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When you set out on your journey
To traverse in seas unknown,
You will meet a set of characters
Who will test you to the bone:

You will hear such glorious voices
From the waters of below
Only stoop a bit, to glimpse of
The few sirens that lay low
With a wonder, you may doubt that
You have witnessed great beauty
The many scales they've fought to hide
Will in time, reveal so clearly

You will come across sea merchants
Who'll speak lengthy promises
Don't accept their words too quickly
Or their small venom doses
Gold to the eye, sweet to the tongue,
Their words drip like bee's honey
Yet to the thirst you've long to fill
So unquenchably sticky

When you find some shipwrecked sailors
Who are also lost at sea
Take them on board and you'll find that
They become your best mate-y
Keep them close, take good care of them
You will need them near the end
When you hit that last tidal wave
And your ship's about to bend

You will come by some sea pirates
Who will win you like a friend
When the seas get rough and rowdy
To you they will all depend
Don't believe their charming banter
They will empty up your lot
And then leave you stranded, lifeless,
Just to steal your golden spot

If you find a distant lighthouse
Do not fear to get too close
There you'll find such rare occasions
And gain gold you can't dispose
They will make you see the wonder
Of the smallness of your ship
And narrate those distant countries
For your never-ending trip

When you set out on your journey
To traverse in seas unknown,
You will sail through different waters
That will test you to the bone:

You will face a wave of troubles
That may come at an instant
Hold the ropes and brace the weather
Sunshine won't be too distant
Don't be too blinded by the rain
Don't get swept away by wind
For your greatest battle to face
Is not the outside, but in

Always remember your compass
For it knows you more them
It will guard your own sanity
Like a vault of precious gems
Don't believe them when they tell you
To exchange your own for theirs
You will lose your soul on the way
In search of approving heirs

At times you will sail still waters
But in these don't be deceived
For they come in strange intervals
In small bursts to be received
Do not chase after such waters
Those who did had died at sea
Not a name to be remembered
Nor a real captain to thee

Above all else, remember this--

When you land in shores uncertain
When your mates have all disappeared
When your compass has been stolen
When the journey's worse than you feared
When you stare death right in the face
When sea monsters outnumber you
When nothing falls right into place
When there is nothing left to do

--Don't lose sight of the North Star
In the land and seas you roam
It's your constant, day and night
Until you have returned Home.
This is dedicated to Frankie, and all others like her
I tried water
wading, floating, drowning
the pooling and spilling of years
immersed myself holy
deeply to find the fear
dark in the deep end
the coming home to soul
the pain of it all
unknowingly I'd slept
heart wrecked
frozen in fear
unwilling to look
until there was
no other choice
until one day discovering
hidden truths beyond
my darkest void.
Lullaby of the city, bright and strong,
Serenade the masses of the sleepless,
The tossing and turning, troubled tense throng
Of our kin bubbling over with stress.
Ink covered fingers flowing like water --
Pouring o'er paper in sharp curvatures.
Lips like verbs, eyes like green glass he'll shatter;
Like an open book with a hardcover.
Ballad of beautifully broken notes
Ringing through the chilling autumn air
Gathering the hearts and the tears of most
To bring the sorrowful much needed cheer.
     Like the steam from her black cup of coffee
     Not quite here; she's warm, hearty and happy.
Challenge
Her puffed pink lips wrapped
around the **** of her freshly lit cigarette,
hollowing her cheeks and sinking her eyes
as if death breathed her in and exhaled her out
as the smoke billowed out her nose
like an early 1950’s ad for Camel.
Her blue eyes were never opened all they way,
the black lashes heavy from the piling layers of mascara
she never washed off and under-eyes caked
with a yellow-orange tint that sat deep
into her sinking wrinkles, but the way her painted lips
kissed that cigarette made my heart yearn for a faster beat.
In and out, death bathed in her every breath until
nothing but the brown paper, stamped with her lipstick,
remained. Her ******* opened,
the cigarette still coughing up smoke as the toe
of her battered converse pressed it against the earth.
She waits a moment, looking out into
the busy streets of the city, until the itching of her fingers
is too much and she leans into her bag to pull out another one.
Through her heavy lashes, peaking over the basin under her eyes,
between the strands of her golden bangs
shown two bloodshot ponds that swallowed me whole.
The voice that snaked from her lips enticed me,
it sounded shattered and homely, rough and soothing,
as she leaned in and whispered
“Got a light?"
"Smoking has such a beautiful artistic sense" ~Lindsey Bost
 Oct 2015 Chris D Aechtner
JP
CAM
 Oct 2015 Chris D Aechtner
JP
CAM
She was like a Camera,
Whenever I see her,
I smile.
 Oct 2015 Chris D Aechtner
Makiya
I want to lay blankets over your head,
Hold a flashlight while you read my palm, my wrist my elbowmybreasts
I want to pay homage to your chest and
It's many rhythms, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4
Whatever, I don't know anything about timing,
Or I would have met you 6 years ago,
Before she broke your heart so that by now perhaps it may have grown
The size of this room we share
Instead, for now I'll hear you out in whispers

and in quiet
     morning conversations
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