I skip rope with mortality
We play hide and seek at least once a week
My favorite hiding spot is the bottom of a pill bottle
Or a carbon monoxide quartet played in b minor
Though She always finds me
I’m chastised for being weak
I always say She because She has me intrigued
But who is She to deny me the ease of eternal sleep
When in time I’ll see for myself that it’s a corrupted dream

In the sun I bloom in thralls of ecstasy
And a splendor unseen unless your eyes are on the childish setting
In this light I toil over a slowly rusting slinky
I marvel at its ebb and flow
Unbeknownst to its proper meaning
On the box reads “Life and Death” but to this it has no means to me
But the sun doesn’t shine forever
And soon its warmth will leave me to wither
Then that rusting slinky takes hold of me
Extreme with avarice so bitter
And no thoughts of ever leaving
To combat this I reach into my box of cigarette kisses
To extract a couple of sweetlings
A long draw of articulate death
While I listen to the tobacco weeping
Their cries against a moonlit sky
Marks the stay of a frivolous execution
Though I am not without disillusion
I can feel it in every breath
Just as a child believes they’ll always be free
I’ve acquiesced to a not so slow, slow death

Still is your heart,
Silent,
Between the beats,
Silent,
Feelings of love,
Silent,
Like your mind,
Silent,
As it retreats,
Silent,
Like the breath you hold,
Silent,
As you await my kiss,
Silent,
As your questions loom,
Silent,
As you press your fingers against my lips,
Silent.
Answers don't come,
Silence.

has your heartbeat ever taken your body
in silence where it shakes your limbs
your chest lifts with pulses
sheets cinch under your hips
I can't be sure my heart isn't an earthquake
at night, when everyone's asleep
the only thing that keeps me awake
is the steady pump and tick.

What is love if you cannot feel,
What is love if it is not real,
We always hurt the ones closest and dearest
With decisions and mistakes that you think are for the best

Life goes on regardless of feeling or regret,
and for people we have met, judgement is made
judgement, a word, an emotion that we all use too frequently.
who are we to judge another ones actions when we too are guilty
guilty of making that fatal mistake, what a journey this life is.
A journey full of lost time and love, but time heals or so they say
making its journey bearable day by day.

Its sad that Love, as a word, is said too much without feeling or touch
As love is an emotion and not a word, that needs feeling and a warm embrace,
Not a smile through gritted teeth, and a fake happy face
Love is deeper than this, love is something that will always be with you
regardless of good times or bad, or when you are happy or sad.

No more sad faces or unhappy places,
as Life is too short to live with regret and malice
just look behind you and you will see,
the difference that this statement makes to you and me,
Live every day as its last, not forever in the past.
The past is gone, but not forgotten or lost
Live for today and live it well for that last
one day will come as sure as the night

John Keats
John Keats
John
Please put your scarf on.

Branches

                   Father
                   he spoke soft, willowy winds
                   protecting
                   when harsh, the storms blew in


                   Mother
                   reached in, touching deep the soul
                   igniting
                   her love lit the world