Winter has settled into caustic bones
Brittle, alkaline, unrepentant
Fine snowflakes layer a hybernating heart
Memories of summer long gone
An ebbing tide of loneliness recedes
Giving way to the numb after glow of acceptance
Sharp splinters of ice break through frost bitten skin
The illusion of warmth lulls to sleep aching thoughts
Each movement painful and creaking
Breaths becoming laborious
Eyelids heavy and lethargic finally close
Left to dreaming of the sun once more

A barnacled bow beneath booted feet
Captain's quarters stifling and close tonight
The wind whips through my hair
An inky exspanse of Caribbean ocean lays ahead
Twinkling stars fade out above me
Dawn breaks over a hazy horizon
Dreams have taken root inside a cold heart
I gave up the hope of treasure
Content with the sea and a bottle
Her siren's song pulling me ever farther into the
ocean's expansive wilderness
Anxious for daylight
Salt for veins
Land feels unnatural, unmoving, but I must find you
Scents of coconut and spice penetrate memories of being whole
"Land **, Captain!"
Pulse kicks in
Fire replaces salt
A true treasure hunt begins

This is exhibit A. witness testify to a false maker
of false hopes a dreamers dream disappearing on the lids of
a waking being. So is the theme spoken in rainbow
brilliance the soul is trapped in a toys body break me discard me
no use for this
this is exhibit B. a lifeless rendition of a restless warrior begging
to be freed from his crime in watching his own hands  children
and a pregnant woman willing to sell her soul for redemption.
Break him, discard him but never let him forget
Time elapses travel to the future, Raggedy Andy and the soul
a machine cold and calculating everyone wants one for Christmas
unwrap the gift and sell it tomorrow
wont get much out of it. Devoid of extraneous packaging
it's lost it's worth and the scars are blessed tracing them with my tongue
a willing conspirator in your lie that you live day to day. Praying to whatever
that tomorrow you won't wake up and the pain will stop. Should have never
beqeuthed my soul then because now I'll never let you go
The welcomed touch of another to soothe the decay build a house of
legos galore a horror left untold but whispered in empty space someday
it will reach the ears all will be out of place the blessing of scars and the blessing
of tides. Wash the dreams into reality
yet with your eyes squeezed shut you cannot see the smiles
I flash you from across the room. Another cold winter with plastic walls,
the floor rough beneath my paper thin feet. I am getting older and your passion
still falls to ripping me open and seeing what color I am today. Your
dream is my hell. A reality we all want but some never have a blessing
of the tides for you but not the patchwork of needle veins left on my
heart
A ragdoll sows well after unthreading unraveled secrets that are being
spoken a hidden meaning in things known so well and held
so dear the addict is addicted the silver polish of another exit
and a feared exit (exist)
picking away at the surface he is relieved to see his own
reflection on fates tinderbox. Matches with his name on them and other
wealth's of knowledge he cannot comprehend. I take in his
apathy and replace him whole.
Existence is superficial floating ecstacy through a ravers midnight
meltdown the drugs that soothed soon are smoothed out of the system
a gentle touch the softest if skin paper thin paper thin
licking the edges and listening fast, a deep puff, euphorium. Wanting to
play tonight the caterpillar sees, puffing his own blue smoke fast.
bloodshot eyes hide the daylight from your stolen afternoon. The headboard begs
for some grease, let's at today, my love, let's break me again
The twins of wonderland and the cat disappearing a story
forever after faintly breathing from the lips of the souls
sought wondering
sharing a shotgun with a confidant the after taste sour and strained. Not
enough we all see into your twisted head. Plucking on my heart strings
too rough. Wanting to see me bleed. Not this time the queen of hearts will
soon beat you with a flamingo and send you flapping
through the hourglass a king of king and clams
A nursery rhyme for all children to sleep a child's toy finally
dies leaving behind soiled

1,187 words

There is something to be said about riots
Smoke bomb haze blinds the masses
Watery eyes. Stinging throats.
Loud meaty slaps of police brutality
Synchronized violence erupts on well played corners
It's not safe here any more
The wall beyond is swarming with those willing to
die
For liberty
Freedom, Freedom, Freedom
Chants become sharp screams and panicked shouts
**** the Government!
Who knows the way to heaven or hell?
Better yet, Who doesn't?
Stricken eyes, bloodied skin, but more human than either
you or even you
There will be no mercy
There will be no quarter
We will never submit

Deep breath
Hold it in
Dust coating lungs and heart valves
Exhale
The heavy weight of another day keeps me stationary
I May be confined to the monotonous drudgery
But my mind is staining glass, blowing witch *****
Drawing circles with my tongue over your chest
Inhale
Pine. Rain. Man.
You sit down next to me
Quiet, reserved, not wanting to disturb
Scattered. Unsure.
Needing you to displace
Rummage through the aftermath of melancholy
Fresh air
Exhale
It's always easier to breathe around you

Cigarette drag
Exhale
What am I doing here?
Smoke clouds waft gently around me
Twitch
Haven't felt right in months
Sleep. Wake. Stare. Sleep. Wake. Stare.
What day is it?
Gods, my head keeps pounding
Coffee sits half drank on the counter
Focusing on witty magnet sayings
Last night I had company
Raw. Visceral. Open.
Things went a little far
With you they usually do
Mostly due to boredom
You come to break the monotony
Bleed a little
Still asleep
Never said the safe word
Pineapple
Though you should have
Obsessed with making you beg for it in a tortured moan
Against my flushed skin
My kind of love can slip too deep
Don't fall for me
Poison
Addicted to the echos of your name on window panes
Evening light is still too harsh
Splash some water, deluge
Keep breathing.
Blood stains eventually fade.

Screening all of my calls
Past tense
Cell phone out the window
I have nothing left to say
My borders have been shut down for ages
Rust making them squeak
Easy out unable to be found
Thoughts stream uncontrolled
I want you
Get out of my life
**** me
Shut up
Tuesday mornings are a *****
Filtered through and watered down
I am not a predecessor
Only a predestined failure
Stay away
I only keep words
Words of goodbye

Silent steps through dappled foliage
Listening deeply to the tree's east-west creak
Their song is one of simplicity
Bygone roots of an era long past
Digging barehanded through dark, rich earth
The pressure of dirt beneath my fingernails
I ache for lazy days and long summers
Firefly guts staining I-Hold-Them-Too-Tight fingertips
Grape Popsicle juice staining a just budding chest
My eyes close against reality
Afternoon warmth wraps around me
Slipping off into memory against a sturdy trunk
You cross my mind
Crimson, Frankenstein green, black
Used to be
Now
Brown, faded blues and tan
Deep breathes to shake free
Left wondering where my midnight soul went

I wash my hair
The dirt is stripped away

Wet.

Rinsed down the drain into the sewer
Stinking sludge water waste
A homeless man leans down
Filling up his intellectual cup
Gutter filth rot glory
No wonder bums are crazy
Talking to mattresses, having imaginary riches
Someday

Makes me wonder what it's like deep inside
I could be imaginary
More than just one
Do I get the crazy out on paper?
Or down the drain when I wash my hair?

I'm burning out, falling hard
A dark star aching for a piece
of memory
I never asked to be confined to blood and bone
Slitting wrists leak black space matter
Occluding desire and thought
Contorting, morphing through my crazed
imagination
Seeming blurry and tear filled through these eyes
Human. Mortal. Concrete.
Deity. Eternal. Without boundaries.
Dust settles between my toes
Rubble at my feet
Keep telling myself I'm ok
As I drown myself in moon's long dead oceans
I'm ok
Tripping off into the space in between spaces
Mind constantly adrift

I'll take it from here
Hand off the wine glass and pick up the carving knife
Her lythe body lay hacked clean of both right appendages
On the center of our dining room table
Mouth painted red and bruised
We normally eat together
I loved when he brought home beautiful women
All tormented and smelling of sorrow
Three raw, fresh fillets of meat lay out before him
His teeth curving into a smile
Gleaming in the bright light as he slices strips off
Holds them out to me
I **** at his fingertips while pulling away
The meat is tender, she was in excellent shape
I could taste her laughter melting into my jaws
Reaching for him, unable to resist
Sliding ****** hands down his torso to silk lounge pants
Knowing what was beneath them well
Anticipating what came next
Feeding always evolved into *******
The soft whisper of clothes shedding
Wicked heat radiating in waves
He pulls tight on my hair
Hiss
Lifting up and over the warm form of our dinner
Popping the head of his shaft into my tight heat
Groan
Slowly he grinds into me
Escalating into a bass beat influenced pounding
I scream into the dining room
Always released with his jutting ***
Slowing down to kisses and laughter
Let's eat

He was always a little strange
Starstruck by his inability to interact with the majority
Blank walls became a canvas
Endless sand dunes
Soaring mountain tops
Became his paradise
An escapee from a pesticide reality
They don't exist out here
Saturating the night with lyrical cursive
A sirens song to those lost at sea
Far removed himself from corporate greed
Even though what an amazing lawyer, under the devil's wing
He could have been
Not all those that wander
Find their way home
Reaching out to brush fingertips over the softness of memory
His thoughts fade into the vast night of oblivion
Seeking refuge and inspiration

Lay down you say in hushed tones
Feeling the air shift
Moonlight on my skin
The rest of the room in blackness
I breathe and hunger for you
Eyes glowing feral, wild
Waiting
Deep inside, I need you here
Pull you close, taste sharp
Incisors lengthen as you penetrate
We feed and **** in tandem
I release your throat
Head thrown back in ecstasy
Your name moaned into the dark
Full and sated
I can feel your heartbeat
Beating for me

Red hands, hands of fire
Search for your cure
I rip my heart out and never sew shut the edges
Empty in here. Occupying the void.
It is raining in slow motion
Plastering long hair to my face and arms
Golden chocolate tendrils snaking around us
Ivy tight, strangling
We are like starved children
Biting as deep as we can
Not caring where it came from
I watch you recover
Apathy's poison receding with the night
My grip becomes less tight
Touch so light
You can't even feel me
at all.

Time has left it's share of scars
I remember the depth of each
Uncertainty steals my voice
Throat closing fast
Little did I know that it would stand between us
Tear us apart
Eventually.
I forget now which direction you ran
I only know that you took the sun with you
Turning warm smiles and bright laughter from me
All that remains is darkness
All that remains is night
My life force, slow sticky sap
Seeps from me into tortured puddles of hardened hope
Wounded
I fear without your light these shadows will start to
consume

Wanderlust
Eerie lights bob and weave through twilight mist
The exotic scents of Cajun spice and sweet *** linger
Quiet
Breathing deep bayou heavy air
Settling moistly into clove filled lungs
Chicory sends all the senses ablaze
The skies are big here
Brilliant constellations loom over scattered thoughts
Impressive and singular in their silent sentinel forms
A slowly ebbing tide recedes
It's 3am. The time when dreams die.
Leaving is a constant urge but I always come back
Head stone cold and porous against my tired spine
I've been walking a while
Never really knowing what the night will bring
Always hoping it's winding road will lead to you

Vaulted memories of hot asfault and a million stars surface
Gathering in little many moons ago puddles
Reflecting back into my haunted eyes what might have been
Where are we off to now?
Seems as though we are always on the run
I fOllow but never can catch up
Always just out of reach
In letters and prose you still exist
Laugh lines etched into a photographic brain cell
Easier to hide than you think
Then again mine never quite reached my eyes
Yours could never stay at bay
We are if anything constant and eternal
Gravitating, orbiting in the same system yet following separate paths
Dust swirling in the after math of a super nova
Wild and untamed futures written in the stars

Consumed by mutation our species struggles
Dying out from exaggerated consumerism
(soft drums) When will we learn
Monsantoland economics adopted
Three headed grasshopper
A malformed genetic *******
Other intelligence, for we are known, must be confused
Amused
At our inherent stupidity
It cannot be called ignorance, see through lies
Great hulking vats of toxic slushy
Pouring into our very veins
Pollute the pipes, it all goes to hell
Handbaskets filled with frankenfruit
Our deformed future draws quickly near
I know where my tomato's been
Do you?

******* silky garnet ooze off manicured fingernails
Patent leather gun metal smiles that never bend
Only break
A thousand different endings, where do we go from here?
Brainzzzzz!
Zombie missing body parts I want your fluids love
Break me off a piece Of that
An arm or a foot, craaaack!
Slurp,gurgle,moan, Mmm so tasty.
Never can get enough
Cut deep vein thrombosis all over my exposed heart
Only your flesh will sate the gnawing hunger
(licks lips) more

Speechless
Shocked
Breath gasps from a dry, raw throat
Please. I beg of you.
Staccato whisper. Ragged. Torn.
Have mercy on the withered
Dead skin sloughs off into a scaly pile
I can feel my heart flutter, sputter
I've been too long in the sun
Blisters litter my shoulder and neck
Joints grinding and empty
Thoughts of thunderstorms and monsoons taunt
Finally drops touch my lips
Tears to my eyes
I thought I had nothing left to give
Relief

Shadows swirl across a quiet mountain lake
Alabaster skin reflects softly under silver light
There had been a message of mysterious happenings
Dancing, chanting, wild things in the woods at night
She was one of them
Moon child of the old mother
Face turned into her soft rays
The wind whispers through her hair
Telling secrets of times long past
Faster and faster she twirls, twisting high in the air
Embracing the perfect sound
Allowing her soul to soar
"O Goddess of old, ancient one who gave us birth
I give to thee my creative mind, the center of imagination
Flow through me, allow me to be free"
She sang three times on the breeze
Words taken up into the starry skies
She slows and wraps her arms around her middle
Feeling the power of ages seep into her bones
Moon child of the old mother

When the rain finally falls
A tidal wave of emotion breaks free of rise and pitch
Drowning my hollow cavities
I feel full
Mouth open, jaw unhinged desperation
If I could resist, let it flow through and disapate
But no I dam it up inside
Limbs numb
Pressure tearing me apart
I can still see filtered sunlight on the surface
An anvil taking me down sits heavily
My chest it's reluctant lover
Thoughts drowning in shadowed depths

Lazarus heart of midnight
Rearing feral and new from hollowed ground
The taste of blood and chocolate still in his mouth
Bones twist, spine arching into the form of beast
Teeth aching in cut gums, lonesome howl thrown to a cold moon
Pounding.
Heart and feet, over hundreds of miles
Scent on the wind, howl
He can feel her, needs her
Crimson flash like a beacon in the silent woods
He closes in, licking his lips
Faster and faster
Pumping wildly
Catching up, jaws wet with want
He stretches and snaps shut
A scream echos in the silence
Red pools on the forest floor

Poisoned.
Veins on fire.
Ashes fill a mouth once deified
Yet those standards fell short even for me
Smoldering beneath the surface
Waiting to pounce
Didn't see it coming in the form of a gold rimmed cup
Tasted sweet at first then bitter and acrid
Smoke tendrils slither around my ankles
This blaze will not be put out
A silent scream wrenches tender flesh and bone
Poisoned.
The water. Don't drink the water.

Dust has finally settled where only cobwebs once roamed
The inevitable step into vintage decay
With warm greetings the late afternoon sun sends shadows
Scurrying across cracked vinyl floors, smudged windows and warped doors
Silence reigns here.
Echoes of fallen drywall interrupt the stagnant patterns of neglect
Still and perfect I lay in wait beneath cold glass
My state and sleep are unforgiving
Time stretches on as the house wonders if it's sleeping beauty
will ever be found
Whispers of lost cities, buried treasure and prince charmings come and go
Still I lie in limbo, a true love's kiss to break my bonds
Twilight ascends softly
Closing off another day left to a curses desire

Lust consumes my every waking thought
The inevitable fall from grace that follows after trauma
I was young, a fledging then and yet was still cast out
Into hell
As my fragile feathers sizzled
I was choked by them
An acrid mixture of burned chemicals, of ozone
The pain is unbearable
Screams, the muscle contortions wrenching my body apart
Blood and flesh take shape mortally and the fall ends
A sudden crack, my vision blurs
Sore ribs reflect a broken heart. Memory erased
The ground is hard beneath me. Flames lick at my back
Cast out from paradise for the trace of impurity my thoughts evoked
One of the fallen. Birthed in sin.

Gripping panic. Where have you gone?
Dark shadows pull heavily on already languid limbs.
Your smell permeates my pillow but your warmth is gone
Dream of you. Whisper your name amonst the stars
Pleading with them for just a glimpse of the sun
For only your light can wake up my silent heart
Lurch, pulse, stutter...then thump thump thump
A soft rhythm of life
I lie in wait
Eye lashes flutter close
Feeling you inch closer and closer
Coming alive has never felt so good
Blood and bone burning for just a taste
Feed me

Dirt and rubble clog the passages of my heart.
A wasteland cursed with empty skies.
Bleak, oppressive.
Yet we wonder ever forward searching for the calm night.
Embrace the darkness.
I can smell it clinging to you.
Around your hipbones stars circle.
Constellations foretelling supernovas spiderweb my palms.
Stay awhile.
Play awhile.
Digging through only for you.
Calling me. Falling free.
We are the byproduct of concrete love letters
Vicious and exposing, hands always empty but outstretched
Hollow
We become see-through pale once more

Admired. Required to perform.
Feathers of turquoise and purple bruise my stage name.
Belladonna.
Blooming eggplant bright and dewy.
Eyes dance and twinkle only for you.
Indulge me my pet. Sharpen your knife.
I feel like blood tonight.
Tight smiles wreathed in crimson.
Waiting. Waiting for release.
Tear me open.
Burn me down.
******* away.

Always standing on ceremony. Reach out and touch that which is forbidden.
Fruit hangs heavy and full of juice from my trees.
Shadows from a thousand nights shroud a garden veined in blood with heavy secrets.
whisper your name along my walls.
Seek entrance.
But know you will find no rest here.
Only the sands of time running, sifting through root and bone.
Searching tirelessly for the end.
Close your eyes. Breathe deep. Know what it is to fade.
Away.

Crushing ache throbbing through flesh and bone
I burn for you
But to ashes and into the wind is all the air you have to give
Steady rhythms of tears and rain swallow quiet evenings whole
I cannot recover
There is no drug or cure for me
Although cloud 9 knows my name
Whispering softly against goosebumped flesh
Come to me. Give in.