Sometimes
You have to send
Good men
Out into the night
To do evil things
&
Hope they comeback

In the Sahara
Grows a Tulip
From the day
We met

In the Antarctic
A Black Rose
Fights against the ice
The day we pronounced
Our love for each other

Light has reached
A Black Hole
In the deepest of space
&
Will survive it
Penetrating it
Mercilessly

Where nothing can grow
Where nothing living can survive
You will find us there
Our love
Our beating hearts
Together
Entwined

Stood there waiting
Staring, unblinking
Pitch dark
Could make out the front door
The silver on the counter
That’s it
5...10
Minutes go by
Wanting something
Anything
To come through
A
Silhouette
A
Face
A
Hand
Even if cold & dead
To touch me
In the darkness
To let me know
I’m not alone
‘I’m here...ready to be haunted.’

Nothing
Even the spirits
Have better things to do

Everyone from the age of 10 knows that the best
Sick Day
Movie is ‘The Princess Bride’
Even if you’re playing hooky
‘What about The Empire Strikes Back?’
Asks my 10 year old
And now I have to rethink
Everything

I don’t even care about words right now...just want to stare at pictures of you all day...

It’ll be so wicked
Someday
To lick the juice
Of our fruited sin
Off of your chin
&
Body

I’ll plant
The Forbidden Tree
In our garden
So we can pull
The fruit
Off
Any ******* time
We please

Gentrification has ruined art...
Food Collectives replaced the trumpeter
In the window
3 bedroom 2 bath condos
Slaughtered the *****
On the rainy street
...
There isn’t any **** side of town
Anymore
No starving artist
No one selling repentance soup
3 for a $1
Newspapers for 25 cents
To look for deadend jobs
....
Art dwindles on empty canvas
Poets are a dime a dozen tho
‘Check out my page’
‘Like my stuff’
Poems that go nowhere
******* we’re suffering
Enough
.....
Just an oncoming storm
That never seems to get here

She was the only one amongst the many that called me friend
Upon my exile
My going away
And shutting it all down
To be alone
The only one
Who found me
And asked
‘Are you okay?’

A woman should know when a man cries for her...and her alone

Behind those three thousand
Followers
Behind those plastic pouty lip poses
500+ Likes
Mouse ears & nose
Doe eyed filters
Hearts
Behind the
‘What does everyone think?’
Lies
a
Very sad & lonely
Soul
If there is one at all

And if you keep their scent away
From our bed and I do too
Then I’ll just love you and you alone

Was doing just fine
Lost in the crowd
Page after page
When your song came on

Instead of turning it
I let it sink in
Remembering everything
You said to me

Everything

We exist out there somewhere
Always have
Maybe not of this earth
Or of this universe
This strain of time
But we’re out there
With our
Planted Tree
Our shared dreams
Our unlimited time
And place
I can’t wait to get back there
With you...

The Wise Ones
Might’ve lived when they were
Younger
Did as their parents told them to
Had that one love
That artist
Of words
And requisite
Of art
That gave them the world
That dreamer
But then they wised up
Got their bills paid
Had their babies
Their heartache
Got older
Put their hopes
&
Dreamers away
Settled
For this life

And dying in their beds
With that last bill paid
They’ll smile and think
Of their dreamer
Their artist
Of words
&
Wished
They had taken a
Chance

But they were wise
Not to do so ...

Somewhere out there...
In all that cold...
All that
D
          A
                     R
                               K

Is a good woman
Ready to be loved
By a good man
If only
She’d let me go...

Those ghosts hiding in your heart
Will soon take form not only in your mind
But you’ll see them in the day
Corners of your eye
First thing in the morning
Last thing at night
Specters
Phantoms
Shadows
You’ll be the only one
That sees them
I hope you rid yourself of them
Soon
Just let me haunt you one more
Night
To say goodbye to your body
Goodbye
To your soul

She follows me
Might be 20 or so
Messages me
‘You’re new...
‘Your Words are raw...
‘Inventive...
‘They cut to the bone...
‘Beautiful poetry...
I say thanks
She messages me again
‘Any advice to give?’
‘Yeah, dont write another poem
‘About the ******* Blood Moon...
‘It’s spent...
She doesn’t respond but
Unfollows

And so it came to pass
On the eleventh hour
On the eleventh year of
Her demise
A
Sojourn
Was convened as a final
Will and Testament
Was finally processed
And just by happenstance
A lover of hers appeared
Long grayed
Frayed
And tattered by years
For his appearance
Was summoned for matters
As he was included
In her final sentence
Her final wishes
‘As for my dearest...’
The estate
With it’s abandoned greenhouses
Cobwebbed interiors
Failing structure
On the outside
Were his
........
And as he made his way
Haphazardly around
The lonely walk
His boots clanking on the floors
Room to room to what was
Now his property
Remembering
Fondly
The love made there
The smells of fresh
Lilac
Her gait
Her hair
Touch
Shuddered him to think
As he made way round each corner
‘Was that her?’
Couldn’t be
A giggle
Clank clank
His boots made
Dining hall
Chairs covered in slips
Cobwebs
Candelabra where they burned
For hours
As we sipped endless bottles of wine
‘We did didn’t we?’
A whisper
Quickly turn around
Nothing
Room fills with the frigid
See my breath
And there
Couldn’t be
Beloved Gwenivere
‘Dine with me once more my love...’
Twas but a trap
To keep him forever...

You’re the fire
I’ll never be
Able
To
Put out...
.
Ever
.
I should just
Accept
That
.
Even on my
Deathbed
.
I’ll look past
Everyone
.
For you...

Beloved
The best ones
That were written about you
Were the ones written by my
Heart
When you were
1000 Light Years From Me
I had nothing to do with it

Birth
Kindergarten
High School
College
First love
Marriage
He cheats
Divorce
Settled for lovers
Move in
Work, Sleep, Get Up
Repeat X20 Years
Stuck
Traffic
Bosses
Work, Sleep, Get Up
Remarry
X5 Years
Old Knees
Worry About Work on Vacation
She Cheats
Divorce
** Hum
X3 Years
Buried Parents
Not Paying Attention
Near Death Experience
‘I love you My Children...’
Quits Job
Plane Ticket
Nepal
Everest
‘WeHaveToTurnBack!!!’
‘IHaveToDoThis! IDontKnowWhyButIJustDo!’
Summits
Freezes to Death at
28,000 Feet
^^^^^^^^^^^^

Tonight
When you come to me
In my dreams
And you hold onto me
Tight

................stay...............
All thru the
Night

I can’t wait sometimes
For this life to end
So I can ask
God
Allah
Buddha
Great Spirit
Hey Zeus
Steve McQueen
Jack Kerouac
Coronado Cortez
All those *******
Just why
Why
They gave you to me
To love for only
A small amount of time

The only answer I’ll accept
The only answer I’ll believe
From any of those *******
Would be:
‘Because I just felt like ******* with your heart...’

And if you’ve already put his last name behind your first...
You’re so ******

You are my reminder
That my soul needs more
Love
Than my body

The absolute worst feeling
In the world
Is taking a nap
In the afternoon
Sunlit
Everything familiar
And waking up
To darkness
Night
Not knowing where you
Are
Disoriented
Pained
Wanting to cry
Scared of being alone
Of being hurt by
Someone you love
.
I’m sure there’s other things
That are worse
But afternoon naps
That lead to night
No good can come from...

‘Look at the moon! It’s so beautiful...’
‘We should get a soda...’
‘Are you hungry? I’m hungry.’
‘My Mom & Dad are kinda crazy, all parents are aren’t they?’
‘I know it’s hot but we should turn the ac off and roll the windows down...’
‘Guys are jerks sometimes...’
‘I thought you were cute...’
laughing ‘DONT UNTIE MY SHOES!!! YOU SILLY!!!!’
‘I wanna go to Europe someday...’
‘You read too?!’
‘I had SOOO MUCH FUN!!!’
‘You like me? Really? Aww Eric....I like you too...’
‘I don’t want this night to ever end.
‘I don’t want to go home...I want to stay with you...’
‘Look at the moon...it’s so beautiful.’

July 17th 1999
It was a Saturday
Humid night
You had a white t shirt on
I remember everything you told me that night
Even if I don’t remember
Anything I said

It’ll be years from now
The planets will align
Once more
Just for but a moment...
.
‘I can be there by 6pm...’
By bus you say
And me in my 50s, maybe even
My 60s
Watching you get off
That Greyhound bus
In Toledo
Slow motion
Making my heart
Feel 18 again
Once more
Just for but a moment...

Comets come along
Once, twice, maybe ten
Times in a lifetime
Linked at the hip
People meet in
Strange and beautiful ways
And the keyhole
To your heart and soul
Can only fit those comets
Those once, twice, maybe ten
Souls that fly by you
To help you navigate in the
Nighttime sky
For the rest of your life...
‘You’re my tribe, whatever tribe this is...’
You just know it
You just feel it
When you’re around them

Sometimes life declares war on you
Without you knowing it
Years pass by
Decades even
Before you know it
.....
But small victories reside
Before surrender
Even tho
Life takes the best parts
Leaves you with graying
Memories
....
The laughter of your children
The home that lies within your
Mother
The road to your childhood
Home
Summers with a beloved.
All small victories
In a war
That life always takes...

When I close my eyes
You’re still dancing
17
Smell of fireworks
In the air
Everyone left for home
We were buzzing but
We made love
In my car
You said I was your first

And to hold onto til morning
And I did
Together for 2 years

When we broke there was no
Drama
2005
Found out you’d passed
Traveled across 5 states
For my dancer in the dark
I know you know this
But I stayed until everyone
Had gone
Your mom came up to me
Told me
‘You were her favorite...
‘She told me she wanted a family with you...’
I was doing okay until she told me
That
And I cried with her
Like everyone else
I could live to 100 and you’ll always
be
27
But in the moonlight
You’ll always be
17