy experiences
Easier than making them I figure
Far less rewarding I'll admit
Problem with making them though

Is it's so hard to make good ones on your own

LSB

Each week I start
By wondering if this will
Be the week when finally someone
Just comes right out and asks me

Why I'm not like all the rest of them

Dinner Parties

The light shines
Away from me now
I can wipe away the sweat
Try to remember my cue

I hope I make it through this performance

War Haul Media

People believe in fashion
It's far easier on the eyes
To relish in how we could look
Than to see us as we are

Only fashionable news reaches the heart

Incomplete

I ought to have known
I wasn't quite ready
For you to come into my life
Again I feel that without you here

I have no reason to be here myself

Submerge Submit

The media is a megaphone
Trumpeting the interests of the few
To make them the interests of the many
All the while drowning the interests of the many

Until their interest in anything submits to this noisy death 

And Seek

I want to see you
Where nobody else can see us
Because we already see in each other
What nobody else can see in us

How could I not hide you now that I've found you

Black

At some point each of us
Is forced beyond deniability
To admit that while we have spent
Our entire lives thinking we are the same

You have spent yours believing we are different

Waiting

On a mornings as
Chilly and sunny as this one
I could expect nothing less
Than for you to come over to snuggle

Until warmth, until darkness

Open Books

In no uncertain terms
I have uncovered true sadness
Seeing each day minds once fresh
Rotting in the light of self-importance

Ironically misspelled self-improvement

Paris

How very cowardly
To see all who you call the guilty
But instead to turn your guns
And your bombs at the innocent

You died demoting Jihad from motive to means

For

If there were a table
For the two sides to sit
And come to some resolve
You just blew it up

Your cause died before you did

Best Climate

To other men that must
Have felt like like sunshine 
For me it felt like thunder in the rain
The moment I couldn't ignore what I knew before

That there was only one direction for me to travel 

Neatly Folded

Your hands look lonely
Without the company of mine
I know though that your heart is busy
Too bogged down with finding her centre

To care at this moment for extremities

On End

He paints within lines
Carefully crafting an image
That someone will find beautiful
Not knowing she wants to take his hand

To feel the bliss of his every free stroke

Hours

How ironic
The writer's greatest joy
Are those moments where
She'd rather hear his words

Than any of her own

And Still Today

How the sharp hatred for a race of people

Met the callous dogma of economic prosperity

Until the whole world was soaked in blood to close the wound

The narrative of good versus evil is not what ends the great war

But without a doubt it was the narrative that started it 

Lest We Only Remember

If you truly wish to remember
Remember for more than one minute
Remember more than just one war
Go! Find the places out there where today

Where freedom is naught, continue the fight into the night

War of Words

War is a euphemism
For this miserable endeavor
Of scores of armed men and machines
Doing the wicked things they dare not say

Instead of daring to say that would undo them

How We Happened

I think I made the first move
But your mother made the biggest move
I used to find any excuse to talk to her
But one day she turned the corner and

Sat with me to let me know we were past excuses

Central Visit

I first met her in that place
That place where we all meet
Our spirits bumped into each other
Then our eyes met and we both seemed startled

Shocked that this was when we finally met again

In That Outfit

I didn't kiss you
To see you in the nude
Last night I made a move
To have you robed in a white gown

I could never clothe my intentions and leave you naked

Some More

I beg you, if I have to
I will get down on my knees
Hold my head down and palms up
Cash in every good deed I've done or plan to do

To have your lips on mine like that other night

Nasal Fossa

Bombarded in waves
By a familiar vulnerability
It feels like childhood anguish
It smells like fresh Velcro and it looks like

Beaten tress under the pale grey sky as seen from my sandbox

So Help Me

I forever feel like
A complete liar to you about
How beautiful I think you are
Because there just aren't enough

Hours in the day for me to tell you the whole truth

Little Tellers

Fingers often show
What hearts are dying to know
When one grazes against the other
A thousand questions are then answered

My new fortune told even before exposing my palm

Way I See It

Dating me soon
No that's the fantasy man
The dream is she'll see
Over the next two or three years

Four years tops that I'm the man she wants

My You

Everyone is in love
With the way you look
For me I like to close my eyes
And remember the last time we laughed

That's the vision that puts me right down to sleep

Middle Man

I am not a politician
Partly because I'm not concerned
With building roads within nations
But mostly because I'm only concerned

With building roads between them

Body Slammed While Seated

I live among monsters, quiet dragons
Whose evil sleeps until the innocent lay with open wounds
Emerging then from their caves they display their fangs
And with thirsty slithering tongues they tell me

You've probably done something to deserve this fate

Gentle Gaze

In your eyes
I see no pain no suffering
Because in your eyes
I can't see your past

I only see my future

Canto: Come Love

With no light I saw my way through darkness
With no shelter I weathered the mighty storm
With no hope I found the will to push forward
With no time I discovered a way to still succeed

With no you though all of that was just song and dance

Grander Than Grandeur

A lot of time was spent
Trying to see in people as
What they hope to be or claim to be
Illusions I held on to while sharing their fears

There is yet a greater joy in seeing them as they are

Carpe

We will not talk
About my love for you
At a later time my dear

Now is as good a time as any before

And better than any after 

Instrument of Change

I spent years, countless hours
Trying to break through this net
That held me from my true creative self
Without considering its composition

Now I strum this whole web to play the blues we all know

Tension

It snapped in two
Trying so hard to be perfect
To push for perfection in you
The chord that kept us suspended

Finally succumbed to our heavy hearts

Ode To Media

I think truly nobody has realized

How childish our adults have become

They grab at the first thing, the worst thing

And put it right into their mouths without question

But a time will come again when joy will imbue public opinion

Upon A Star

If I may dream
Since this is the hour for dreaming
When you wake up might you stay
More off, might you not want to leave

So that tomorrow night my heart may actually rest

Girl Please

You find yourself so mature
Yet you describe yourself as a child would
I like this drink and am this tall and I like to play this
I don't like ugly things and I bet I'm better than you

Whatever do you think about when you don't think about yourself

On The Eve

Truthfully for most couples
Makes me feel like I can do anything
Is a pleasant fable they tell their friends
Your father made me feel that way since we were friends

I have no advice for you except don't marry the fable

Get Up

You're not allowed
To be afraid of work
Stop jumping in the river
Asking not to get wet

Either enjoy the swim or drown

Singe, Caution

A fire warms the metal
Which heats up the water
Creating steam that bursts free
To warm your cheeks gently to your delight

To this end I hide from directly showing you my flame

Low Tide

In our favourite position
Me half inside you with my
Hand between your breasts
My face tucked into your hair

Stay steady until the morning rousing

Spoiled Fruit

If I asked you today
Why do you love me
Conceding for argument's sake you do
I would wager you couldn't give me one reason

That didn't involve more work on my end

Get Firm

What do you do with putty
You play with it, mash it a bit
Pull and prod then leave it in the corner
What do you do with bricks

You respect his strength and build a home

New Ways

And you know
I don't cheat or lie to them
I give hours of undivided attention
But it's me that they shit on

Because they always know that they can

Devils Chase

Lucas please stop running
You're going to hurt yourself
She warned her son each day
He knew that she just feared the wind

She knew he just feared the gentle breeze

Decline

Can't seem to
Finish these thoughts I
Was trying to tell you
Well anyway I think you already

Why is it so loud in my head

The Preshuns

I go to work and sit
That becomes too tiresome
I come home and lay
And I never bore of this

In fact I find it hard to want anything more

Staging

Darker faster, a lot faster
These cold dreary nights
But no other background
Would have made it so necessary

For us to bundle together and share this flame

Under Consumption

I never said
I miss you and I want you back
Which is why you think it was never true
But I have held my tongue from you because

I will die from your rich flavour and you too will perish in me

Photographic Misery

Resolution determines visibility

Meaning extreme detail is everything

For any meaningful attempt at clarity 

For any meaningful answer to conflict

Yet we've only painted the picture of what went wrong

Desservir

The plates are cleared
Dinner was wonderful but
My lips are still plump with hunger
You too I can tell are in the mood to give in

So let us set each other's table for the next course

Under The Spire

I haven't found it useful
To get myself out of bed
I'm a dog whose master has left
All of that trotting through the yard

Is a pointless distraction to this feeling of loss

Redprint

As I opened my eyes this morning
I found words floating in front of me

Written in red and highly illegible but

Completely understood to me because

I had written them in a previous life as a reminder for this one

Happy Anti-Vax

It's an absolute infection
When I see that curled upper lip and grin
I know that you've thought up some mischief
And you're about to give me the type of laugh

My whole body is powerless to defend against

Safe Orbit

As the night grew darker
I noticed now twinkling before me were Her eyes which I had never seen so bright
I suppose we had never passed so closely

I suppose we both feared each other's warmth

Different Rhythm

Anyone with eyes or ears
Wants to venture deep inside her
Tunneling through her twists and turns
To uncover in her a place where they might live forever

Finding that her heart beats only for a perfect today

Object Objections

Please trust me it's no
More flattering and likely less
To be used for your kindness
Or your attention and consideration

Than to be used for your looks and sexuality

Tough Exterior

She may never appreciate
How hard it has been to be strong
To the woman for which he has
His deepest weakness

No, not until she puts down that axe

Lost Without

I am afloat in a giant sea
Waiting for anyone to pull me to shore
Once there I will hope to be revived and then
Swiftly I will run away from you my saviour

Back to crashing waves that leave me for dead each time

Across the Tape

Do you even know
Why I accused you and her
Or why I tried so hard to prove
You fell out of love with me first

When we both know I stopped loving me long ago

Of Night

One day you'll get from me
That silence you so craved
Know then that you have died
In my heart, as I had died in yours

When you gave up on us, on me

In the Mix

Loved you so much
She'd lie to you, so much
She'd throw blows at you, so much
She'd completely lose herself in the process

If it meant she could have you for one more day

Watching The Throne

They built a chair
Put it way up there
Where only they could reach it
Only they were given our backs to stand upon

As kingdoms grow they cross the spectrum from inequity to iniquity

Strife

What a pitiful sight we make
When sleep becomes the escape from life
Like a bird sulking beneath the hot smoggy skies
Or a fish escaping predation washed ashore

How long can one ignore the woeful truths of the living

Officer

In every city we pay you
We pay you to undergo training
To not react like an untrained civilian
To subdue and not escalate a situation

To prevent not cause murder, do your damn job

Not All Lives Matter

Your complete ignorance
Is what polarizes us to anger
That you would trumpet your liberties
To drown out the cries of my dying brothers

And this, as with your forefathers, is your song of peace

Sensational Travel

I want to see the desert and the ice caps
I want to hear the cockatoo and the bamboo flute
I want to taste you after a long hike or a short bath
I want to smell your perfume and your white cotton panties

I want to feel the warmth of your body until mine is forever cold

My Own Agonist

Remarkably I used to smile
At the way you would ignore me
And how cute you would get
When I caught you dead to rights in a lie

We all have to accept the parts we play in our own tragedy 

Drawn Out

Baby I'm tired now
I'm sorry I know you're still up
But it's been too long too hard a day
I've got to think about tomorrow now and frankly

The longer we spend talking tonight the more I'll resent you in the day

Treatment Plan

Cancers and viruses alike
Spread endlessly so long as we do nothing
Can be made dormant if we attack them soon enough
Can be nullified with preventative measures

This problem of war just needs to be approached the same way

Ranters

I do wish you would stop
Promoting your mundane thoughts
To young eager minds not yet spoiled
You are the corner store lackey handing out cigs to minors

Leaving me the hard work saving them from your obvious folly

Past Panes

With each passing day
A window presents itself to him
Showing him how hard he worked for her
Giving him finally the most clear view

Of how hard me must now work on himself

They Made Time

It's rather embarrassing to think
That many centuries ago
When information was slow
And toil was all the day long

Somehow they still knew more than I do now

Night Nursing

She knocks at my door
Despite already having the key
To open my doors and walk inside me
Now bent over my bedside and without manners

She presents the required dosage for tonight's ailment

Constant Dialogue

If you are like me
You know now that
There are no inanimate objects
Or objects at all, just flurries of words

Granted I've come across some inanimate subjects

The Great Prelude

As a child that empty gymnasium floor
Hosted my greatest challenges and triumphs
Visiting it again only reminds me how
Big and small those dreams really were

Still it was nice to remember when our dreams outsized the room

Bae's Seventh

I'm altogether unsure
Of where to find our most sacred
They must be in hiding understandably
Waiting for these times to boil over

To rebuild again untarnished in a more deserving era

Essential Oil

Without sweet nectar why would

The hummingbird love the fragile petunias
Without lush pollen why would

The bee suckle the naked sunflower

Without you why would I chance flight to feed from another rose

No New Flames

Somebody lied to you boy
Said you were a shining star
Made you think you can't dim
Giving away all your fuel to ether

Thinking her thanks was worth stealing your light

Coldest Shoulder

Do you remember me
Funny I remember you
Looking past me as always

Which I realize now is no matter

You have your eyes set on what I've left behind 

Jolted

To you I'm a dreamer
Yet you are the one asleep
My eyes are open to the world
We all envision to be our true home

That place ain't here, not yet no way

Revolt

There is perhaps
Nothing so ugly
As living in a time
Of religious uprising

Ensconced in secular apathy

All Hell For You

I remember you
From those rainy days indoors
Unable to see the sky I'd think
One day I'll be allowed to play in the storm

One day I'll know who would really risk it with me

Sun Risen

I had the dream
I've been meaning to have
Every time I closed my eyes
Of waking up to your embrace

And that dream woke me in a hundred ways

Deflation

When you left it was like
Having a thorn removed, but with
Nothing beneath this rubbery flesh
That emptiness which I felt was my substance

Slowly seeps out through the hole you've left

 

The Reception

You so loudly lay claim
To my heart and my place in yours
Yet you did not know me, not now or before
For my friends you have love but for me scorn

Whatever you have for me, for yourself you have more

This Race Maggotry

What option does the rotten
Fruit have but to plant a new seed
Man have but to re-educate his young
Society have but to reform its institutions

Hoping the next generation can remedy the flies

What It Wants

Their greatest fear
Is this idea of settling
Settling down or for less
Now their hearts remain unsettled

Unable to enjoy rest or compromise

Vacancy

She closes and dries up
To kindness and attentiveness
Perhaps because they are unfamiliar
No, we're giving her far too much credit

She opens only to be filled by another emptiness

Withdrawal

I lay here today I suppose
Just as anyone ever lays
Tired of what is out there for me
Awake but vigorously dreaming

For something worth standing for

With Distinction

We all know the story
Of the friend we once had
Until it was no longer you and I
But your tribe and in turn mine

And the struggle for power made us powerless to unite 

Forever Present Condition

Jiu jitsu works when
A force appears from one side
Perhaps even two, but in the case of race
Injustice presses in from every direction

And so violence, freedom has not but to explode 

Third Period

In this old school room
The crummiest lighting shines
Against your face, yellow-tinged
Making you seem already in my past

Yet all I can see with you is a hundred futures

Sweet Child Today

You are not a good person
As with the juiciest sweetest plum
Laden with larvae from early on, you are
Deceptively - albeit innocently - rotten

Your identity cannot escape your upbringing in this land of sin

Selfies on the whole

It has become a thing
To look at oneself only through
A lens that is not one's own
A lens that distorts, one feels, for the better

Which is to say one perpetually feels worse than their image

Carnivore

If ever you wonder
Yes, I miss intensely being able
To put your whole body in my mouth
As your soul bubbled to the surface

Spilling through your pores making your flesh quake 

Bed Rituals

I once held in my hands
The finest silk in all the lands
Magical as it was woven
My simple touch would weave dreams

Of her and I making it through those cold nights

Brave New Place

This world will end when I
Rub the tip of my thumb
Against your knuckle
Without you wondering why

Only wondering why not before

Other life

I can't wait to
Fall asleep tonight
In the odd chance that
This time when I do

You'll be here again

A breeze

My fantasy involves you and I
Sitting in silence with
No intent to say anything
There's nothing to say 

Because you just found out we feel the same way

Trap Star

Give me another hit
Doesn't matter, love sex laughs
What do you mean you're all out
You can't do this, you know I'm good for it

You still owe me for all that I advanced you earlier

Bleu Vilettes

Roses are red come to my bed
Netflix and chill I hope that you will
You seem real arty now join my pants party
A nice guy I am so when can we slam

Sex

 

New Joy

I've come to accept
There is nobody to enjoy
Until you're so sick of yourself
That you don't even hate yourself

You just know the old you is last season

New Fear

This past winter I feared the sky
Still clinging so tightly to the soil
When I finally sprouted it all changed
I could only cling to fear of the soil

As I peered down towards it from new heights

Writer's Creed

I am a collection
Of words nothing more
And I will live forever
If I find the right sequence

Or die the day I stop searching

New Harmony

Today when you voted
Many people you don't know
With a strife you never knew
Were given voices to join yours

What better melody for democracy

Vanity

Insecurity is lucrative
Everyone buys medicine
Prevention is a harder sell
You will pass on this sickness

Just please close your mouth around me

High Yield

I don't want to preserve
Don't feel like holding back
If it will put a smile on your face
I want to give it all fast, now

Your smile today is worth ten of mine tomorrow

Dead of Night

This is the first time
This house has been this quiet
This quiet follows me through the day
This quiet deafens the noise of laughs and play

This quiet is how I know what has died in me was not me

By the Waist

I want
To take you
In the worst way
To the darkest corner

To show you how to cling to safety

First Chair

Your eyes have finally met mine
Giving the permission I've so desired
To draw closer to your flesh my own
As the viola summons closer the bow

To strike the first note of our grand solo

Unsavoury Savouring

You put all your eggs in
We made decadent omelettes
I truly thought that's why you
Kept them so fresh and preserved

Never noticing how slowly you took each bite

Was It Me

Perhaps it's the nature of forever
To strike the soul so suddenly as lightning
So I should question quite seriously
Why I wished to creep calmly into your life

Like a gentle stream that soothes but never remains

Marooned

I remember sitting at that pond
Thousands of miles from you
Unable to hear your voice
Impossible to see your face

Never though were we as distant as now

Open Eyes

When the ground
Was whisked away
Leaving my feet dangling
Helplessly, you were the one

Who made me see I was flying

The Flu

When your body is destroying you
Or when you are destroying your body
Don't involve your mind in the battle
Pondering from anguish will only

Extend the injury to your wings

Ode to Overdraft

He gave everyone joy
Never kept any for himself
Some people aren't good at saving
When he and his match became one they were doomed

To wonder endlessly why everyone else was happier than they

Recast

I'm so lonely
Most of all when in company
Nobody understands me except
These characters I create out of

Replicas of people wanting to hold my heart

Notification

Nobody's messaging you
Nobody's going to
Nobody wants to
She's gone

Anyway what would you say

Avolition

Up until now I have
Summoned you from the cauldron
On fastened you together from twigs
But my dream girl will find me under a tree writing

Fully aware of the limits to my creative power

Paid in Lieu

Of the ugliest jobs here tasked
Unloving someone is the grimy sort
I haven't quite learned to stomach
Yet I labour on sifting through all your faults

Hoping to be paid a visit by a you I never quite knew

Early to Rise

I have to force myself
To not think about kissing you
I have to force myself

To become the type of guy

You'd want to kiss all on your own

Greatest Strength

Maybe this is like
Applying to a job
I'm not qualified for
But loving you is something

I could put in the extra hours to learn

After Class

Until the privileged
Concern themselves truly
With the betterment of the underprivileged
We will live in the world we now occupy 

Where we are only made to care through force 

Consumed

The dark wraps itself
So tightly around my flesh
Taking most of it captive

I may never see my spine again

Yet to love life must we not let it do as it may

Empty Chambers

This time I can't just
Close my eyes asking faintly
For universe to bring her to me
This time forever is at stake

So I have to make change of a lifetime

Turkey of God

We don't plan this day
We come together as family
In the way we have always known
Celebrating the years we've lived together

Again and again thanking the almighty for what we have before us 

Maiden Voyage

You think I can't see
Beneath your thick skin
The beauty you once saw there
Don't question my my piercing eyes or tongue

They desire much more than to skim your surface

Quid

For the last leg of this noble journey
You will have to set free his strong wrists
He has dragged you through the woods
And laid you near the highway, not for dead

But for life, as he promised the dark forest his return for yours

At Parties

Wearing that smile
It's starting to show
How hard it's been
How long it's been

Since someone loved your frown

After Us

I would take each tear
Dig us a hole
Build us a bench
And make them into our pond

For us to reflect on how beautiful we were

Day Zeros

Walking these new streets
All I can think to do is to cling
To the life I left behind
And make this place familiar as all hell

Because heaven knows if this was the right path

Out To Sea

Now that I'm away
I can finally admit
As loudly as I want
That I'm deathly afraid

Of the choice I made to leave

Her Love

Why won't you
Put away your toys
Get back to the business
Of affirming our life together

I don't have time to wait on you

His Love

The beaten flower thinks
I brought the hard rain
To finish her off
Not seeing that my deepest

Yearning was to nourish her soil

You Stand Alone

You look your best each day
The best, each day
Hoping someone sees you
Who would never look away

It worked

New Date

Sitting there with a grin
You don't even have a clue
That you're my last chance
Not that I chose you lightly, far from it

Rather if you hurt me too, I'm likely to leave for good

Not You Too

I can't risk it
Not with you
I couldn't show you all of me
And risk you, my best friend

Wanting nothing to do with me either

Out of Bed

If you're going to be there
I have no reason not to be
Unless I have chosen
Sadness or madness

Neither of whom have visited since you arrived

Emissions

We are all just water
Will we nourish or poison
The soil we sprung from
Where are seedlings now grow

Let us use this boiling point to purify

Guanine

In our beginnings
Nothing died, there was only life
Until the god cells sacrificed eternity
For something more, a divine complexity

That pays the price of consumption with transience

Those Dark Evenings

Our backs understand
What we just can't seem to
They seem to whisper in both our ears
Let down your pride, they didn't mean to hurt you

All the while building a bridge from these bed corners

My word

You thought
This was for her
Or at least for me
Then lastly for you

Oh to be wrong on all counts

These Days

We want so much more
And yet so much less
Worst of all
Completely out of context

You knew exactly what I meant

Science Folk

They don't like our kind
We philosophers, and mostly
We stay out of each other's affairs
They don't pretend for argument's sake to know nothing

And we don't pretend for argument's sake to know everything

Safer Outside

In no such rush
To get back to alone
That endless disquiet
Smothered in silence

That seeps through the drywall to the couch

Empty Lot

I'm so scared
All these cars passing by
One of them will see
I am more than just alone

I should park somewhere further

Self-Loathing

Oh pretty girl
You are such a bully
To yourself more than anyone
Stealing away your own self-worth

When I would have topped you up for free

Under Study

These clouds won't fade
Any faster than they formed
They have command of center stage
For now embrace the roof overhead

Study your lines feverishly for the next act

Clumsy

Those brief silences
Following my mistaken hints
Are either my looming demise
Or the quiet acknowledgement

That you are starting to feel the same

Invited Up

That night I suppose
You were mine for the taking
As you would have settled for capture
In your years long quest to be found

More than bounty I wanted us to make it 'til morning

Estrella de Vida

There we stood alone
Above the hum of the city
Basking in its glow
And in each others'

Knowing this here will never end

Marathon

Life is so tiresome
Without you in it
Running at first gleefully home
Only to find the whole place in smoke

Now I tread the endless path from here

By Any Name

That nagging thorn cares not
How far I would have travelled
It only reminds me not to hold
Any rose ever so tightly again

Or my last drop will hit the floor before the first petal

Long Drive

She drove me insane
I drove back
The whole way
Checking my mirrors for her

Hoping she hitched a ride to before us

Above The Noise

What troubled beasts
Roam through these woods
Arrogance and insecurity
Able only to bark over one another

While confidence sits, beset with ears and no tongue

Push Up

I want you to see
In me what I see in you
So you will feel
How I feel for you

But you will only see what I see in myself

In a Lower Power

The supposedly religious
Who want to make it harder
To license lovers into marriage
Than license the wicked into weaponry

Serve a god that has no bearing on my life

Viewpoints

Peering beyond the mirror
She reclaims the beauty for which
No man has yet given her praise
Her studies will bring greater reflection

And to the place where she no longer stands alone 

Kunte

They want me to
Whisper my proudest words
Hush to silence my esteem
Accept that today is not my day

But there will be another day

And Today Too

In those times they
Promised riches to the poorest few
Who would drug, shackle and betray
The bodies and minds of their noble brothers

Leaving them to value only struggle and darkness

Stripped Strippers

I don't think you
Have a real emotion left
You have only one face
And you wear it like a mask

That hides nothing

Just Me

You keep pushing
For me to be perfect
Because you want more for me
Or because you want more than me

And I should know who you'd like me to be

New words

That fresh white paper
Thick, coarse, sterile texture
I'm going to make
The greatest mess of you

Giving you and I alike new life

Doses

Your smile is
My idea of perfect
So I keep it alive
To survive a world where

Everyone else thinks perfect is fable

Fire We Made

We burnt the wrong
End of our match
Watched our bodies burn
As we butt heads

Trying to spark a flame instead of fire

Windows down

I can't tell you
That today I noticed
The scent you wore was different
Yet it was more familiar than my own

But I can never tell you what I know

Substance

Science describes
When the soul cries out
Survival! From the deepest yearning
This it names, random mutation

Science predicts the inert but can only describe the innate

Beyond Thrill

They all keep running
Until standstill
Gasping without breathing
Come stroll with me beloved

Unless you prefer your adventures short-lived

Glimmer

May tomorrow's light
Shine against her face
Giving us a path through the dark
That we might survive the night

Let's meet on the moon waving from either side

Jai Mata Di

First time I gave something you wanted
Second time, something you needed
This year I don't have either gift in hand
So for you I've clasped them together

Hoping only that your heart stays warm without their grasp 

Charity

From the top of the mountain
You can't see the bottom
You can't hear their voices
And you certainly can't give them

A helping hand unless you descend

Empty Hands

When it all settles
You realize that unless
You are still giving handouts
There aren't any takers in sight

They want what you have not what you are

New Labour

We are not slaves
But active participants
In building our road blocks
All the while never noticing

The majestic path already paved

Restore

You can't sleep away
Your demons or the devil
But you can close your eyes
To the grimacing ill-wishers

Who want you to become one

Secretary

From this pillow
I uttered to him words
Meant for someone else
Knowing this bed was not mine

I spoke to him as I would were it not hers

My son

I saw a boy
Grow to be a man
And so on with his own
He raised the standard

And the pride of being a father

Winter Woods

They all fall to the ground
Dry up and wither
Until the snow burial
My poems will feel so dismal

Until my heart is cold enough to bury you

Late Puts

This was supposed to be
An hour reserved for making dreams
However I have traded this hour
For solemn lamentations

Before my dreams deprecate further still

Tinderellas

With each snap
She poses to cash in
On the things she never earned
For more things that she never earned

And each swipe convinces her this is fair trade

She Now Bellows

Fear not the sounds
Of my laughter in the wind
They were not sent to torment
For you once tried to love me

I just wanted you to know it worked

Backdrop

I am the dark sky
That allows the lighting
To both shine and terrify
But without her thunder

I am but peaceful and dark misery

One More Length

A glass is celebration
A second glass is splendor
But we swam through bottles
From shallow joys to deep sadness

I hope you see I taught you how to swim back

Where To Invade Next

There is a war going on, that our
Leaders are not brave enough to fight
A war that is fought without guns 
Without fists but with bare knuckles

Today our battle is to build a country worth fighting for

As it turned

She was in love
With every great poet
Every flirt, every lover,
Giver, listener, supporter, heartwarmer

Everyone she could find to thrill her more than I

The Program

A man on the brink
Will straddle the edge for miles
Measuring his virtue
Only by how far and how fast

He travels before he faces a new plunge

Septembers of Shiraz

When you are a have
It is in your best interest to be
A shining example for have nots
Lest the time comes when they have everything

Except the knowledge or desire to treat you any better

Return to sender

He sits alone
In his room looking
For ways to torment her soul
Until sleep passes near him

With dreams she sent to repay the favour

Angry Indian Goddesses

She talks too much
If she closed her mouth and thighs
She would be worthy of me
But instead she continues to trumpet on

And every word reminds me she is worth so much more

Downriver

It's not inside you

Where you'll find freedom

It feels far from here because it is

Way downriver is where you need to go 

If you're looking for some place to wash away your sins

There for me

She's the type who waits
Until you're at your lowest low
Thinking you have no choice but
To dry your tears between her thighs

I would sooner let them dry on my face for all to see

Treetop Canto

A day like today
Is too beautiful
To not write poetry
To not follow the gentle sway

From yesterday's dreams to tomorrow's

Hiso Hiso Boshi

We used to travel, our kind
Unknown worlds were our ecstasy
We would even risk death for adventure
Now all we want is everything to be near

But a star with no destination fades with the most quiet whisper

The Event

A happy nation is not at war
Just as a happy man knows no fued
When his enemy has been lovingly fed
The hungry hawk soars highest before the  strike

Comrades, revolution happens only after both parties are served

Guantanamo's Child

A boy, just a boy
Dropped into terrorism, punished by terrorism
Revenge, no revenge
By the Qur'an he sought wrath, by the Qu'ran he found mercy

Freedom, no freedom, nobody can take what he's already lost

Pearl Button

What sort of grand exam
Must we have passed for him to kayak

Such rich wet nectar adrift deep space
Blasting blessed life right across this molten rock

Certainly these empty red riverbeds suggest we have now failed 

Harvest Crunch

I understand she just can't bear this
Not because she's told me so, but because
I'm used to only the words sown beneath
Bearing any fruit, while both love and hate

Are reaped only to replace her sorrow for mine

One Breath

To truly forgive I must close
My eyes to what I've seen and
Hear only in your words the gruesome tale
Of the long journey you've travailed on blistered feet

Panting along to your toil until only one breath is heard

Gimme a break

Only in the hood, I say
Because nowhere else
Would such shared struggle
Be welcomed with such delight

Only here could you catch a squirrel on a dumpster eating a Kit Kat

A Flickering Truth

Born into an discarded lost narrative
One of lush olive trees and endless harvest
But with no trace of such wealth today in sight
And our history buried beneath this arid rubble

Is it any wonder why a lost people live only for today

The Martian

From nothing more than an idea
Matched with our innately shared will
Sprouts all of the life that sustains us
Which is why we're all in this together

When that will in any one of us is lost

Black

You shine a light
On only our darkness
That we may never share
In the innocence you've reserved

For only your crimes

Lobster

Behind these rules
Is a soul that cries out
For that eternal song we all know
And chant from behind these bars

We were made for one another, my match for life

In The Shadow of Women

I could never predict
How bitter we'd become
I, lost in your stark indifference
You, lost in my dark obsessions

Said plainly without colour we made a mess of love

--

I was always better
At knowing what I didn't want
Than knowing what I did
And only without you could I see

What I never want is to be without you

Carpal

Fear, insecurity, despair
The reason you left
Yet the reason you came
Maybe the reason you stayed

How long one holds on to sadness

Doorbell

Kinda ironic how social media
Teaches people how to hide
Behind their online masks
Losing themselves in their own shadow

Now nobody knows how to come out and play

Knew it

Where were you
When the fire was put out
Cold alone with no home tonight
Did you give a second thought

Or was your morning already planned

Master's Piece

Where were you
When the sky burst open
And lavender poured out
Onto coral rooftops

Where were you when I needed more paint

Put It Down

Don't hurt yourself
Any more than I have hurt you
Don't love yourself
Any less than I have loved you

All I want was more peace than I could give you

Branch to Branch

Terrible, terrible freedom

Underneath those vicious claws

Is the only place I've come to know

Now clutching a branch atop this timeless oak

Neither up nor down is an option for me to call home

Futurist

The dog barks
At what only he hears
Too while I write beyond
Today's blithering gentry

Who know not danger is afoot

Before The World

For the better part of an hour
She corrects herself before the mirror
Having no intent to look at herself again
Only we now can cover the missed blotches

Compliments however are only sold in sample

After Class

In adulthood too there are bullies
Often new members but of the same clan 
They seek to mend their seams by
Unstitching yours, all the while having the greater gall

To demand popularity from obscuring your spirit

Great Escape

It takes special timing
To unweave himself from
The life he was told he wanted
Searching the web how to be statistically happy

Tangled in farce he loosens the rope in a pool of distraction

Less Than Trivial

She'll do anything won't she
When blonde and breasts stop selling
Bully the bullied, spit on the spat on
Gorging on her compulsion to be talked about

I guess we'd all do anything for that Klondike Bar

Muted and Moated

Can you here me
Outside this window
Beyond the great parapet
And lastly beyond his ribs

Listen out for my thud against these walls

Fire Out There

Red skies after midnight
Means somewhere there is fighting
Close enough that soon it might be here
But I am not prepared for another

No I have not enough rations or ointment

Spin Cycle

She maligns his heart
Curving falsehoods into facts
In many subtle small pulses of fear
Changing direction as without force

Noticing not that his heart has fallen still in this spiral down

Sugar

Literally a dozen or so fat cats
And the lobbying armies they feed
Have banned the nourishment of millions
So we forage the dark expensive corners

In the hopes that we could at least eat like cavemen

Her High Park

His sandalwood brown slacks
Coupled with his generally musky aura
Held me so safely beneath these autumn branches
Suddenly the vivid colours above became clear to me

And thus emerged my peace with the fallen leaves of the old me

Unboxed

They met and at once
She saw all that she waited for
All that he would be for her
Yes all that he should be for her

And she would not let anyone unbox her prize

Suffixed For Succor

Truths are seen to be
Evidenced only by the yester-
Leaving then no real truth in hope
Nor faith, optimism or yearning

Yet onward I quest for the succulent truths of morrow 

Profiles

Her breasts half exposed
But fully consumed suddenly
Reminded me that we are all
So lonely and at a loss for ways

To self-express except by means of copy

Canto I

I have wandered here alone
To this mighty brook with onyx stones
Beset with dulcet babbles and nature's harmonies
Causing deafness to the cackles of labours and indolence

What tragedy to perform this song of angels beneath such remote verdure

Letting Go

September has been born
Out of fog as expected and required
New life is always made of such mystery
And of course of such wet conference

Yet I have held on to every last moment of yesterday

Red Moon

Moon's bleeding
Everybody's looking at her
Stained in red wearing his fiery rage
Up there alone trying to shine bright as ever

Wishing she could wear his soft white hues again

How Summer Went

Through sorrow and sympathy
Elation and despair
Raindrops and sunsets
It has been you only you

In my heart from morning's beat to night's rest

Loot Bag

To be forged to my friends
Is a privilege you continue to take
Which you no longer deserve
As you are not even friendly with me

But you always preferred the affections of others over mine

In the night

They will leave
Once they have pillaged
They will return
To say you weren't enough

Gates won't prevent words or silence

Auburn Flame

Happiness wears well on you
Full red cheeks fit for the red carpet
You've been a pale yellow for so long
I didn't have the heart to say you were out of season

But now in a flash you're two seasons ahead

Ritual Smoke

The ascetic chases
Only the ultimate high
Transcendence in the myst
Yet another escape from this world

He simply travels further to meet his pusher

Instruct Obstruct Construct

This child sits there
Cross-legged until it hurts
Stacking blocks on one another
Removing the most necessary ones

Rebuilding the structure anew each time until no block is crucial

Sound and Fury

Bold was his stance
Measured were the words
He would now have the courage to utter
From one end to the other of their evening bus stop

Her quiver made it known she favoured solitude to his spare token

Believe In You

True belief is
To kiss soft eyes
To bruise, bite and ruin tough rocks
To say with a red-hot throat

You slag, your cloud is now wavering

Heard Silence

He's been stirring
Absolutely stewing at times
But she, well she has been crying a smile
Telling herself tomorrow will be better off

Without him, and he ought to let her have that

A Minute or Not

With bullish fervor
Leading flailing arms
Each was lost in one another's
Byzantine layers of folds and compresses

And it was their favourite maze until it was solved

Isole Ruins

He had nobody but himself
Now to pick up his pieces
Strewn and scattered in the sand
The glassman was now unsure of

What he fears more, the hot sun or the vast ocean

Manhunt

Lo yonder, the forest beckons
It is time again to feel lost, remember
Scavengers know only demise
Foragers know only toil and dance

Yours is the bow, the arrow, the firewood and the glory

Ophelia's Song

She was commotion
While everything else stood still
And she loved her dance
Nobody moved like her

And she did everything to ensure I knew it

I'm not here

Knock all you want
I have passed away from here
Dead, not to you but to everyone
Who pinned my identity down, tomorrow

You'll all be on your knees trying to drown a ghost

Take me

I've lived this day before
Air so thick and wet it shortens breath
Clouds so low only fear looms above
The winds of change will blast through us all

Only those willing to fight will survive the last gust

Crestfallen Hands

What dignities will she allow
A man who dedicated his years
To her dreams before his
And her pain before his

When he failed at providing for even those

His gentle words

I'm glad you've
Found your new poet
Who writes what you want
To believe I gave you nought but harm

As all that I am never felt like anything much to you

Go for massive

Different freedoms
Carry different mass
And provide different energies
If freedom to you is a real thing

Recognize it abides by the same rules

Freedom To

Months later
I started to dream
The air of wild nights alone
Brought visions of a future me

Who had finally connected with our childish daydreams

Freedom From

Tied me up
Chopped up my leg
Left me there for dead saying
You never gave me enough

And now this freedom is wasted on me

Women and Children

You enjoy my friends
They'll excuse you
For what they don't know you've done
And they'll accept your excuses for

Why you turned your back on what you burned to the ground

Unwanted Perusal

Its true
It wasn't you
You weren't my free ticket
I wasn't even looking for one

Which is why you never saw me look at you

Torn Quad Psalm

Stepped into the tub
All by myself
Didn't even hold the wall
Things are looking up

But then I took an advil, because it really hurt

Do no harm

When I'm this hurt
Typically I hurt myself more
Prolong my dreams and admonish reality
But tonight I'm going to drink a glass of water

Blessed be that which always purifies, that I may have faith

Clarity

Sometimes life feels like
A highway but you don't own a car
You're not sure if the bike lane is your path
Or if you should stop altogether and save up

Meditation is simply a means to not bike the highway

The Mondaise

Mondays never cease
Last week's tangent was a picnic
But again today I must mend together old fibers
With new patches and yet more stitches

To set the table for a weekend I only see with closed eyes

For More

Born in the flatlands
Longing through adolescence
For more than knolls to challenge
Climbing the largest mountain of them all

Only to bask in age at the calm of the summit

Pierced Loot Bag

I am not that dude to steal on
Because although I won't shoot you
Or hunt you down and punish you
Before you leave you I will leave you

Knowing you are more poor than before you met me

Remote Tabernacles

God gave you the freedom
To visit the wisdoms of millennia past
Or to assume their ignorances as yours
As both the theist and athiest need know

How far from knowledge their doctrines reside 

Hand that fed

You should remember
Whose advice you've ignored
Love you've scoffed
Patience you've depleted

Then decide your temperament

Virginia's Wolf

Like the first
Piercing of avocado
Or crack of shared grapefruit
I gush at the juices that flow

Your young nectar made my experienced tongue

Beta testing

We're all so
Angry at our pasts
Afraid of our futures
Anxious in the present

Perhaps it's time we move to B for blessed

Due labour

The prophet sayeth
Work is love made visible
Which is why I have lazed since
You saw my work extinguished

And why I til recent had not worked on myself

Needed a drought

I'll never go
To the basement again
If I do just leave me there
I've had enough time and chances

To look up and thank the sky for never leaving

Lil homies

Big homie doesn't know
Though none of us have been there
They're all here for him now
And they let him know it'll be okay

By showing him they still seek his guidance

It's my party

I once had to deny
My feelings of hurt and betrayal
To protect your supposed fragile heart
Then later to find the fastest route from misery

But now far from you I can cry over these scars

Proof Only

Perhaps it seems forward
Bur in fact it is quite backward
An artist who needs your photo
Because his imagination could never create

What already exists in your every image

A thousand moments

What might it take
To have a piece of you
For my keepsake to keep safe
And remake a thousand moments

Where I get to see you again for the first time

Steadfast Sojourn

Sun sure set early
Earlier than I'd expect
This time of year, no matter
I can still see you in the dark

And I intend to prove you light up my life

Translation

I've never been given
A chance to love without judgment
Either that I don't enough or do too much
They've always longed to critique my heart

As though I should sorrow that the beat has woke them up

Watching The Tree

We ignorant adults
Cannot decode this summer breeze
The way children do with ease
So we make important our cold pursuits

Entombing their hearts to know only stillness

Straight Outta Revolution

It takes 25 years
For NWA to be mainstream
For federal records to be unsealed
For the generations who fought to be too old

And for us to forget this problem isn't young

Change clothes

Brass tax
I haven't been proud
Of my image in a photo
For damn near eight years

Unless the context covered my shame

This Trajectory

Rapacious love
Is there such a thing
How much is too much
I only know how much is too little

Mustn't I shoot for the moon each time

Old nights

I have called to you
All night under the stars
While you continued on
And I will still taste your scent

Until morning

Off the laces

As it leaves your foot
It becomes a familiar sight
Safely over mother's minivan
Dipping to crash against the front yard fence

Goal! We do it to re-witness our own practice 

Symmetry at Three

She should have the right
To live independently by no one else
To be taken care of by a man
To take care of a man

Fighting for anything less is not equal, feminist

Never too young

For as long as I can remember
My parents spoke to me as an adult
One who is still earning their respect
But can lose it much faster than gain it

And in that the love was consistent

When you reach sunlight

Ghetto bird remember 

You are as a diamond

Born among the filth of man

Forged by the world's pressures

That the nobles, scholars and socialites might marvel at you 

An ironic retrospect

What mercies we give
To those who have done us harm
And what coldness remains
For those who dared to love us

Until that person in question is oneself

Unlovers

This is the last
Time we will meet
Under the moonlight
Can you not cross the pond

To whisper your goodbye more gently

Tenebrous North West

Born into the darkness
Of flashing lights
She and all of us alike
Have no concept at all

Of the mysteries only found in ether

Misleading Heart

Sometimes you expect
People to act differently
Than they always did before
Which is your fault indeed

Use that to learn to put your heart second

Relation Ship Sailed

Your insecurities and fears
Your requests for more from me
Your feelings and innermost thoughts
Your rules, ultimatums, boundaries and barriers

And what did you care of mine

Badmind Branch

Two canaries perched
The first saying hello
The second paying no mind
After the hawk swooped down

She smiled and chirped only for herself

From this lie

I didn't flirt with others
Accept an advance
Embarrass you in public
Throw physical or mental harm at you

Can you say the same, spare me just this once

Old Nag

I may have
Killed every plant
Burned every steak
Shrunk every sweater

But you were the least forgiving chore

Bright Void

That piercing light ahead
That refrains me from looking back
Terrifies me at every step
As it burns without warmth

And shines light on nothing between us

Without a key

My world is small
Sunsets, caves, pastures and waters
Peering up and peering in
Is how I hope to find my voice

But maybe I've lost it in locked hearts

Those three words

When I said
You wouldn't believe
When I showed
You wouldn't admit

Never searching my heart, you never found 

For too long

Been alone
Facing the clouds
Unheard by my love
Used and uncared for

Fighting off possession, all for too long

Piss off

That clenched fist of yours
Those spiteful fingers
That hate filled heart
That remorseless attitude

Is why you did and why you can

My Single Bed

These cotton sheets
Refuse to caress me alone
I thought this bed was built for one
But perhaps it was shaped for two halves

Each caressing cold blue lips until the pink has restored

New lessons

No thank you
Actually I'm fine here
In the back corner of the room
Far from your dreadful blackboard

And as close to this windowsill as possible

Drake and Kanye

The intent and value of rap
Was to be an art form of the subjugated
But it is now largely a subjugated art form
With most its liberators vanquished by the media's colouring

And the remaining two obscured by your undiscerning palette 

Serve your Beliefs

At this grand table
The kind are passing dishes
The servants cooked and offer blessings
The blessed are feeding the paupers over their shoulders

While you agnostics just eat, with busy hands and meek hearts

On Anti-Feminism

How dreadful freedom is
When imprisonment is forgotten
And privilege is freely abused
These young girls adorn their interest

To swathe in those old handcuffs as new fashion 

Hardback Bwoy

We all have our own ways
Of holding on to childhood
Instead of holding on to youth
If we don't grow up today we'll soon realize

That the shield is heavier to carry than the sword

Thermal Beacon

Straight forward
As fast as you can
Close your eyes and follow
Whichever direction warms your face

And leave icy intentions to melt from your shadow

Pitifully Yours

Looking to be saved
I know you're busy
Tending to people
More in need

Which is why I was hoping you could send someone

Wanna be like

We ask our celebrities
To promote and defend our moralities
To save thy lion, love thy queer, respect thy daughter
Yet upon ourselves we imbue no such pressure

Which I suppose answers how and why we are not stars ourselves

Home never charges

I will leave you
Well before you ask
And well after you wished
Never to return for

Home was never here

Summer Standstill

These summers remind me
How old I've become
With that familiat fear that maybe
The best summers are behind me

And the crippling hope that I'm wrong

Desert of Dessert

How longer will you drag
All that food, when it has only
Prolonged your trek through this lonely desert
Feed the vultures and lighten the yoke

Before it gives way and feeds them your demise

Dialect Dialectic

Religion is language
Nothing more you see
Some consider it useless discourse
Yet they yearn for those most important words

Worse still are those who kill the whole dialogue for their dialect

Ol' friend happiness

Look it godammit
You had me fooled, look at you
I thought you were dead and gone
Well come in, what's wrong with you

This food I made for us almost done went cold

Warm Breeze

I have not felt
So together with you
Your breath against my face
And into my lungs

The clouds blown farther away from here

Passing me by

This isn't fear but despair
Not that I wouldn't be great for you
Just the memory that I won't get the chance
Repeated again today as it has been each day

Since the first day someone joked I would find the girl of my dreams

Gifted Gifts

A gift becomes
Not at the offer but before
When it was first known
That with as little effort needed

It would stand apart from all other offers

Proof of Sale

Go find her and make her feel
The best she could possibly feel
And see if she makes you feel the best back
If either of you can, it was love honey

Love was the gift and affection the receipt

Unabashed

I am quite nude
Whereas before I felt naked
But now I shimmer and shine
On my own and this new skin is to envy

So paint me in the sunlight, not under moon 

Surmount Surmise

Do you see me
As the barrier to happiness
Ask yourself honestly
Can you climb this fence

Or should you choose a new direction

Hypocratic Hypocritic

I became routinely upset
With myself for giving her
So many chances to change
And with her for eating away

All the resources someone else would have used to do good

Begin again

Be still, the chase is over
You have beat her to the finish
You know who you are and she is lost
She thinks she is worthy and you know you're not

So stop dancing around the man I prepared you to be

Fall Summation

So in the end your choice is
You will do whatever you please
Most especially the lies and ignorance that injure
Because your relationship with soon strangers

Is more worth honouring than what we had as strangers in love

Summer Summation

You already know
After the way you treated me
It is not your privilege to be in my family
But you'll do what you want and call it freedom

As freedom to you has always been deceiving me

Forever Youngs

If you're not careful
You'll wake up beside
A bunch of kids dressed as adults
Responsible for the world

But unable to even handle the planet

Fossil or Ruins

This potent cool air
Will soon put out the flame
And make ashes of my charred heart
Never to be used again perhaps

Until threshed in the underworld and risen anew

Pree Plea

Someone please love me
It's been so very long
And I'm starting to remember
How alone I felt growing up

And how much company I attract on the way down

Check Ins

He calls me
On the same line every time
Telling me that phase is ending
And the next one will be much harder

But knowing this reminds me I'm stronger than at the last call

But I too defy

You live
To knock me down
And behind your silence
Is your prideful laughter

That I will be a wreck without you

But you won't

If you spent
Half the time
Repairing yourself
As you do injuring me

You'd be a good and happy person

Safety first

As the cars scrape across the
Rain covered pavement I'm reminded of
Those afternoons under my parents' care
Waiting impatiently to resume playing

Promising myself when I'm older and free I'll never wait to play

This whole time

It's a long road ahead
Not to be the best
That's a childish chase
But to get to that place

Where I've been waiting for myself

Shed for Light

It will be hard
Trust me there will be pain
You will give up multiple times
But try again because the only worse pain

Is waking up tomorrow still feeling like this

Bright Darkness

The whole sky was a rainbow on us
Before the whole thing went dark
And we turned on every light
To find a way to see each other

And lost sight of the stars we each intended to follow

Clorox Fables

Still scrubbing so hard
Furiously scouring the surface for spots
Hoping that will make it clean to the core
But I am not some porcelain doll nor any facade

And bleaching my skin with white lies will not set you free

Over coffee

When you and I speak
We are never explaining rather
Simply describing what we already knew
In each other to be true and it is never boring

In fact it causes the greatest excitement I have known

In your vineyard

On perfect days as today
All us men search for you
My unknown sweet beloved
To pair majestic confluences

As the finest wine makes a feast of mere food 

Likes and Messages

I begged you
To do one thing for me
To help with the blood pressure
Or even perhaps as a measure to say sorry

But once again I don't matter unless I get you what you want

Implode

I don't understand him
He doesn't understand me
He never wanted forever
I'll never want it again

Never is close enough to eternity for me

Explode

Break something
Break anything you can find
Just don't break another heart
Neither yours nor theirs

You're too broke to pay for that

Close your eyes

Do you see that star baby
The one glimmering so bright
Don't you just think sometimes
How we marvel in something so old and lifeless

But not in the bright miracles on our dark planet

Unnerved

I have been on my back
For as long as I can remember
It still hurts to walk
And tomorrow I fear it will hurt more

Until I forget altogether how to feel

Social butterfly effect

The betrayal was hard
But I am not your victim
I am my own, for having kept it in
For your sake and at my expense

I would have paid myself in full for you to feel liked

White Plains and 225th

These train tracks and city traffic
Used to lull me to sleep
Filled with dreams of adulthood
And all the things I would do with it

Now all I want is a beach and my youth back

Defect. Final sale.

My life is constant rejection
Sales, work and at home
Want me, please, just listen, please
Only obligation pays the bacon in the end

What I have, is a scarcely needed commodity

Funnel cloud

I remember you
Cloud of isolation
Reminding me how pathetic I am
I'll never amount to anything alone

Which is why I can't shake you. Come closer.

Home Tonight

Against the window pane
A million droplets will recount
The years they spent underground
The great fury that sprung them to new heights

And how it was all very fleeting and completely worth the wait

Benevolence

Feed them as you would
A queen, and they will nourish you
As royal subjects to your thrown
Be it your nobleman, offspring, pauper or livestock

Your kingdom is only as rich as the soil from which it borrows