It takes all it can like
a feral cat with a babies
breath before leaping back
out into the night.

It takes the laughter and
the loving arms that
always welcomed
you home no matter
how long you
were away.

It tears at the root
of the heart
and turns washed out
memories into
shinning treasures.

It leaves behind broken
and battered vessels,
nothing like what was
before.

It takes what
should have been
and what used to be all in
one selfish act.

Its the promise we
all live with that so
many choose to ignore.

Its the final act
and the end of things.

Its Death and
Death takes
everything.

I wasted
far too much
on far too
little.

And I'm
no longer waiting
on the best
to arrive.

I'll settle
for something
as plain as a silhouette
and as simple
as the truth.

I've made it through
sleepless nights,with
burnt out friends and
strange beautiful
burnt out  girls.

I've made plans for a
better day,
just as all
of the promises I
had already made
slowly faded away.

I watched a sunset into a
parallel horizon
then sat and waited for it to rise
again.

I've reasoned with
the Dragon
as the  blood ran
down my arm.
Lost the battle and
the girl and never thought
twice of doing it all again..

I loved all the wrong
women.
Even the ones
who I knew
had definitely
gone Mad before
they came to me.

I stopped asking
for forgiveness
the moment it
didn't come.

I buried a beautiful
woman,
a young innocent
friend.
Yet I cried
for others
who aren't even dead.

This challenge of
making it through
yet another day.
A day just as  empty
as the day before always
keeps me occupied.

Anything to keep my
finger off the
trigger,the needle
from my arm and
her cooing  promises
far from my ear.

The words and
different versions
of things
run rampant
in my head.

Its getting them all out
without holding back that's
hard.

Its what keeps this pencil in my hand
and the weapons I use against me
carefully put away where they belong.

I spoke without
thinking,
unintentionally
exposing
one of my
only secrets
in this
place.

He grinned,
the way only
old men who
have seen
too much
of the bad in
this world
are able
to do.

The deep lines
of age in his
pocked scared
face all grew
deeper
as his grin
turned
into a smile.

"Poetry"
he said.
Then took a
moment
as he let
the taste of the
word roll around
his mouth and between
his broken  and missing
teeth.

'That's different'
,he said
before forgetting
what it was
he was thinking of.

Then he asked me for a
cigarette.

To which I informed
him that I didn't smoke,
for the 4th time
that day.

The blues and the greens all swirl and become one another.
Like a painting done by an artist whose palate  be our sky.

Lost and lonely drift wood rides the surf onto the shore.
No one can keep drifting wood from drifting.

The girls lay soaked in magical oils with large black sunglasses and tiny string bikinis.Never dreaming beyond today.

Laughing dolphins slice through blue green oceans chasing big eyed tuna from sea to dying sea. All the while laughing ,laughing at the fact we can not see.

Bottled up love letters and egg packed turtles find their way onto the shore.

Keepsakes and wedding bands, car keys and time pieces all forever lost within the depths of a sandy beach.

Like the crowd at the theater on an opening night we line the shores along the edge of the world and await that final show the setting sun always brings.

May the cares I had for this day pass  burn themselves with the colors of a breaking sky slapped across with pastel pinks and soft tinted blues.

May I stand among the crowds,paint my face as dull as theirs.
Shade the knowledge from my eyes while we watch the sun move on.

May the crowds not see my satisfying grin as the sun gives way for dark and gives light to the land beyond the ice.
The land we can not see.

Her tears fell
heavy,
weighted down
by the sodden
sobs of
frustration.

Her throne
was cold
and often
smelled of
*****.

Her problem
was
never getting
enough of it
or always
running
out of it.

She warned all
who attempted
to get close to
her that
her soul was
not to be
shared.

This morning
she awoke
alone already
feeling the
gripping
anxiety slowly
tearing from
her insides.

A third of
her life
spent chasing,
a third of
her chance
spent numb.

After all
she recklessly,
threw away,
after all the
plans aborted.

Everything
worth anyhting had
long ago found its
way into
the hands
of those who had
what she needed
in that moment.

The only
thing of worth
she had left was  
what drew the lonely
men into her lonely'
room.

The barter cost
someone their flesh.

She had what she
needed but still
struggled
to find
the line beneath
her skin.