Hear her screaming
       paint brushes
       of sound
       an art form
       of echoing fear

                     Feel her heart
                     in her chest
                     it pounds

              And her breath
              rushed, but hollow
              can also be
              found

    Move with the
    softly thundering
    whispers
    of her feet
    running down the
    path, smeared red

                     A metaphorical
                     twine of story
                     is coming
                           Unwound...

He fishes-
with barbed question hooks.
Discarded conversation-thread
leaves me too tangled
to talk.
Too tired to care.
Exclamation marks hurt-
Long strokes do nothing to sooth.
Marble-dots scatter
to trip me up as I move.
******* the difference
between his round-mouthed-O
and mine-
A slow, steady discontent
slithers
down my spine.

I've cried my eyes out,
Many heartbreaks.
The screams from my mouth
For a loved one's sake,
I know even heaven could hear.

There is no doubt;
No one can fake
The pains that we all share.
My holllerings shout
And my soul quakes
When I live my worst fears.

I've cried about
Things small and great;
Things far away and near.
I no longer pout,
I've been reshaped
And baptized in my tears.

bruises on my feet from
a night i can't remember
in that town that i can still
navigate with my brain
turned off and my body
left to it's own devices, a
dangerous moment, but
i've been here before

a zombie version of myself
wanders down main street
staggering back to a home
that's not mine to crash in
a bed that i once would hide
in, alone, and it's crushing
this spirt of mine

and when i wake up the
next day to peals of laughter
and look at myself and don't
understand, i'm a mess and
a martyr who just can't grow
up yet and i'm bitter and
wishing that time was on
my side

when i pick up the phone
it's you that i hear now and
i'd do anything to turn back
the clock, but it's me and i'm
alone and i can't reach the
hands now, and breaking
it is the only way of making
it stop

When I get out of bed
at night,
the mind is quite nuts
because it is on auto-pilot,
and stuck in an in-between
dream and awakening state,
and the autonomic nervous system
is what is working,
in it's automatic way,
but I get nervous
that maybe some demons
crawled into my ears
while I was asleep,
so I begin to meditate,
and that calms me,
but I shouldn't be afraid
of that lizard mind
because it could well
be illuminating.