I can fake my identity and try to look happy,
but its all just a cover.
Take a swig from the flask and remove the last mask
only to find another.

There was once a time when I knew myself,
but now I'm not so sure.
All semblance of self-worth lay eroding in the dirt,
and its all thanks to her.

It's not really her fault, I'm truly to blame.
I grew selfish out of fear.
Afraid of being alone, I couldn't let her go
and now she's nowhere near.

I fell asleep with my
Face against her young neck
Dreaming of silken skies
Above velvet oceans that
Saw me sink and sink
And sink
Undrowning.

I can be an angry man.
Dead things that won't do as I wish
Tend to break.

Leaving behind a wake of
Fractured drywall and
Nervous cats,
Band-aided knuckles and
Bared bone,
I scare others. Hurt myself.

It's a family curse.
Our men are fiercely fuelled, have
Little patience for slow movers,
Rude tones, spite.
Grenades of muscle and noise
That explode in the faces of
Disrespect, then stand
Alone in craters
And regret.

Thank the gods we love with the same
Intensity.

I pile up twenty years worth of
Publisher-declined
Collections.

They reach me to my knees.
Little towers of Poetic
Injustice;

Mini-monuments to the years
Of mailbox disappointments
And cursing the arts.

Now I thank for every manuscript
Returned with their polite regrets.
Another volume of "Unpublished

Works" for the future.
They are my Twelve Monkeys.
My Poetry of Gold at the

Rainbow's End.

So sweet now, my life.
The sounds my woman makes from
The next room
Pronounce home.
Pronounce unalone.

So sweet now, my life.
Winter is over and tonight we sleep
By open windows.
The sounds of the night shape
Our dreams; we awake remembering
Adventures.

So sweet now, my life.
A palace of contentment raised on
The sound foundations of
Tragedies and pure ecstacy in equal
Amounts.
As any life should be.

So sweet, so sweet. Belly full of milk,
Mouth full of honey.
Rain is a cool shower,
Snow confetti.
The Dome of Sky a hand above me
That assures that all is safe.

No step I take lands wrong.
No step brings me away
From anything
Sweet. So sweet now;
My life. My *life.

Wind whips
through my hair
heavy
with the scent
of change
and as I smile
I know deep down
that everything
is going to be just fine

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.