Was it expected?
Did I lie?
Could I prevent it?
Could I try not to cry?

Was it routine?
Did you sigh?
What else could you do?
You needed to fly.

It phases through dimensions
Each one like it,
A target,
A food source.

This ride may be your last.
Did you hug your wife?
Kiss the children?
Going up!

Never has the button been pushed
Harder, or more frantically,
Than this moment.
Bones crack together.

The Shining took inspiration,
Borrowed from true horror.
The stained door closes.
Next floor.

The trench beckons.
I dropped an item,
Years ago,
And I want it back.

The pressure builds,
But the glass holds
And the creatures stare,
Curious, at the alien.

The trench swallows.
Darkness in the descent.
A keen eye will not help.
The picture in my mind calls.

The pressure overcomes.
My glass shield shatters.
The sea caresses,
And I've found it.

Anchored again.

What's this? What's this?
What a contraption.
Analysis indicates the need for electricity.
A possible heating unit? Fascinating.

All that remains are these relics.
This wasteland is littered with artifacts,
Ancient and rusting.
Will I become this death?

He checked his watch.
1 2 3 1 2 3
Slowly ascending into madness.
1 2 3 1 2 3
How long had it been?
1 2 3 1 2 3
Those times seemed to fade.
And twirl!
Her eyes alive in passion.
The slow dip.
Grace defined, and he dropped her.
Bow.

The universe is ever expanding.
Space doesn't end,
And it keeps going.
There is beauty in the nothingness.
Nebulas painted across what we call the sky.
Time marches, eons pass,
Plasma and dirt and ice remain.
We are a blip.
An anomaly that manifested.
But if not for us,
Who would know the terrifying awe
of the cosmos?

The universe is ever expanding.
Space doesn't end,
And it keeps going.
There is beauty in the nothingness.
Nebulas painted across what we call the sky.
Time marches, eons pass,
Plasma and dirt and ice remain.
We are a blip.
An anomaly that manifested.
But if not for us,
Who would know the terrifying awe
of the cosmos?

Let's bend at your angles.
Be equilateral at your sides.
I'm an x on your y axis,
And I'm plotting your points.

When it arrived
No man can say.
It may have been here
Since the beginning,
Waiting to be discovered.

Now it sits, studied,
Watched by the world.
Black and reflective,
With the occasional ripple
Running across the surface.

It's purpose is unclear.
For all it does,
All it has ever done,
Is float there.
Slowly spinning on its axis.

Smooth to the touch,
Not warm, not cold.
Its atomic and chemical
Structures are unidentified.
The cube is a mystery.

Sirens wail,
Klaxons flash in warning.
We watch with bated breath.
What does it mean?
A fragment lies on the floor.

A body on a tile floor
Eventually heats the tile
Much like a body in a blanket
Heats the space.

Absorbing and producing.
Giving and taking
At once, there is balance.
Everything the same.

We’ve grown older, wiser,

But never less hilarious.

That's you, but not really.
See there? The bends and cracks?
That can't be you.
But you look the same.

I can no longer see what I used to.
Things are so different now.
That can't be me.
But I look the same.

Each time the image is seen,
It is no longer who we were.
That's us, but not really.
But we look the same.

Oh S
           H
                   I
                          T
                                   That hurts.

The floor is hard, cold
And I am sick of being on it.

She rages.
Everything is not as it should be.
Freedom is close,
But not yet.

The burden is one that cannot be borne.
Destroy it, embrace it.
He accepts both.


The choice decides him.

Come come, let’s give you a tour.
This place hold many things,
I’ll point them all out to you.
Follow close now, this will be quick.

Here are the rocks.
You can see that some of them have cracked.
If not turned frequently,
They will shatter.

This used to be the garden.
Colors, vegetation, life,
All used to reside here.
Neglect has left it rotten and bare

Locked behind this door,
Sealed away,
This we cannot see
Others have forbidden it

The bedroom here is quaint.
Decorated with someone else.
Everything was selected and chosen
Just as it should be.

Ah, here we have a place of solitude
Many a thought, pondered here.
The sterile white provides
Excellent space.

The yard lacks.
Stubble litters the lawn.
These fake plastic flamingos
Are to be burned.

This barely works anymore.
There used to be entertainment here.
I can’t bear how hard it used to be
Just to turn the **** thing on.

That concludes the tour.
I hope you saw everything you wanted.
Don’t stare at the windows too hard
On the way out.

Ignite

Combust

I lost the drive



Cease

Exhaust

I’m still alive

Twenty-seven and it's all unraveled
Nothing makes any ******* sense
I can be sorry for hours
Invalid, unless I repent

Chance missed me, I waved
I'd rather let it pass me by untouched
For those I've wronged, disappointment
For myself, I prefer unfucked

Wallow, complain, whatever it is
Nights alone and you're right there
The skull unfractured, inside a blender
The blanket unravels, leaving bare.

The astronaut is lucky
Space is vast and empty
His vessel millions of miles
From anyone to hurt

Alone with his emotions
The astronaut watches the stars
Burning, radiating, slowly dying
Much like the feelings in his breast

The absence of gravity
Does not allow the force needed
Will not allow him
To propel his ship into the stars

For they are too far
Much like the astronaut
Too far to harm
The distance is too great

Take a step
Breathe
Take a step
Off the edge

Fall free into the air
Nothing is up
Nothing is down
Floating in freefall

Wind meanders by
Your body speeds
To somewhere
But the mind is behind

The air has stopped now
Were you in distress?
Or did you imagine that?
Either way, you’re finished now

Falling ends at the bottom
Of the endless nether
The ground creeps up
Then your body assaults it

Laying on the concrete
Waking from a dream
Brush yourself off
And take a step off the edge

Oh how I long
After an endless day
To lay by you
You soft skin on mine

Our bed
Place of safety and love

Your face brightens
Eyes alight
What have I done?
Such a vision

Beauty
Easily said
Harder to explain
That's what you are

Hold me
Don't let go

Everything is
Fine with you
Great with you
Wonderful with you

My love
My darling
My life

I dream of darkness
Its all that I do
No matter when I'm asleep
Its always that hue
Behind my eyes
There is no movie
A broken projector
No signs to move me
I can't make believe
I can't see farther
My own mind
I can't even author
I'm blank.

I'm tired
My body is older
My mind weighs more
Decisions are everywhere
Politics is suddenly relevant
The state of the world is not good
I hope I can make it through life at all
Happiness seems more elusive every day
My future is ever uncertain and unclear and scary
And every single day seems to get worse and worse
Does this madness not end do the trials not cease and why
Why is it so?
I'm so tired

Winds whip wildly
Cold completely caresses
Fire flees from
Sight swiftly smoldering
Ashes arrive abruptly
Death deals discretely
People plea profusely
“God! Give grace!”
Lacking love, lamenting
Rage, riot, refusal
To try tediously
Being bold believers

I am a poet
And as such, a fool
For it's stories they want
Great tales, heroes too
They want lies and adventure
They don't bother with poems
They'd rather read trash
They want gossip and news
They don't want the truth
They equate poems to math
Poetry is bland
Too tasteless
No ACTION
Give us the movies, the tv, the game
Yet, so am I guilty the same,
I admit
Great poets have stayed
In history writ
But what of today?
I can't name one poet now
Were I not a poet!
Would I even know how?

We live in a world of storms
No shelter to be had
Outside they rage on
Inside they destroy
War, Famine, Hurricanes,
Daily threaten the living
Depression, Anxiety, Fear,
Daily threaten the sane

He came to me with a cry of help
in his voice and his demeanor,
I felt a feeling too dreaded
Empathy
So lost on human souls that it is weakness
I listened to his tale
an accident,
a sister in need
I went with him, understanding coursing through my foolish mind
And we walked
And we waited
And we parted

Later, after I had recounted my story to others
I had learned
Scandal, lies,
a robbery
I had lost everything and more
The good deed I had committed was a lie,
a farce
I had helped him and been ravaged
My empathy and understanding
filled instead with pure rage
I had been nice
I would no longer
and if I saw him again
well, nothing…...

Wow, what even is this?
Terrible, terrible.
Why do you even bother, it’s no good
Thanks, now get out.
I admit I’m not the next Frost
I may not even be the next anyone.
So, without further ado, I’m sorry.
I apologize.
I’m sorry Blake, Burns, Wordsworth.
I’m sorry Poe, Frost, Ginsburg.
I’m sorry Plath, Petersen, Bremer.
I’m sorry Church, Winter, Dychkowski.
I don’t measure up, I don’t even rhyme
Selfishness is my reason for this
Feelings on paper and thoughts in obscurity
All written without form, no scheme
Is it real if it doesn’t make sense?
I’m not stopping, no, I’ll persevere
But I offer up these apologies to those who are poets
Somehow I got labeled with you
Somehow I ended up here.
Poetry. My one stay. An escape I can always turn to.
I’m sorry.
My apologies.
Forgive my excuse.

Let me breathe
I want to expand
I want to fill in a space that’s missing
Let me break
Shatter into a million
Insignificant pieces
Just like the inside
Let me fly
Anywhere else
Bring only what I need
Leave you and them
Let me feel
Some accomplishment
Some feeling that isn’t
Complete and utter uselessness
Let me scream
At you
At me
At the world
Let me show
My passions and
My bleeding heart
You will know me
Let me free
To be myself
To think for myself
To start again
Let me be
Stop
Stop
Stop making me you
Let me rebuild
Sweep my pieces together and
Glue them
Maybe they won’t break
Let me sleep
One way or
Another
Mine or yours
Let me dream
Eternally
Or just the night
I need this

I, being just a simple man
Lost myself for
Oh, probably way too long.
Very near the edge of reality
Each day dragged on
Yet, when I saw her
Often, I may add,
Underneath, everything left
Bringing me something new
A feeling that I still carry
Because I see her almost
Everyday and I could
Swear. I love her.

One by one, through the machine
I’ve watched them go, boys and girls
Not yet mature, not yet solidified
They come out different, I barely recognize
Some I can still see, changed but still intact
One by one, through the machine
I’ve been there too
The fear, the expectation, what was I doing
Could I object, they said I could
I never believed it
One by one, through the machine
Every day, someone goes in someone comes out
I’m pained because I know it
I firmly want to explain to them
And to those who will others in
One by one, through the machine
They come out soulless,
Are they dead inside or have they found it
I never did, but I wasn’t ready
Who says that you have to
One by one, through the machine
But on who’s terms are we going?

She asked and I delivered
But of course I didn’t mind so much
That’s what you do isn’t it?
Give and take?
I always heard is said when I was young
A relationship, it’s a give and take
You give, they take
So far, I haven’t seen it that way
In fact, I feel selfish
I keep this girl to myself
I refuse to share
So if a relationship is a give and take
I guess I’m breaking up with you
Goodbye cruel world
You’re done taking from me
For now, I’m giving all I have to her

Like a dryer is the human mind
Sopping wet and rolling around
Everything succumbs to heat
Shrinks, tears, fades
Everything

Even the sock gets lost in the dryer
And yet one remains
A half of a whole that can no longer be complete
One sock
Gone forever

Do we mourn the lost
Where is the vigil?
A sock mourned is a thought lost
An idea that can never be
Static we never feel again

Would that I were lost at sea
Isn’t that best place to be?

Drowning or rotting, afloat or adrift
Searching, hoping, waiting for a gift

Sharks below, or sharks above
Depends on your view of what you once loved

Where were you going
A cruise or just boating

You ended up here through no fault of your own
Yet now you must live on the path that’s been sewn

Feeling scared and abandoned
Not what you planned on?

Say a prayer or stay silent
Get calm or stay violent

Get a grip on that mind
Solace you’ll never find

The ocean doesn’t care for you
Hell, can everyone join in too?

Alone in the ocean is where you’ll belong
Alone in the ocean is where you went wrong

I saw a man dead today
Head on
Chest liquid
Legs no longer
The truck he collided with
Totaled
A human sized dent
The bike he rode
Destroyed
The compressions don’t help
Though many try
Human’s banded together for one man
Who stood no chance

In this death I learned
There is good in this world
In this death I learned
There is sadness
Once a friend
Gone for now
Yet he lives on in the friends he rode with
Those who witnessed that horrific incident
I did not know him
I never saw his face
We prayed for him
For those he was with
For those who have seen
For those who grieve
For ourselves

I saw a man dead today
But remembered why we live