I think of all the air I’ve breathed
Happily ******* it in to the maximum, and then
That time he forced it down
Swallowed my “no” with his tongue
Both instances equally oxygenated
Why are the somber, sober selections always
unequivocally deeper in their loveliness
Scathing crisscross critique
Harsh words cannot dampen my fire
Hot and smoky I inhale
Steaming in this teepee from my fourth grade field trip
some re-creation of real civilization
absent was the metallic machinery
I long for stars brighter than
Plastic Hollywood
Ten and I convinced your mother I had died in a car crash
The first instance of my violent imagination
My conscience, sloth like, inverted blame
Like a sock turned inside out
I wished what I said was true
Years later I started the slow process of intentionally dying
Stupid girl I was. Unoriginal like the others
Only sewed up my holes. They asked me if I had a plan
Spitefully silent and still
I did not reply because I did not care to
The rolling hills of my temper
Emerged as I exited the binding comfort of my home
Young adulthood in all its glorious newness left me devoid
Of confidence in my ability to breathe on my own
Therapy and tablets forced me to care
Today I am high
I spew words
You don’t write poetry she says
Playing with words like string
It runs through my fingers, loose then taught, then a mess of tangle on the floor
As tied up as my tongue
Lapping up the air
Oct 28, 2016
Oct 28, 2016 at 9:48 AM UTC
The flower grows through the concrete
that flat dark oppressor
who’s overtaken our world
The land used to be soft
supple and sweet with the
loving soil
dirt roads and dirt houses
earth surrounded us
made us remember where we come from
on the open faces of children
the clenched hands of adults
were left traces of the world
work and play involved the same
essential ingredients
and together they made life
pavement is clean
and leaves no mark
except ****** scrapes on our knees
Now it hurts to fall
the earth cannot catch us
with her arms bound
But the green is coming through
now and I can see the breaks
in the grey
The cracks are getting wider and
we might have hope yet
of wearing that warm ground
If I can find a patch
of some dirt
I’ll roll in it till I’m covered
And walk naked through the asphalt
world till my muddy footprints
erase all the bloodstains
from scraped knees and plucked flowers.
Jul 12, 2016
Jul 12, 2016 at 4:20 AM UTC
Slowly decaying in the sun
Passersby laugh and point
Like an overly ripened fruit
Sending my sweet rotting odor
Into the still air
I try to stop
this chemical process
but decomposition is inevitable
I am becoming soft
and the skin is beginning to curl
it burns
the sunshine
pushing like the knife that cuts
me into pieces
turning me into mush
the kind that ends up in the garbage
or on the sidewalk
a biodegradable heap of fiber and juice
soon to be squashed underfoot
or eaten by some feral animal
I am nothing but an orange
Round and repugnant
Jul 10, 2016
Jul 10, 2016 at 8:28 AM UTC
Her skirt
Shockingly short
For the office
Her top
Too see-through
For her age
Her nose
Pitifully crooked
Don’t you agree
If only she were a bit different
we would have an easier time
packaging some manufactured respect
to sell her.
Jul 6, 2016
Jul 6, 2016 at 7:27 AM UTC
The man began to cry
Four feet from my ears
Which stretched and strained
To catch his conversation
In their elastic curiosity
Great fat tears
Sliding down the mountains and valleys
Cheeks and hollowed out lines
In the corners of eyes and lips
Wetting the paper skin
As shoulders shook and hands trembled
Some words about a daughter
A young girl not seen for a while
The tender sorrow brought to
An unintentionally absent father
Pain is the color of the water
Draining from the ducts
on this man’s lash line
his white overalls
stained with the sun
of labor done with his hands
not his mind
his face now drying
salty residue in the hairs of his chin
lapping up the remains of his Americano
I lose interest
Jul 4, 2016
Jul 4, 2016 at 11:29 AM UTC
I want to deal with paperwork
not people anymore
Give me bureaucracy
I’ll give you productivity
No more empathy
or patience with the patients
Need that nine to five
cubicle and a coffee break
Bosses will love my
enthusiastic filing
Can’t service another person
just as mental as me
I need a new kind of crazy
The normal kind, please
Jul 3, 2016
Jul 3, 2016 at 9:47 AM UTC
Twisting these unruly thoughts
into something presentable
like the knotty hair
my mother used to battle
each morning
in desperation I write
aiming for wisdom
landing on forced
Jul 3, 2016
Jul 3, 2016 at 7:34 AM UTC
I am tired behind my eyes
and in the spaces between my toes
the aching melancholy
wanders into my body
muddles my mind
leaves my throat closed and dry
cold with lack of inspiration
sad songs make me limp
a heart infected with
chords of the past
I hunger for relief
from this exhaustion
heavy and weak
I succumb
Jul 3, 2016
Jul 3, 2016 at 5:09 AM UTC
I choose a table in the middle
To feel like I'm part of the rush.
Regulars are identified by their silence
Receiving their drinks without need for a word.
I stumble over my order...
One small? tall? short? Fat ameri-frappe please hold the dairy...
I'm certain I did it wrong
Every hole in the wall has its own lingo
To distinguish those in the know
From those who wandered in
I'm a wanderer, without a doubt
The man behind me is impatient
He's one of the silent ones
Unsmiling in his dress shirt
I wish I were a real person like him
Who knew to say short instead of small
And didn't sit alone at tables
Writing phrases no one cares to read.
Jul 2, 2016
Jul 2, 2016 at 11:08 PM UTC
She dabs on a bit of lipstick
To show that she's not sad
Walking down the rain drenched concrete
Passers-by are almost fooled
Until they see her eyes
Those two always betray her
Red and framed with sparkling tears
Can't be bothered to wipe them away
Alone on a stool
Head in hand
The red has stained her glass
With kisses she never meant to give
Other patrons try to cheer her
Offering to buy her rounds
As if drinking such bitterness
Could make a person smile
What had she expected to find in such a place as this?
She'd hoped for company
And encountered only lust
Jul 2, 2016
Jul 2, 2016 at 11:06 PM UTC