warning, explicit content**
I F E E L ******A D R I G H T N O W
Y O U D O N T S E E M A F F E C T E
D A T A L L A N D I W A N N A C R Y
A L L T H E T I M E W H Y D O E S I T
G E T                                                   O U T
Y O U              why the ****              A R E
T H E              didn't you stay           W O E
T R Y                  was I not                 I N G
T O H            worth your time          U R T
H U R                                                  T M E
A L W A Y S E N D U P T H I S W A Y W
I T H M E H O L D I N G T H B A G L I K
E A N I D I O T I A L W A Y S E N D U P
B E I N G T H E O N E W H O C A R E D

You were soft
Soft to the touch
Smooth like glass
But warm
Like the heat
Of a bathroom
After a shower
You were sweet
Like crisp white wine
Your bubbles
Rushed to my head
I forget
Like I forgot last time
Brittle bones
Are always buried
Under soft dirt
Oh so soft

Your intentions remain a mystery,
Like ancient language scrawled on stone,
I do not understand your secrecy,
A perverse desire to remain unknown.

You always were so foreign to me,
No matter the hours spent at dusty tomes,
No knowledge gained of any degree,
As I searched your glyph-filled catacombs.

But in brief, fleeting moments,
I swear I understood
Your hidden dialect of expression,
As your cold air blew
And I breathed you in.

Oh winds
Bring snow
To blot out this day
Sweet white blanket
Covers the land
Holds me tight
Creates adventure
Over lead-paint landscape
Surreal
And oh so quiet

The man in the uniform smoked a cigarette.
"Oh, how they beat against
the rubber walls.  Stuffed fists
battering with urgency.
It made my heart sad,
as we closed the lid on this one.
My eyes caught the dinosaur boy.
A small stuffy lad, with cracking eyes.
His "mama" was wrapped around him
I suppose
that's what you do
when you are a snake.
Despite the frayed fur, he still had a smile
I could hear her voice in my mind.
[bring him]
A tear welled up as this was the end for them.
I knew it, and they knew it too.
Brains like mashed potatoes,
but still full of common sense.
[bring me]
His furry flesh was used but soft.
I really wish that I could
rewind the clock on this.
I remember that lad on the swingset.
He fell and got *****.
I took him in the bath with me."
[bring me]
The man puffed on his cigarette as he closed the toy box
"I wish I could bring you, Rex.
But I'm a grown-up now.
And grown-ups don't bring toys to work with them."

[bring us]

She tied a black ribbon around my wrist
Like a dark lake reflecting moonlight
And in my enchantment, I missed
The ribbon was tied far too tight

She tied a black ribbon around my neck
So cold on my skin like ice
And in my fervor, I failed to see
The ribbon was knotted up thrice

She tied a black ribbon around my heart
Winding its way through my veins
She gave a tug, and I gave a start
As her ribbon turned out to be chains

Your arms grow tired
When you
Bear a heavy axe

With hard hammers and soft glibness
They approached the forest,
It's encroaching majesty looming,
threatening to overwhelm

Sharp tools were used to trim,
To tear and rend through supple vine,
Felling great trees
As flames engulfed the underbrush

Each man and woman smiled,
exchanging thoughtful pleasantry,
Hi-fives and good-hearted jokes;
Completion of a hard days task

They returned the next day,
Trucks full of building materials,
Tools in rough calloused hands
Only to find the forest renewed

The forest had returned
With a mighty vengeance,
Unapologetic at it's thicker growth,
Looming over the workers

Greater tools of destruction were wielded
Attacking the forest,
Until barely a stem or stump stood
And cries of shared victory echoes

Yet the following day
The forest stood again, in quiet majesty,
Man and woman will never learn;
No matter the tinkering
We are not the masters of nature
But mastered by it

Every wall I make, you tear down
Every wish I have, you deny it
You devalue every effort made
And highlight my mistakes
No matter how many times I hold out my hand
You always feel the urge to bite it
And I'll never understand why you are
Compelled to attack me

No sweeter treat
Than knowledge you're among
A true community

Black blood
Pools on a white marble floor
Naked blade
Lying menacingly
Stares at you accusingly
They were there one minute
Gone the next
Slipping through your fingers
Still vermillion shades
Staining fingertips
As you shiver
Shiver so cold
Wishing a thousand wishes
For a friend and truest kindness
To wash you clean
To see your mistakes
And still, see you
Black blood
Pooling between ivory toes
The greatest error of your life
And no one
Is left
To help you clean it up

No matter the wish
You will reap
Crops you sew

How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways
Not a finger shall I straighten
In my computation
As I recount my lamentation
At the havoc that you wrought
No calculator needed
As I reconcile my thesis
Such low number needs no genius
Nor exertion of my thought
For such a pitiable sum
Is understood by deaf and dumb
Neither finger nor my thumb
Nor mathematics bureau
Should be dispatched to this cause
In simple algebraic laws
With your love so full of flaws
My counting is rested now at zero

Witness wonder in all forms
It's always happening around you

-in honor of Matthew Hennigan, Vinson Adkinson and everyone else who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their brothers and sisters in arms, you are missed every day

Oh, sweet empty mountain
in your quiet majesty,
Overwatching flowing rivers
meandering through a hushed valley,
And the sparsely growing forest
littered with ruins of times forgot,
In this silent, flowing landscape
for which many nations have fought

Oh, the things you've seen oh mountain,
from triumph to betrayal
To lovers' first awkward kiss,
and children battling so playful
And in waves, you saw it change,
one year peace, the next year tense
You have witnessed arc of all mankind,
each and every sad offense

You witnessed the day when they sat
upon your steep marble mountainside,
Wrapped in ratty tan blankets,
whose purpose was to let them hide
And fingers lay on naked triggers,
muzzles pointed to the road
Cloaked men carried bandoliers,
so their gunners needn't reload

And in the early dawn of light,
the first 'crack' echoed off your side
As a battlefield erupted,
the roaring of a violent fight
Oh, you ancient hunk of rock,
overseeing all as many died
In the distance could you hear,
the faint sound as we all cried?

Rest in peace you glorious *******
I love you Matty and Vinny
I'll see you again one day

So quickly,
Your blade flew
Severing strings
To this world.

You think you know
But do we
Truly understand ourselves?

Your heart
Like stone
Cracks not for weapons
But words

Sweet beautiful untruths
To ease bitter pills
Are still lies

A griffon fights leviathan upon my left forearm
As phoenix rises underneath, regal rebirth from the war

Clouds adorn my bicep
Created as a place to play
For curious birds drawn out of bones;
Symbols of life's pain

A charm is etched into my chest
To ward away the wickedness,
That surrounds me on my path

And cheaply done tribal
on my right shoulder,
A remnant to teenage aftermath

A mural of light and dark is juxtaposed
From left to right upon my back
Serves me as a guiding light
And reminds me of my proper track

Art is created of many forms
And each of their beauties is akin
I am living cautionary tale
And a gorgeous canvas made of skin

The words are thick on my tongue
And fall forward like like drunken intentions
Piling at our feet like useless sand
Spilled from the hourglass of our lives
And spreading like dust around the room
Never reaching your ears
To be translated effectively
Into the message I wanted you to hear
I think you would have changed your mind
And understood the path I'd walked
But I am bound by the limits of words
Ethereal and insubstantial
And my human mastery of language
Is lacking

You feast
and grow stronger
as I fade
slowly away

Love, unlike pizza,
is never good the next day
after it has grown cold

If you dream you are a bird, you cannot wake to flight
If you dream you are a shark, teeth and gills shall not come
You may dream of wrongs being righted
And of fair and deserving treatment for all
But your dreams will ring hollow
For dreams are beautiful errands for fools
That come freely without consequence
And change happens in waking hours
Which is paid for in blood, sweat, and tears

In nature, beauty and strength coalesce
In nature, only the strong survive
In nature, strength determines life's longevity
Be strong I think, as I open my front door

Why do people disagree
With such fire in their voice
When a disagreement can be punctuated
With a handshake and pleasant goodbye?