In the center gravity holds
tightly as we spiral
awaiting to enfold
ever pressed in cosmic vinyl

If I am
ever left
to rely
on a
diet of medication
and
tv static commercials,
unplug me
and
donate me,
being a
crash test cadaver
is at least
useful.

You're a painter with brush
My face isn't worth painting

You're a writer with pen
My story isn't worth writing

You're a poet with soul
My umbra isn't worth rhyming

You're a photographer with camera
My appearance isn't worth capturing

You're a director with 35mm
My action isn't worth watching

You're the artist
I am the creative block

I wish I could speak words that assuage
But I’m nothing but an introvert
I’ve accepted this and that’s ok
I’ll type the words out in hopes of an alert
That you have read and agreed
At least that’s something I want to believe
But who am I kidding you don’t follow me
So I will admire from afar and dream
Of you
My sweet
Beatrice

The devil sits at its zenith
Hell’s warmth embracing
a bead of sweat escapes
both the man and the beast
locked and circling
waiting
waiting
waiting
until one leaves alive
both man and beast
want to show their bravado
one charges
one waves and dodges
both smell death’s breath
a crimson river starts to flow
and the dance is repeated
until one sits on Charon's boat
or is pulled by death’s horses
but in this dance
both have tripped and fallen
death is overjoyed in the afternoon

I watched as your webbed nest grew
In the branch of the front yard tree
A plague of squirming brood
Not that a web of a spidering

Yours was much too thick
As I braved a finger, fear quelled
Skipped on using a stick
Strong and sturdy she held

“Are these caterpillars?”
You asked, I replied
“I think they are.”

You asked for the destruction of civilization
“You need to cut these down.”

“I can’t, I been watching them grow,
Watching this web slowly take over.
Now I see on every tree
When I’m out driving
Their villages
Where they live
Feeding off the leaves
If these are so common
Why are butterflies so rare?”

You responded with no care
“They are ugly, I don’t like them.”
  
I watched the rest of that tree
Be consumed
I hope that plague
Becomes beautiful soon

I visited the heavens today
all gods were absent
looked out the window
we were in the clouds

landed in Detroit
on a dreary day
why would it be any different?
this skeletal remain of a city

at least the bartender was great
but now I’m drunk wandering around
Detroit
hope I wake up in my hotel

September 16th 2018 1:34 pm

The war started between the illegible instructions and chunks of wood. I decided to enlist, well, more like volunteered. I arrived at the camp today and met a few loose screws. They don’t have time to train us, we are being shipped out as I write this in my journal.
I hope to god I survive this thing so I can see her face at the end. She will be ecstatic to see me alive, I know she has her doubts. We can not let the engrish win.

September 16th 2018 3:17 pm

We have arrived to our camp. It’s a pigsty. Styrofoam specks cover the yard like snow and cardboard chunks are blown to bits just over the trenches. No time to settle in. Just enough to down a cup of dirt coffee before we charge in. It’s been storming all day, everything is covered in mud.

September 16th 2018 3:56 pm

Stage one has been complete. We have a wall up. This should help stabilize anything that comes after us. It was no easy task and we have been told this was the easiest part.

September 16th 2018 4:32 pm

The foundation has been completed. There were casualties. Henry, a brave man, lost a hand and had to be evacuated. We can hold them back if our aim is true. I hope there are angels watching above.

September 16th 2018 4:33 pm

There are no angels watching, only devils in the disguise of pictures with the number on the wrong side and the finished side flipped around. The foundation had to come down. Back at square one.

September 16th 2018 5:56 pm

The foundation has been rebuilt. Correctly, I hope. More men have been lost. I know this is dark, but one had a flask on his body that hasn’t been emptied. It is now emptied.

September 16th 2018 6:29 pm

The wheels have finally been installed. We are now mobile! Thank god. We can now trek over anything that gets in our way. It’s still pouring rain. I wish I could find another flask.

September 16th 2018 6:53 pm

Hooks and roll and top have all been fitted and examined over. We may have done something right for once. There’s hope that we will win this thing after all.

September 16th 2018 8:48 pm

We stumbled onto a cache of cold ones. We lost sight of our goal for a while. We are back on track marching forward.

September 16th 2018 9:17 pm

The last wooden peg has been hammered in, the last ***** has been ******* and locked. This is it, it’s finally over. We won!

September 16th 2018 9:18 pm

“It’s about time” was my only reward.

It’s ok, I came out stronger than what I was. I have scars I can tell my kids about. The blisters from using hand tools and the knowledge on how to decipher Chinese disguised as English. Useful talents I’m sure.

September 16th 2018 9:20 pm

Finishing off that cache.

Nectar of the grape
Anesthetizing myself
Emptying bottles

A city is nothing but a menagerie
caging different shades of insanity
dusty streets, concrete tombs, lingerie
costumes shooting up profanity

Here I stand
no shade of dignity
*** of cash in hand
shaded with apathy

Things I do with these creatures
in the concealing night
a spoon and a woman, double feature
finished and feeling contrite

Cross the bridge to leave the zoo
back to my normal life
conscience I must subdue
while I lay down next to my wife

I am sorry
I just miss the thrill
I am sorry
I just miss the feel
I am sorry
I just miss the comforts of the landfill
and the parroting comatose safaris

A supine woman
On top of my sheets, let’s make
Those ankles touch ears

Falling, falling, falling,
                                  forever
or is this
                                     G
                                   N
                                  I
                           ­     T
                              A
                          ­   O
                            L
                          F
towar­ds a shimmer in the distance
like a wind that carries a dead leaf
whispering through the chimes
that fall upon deaf ears
as if the message was sent
and it just wasn't heard

No, this is f
                     a
                       l
off                    l
    the                  i
precipice  ­           n
                               g

as I watch the sky
march round in a funeral procession
of our history

F L O A T I N G
in this disorienting gravity

S E D U C I N G
in this magnetic propinquity

T E A R I N G
in this psychosomatic schism

every storm proceeds an epoch
                                              of pleasure
as if pleasure
                    is an
Grecian artifact
                        in the backdrop of Ovid

The caterpillar
                       of Like
                       of Love
                       of Hate
cocoons into insouciant
                                      vicissitudes

            ­                           Y.
                                    A
                        ­         W                                
but refuses to fly A

Three bottles in
after a day of the same ****.

Can I compose a poem?
I doubt it.

Maybe another drink will help
then I can be like Bukowski
who has seen more style in dogs
than in men.

Well he isn't wrong is he?

I go to work
to listen to same old tales
of how his wife
keeps falling down
how there's another gun show
this weekend
how this week the diet
is gonna begin
how this company is sinkin'.

And I agree
it's all going to the bottom
of the dark sea
and for some reason
this thought makes me
happy.

I can spend all day
zigzagging through the trees
dodging roots and stomping clay
Sun's hug so nourishing  
this is how I play

Do not forget how to play
or else you will regret every day
doing the same **** for little pay
trapped while you become gray
amorphous blobs that weigh
friendships left to decay
souls that fade away
what can I say
invite those castaways
to join you while you play

While we spend all day
zigzagging through the trees
dodging roots and stomping clay
Sun's hug so nourishing  
This is how we play
Thank you for joining

If you are crying
Step into summers bright heat
Let those damp eyes dry

Nothing will flourish
If you take away water
So stop do not cry.

Freedom:

A
  dragonfly
   perched on an antenna
     of a car.

Free to sit
Free to watch
Free to leave
Without causing a big scene.

Rising sun reflects
beaming straight into my eyes
sunglasses missing

**** me up and make me bleed
The blood that
d
r
i
p
s
Is your
poetry

Half drowned in those wine dark eyes
drunk off those fermented words
that trickle off those lush rose lips
Calypso or Scylla, I know not
it doesn't even matter
as long as I am with you

1.
Magpies sang of an avian astray
Silence soared over the African horizon
Last seen heading Serengeti's way
Off your perch daughter of Poseidon

Pegasus tame ascended heavens sky
Looking for smoke risen or a glisten
Over the Serengeti and Masai
Waning nights turned to
                                        waxing fright lead to
                                                                ­              prayers of frisson

2.
Emergency at Victoria Lake
Three hundred and fifty mile detour
A miner in need, a friend forsake
Beryl, an angel with the cure

Her wings not heroic nor romantic
Just a job at an uncomfortable hour
Lacking of sleep and a dose of frantic
Set sail in the moon, Africa's flower

3.
A life saved and a tank fully nourished
Took on the life of a bird and set course
Peered out and lo and behold
A gleam
a glimmer
a glint
a glisten
a welcomed gift
a green palm among a snow so white
There she lies
Woody's delight
"All Metal"

We were once all agog for the journey of life
Now just a mouse click leaves curiosity cured
Nescience masquerading as artificial cognizance is rife
Likes, follows, comments, thoughts and prayers lured

A slayer of ambition gave birth to the lazy
No will to work, no will to think, just click this link
And complain all day about how your life is crazy
Stare at the screen as if forgotten how to blink

Welcome to Medusa's social media inc.
Share every feeling that's on your mind
Arachne's weaving web now interlinks
A Giger painting has become mankind

It's embarrassing
It's depressing
It's caressing
It's inheriting

The natural beauty that lies outside
Left only viewed through filtered photos
Language devolved into hieroglyphic emoji replies
Tobler's ambition left reposed

Curiosity and ambition subdued
A final word
Adieu

A muleta drapes over my chest
the ripples pass through with the wind
while we dance around this dusty plaza de toros
eyes fixated
thinking you can gore mon coeur
ptui
I only give you the illusion of control
but in the end
it will be my estoc tongue that
pierces your flesh
between the shoulders
with crimson words
I am no novillero
cornada's in the past only strengthen the future
a porta gayola posed and ready
awaiting that ferocious charge

Our arms lock and embrace
I stare at your lovely face
the reflection in your eye
shows another guy
that's standing behind
me.

Dagger stabbing, blade twisting
back bleeding, stomach turning
eyes blurry, ears ringing
mouth drying, brain denying.

Am I just your stability?

That mountain that you climbed
You told me it felt like Everest
You were so blind
In a land so treacherous

But in reality
It was just an anthill
A speck of salt in the dead sea
On a diet of sleeping pills

Far from base camp
Give me your hand
I will be your hurricane lamp
You and I will trek this land

Let me be your guiding Sherpa
And conquer this depressing frozen peak
Baby steps to conquer inertia
Companionship is what we both seek

You don't have to be alone in your depression
At least I don't want to be
I guess this is my confession
I need you and I want you to need me

Every day I burn
In a shower of flame
One day I may learn
This hot water faucet game

Smoke signals from a silent cigarette
float to the heavens and linger
in the mucky conscience of regret
resting on the temple, my forefinger

Thumb lifted to expose
a metaphorical gun
countenance in prose
staring at a midnight sun

When will that monster again ****
another that I love,
Why did I so feel
like I could best the powers from above

I created a ghastly Adam
and I dare not create an innocent Eve
my future I cannot fathom
all time left to grieve

I will chase this gruesome snake
no matter where it slithers
across Hell's frozen lake
this calamity summons me hither

My final and only ambition
is to cast a life to silence
his and my cognition
will clash and bite in violence

I created a monster
and a monster created me
Madness! How it so saunters
and wails as if a banshee

Look over on the frozen horizon
a horrid shadow stalks
I, a fire stealing Titan
will march out to solve this paradox

Logged out again, ugh, why?
An ad longer than the video.....sigh
Buffering....for the third time

Old man doing 30 in a 35

My cheeseburger is missing cheese
Can you just make it right, please!?
Taking too long at the check out line

Detour on I-85

The mail is late again
Wait, the package hasn’t even moved yet!?
Moving this slow should be a sin.

Check engine light, does it ever end?

Any spare change, please, my friend?
Pennies? What, you don’t have a dollar?
My family is starving, you have nothing to lend?

No parking to be found.

Such a long wait, better be someone dead
No doc, I didn’t come for a lecture on my pounds
Now shut up and feed me some meds.

A flower girl tried to sell me a flower
picked from my own garden
a thin starving guttersnipe dressed so dour
my seldom emphatic heart granted my pardon

I gave her a tenner for the red rose
and told her to "keep the change"
she, now the subject of my next poetic prose
about the girl who makes my heart feel strange

The names scribbled on the walls
With numbers underneath inside the stalls
For a good time call
Maybe it’s my own fault
That I’m alone
Not a friend on the end of a joke
Nor an enemy on the verge of revenge
Maybe I should just stencil in
My own name and number
Just to find a friend

Funny how the seasons
slowly change
As you age how they
hastily fade
From cold to hot
fleeting days
Settling on year long
winter graves.

O' poor frog
flatten, grotesque and dried
with a bit of bone glisten white
You remind me of
Me.



I too have jumped in front of a speeding car.

Reflect upon the history that's left behind
swim in the ocean of predictions and expectations
gliding along with the arrow of time
orbiting moments of quick sensations
as we dance round in a ring and suppose
but the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

A sweltering run through the pastoral streets
Past the chemical plant and decrepit machinery
A couple miles trekked for nature's delicious treats
Incardine specks and black dots poke through thick greenery

Step over the ditch into the smokey mud
Stick your hand in carefully, the cost just a little blood

A blackberry picked from the protective thorn
is sweeter than one picked from the grocery store

Four miles I ran
dense was the darkness, light there was none,
neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow me to see.
Five miles I ran
dense was the darkness, light there was none,
neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow me to see.
Six miles I ran
dense was the darkness, light there was none,
neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow me to see.
Seven miles I ran
dense was the darkness, light there was none,
neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow me to see.
Eight miles I ran and cried out in pain,
dense was the darkness, light there was none,
neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow me to see.
Nine miles I ran ... the North Wind.
It licked at my face,
dense was the darkness, light there was none,
neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow me to see.
Ten miles I ran ...
... I’m  near,
...running for miles.
Eleven miles I ran and came out before the sunrise.
Twelve miles I ran and it grew brilliant.
...it bears lapis lazuli as foliage,
bearing fruit, a delight to look upon.
The pain endured
Was worth every mile
Still a few more before home.

Fall looming embraced
Implanted dagger left dead
Making green leaves red

The gorgon's masonry casting châteaus
for the rich
turning hearts to pompous narcissist

once of legends and myths
has arisen once again
blue light and endless scroll

the gorgon's masonry casting shadows
for the everyman
turning hearts to pompous narcissist

Yesterday you bathed yourself
And it made me sad
Today you wiped yourself
And for that I am glad
Tomorrow you will feed yourself
And I will be left feeling mad
That your growing so fast
That you no longer need your dad
That I will no longer be your best friend
That I will be just another comrade

I understand,
I did this once before
Except I don't recall
Saying best friend
Or friend.

Hunched over in this Bastille dwelling
cobbling out words stitching to a page
day after ----------------------------------                              
            day after ------------------------              
                        day after--------------
                                      day ------












The last bottle of Bordeaux Rouge shatters
and pools on the ***** floor, frantically I
bow down and touch lips to dirt and wine
**** until my sore cheeks flush with blood
stumble back to              the makers bench
carefully carve                  initials marking
days gone by and          by days gone by
at night I lay my head upon the guillotine
hoping to wake drenched in red in a basket
this self revolution will some day pass

I ran three miles
for the first time, she was fast
just not fast enough

Hail star of the sea
Without your shining smile
Where would this soul be?

It was a warm June night
Swaying between two trees
You laid your head on my chest
The leaves whispered its sweet breeze
The lantern was set to low
While we read about that giant peach
Fireflies giving us a show
The AC shut off with a screech
You lifted your tiny head
Do you remember what you asked me?

Why do we never see mommy anymore?

Instead of telling you about the horror of drugs
I told you about the peace in death.

_                                 _
Moonlight           Sonata­
Thunderstorm    Submerged
Windshield          Blurred
Stoplight                  B
                               L
                           I
                                    N
        ­                                       K
                        ­                    I
                                           ­  N
                                                     G
Chaos                   Swept
Wheels                          S
                                          p
                   ­                           i
                                            r
                              g        a
                          n      l
                               i
         WorldsC­ollide
Passenger        Drowning
Heaven             Bound
Sirens               SCREECHING
Time                 Lapses
Memory            Haunts
Voice                 Ascended
Why     ­              Not
                  Me?

If Boy George cosplayed
as Greek youth Adonis, we
would call him Boy Gored

Moon beaming through clouds
white light pierces fog, grows closer
tail light flees the scene

Even lousy writing is terrific practice
Or so they say
I have been practicing
Painting ink on a page

All I can produce
Is sketchy scribble
Illegible and unintelligible
Words that I let dribble

Leaving the canvas blotched and stained
Maybe some will appreciate my thoughts
It is my medicine
From going insane.