You seem tired
And you seem sick
Like all beautiful women
You seem to be wanting
And you seem to be waiting
Like all beautiful women
You seem to talk
Though you seem to sleep
Like all beautiful women
Like all truly beautiful women
You seem not to know that you are
Shivers down my spine
And disembodied voices
Climb all around me
Screaming behind my back
Are spirits not yet asleep
Seeking an open ear
A door is left ajar
A chair left out of place
A breeze drifting through this space
I thought I heard you
Calling my name
Your voice stopping as I listen
I see you
In my peripheral vision
There, then gone
If you are here
Make your way back
And I will listen
A body breaks
A soul aches
Let your lungs cave in
Then exceed their measure
Shed our last breath
In exchange for fresh air
Cough up the phlegm
Shake your failing limbs
Your tear ducts overflown
Speech escaping your lips
An iris breaking through an eyelid
The movement beneath my skin
There is something to be done
There is something to be said
For a failing body
Is a crying soul
Up against each other
Building pressure
Pressure makes diamonds
Pressure breaks bones
They’ve taken something beautiful
My lake, my land
They’ve covered it in ash
It is hard not to kiss the sun
When the sun kisses you
And the fumes are simply noxious
Your tongue of fire
I do not wish it in my mouth
I do not wish it in my mouth
I do not wish it in my mouth
It’s not okay
But why fight over fire
When from ash we all came
And it is so tiring
Pushing these boulders
Into the water
And sometimes the pain
I feel is quite heavy
Into the water
And then there is relief
As my job it ends
Into the water
Go my troubles
And I live off bottles and baby rattles
As those have done before me
I wonder is it forgivable
These crimes I’ve committed
If they are crimes at all
I drank my bottle and chewed my baby rattle
As some have done before me
Seemingly forgivable
These crimes I’ve committed
If they are crimes at all
I swallowed the bottle and my baby rattle
As few have done before me
Forgivable, for a greater cause
These crimes I’ve committed
They are not crimes at all
Is it a crime to cry
Is it a crime to cry
caffeine, alcohol, sugar induced
between me, myself and I a truce
has been blend
a cavalcade of carcinogens
is my life giving breath
is the life giving water
my boy, my man, my elder
between me, myself and I a barter
has been made
the truth in tribulation
is always indecision
am I always in decision
a habit, a bias, a custom
between me, myself and I accustomed
has one become
the sentimentality of some
is rooted in self-interest
is routed by selflessness
this convention, this disposition, this inclination
between me, myself and I a transition
doth occur
in practice I've perfected
my propensity for lies
my tendency to try try try
this is the coward's face
pressed up against the wall
this is the coward's face
he did not learn at all
this is the coward's fist
now bringing pain where it falls
this is the brave's face
with a quiet broken skull
i look forward to a time when the wavelengths align
so that i might hear a beauteous sound
the noise to stir me from my monotony
It snuck into me
And planted a seed
That has out grown its space
I’ve become a seed to it now
Food for an intruder
How hospitable am I
A gracious host
Here we argue.
Despite it all the world will keep turning.
Some stock broker will jump off a tall building
And a baby born to this world begins crying.
All of it done argument and arguing.
A leaf has fallen from a tree.
Gently through the wind.
Afloat on the air.
Landing on a picnic table
just slightly to the right.
A new found resting place.
A shabby table,
An old tress,
Nails breaking through the surface.
A leaf asleep on the wind
falls on an old shabby picnic table
hoping to hold onto the past it has lost.
Carless are our gazes upon others
Disregard their pain
The further away from themselves
The closer we come to ourselves
Assimilation is weighed in blood
Our reaction weighed in the gut
Had our hearts been in our stomach
We would have had enough sooner
by Brian Rankin
This turned cheek
No speak
Don't care,
Going nowhere
world
needs to end
Sincerity is not dead
that bitch, irony has been overfed.
my response, B. Rankin.
by Joseph Ianni
See irony
Is the truest of sincerity I speak
This bruised cheek
Is not swollen from overfeeding
Moving this way
My world anxiously awaits a start
One fraught with confusion
One fraught with complexity
But a start nonetheless
I’ll take it
What is the measure of gain and loss without gravity
Does your mind ever come down on me and weigh on your thoughts my princess always in motion
Did you gain something when you lost me
Did you lose something when you were again by yourself
Can you answer how it is you measure gain and loss without gravity
How is it that one gains insight with a loss of foresight
How is it that one loses without truly having gained
Answer me this, how does one measure gain and loss without gravity
My princess in motion can you answer me this
My princess in motion what do you believe is the answer
My princess in motion
The man who has nothing
Wants nothing
Because Sadness is not a companion of Singularity
It is bred and bought in the mall
Where people come and go
And attachments are costly
Welcome you are welcomed
To stay once they go
You will be alone
With all the stores closed
Sitting in quiet Contemplation
There was happiness here
They ran out
It was too expensive
You were in the wrong mall to begin with
...
Singularity and Sadness are mutual friends of Contemplation
They’ve had a tense relationship
The man who has nothing
Wants nothing
Because sadness is not a companion of singularity
Be loving, be hopeful and be optimistic
so that the world can take the best of you and leave you to wither
Love who?
Hopeful for?
Optimistic of?
These are the things they attach to you
In an attempt to give you purpose
There is none
There is one
Is there any
Is there E
You, me, we
Are a failed project
Conceived in bedrooms by accident
Our parents and one day us
A simple damage control
When the first method failed
Drugged, drugs, drug
How much poison can one take
Before they see life’s fulfillment
I promise you it’s full to the brim
There is a house on this street
I promise you it’s full to the brim
At winter there is snow on the roof
I promise you it’s full to the brim
The heat we share will keep us warm
We were alone in each other arms
A promise was made to fill it to the brim
To make it warm from outwards in
Kept safe away from harm
One day it will break at the seams
I promised you it was full to the brim
Each and every dove will fly out
Like a cloud of billowing smoke
All the heat we stored finally released
Have you seen a most beautiful face?
I have seen it written in gray ink
A face I will not rest my eyes upon
A face covered by an ungodly sea
Not free
Not moral
Not understood
Possibly non-existent
But it still breathes
And even when it does not
It still lives
Have you seen a most beautiful face?
If you have, will you tell me?
For I have not seen such a face.
I ha-e the sky
Its mouth open wide
Ready to swallow me
I give it no trust at all
Gravity does not keep me down
I’m holding myself down
You will not swallow me!
The sky
You are a liar
And I can understand why
But that does not mean I have to like it
Keep your mouth closed
Because I’m staying here
At least for now
I’m not ready to go
I ha-e the sky
Its mouth open wide
Ready to swallow me
I give it no trust at all
Although I understand
I don’t understand you at all
