The observant person
will never cease to be
entertained

his life lies at the bottom of the bottle
a glass body entrapping his soul
one by one, his giggling, gaudy girls
grow up into graceful adults
clinking glasses full of candid celebration
toasting their tranquility into theater walls
as he stands up to take a shaky step
toward the door, toward his girls,
the glass bottle drags him back under

take my photos and frame them
I have lit the fire pit and am simply waiting
for you to toss me to the embers
each wooden corner of my person will get swallowed
whole
a boa constrictor of kindling opening its quivering jaws to inhale me
and when the smoke quiets and the sparks stop kissing the dead grass
I'll smile emptily and be reduced to dust

hello, I am busy
looking for the cracks in your porcelain halo
to be happy is to be in the practice of
letting your sorrows unfold into the atmosphere
they are still there; they swirl and drift lazily into bird wings and against the sides of tall mountains
but to breathe and let them be is to be happy
lately I have sat still thinking of my pulse
of our pulses when we connect our wrists together to feel that extra oomph
and I have deduced that I cannot breathe as easily as it was to recognize happiness
not yet
we are cracked porcelain

let's you and I mingle with the tantalizing Sirens

their Song, so seductive, will distract you while I

lead Odysseus to our spacious secret cave  

which-- I have newly prepared with Calypso's blessing

[I dare say she seems to have a crush on my Odysseus!]

I have turned grey from the amount of energy
that has left my body to be ****** up by others
I feel hollow and used and walked on
and yet I still feel this ultimate duty
to do better, to be better, to be the bigger person
and for a long time
I have held a vice grip on my tongue
I've counted to ten and calculated my words  
summing them up to something worthwhile and nice
I smile in the face of those who oppress me
always doing what is right
so that nothing can come back on me
but I am in dire need of learning
how to do what's right for me