I want everything from you,
You want nothing from me.

I want you to be free,
From me.

But I'm imprisoned by who you used to be.

Now I'm left with nothing but what I used to see.

Blinded by the reality,

The clarity is the hardest thing.

.

Look at you cowering, haunted by fiction
Shapes at the window of menacing tone
Tearing your hope into shreds as you lie there
Gazing at ceilings and feeling alone

Afraid to put both of your feet on the carpet
Hands neath the bed will be slicing your skin
Each tiny noise a volcanic eruption
Stalking your mind, it’s about to begin

Puddles of stench line the gutters of nowhere
Terror the class that has taken a seat
Staring at clocks on the faces of buildings
Waiting for dark so their bellies may feast

Appetites strung on a line made of nightmares
Low in the middle from gathering weight
Clouds overhead cast a blanket of secrets
Hiding the moon in its delicate state

Claws on the ground carry wings carved of leather
Eyes crimson red dripping stares at the door
Paint if you like for an X tells them nothing
Only when feeding they’ll even the score

Shadows on avenues lurk past the railings
Low tenor moaning their late evening song
Hide in the corners, but still they will find you
Cry if you must for it won’t be too long

Peer from the covers, your fears they are waiting
Calling your name in an echoed refrain
Lapping reflections from water so stagnant
Remnants of filth tossed about in the rain

Know this my friend, in a term used defiant
Answers aren’t penned in some book on a shelf
No fancy title with gold colored letters
All that you need can be found in yourself

Break free these chains that are holding you tightly
Open your eyes, there is so much to see
Breathe in the air for the sun it is shining
Shake off the rust and be all you can be

Always there’ll be someone bending the darkness
Pulling and dragging each star from the sky
Show them your wings spun of pride woven fabric
Give them a smile it is your turn to fly

You can beat anything you set your mind to
No matter what someone else has to say
Hold your head high, watch the monsters now fleeing
This is your time and today is your day

-
Ink

Splattered
Caressed
Spilled
Coerced
Guided
Spun
Picked
Woven
Imagined
Felt
Bled
Sighed
Cried
Laughed­
Offered
Shared
Drenched
Spread
Heated
Smeared
Dreamt
Drained
Truthful

Poetry

'

*I see the sky
through barren branches,
twisted and bent,
grasping at clouds,
naked in the light,
swaying overhead
on winter’s chilled breath

Below me
in the slumbering earth
deep roots
hold on to the soil
beyond yesterday’s footprints,
burrowing for life, stability,
far from peering eyes

Running my hands
across the coarse bark,
craggy imprints
sculpt memories
of bygone seasons
when saplings dreamed,
when I dreamed

As I gaze upward
following the patterns,
crooked lines,
knotted intersections
all with their own purpose,
each a piece of the whole,
embracing the elements

I realize that life
must have a meaning
whether reaching or searching
and though I feel alone,
desolate within my own forest,
I now know that
the sky sees me too

That happens in secret
Its halo of the unknown,
Always unexpected,
But deeply rooted,
In its perfect time,
Enlightened by its own,
As a new step,
Beyond your strenghts,
To lead yourself.