They say you crack your teeth on pearls
But I hope your bite breaks on steel coins
That line your pocket
For mine is filled with a pocket watch
To stay neat and tidy and right on time
Yours is heavy
With dirt and grime
From wicked jobs
And spreading crime
With any God
You'd be doing time
And I'd be there to visit you
With full-toothed grin
To turn the screws
And you can count that I'd have mine
A pocket watch
So I'm right on time

Tin cups
rattle steel bars
no birds
no bees
no sounds of cars
on open freeway
far and wide
chains and manacles
stuck inside
a makeshift shiv
of broken picture frame
wrapped in leather
oiled in soap
each passing day
diminishes hope
until I can't
take anymore
I carve each day
on my front door

We have ridden along this winding river
For decades in a long-forgotten life
As empty beer cans float along beside
Mending lines and sharpening knives

We never caught a single fish
As we float along at fate's design
We shared this sad excuse for a boat
With only each other to pass the time

i was
always
sweet

so she
viewed
me
like marbled
piece
of meat

a tasty
treat

I was
cured
like
blood-
touched
marmalade

and there
i laid

what
a scrumptious
snack
i made

lustfully
she picked
my bones
so clean

no soul
left
to give
my corpse
a shining
sheen

your face appears
in each glassy hallway
labyrinthine memories
blue eyes reflected
to my own
your sweet smile
juxtaposed
against my aged face
each shaking finger
wanting to cup your chin
but only touching
cold & flat

'Oh, for tools of humankind
  Be rage and machines of war
    For fires to burn of heavens
      And grace be lost in clang of anvil

'Oh, for tools to take
  That which belongs to none
    The tangling of wicked souls
      Seen on faces of the empty

'Oh, for tools in usage
  Forged in fires burning blue
    Make paths away from redemption
      And build infinite worlds, absent grace

Oh I can't stop these words
tumbling and falling
from empty spaces in my head
as they ride the wicked helix
from here to hell and back again
on fettering wings like bats
that get caught in angel hair spaghetti
that gets flushed down the toilet with all the other
goldfish crackers

Each shouting head
surrounds me in rings of fire
with one desire
to watch me burn
as they hula-hoop with rubic's cubes on boomerangs
set for mars or maybe Seattle

Sometimes it's just this way for me
with my mind floating free
like butterflies in nets
or sickly flies in butter
waiting for the spread
but you know it's 10 to 1
and I'm about to get knocked out
I hope you didn't place your bets
on me

I wish the endless stream of consciousness
didn't feel like emptiness
with the only ears that listen
are glued to my head
like Halloween costumes
when Jason stole my candy, called me a dandy,
and ran the hell away

It's really hard to describe
when words won't take logical form
like being gaslighted by my own brain
who wears red ribbons
and plays with ***** of yarn
on rolling farms
as the cow jumped over the moon

But if you think that the cow
was a sight to behold
my imagination's untold secrets
got something for your mental circus
I just saw purple hydras on amino acid trips
riding unicycles
wearing diapers
hanging out with Picasso
who said
"What does this poem even mean, bruh?"

Scream not and be bidden savagery
as weathered is rock wall in raging sea
when broken is the sword you swung
but held tight is handle in your determined grip

Slide
out of broken glass beer bottles
to greet the yellow sun
as we pack our van together.
Lurch
onto baking highways
as i inhale your salty sweat
and feed on all your essence.
Ignite
those feelings of passion
you echo drummed away
into our white lace desert.
Pale
against the glowing horizon
your bleached contrary
visage in moonlight.
Awash
in feelings that you hate
for making you wonder
if you took the wrong trip.
Wallow
in the evening breeze
that builds its spite
at all your battles lost.
Allow
yourself a chaser
of barley and rye
mixed with laudanum.
Yell
in fury as you're tangled
in our white lace desert
as you wasted away with me.

Oh, in a faraway land
It stands, of deepest black
The great lighthouse
Judging us, weighing us
As we're measured
And found to lack

No seams of stone
Nor hollow sound
Nor doorway made for us
A midnight fortress
Set to sunny skies
As landscape turns to rust

It's ghostly light
Brings naught,
Absent of illumination
And so it's stood
As quiet sentinel
Passed down from crumbling nations

Devoid of any human sound
Quiet as graves
And cold as ice
No one dares touch
It's absolute surface
For fear of its dark price

For all of eternity
It has stood
And watched you on your journey
From rage to joy
And love and loss
The lighthouse observes your yearning

Free,
     Flying,
          Floating,
                 Flags,
                      Folded,
                            Following,
                                    Funeral,
                                            Rites.

Like flour in baked goods,
You must always measure your words,
With appropriate weight,
For the situation addressed,
If you want your speech to convey,
The correct and proper message