
“You’ll never get in. You just can’t. You don’t understand.”,
she says. in this, i can’t help but hear that constant chorus.
she sobs softly in a room i can’t open; door locked.
she can’t help herself. she always cries in the morning.
i can’t believe she’s the same person as in the evening before;
in fishnets and spike heels, vying for attention, can’t take no,
no, won’t take no as an answer. in fact, i can’t take no
so well myself. in a growing rage, i can’t hold back.
can’t stand this helplessness in my own home.
i try to get in with a slam and a kick but can’t.
she sounds out louder in fear, can’t help herself.
in-side, i burn angrily at the sound. i can’t stand it;
can’t shake it, like a potlid in the throes of boil.
it’s strange. in my mind, i can’t remember how it
started. in memories, we can’t keep our hands to
ourselves, intwined at the hip and mouth, can’t stop
or don’t want to. in reality, i guess we still can’t,
though i can’t say it’s in the same ways. well,
i get in. she can’t hold back her sullen tears.
she can’t hide the hints in last night’s stockings,
torn into large holes. i can’t help but growl and
she can’t help but weep heavily in that old, familiar
way. and so now, we can’t stop it. it’s in motion.
the ritual complete. can’t help that, in each other,
we summon the worst.
Feb 28, 2025
Feb 28, 2025 at 2:36 PM UTC
I will bury you
your bones and mine
first above & below
then slowly into each
our entrails will form
radicles and shoots
blowing past the past
to entwine in the rays
of some future sun
unspoken & bespoke
I will bury you
each gift given freely
consumed whole
seething, staring down
with unseeing eyes
another morsel
demanded of you
which you bequeath
lovingly, for love,
to love, to be loved
I will bury you
lips smeared with
pale juices, an elixir
to transform
you, from your youness
inhaled hungrily from
saccharine statements
in offering to some
eldritch thought that
sits just between us both.
Feb 28, 2025
Feb 28, 2025 at 2:49 AM UTC
dark & light dance left
horizon a glacial crawl
spectrum shifting sable
watched closely enough
she was as an old TV,
diode warm, alive
and yet, undead too.
not gone but going. she knew.
her silent song set
a winking line of
signal, weeping out her last
lacrimal notes now
waves rushing to shore
sounded bent, for a moment
wobbling, unmoored
i heard the hum of
a **** turning, clicking to
off. electrical
bubble burst. picture
crushed into that same long line,
like an eye mid-blink
but never
blunk
Feb 28, 2025
Feb 28, 2025 at 2:31 AM UTC
there is
inside me
at my deepest part
a little black ball
of rage
i don’t know how it got there
well, that’s only half true
i don’t know how it quite got there
at my core
at the heart of my being
but i know when it got there
hewn hard into my flesh
my mind, bones
tempered into me each night
my matriarch’s take
on hephaestus’s forge
and each morning
quenched in the light of day
each walk to school
under the sun’s yawning beams
miasma erupting from my pores
the liminal release before
the cycle began
anew
so, suffice it to say,
it’s in there deep.
DEEP deep.
and it reminds me every day.
hissing out from my heart
seething out of my skin
the steady sssssssss
of it always in the periphery
BGM for my life
like whatever that Animal Crossing theme is called
but sharper
a slicing sliver of steam
most days
she’s content to rest easy
in the wet dark alcoves inside me
a passive hum of her slumbering ember
rattling from my chest
on others
she demands her freedom
tells me i don’t deserve the reins
tells me i need her to lead us
i say “no”
she rouses
sizzling note rising to a low rumble
she says yes
i say No.
first
a jet of flame
burning bright blue white
like the first blazing pinions
from a piece of fresh firewood
seared sap seeping into
sssssssss
down to deep crimson
a spider lily dancing out of me
showing me
beautifully bouncing
and it’s tempting to get lost in that
get lost in the beauty of a renegade part
of your very own soul saying
**** That.
saying
**** You.
there’s something profound about it
(and someday, i hope a wiser person than i can tell you about it)
but getting lost in it is a snare
a distraction
more importantly
there’s the
ssssssssseething
if you listen hard now
the little black ball
she says
sssssssss
no one will ever understand you
sssssssss
another burst of light
that sinks sallow
from it
she shrieks
sssssssss
your only talent is pain
sssssssss
now a cascade
SSSSSSSSS
she roars now
a lioness tearing her way out of me
into me
she says
you know it would be better if it was just all gone
my back erupting
a billowing cloak of indignant ignition
stoked by memories of midnight visitors
with knives or less
and christmas eves in dank dirt rooms
of ****** tears and well-tended wounds
and this is part of the temptation, to be honest
to just
burn
with
it
to let go and feel
fall to it all
to succumb to the anger.
sorrow. vengeful vigor.
ambrosia would feel like this
ultimate release
my metaphorical form Usagi mid-transformation
We
Burn
and i’m gone
there’s no me
just us
just her
we’re a phoenix of rage
she sneers through my teeth
a cheshire grin in smoke
she leers through my eyes
unblinking and vulpine
together, we cut down forests
burn and salt the earth
in devastation there is clarity, ya know?
we seethe
we embrace
in that flame
we connect
we seethe
shrieking a banshee’s call
unheard to all
but us
We
Seethe
and it feels amazing
truly
but as we all know
there is a cost to such things
and the cost of flames is steep
so. not plan A.
she needs out though
my little black ball
and i think she deserves to seethe
she deserves to rage
and so, some days,
i let her out
i let her out
here
right here
she reaches for you
wants you to know
the burden and blessing
the sorrow
the anger
the hiss of her voice
she wants to be known
she wants you to know her
you're almost there
it only burns for a moment
can you hear her?
can you hear her
sssssssss?
Feb 26, 2025
Feb 26, 2025 at 7:13 PM UTC
when i spilled onto this earth,
i was born with a human head
and a mane
no one thought anything strange about this
of course
not so strange to have a mane
i was just ahead of the curve
(which would not be a trend)
i grew and so did my mane
it blossomed bushily
i got my name
and, when the first fist arrived at my ribcage,
i got my first fang
sulfurous and shaking
rank marlboro breath
reeking from sorry bones he called teeth
the first of many came
and showed me that my human head
was soft
resilient
and surprisingly springy
bouncing with less pain than i thought
off of banisters
and landings
(ironically named the moment you land on one,
don’t you think?
but i digress)
must have been from all that bouncing
that my human head began
to shift
into something else
but it was made real the moment
those haunted knuckles knocked on the door to my heart
my jaw snapped
like my mind
and i bit
just bit
deep and visceral
his glazed eyes wide
with surprise
maybe fear
(although not for long
before the first was joined
by the second
but
still)
as i sailed away through the air
about to bless a landing with its purpose
i saw the arc
monument of my malicious maw
broken into skin
an insidious smile
but not that of a child
my head was a lions now
as my follicles foresaw
on my zeroth day
i was eight when i got my horns
it was surprising actually
third week of third grade
prismatic fissures of light
creating colorful schisms
in the asphalt of the church’s parking lot
i drank in the bittersweet view
as my face fell toward it
my travel sponsored by another boy
more sadism than sense
and two years past the rest
a fact never languished on for long
as most trophy hunters do,
he inspected his ****
a little too much hubris
about a little thing he just did
my chubby form rose
like Dracula from his coffin at dusk
stiff and unyielding
despite the protestations of my body below
and delivered my forehead to his own
the eponymous number of times
face newly painted in a scarlet shade
half blood below the skin
half above
he said you’re crazy
i didn’t know he was right, you see?
so that statement very much offended me
and so i added one to my quota and left
the nuns told me not to be so stubborn
not to hurt other kids
Jesus would turn the other cheek, they said
but Jesus also turned up dead
they said i was stubborn as a goat
my hair wild and unkempt
canines glistening wetly with blood
and, as if to suggest it knew what a goat was,
a **** on my scalp split open
just a bit more
just enough for sable spirals to rush forth
i was thirteen when i got my venom
Feb 26, 2025
Feb 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM UTC
i lost it
there was a thread here once
i had it
just here
between the tips of my fingers
i lost it though
cursed, i tell ya.
they say about me, in some circles
eyes hidden under indistinctly specific
iconography of ships past their prime
grumbled under half gagged swallows
of whatever passed for palatable ***** past
those
discerning lips
or, perhaps, poorly applied mascara
downturned eyes, downtrodden
but their feet?
find purchase on my back
when you look like this
what else are you for?
and sure, about the curse thing
they were half right
which is a stupid turn of phrase
isn't it?
half right is just
******* wrong
rights aren't piece-meal thoughts
they were, in fact, wrong
But
somehow right enough.
black eyes put a dark period on that
(do you even know my name?)
the universe is a strange place
what can i say?
but we digress
cursed was the vibe tho
an idea carried through
some three or so decades
to now
our dying father fishing
for breath in the dusty light of morning
the sun, weimar conductor that it is,
demanding awareness for the passage of time
“are you still not ready for the day in there? tsk tsk”
he’s thinking it
probably. and that’s not all
because of-fucking-course would we
get sick the day we get back
bb death riding shotgun
the very help we brought
to show appreciation
to the rock
that kept us from sinking
eons ago
now a threat to his life
cursed, i tell ya
or stupid. leave that for another day
but today, we flit to and fro
pathos ponging pitifully
a small white pixel
but capable, of self criticism
of despair
bound uselessly
in cognitive dissonance
intensely considerate
ironically exposed
through gentle spritz of lysol
and heavy sighs
each wrenching open the wound anew
and we knew curses too
don't get me wrong
this is no fresh hell
we know but do we learn?
now that’s a good question
for someone to ask
someday
when we are ash, i hope
for now, we wait
breath bated
afraid to take too much of the air left
how much is left, I wonder
we think on that
for a while
we wait
for nothing
for meaning
while he fades
i had a point once
something sharp and poignant
but it’s gone now
i lost it
we lost it
that thread cast out
cascading across my
fingertips
we lost it
away it went
a taut twang as it did
and, yeah, we all lose
all the threads
will slip
this is true
yet
no one tells you
once released
it is
not lost
just
gone
Feb 26, 2025
Feb 26, 2025 at 7:07 PM UTC
i still remember your voice the last time we spoke
distant and aloof. a far cry from our first tryst
twenty-six stories up, cries of all kinds that night
and, i know, i know. consistent crying characterized us after too
i still see your face, eyes downcast. you already knew
knew i’d let you down again. crush your heart again
in the middle of Essex, we stood. last bits of
love falling away, rose petals in abscission - to memories - nightmares - nothing else
i still taste those tannins on my tongue, Ernesto's
best vin transfusing through our veins, future fallout
fueled. red, rosé, i can’t recall. unctuous
though, and rich. it sat heavy in my mouth, like transubstantiated blood of christ
i still feel the thought of your breath warming my neck
the light of your smile, unencumbered by the
reality of me. we didn’t know what i
was yet. then a variable, an unknown. but we know now. i was pain. plague. pestilence.
i still miss you. your idea, your memory
but i don’t have roses in my eyes anymore
i know. i stole so much from you. too many firsts
you should have shared with someone who saw you. who knew you. but all i knew was roses
this dirge is yours, dear Laura. not for your demise
but for mine - the last lamentation i can give
may my memory haunt you no more - may your days
be bright, blessed, and bountiful, far and away forever. may your roses be real
farewell.
Feb 26, 2025
Feb 26, 2025 at 7:05 PM UTC
empty, he hangs
hunger echos eternally
euphoric echelons unreached
up tips the glass
all sixteen ounces vanished
split second, drained down
our dry roiling throat
oscillating, undulating
fleshy chords twanging discordant
as our eyes scan
the floor
for food
the hunger is
not unknown to
me. he speaks
his piece each evening,
growling guttural in the
ear of my psyche
in a word-like lilt
he needs
a constant cadence to
feel full, as he
enthusiastically entreats
every evening
tonight is no
different. across the
table he sees
one. entrée du jour.
body fills with foul
pitch and sulfurous fire.
and shame, of course,
always shame.
i shouldn’t need this
and neither should he
prescriptive philosophies aren’t particularly
obtainable, he
offers ourselves
rising, a snap
audibly cracks from
my ailing back.
ours? his? hard to
quite say these days
but i digress anyway
we’re halfway to target
rolodex of first topics
spinning manically
searching, manipulating, looking for
that lone loquacious line,
algorithmic in its alignment
to enthrall
engulf, enamor
the spotlight of
consciousness is fickle,
you see. bodies
are only loyal to
themselves. they contain all.
and mine, sometimes, does
not even contain me.
no warning, he simply
begins his hunt, filpped
light switch
so banal and flippant
i am not needed
and so aside cast
succubi schema
sunsetting sense
i don’t know
where i go
it is the
sense of nothing, absence.
my body simultaneously there
and gone. i feel
some of it. pleasure
sneaks seductively up into
my sinew and bones.
i always wonder who
was first
which of the ******
spirits presiding amongst my
cells was the first
to see
sumptuous sunlight
as his evening
seeps into me
squeezing into the
small spaces where i
still exist, i flux
both small and sprawling
my void form changes
with me, taking direction
from my wandering thoughts
“was he born here?”,
i inquire
ineffably to no one.
expecting an answer, none
comes. just the squawk
of *** and sheets,
vibrato voices
vigorous, vehement.
couldn’t say who
was first out
but i’m first
up today, rays rousing
from sleep and stupor.
i see her with
my eyes for the
first time, curled up
like a kitten, exhausted
of the evening’s destruction.
cast into her shoulder,
his teeth
show i’m the stranger
here. like mine but
aren’t. can’t be. never
met me. still, she
serenely slumbers
silent, sensuously
voiceless now in
his void, we
are finally separate.
abandoned to the labors
of the morning, infernal
impulses satiated, i go
method, best impression donned.
she is, obviously, confused
by the reality of
me. former affection burning
away like vampire’s flesh
in light of day
succubi’s *******
now gone dry. so
too it’s mosquito’s charm
subtle and soft, now
irritated, vulnerable. hurt. and
alone i
am again.
Feb 26, 2025
Feb 26, 2025 at 7:04 PM UTC
in the bottoms
the lowest points
tesseract echos
of clicking jaws
clamping down
clacking shut
with voices
murmuring in between
the soft augur
exfoliating down
a sandpaper of teeth
garrote out
in such
kind supply
and velvet layers
fluttering through
so soft
this psyche
crash pad
a spiral
funneled down
or out?
dunno but
scribbly sounds
reverb around
greatful dead
demonic retiree
homely calling
there there
even evil
gives a break
just be
all ideas
struggle to
swim so
float a spell
Feb 26, 2025
Feb 26, 2025 at 7:00 PM UTC
did you ever close your eyes tight as a kid?
i mean, REALLY tight. Tight™.
so tight that the dark gives way
to deeper dark which, inexplicably,
explodes into starburst sparkles of abyss,
dark-light shimmering like eyelid fireworks
Lawrence’s nethers, bemoaning bavarians
and gloom, black blooms blossoming all
around
keep squeezing. keep looking, head bowed low
do you see the mad shadows now?
at first dancing geometric, measured
soon to vanish spectrally into the void
then – back! now embracing iteration
forward-thinking in their anti-euclidean considerations
midnight backdrop finally filling with colors; form
the first cracks of crimson breaking forth, shaping
it
don’t give up now. I wouldn't. he wouldn’t.
mama didn’t raise no quitter now, did she?
(or whatever aphorism gets you going
just get there) have you? good. stay.
for me, those shards of red form rivers
tributaries of some inner sanctum
a breach in the boundless black on black
static, silent and solemn, shhhhhhhhs
the space in-between paradoxically shifts. Then,
we
finally see it. the impossible pool. the reflection
somehow gleaming through white noise to a
subtle blue-sable flow, rippling ever-outward
can you see yourself? no? keep looking down.
i do, my face embarrassingly younger than i’d like to admit
vanity finding me even here, even at the core of my being
for a moment, all is peace. calm. christ-like in repose
memories flood forth, ajna working overtime
these ones don’t smack so sour, more often than not
in my father's favorite dives, only dregs in his glass
remain
but, like all tides, it turns. the backwash bitter
acerbic, odorous. the brimstone feel of it confuses
i’m half-expecting to be boiled by a burst of flame
none comes. the pool simply calms, somehow hellishly frozen
it is a mirror now, harsh and unyielding. i stayed too long (did you?)
nostalgia holds my neck down at first, but only just. they
rush forth, recollections forming a phalanx. a salvo.
Ah! – but water does better than fused sand can at
justifying a god's ways to man. and so, it gives.
blasting upward, each now an arrowhead, rending rifts across me
traumatic bear trap sprung, Nemesis on Narcissis punishing
a hubris apparently deserving the maximum sentence of
always
i know what happened to Liropie’s son, gazing longingly into the depths
of his pool, Echo’s pining just ringing out for the first time
how his ardent passion, his primordial linage, burned him
from the inside out. he melted, that child of **** and regality
his tears rending deep rifts, a hunter in bittersweet appreciation
for the trap he understood himself to be snared within. he knew
he'd never leave. must have, storied slayer that he was.
a wounded gazelle in denial, bargaining with the Fates frivolously
he knew the score, packed it in. burst forth into molten golds
and whites. rebirthed radicles reaching for a new day
yet the sky above bears down, ever down, to the vengeful mirror below
always is always, ya know? i get it. but i find myself asking
how long did it take? how long did he bow and bleed?
how long before he made himself a karmic ingot? before
sorry.
Feb 26, 2025
Feb 26, 2025 at 6:59 PM UTC