The sirens sing us songs
Of waves that crash and call us home
And how the depths are worth it just to be
The brightest star beneath the sea.

I miss when my poems
Were laced with political emotion
And my rhymes rang true
To the tune of societal revulsion
When my veins felt like burning cities
And I craved diverting from man
I guess people all have moments
When they turn away from where they used to stand.

Tell me where trouble goes
So I can laugh about the things
Your type of trouble doesn't know.

Take me to autumn
To illustrate the way
Innocence flees,
Dripping blood red
Horrific memories
Concealed in
Gorgeous leaves

My eyes
Are the warm blue-grey of
The moments just before
My beloved Wisconsin sunrise
My veins, just below scared skin
Burn for a breeze
And a day that doesn't feel
Like an old painful memory.
I want to be on my motorcycle.
I want the hazardous road unraveling
Right behind me
Away from that sunrise
Away from the people
Written in my scars.

Smoke drifts
In the way words used to roll off of our lazy lips
And cloud the room
Until the only thing visible to me was you.
Now,
The room is only full of
Wisps of memory
And an emptyness that only I can see.

Every syllable
That leaves my mouth
Is so
*******
Stupid.
Every one
Is another knot
Above my doorway
Another rope
Around my throat.
just stop!
I need to
Shut the **** up.