Open chested memories,
Tell the stories on my skin,
Grace shivers with the visions,
Of ivy cigarettes and inhaled nothings,
Childlike reminders to the gut punch morals,
Nightmare laced twilights,
With too many names caught in the sweat,
Stuck with a golden heat,
And a wild set of veins

Wish you could live forever,
Give my thanks to those I loved,
The parts of me they left,
All their names tattooed on my spine,
Lessons carved in the table tops,
Messages passed down,
Addressed to the girl across the room,
All that spitfire and stern smile,
My innocence lost,
Many nights ago,
All the letters sent,
Destinations still unknown

The way you move to this autumn jazz,
All the seasons and the colors they bring,
How my brother is still a child,
I hope he never grows into the vices of age,
Christmas in Baltimore stops the killings,
December snow unstained by the bleedings
The summer nights with you in my arms,
All the poems that I found paradise in,
And every moment that gave me the courage to write it down,

Raise my hand in class,
Raise my hands at football game,
Raise my hand for hellos
Raise my hands to show my surrender,
Raise my hands for mercy
Raise my hands for prayer,
Raised hands at my funeral,
Raised hands on street corners,
Raised hands across the ocean,
Raise these hands to send a message,
Raise these hands for justice,
Raise these hands for peace,
Raise these hands for the next of kin,
So they may raise their hands to dance,
So they may they raise their hands to laugh
So they may raise their hands to remember,
That these hands were raised to rise.

Walking down the sidewalk,
We locked eyes,
Not knowing each other's names,
But both craving the same oh so much,
And we both can agree,
that neither of us is one for prayer,
Neither an angel nor sinner,
Punished in paradise,
Aware that you and me are 2 of a kind,
Stuck somewhere in-between,
I nod my head, you nod back,
Than we continue on this journey,
Knowing that it must be trekked alone.

Ashamed of my complexion,
Ashamed of all the words,
Ashamed to show my innards,
Ashamed of all the long nights
and the actions that took place,
Ashamed of the women I fed empty promises,
Ashamed of every goodbye,
Ashamed by the way it all played out,
Ashamed of the confidence I carried,
Ashamed of the crown I wore,
Ashamed of the mirror,
Who am I,
and what is left of me?

When the woman you love is a poet,
It is hard to tell the difference,
between a poem and a conversation,
When the woman you love is a poet,
She will never speak her thoughts,
I have to decipher the lines,
When the woman you love is a poet,
It's hard not to be ensnared by the words,
And remember that the notes she sings,
Were not all for you

Your puzzle piece thoughts scattered
around dining room table,
when you click-clacked your
way out of our lives, Bullet in cereal bowl,
was not the surprise buried in the box,
Momma says I look just like you,
Sometimes she replaces my name with yours,
I have to remind her of last november,
And all the scarlet in the morning

I am still growing into myself,
My arms a bit too long for my legs,
A mind a little heavy for these shoulders,
Eyes that see more than they should,
And ears that love the sound of
the sinner's tongue

"It was all so beautiful"
The sky, the sea, the trees,
as she said in final breaths,
Flatlined and silence,
I still miss her,
it has been years now,
And all I think about
when I see the sky,
is her voice,
saying how beautiful it was.

I Will Dream For You,
A Spectator to your word,
They drip silently from your pen,
Pain and passion mixed beautifully,
I Will Call You No One,
Sometimes I can not speak after reading,
Empty and Beating left my heart throbbing,
Your poems got me all One Sided,
Never stop writing,
Every word was worth it,
And so are you.

Oh sweet temptation,
Do not be a fool,
The pills are paradise,
Payment is cruel,

Oh how I crave you,
All your seduction and sedative,
Take me to heaven's gates,
My failures have been repetitive,

Your body royal,
Crowned by ancestors,
Upon this throne,
Make yourself a kingdom,
Invade my heart,
Prosper in a golden light,
Rule ever so softly,
This land of mine

Fists contorted into gang sign slogan
Chest drenched in the ink bestowed by brothers
face scarred and eyes dry of tears
sorrow glued to the billboard of your mouth

What would little brother think?
seeing superhero caught in petty crime bloodbath,
Noosed around your neck, you wear your colors well,

arsenal in jeans,
fistful of blades,
Sin in your mouth,
too suave for war tonight,

so you will cruise the block,
just as last night,
and the night before,
and the night before that,

waiting,
for someone
to move a muscle.

Marble mouthed Mrs.,
You have neon on your neck,
Throw me back into the river,
I have not yet painted it's floor,
Anchored to the corals,
Sleeping with the fishes,
Sunlight shine on in,
Head above water,
Wind run across cheek,
It's all blue now,
everything

Know not of who this one was for,
But it was a carousel in my head,
Around and around it whispered,
Secrets I dare not be the carrier of,
Wrapped themselves around my hip,
I hope nobody sees

When we first met you were a firework,
Soaring through the night sky,
Hurling yourself into an explosion of color and light,
I watched from below in awe of your presence,

When we first met,
I had butterflies fluttering in my chest,
newly awoken and freed from their cocoons,
With a thirst to see all of what this new place had to offer,

When we first met,
I was a boy who had been growing up just a little too fast,
The parts of myself I thought I lost long ago
came stumbling out from their corners and onto center stage,
Making me feel younger than I have ever felt before,
Putting laughter back into my vocabulary,

When we first met,
You were a girl with a smile and so much to give,
Armed with a desire to wrap this world in your arms
and whisper that it would all be okay in the morning,

Dear unrequited lover..
I know this dance is a slow one,
My feet are clumsy and my arms are heavy sometimes,
But this song is one I can move too.

I did it all for the money, lord
These raindrops been falling too much
and most days I can't find my strength,
pulling out parts of myself for sacrifice,
Winter nights spent with unknown faces,
This temple of yours seems so alien now

The windows open wide
New England crept on in,
Dandelions bent under feet,
Cleansed in the morning dew,
What is this place?
The waters are calm here,
let us stay awhile,
Just until the daisies bloom

We always reached for the mountains
All the roses were the color blue
The ocean tasted of honey
We were invincible
Never afraid of the monsters
that lurked just behind the corner

Send a postcard,
Don't forget where we left off
The nights under the pier,
Tides that crept up our ankles,
kissed the sand we loved so dearly,
I wish you were here,
The sun doesn't set the same

The whole room got up to dance,
all head shakes and hip swings
this music got me all filled up
each note a cry out for someone
they done made the leaves change
autumn jazz be the most beautiful of colors

Warmth passed between our bodies,
Your skin was soft and wet,
Let me breath out your name
bury it into your chest,
sweet sensation of touch,
oh how you ****** me,
gentle lover, silent sinner,
I have never craved the taste
of anyone as much as yours

You told me to swallow my pride.
I did, it played pinball inside my chest
Left me without a sound or a shudder,
No map to find it or you again,
Now I'm strung out trying to wrap you again in my arms,
This fight be not one I know how to win

Sweat out the best of me,
them lessons are bruises on my collarbones,
I am starving, hungry for the answers
searching for the right reasons
and the wrong women to share my nights with,
synthetic synonyms and rosary beads around my neck
kiss your letters off into the wind,
these apologies are nothing but repetitive

The bright lights will be
forever romantic in my eyes,
alley ways and corner stores
be the base of the neighborhood,
Momma says you gotta be out
of the house before the sun come up,
But you still got your liquor,
and your smoke,
all your cheap women and poetry,
You got that scratched record,
That throat that will sing them songs loud.
You just don't have yourself no more
That part of you is gone,
or was never even there.

All this malice in my heart
so much hate in this spine
these tidal wave to drown in eyes
16 shadows follow behind,

too much ink in these veins
not enough hurt to spill them
no time for prayer no more
stuck with this fiend in my mouth
tell me how to vanquish it,

I miss the morphine
miss her warm embrace
I'm all hate without her

Dear Brother,

Sorry again for all you been through
these past few months,
I know my skin got a lot to apologize for.
That book you recommended I finished last week,
never hated myself more because of it.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like
to live without reflections?
How blissful that would be.

Mother may I tell you the truth?
      That these demons been all haunting my insides.
Mother can I be honest for once?
      Cause the truth seems out of my reach.
Mother How often do you cry for me?
       I know them liquor bottles stopped doing their trick.
Mother why'd it all come out to this?
       Our words still sharp, the scars they left refuse to heal.
Mother tell me when I can come home.
       Winter is coming and I got no more warmth left in me.

Woke up, 4:34 A.M,
cold sweat
drenched my t-shirt,
my heart was beating fast,
These sheets were made
for sleeping.

Not this.

Things fall apart,
Flowers grow between the cracks,
The sea will hurl itself into a fit,
The inside of our bodies
will do the same.

To be brave enough
traversing this hurricane,
Is a paradise at sea

Your spine curves like a saxophone,
I intend to play our symphonies
on the pearls that decorate your skin,
That trumpet in your throat sings
loud and full of life,
Please share it with me tonight,
The metronome across your chest
is a warm reminder of who I have
been looking for,
We do not even notice the broken
strings we share in our necks,
looked past tongue tied apologies
in the midmorning outros,
lay with me here tonight,
as if we were a chorus,
in just the right tune

Hold steady this heart of mine
for it rumbles in your absence
left me quivering in a golden tomb
I lay silent underneath the cherry tree
watching the clouds creep across the sky
Just like we did long ago