Place upon my shoulders
your two bare hands,
Bless me like my father once did,
Read to me all the stories from
your umbrella mystery books,
Fly your kites back to my heart,
Butterfly strings and locust mornings,
Neck plucked of its feathers,
Rolling those crystal notes
out from the belly,
Teach me the noose knot,
I wish to rid of the past,
He told me to forget the skeletons,
They are only bones now

Your sky scraper legs
Lead to the heavens
Some paradise in my eyes
I'll sing you songs of tomorrow
I'd love you like the beginning
You sleep to my dreams
The sounds of my lungs
How we hold this dear
This such fragile thing between us

If there was an orchard in my lungs,
You left me with not a single breath of air ,
When you danced into the room,
I wondered from what garden did you bloom,
Something close to eden, holy treasure,
And I want to learn about your dreams,
What are your thoughts on the rain?
Do you love the ocean the same way I do,
What do you think of when you see the moon,
Forgot about december and July's burning sweat,
Didn't even know the sound of your name,
All the music in my arms couldn't do it justice,
But I held my tongue,
Took all the sunlight when you hurried home,
Still think about what could've been

I gave my voice to a pen
It wrote for me everything that I couldn’t speak of
The questions I was looking for
and the answers I already knew
The paper was my only surrender
Something I am still learning to do

The gunshots ring out from Baltimore,
I pray you are not tonight's target practice,
Young kings with concrete kingdoms,
Raging war against the parts of the sidewalk they cannot see,
Please stay safe another night

These kids been out on battlefronts
Holding pistols like prayers
Seeing yearbooks on the news
Mothers folding into themselves,
Masses march streets for solace,
Searching for an end to all of this,
But when firearms fight the fears,
It's hard to dream without one

In this port,
     Our hearts
         have hurried
                 on home,
dancing atop
        the tides,
          My heart flutters
                   with the sails,
Hoping that one
         day your heart
            hurries on back to me

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

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

When september comes
I'll remember when you were here,
Before all the bouquets and tombstones,
The house on the hill,
Asleep in the backseat,
Watching street lamps on quiet corners,
Waiting to knock on your door,
when september comes,
I'll visit your earthly bed,
Remember all the different reasons,
Why we wished you stayed

What a storm cloud
Making a mess of my land
Flooding my gardens
Drowning my fields
You and all your life
You with all this love
I would construct continents
Raise all your cities
Claim the unknown in your name
Just to hold your light
One ray at a time

There is this thing
Some kind of shadow or cloud
It hangs behind me
Wraps around me as I sleep
This fog of a noose,
Wanting me to whither
Weep with willows
Cry myself rivers
I've been steadfast for years
Fighting off the best of me,
So that the little of my spine
Will one day sleep sound
And that this fear of defeat
Will flee from my chest

Airplanes felt like church to me
The height made me feel closer to god
The clouds could hear my silent sins
Reflecting upon the ground below
Rows of fellow travelers all with the same hopes for final destination

Liquid night, bottled and priced
3 shots of love and a dime bag
kerosene nostrils and white collared lies
this demon is a shadow
follows close when the sun is up
surrounds me under the moonlight
too much gunplay and valentines
I am no rose cheeked cherub
but still gripping at the sunset
waiting for its return
amongst other one way plane tickets

For you who called for a moment,
One filled with seasons of house lightning,
Storms booming in the eyes of sofa cushions,
Splitting a room from chandelier thunder clouds,
This hilltop hierarchy has made mountains of molehills,
Barnacled itself unto the names of our forefathers,
Made porcelain tears in the eyes of mothers,
Do you not see all the spotlight in this tragedy?
All this powder and masquerade,
Simply to be seen whole again

When it's all over,
As the faces fade,
When the hum of
fluorescents cease,
And the engines
sputter to a halt,
All that remains
are the oceans
Inside of us,
And the words
made in their wake

Feathered woman,
With wings that grew
between shoulder blades,
Point me to the gates,
Forgive my brooding,
The clocks stood still,
One hand pointed me north,
The other set to the south,
So please if I may ask of you,
To lend me your wisdom,
Point me to my destination,
Because time forgot to tell

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

17 years now and
the sidewalk hasn’t
changed much,
But that is the opposite
with you

Whiskey lips and a
cloudy sky in your lungs,
the high is still a wild
and untamed beast

Hours of dreaming
are of few most nights,
to much work to be
done,
The sentences in your
head, over and over they
will sing

The chase now is not
merely just a game
but a way in which you live,
Find her in the night
sing to her the sonnets
written on the pavement

The buildings will tower
over you as they have
in the past years,
look up at them in awe
and bask in the glory
of human intuition

A pen will always be your
solace,
never forget that about
yourself

If you've never seen a cherry blossom bloom
Spring must be difficult to understand,
Transforming in a night to blotches of pink
Painting the blue of the sky in a stretch of wonder,
The pedals will fall, dancing through the air
As their journey comes to an end on the soft earth,
The roots, they grow wide,
Grasping to the edges of the soil,
All the windows are opened up wide,
Dreaming with the scent of the world on my sheets,
Spring be the most beautiful of seasons

Come all you sinners and saints
Just as you are nothing more or less
Rest your weary bones inside for awhile
Just for a moment we can make holy this
basement, hall, or parking lot
No priest or preacher needed for these hymns
Just hearts filled with hurt and souls looking for salvation
Look around,
All crooked halos and broken wings
Serpent tongues and crocodile tears,
Lay down your arms
Surrender for a little while
Make your words worth it
Hold tight to these stories
Remember from once you came
Come and go like summer storms
You saint or sinner
Or someone in between

"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.

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

I am writing these with the thought of you,
Addressed pages with an unsure pen,
I do not know this feeling well,
An old friend lost for so many years now,
What a cold winter it has been,
Such a cruel rain that has fallen,
My hope is that you’ll hold these close,
Remember the words in your silent hours,
May they be a harbor to your storms,
Or the warmth in december,
Lay your dreams on these sheets,
Rest your bones just a little while longer

I'm washing my ribs
Trying to wipe away this ink from my bones
These weeks numbers count down like some kind of bomb ready to break of its hollow shell
We lit the fuse the day those "I love yous" flew from our lips
I don't mind dying a martyr for your affection
All the shrapnel in the end  will be worth every second with you in my arms

When Baltimore was burning
My body began to shake
When Baltimore was burning
The roots of my father were unearthed,
Unsure looks from classmates
I promise I didn’t want it to turn out like this
I promise my children will be raised proper like,
I promised myself that my voice will be one to sing
the most caring of hymns.
When baltimore was burning
Parts of myself were charred and forgotten
The white of my skin was a question of a lightbulb,
I still haven’t gotten the answers
to all the problems I’ve thought out in my head

You had a mouth full of bullets
and all your sentences rang out like gunplay,
How many times do I have to wear
Kevlar to our conversations?
-
A machine gun smile,
Ten trigger fingers waiting to fire on,
I was the fool standing arms out wide waiting for an answer
Bullets in my chest made my insides bleed red,
Hidden behind battlefield lips,
How could I not see this coming they said,
-
help patch all the holes left in me,
all the hollow places inside left behind,
Refugee bones searching for shelter,
-
You were the shooter and I the target,
Clip emptied, and we both got hit,
I am just not afraid to show
the parts of me that are bleeding

Ive sailed seas of letters,
Oceans of consonants,
drank from rivers of vowels,
I know that the depths of words
lies far beneath the surface,
Somewhere along its floor

Oh this love
Let me explain this love
She is from the Rockies
Free as the sun
Strong as the river
Kissed by the mountains
She curves like the bend won’t break
I am from the ocean
Timid as the tides
Subtle as the moon
Awkward as the birds
She is my rock
Solid like the lines
Sharp as a tack
I am but guest
In her most sensuous
of shows
She is all there is
She is all my love
My most timid of hearts
My most delicate flower
In this garden of woes

Fire!
Fire all around!
Burn me now sinner woman
Burn this body to the ground
Teach my your sinning ways
Teach me all that soul
Shake those hips sinner woman
Take me back home with you,
Back to that southern heat,
Away from this northern rain,
Sinner woman teach me,
All those beautiful sounds

Loosing myself in the storm clouds
gray water, baptize me well
pour out your innards and drench my skin
liquid bombings from heavens above
cleanse me of my sorrows
I left my umbrella at home
It rests there along with the thought of her
gray water, baptize me well
I am sorry,
for everything