Thank you, Thomas Edison, for your invention.
That we may use it as an analogy
In perpetuity.
In concept.
In cartoons.
No risiduals earned on this I'm afraid.
Epiphanies are so rare there would be little earned anyway.

They come on like rushing wind
Some we are lucky enough to grasp.
Pet Rock.
Chia Pet.
The Snuggie.
Others are squandered.
At the bottom of a bottle or glass.
Lost in the illegible syntax of a bar napkin.

Thomas Edison once bemused that he never failed.
He simply found a new way it wouldn't work.
What I wouldn't have given,
to have been among,
his bar napkins and empty bottles.

She had stumbled out of his car,
But he took her by the hand.
She had felt chosen.
Her prince re-perched her on her heels,
And so they went.

Arm in arm they traversed the cobblestoned-night
Meeting friends,
They laughed to tears,
As their glasses went dry and were refilled.
Perhaps too often.
Her legs wobbled when they told everyone goodnight
Pecking each blurry face on where their cheeks were supposed to reside.

Her arm again in her prince's they made their way back to his car.
The journey feeling longer than the last.
Scuffing toe and heel often enough for her to carry them in her free hand.
He opened the car door again for her
This time aiding her more.
As she slumped into the front seat,
She giggled as
Her fingers had forgotten their job.
So the prince reached over and fastened her seatbelt.
Strange that her safety was of his concern at that moment.

The ride to his apartment was shorter
One could say that parts were skipped, blurry, or simply missing,
But she knew that the car stopped.
And that their plan,
to Netflix the night away
Had better happen soon,
As she felt each evening imbibement swiftly catching up to her.

He carried her up the 12 steps to his apartment where his roommates waited around a television that seemed to sway?
Or was it just her?
She gladly accepted a glass of wine
As the movie began.
Her prince, gently handing the fluted glass,
Was measured in his approach.

As the movie progressed so did his predatory instinct.
First arm to shoulder,
Then hand to hip,
And finally hand to thigh.
His lips found her ear
Whispering an invitation
Which when sober,
she would have rebuffed.
Still she managed to shake her head
And say something that sounded like
"NoIdonwantotonigh, lesjusfinish themovie"
Audible enough for his roommates
To laugh about.
As her volume at this point was uncontrolled.

So he waited
and watched the film.
All the while watching her lips on her glass.
And her eyes glassy
Lids heavy
Head resting
On his shoulder.
Whether conscious or unconscious,
He took her to his room
His roommates forgetting.
That they had been humans before
They had been his friends.
And as the upstairs door slammed shut
They realized that prince wouldn't be returning that night.
Chivalry and valor had been outweighed by friendship.
The Devil's Deed was Done.

"For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing."
Simon Wiesenthal

The crash leaves few survivors,
Sheet covered corpses
Littering the highway's shoulder,
They survived, but can they face tomorrow.

Tears waterfall down both faces.
Her hand entwined with his,
As the obstetrician lets them know the truth.
They won't ever reconcile this loss.

Her hair was lost in weeks, after her 19th birthday,
Her boyfriend weeks after that.
She would beat the diagnosis.
But would have to wait to heal from the other.

At the window he sits, a boy waiting
This makes it four hours now
Father told him he'd return tonight
As morning comes, the boy still sits, still waits

We all wait, our twisted wrecks of symmetry,
Untwisting, to get us back to normalcy.
We'll never be normal again.
But untwisting our scars, our dents, our pain,
We carry on.
We survive.

Tentacles twist breaking bow and mast.
Clinging and clinching to the once mighty vessel.
A ship once prized by the Navy
Now prized as a partner for the sea beast.
Each serpentine tentacle tightens,
Around wooden board, and cast iron fastener.
Creaking and cracking the boat dances as the beast leads.
Waves crazed as they are whipped to frenzy,
Matching the mammoth's rhythms.
They struggle to keep the beast contained.
White caps covering the beasts murderous desire.
The ship is his, and as dances do,
This one ends in a flourish.
Cracking crosstrees and foremast,
Collapsing the gangways,
Sails still whipping as the dancer's dress is ravaged.
And as quickly as it began
It stops.
The monster sinks back from where his strike began.
The tired vessel following quickly after.
The water forgets its rhythm and steps.

"She just had to say it,
She couldn't keep it to herself,
I knew we were in a rough patch
But this, her ex." I need time to think.
As I sit down on the steps outside
I light, take a drag, and blow

"This can't be my fault, can it?
With all we've been through?
How could she throw this away,
For what, a fling!?" My clouded judgment stews.
The steps become uncomfortable
But I light, take a drag and blow.

"What I should do is bust this door down,
And force her to tell me why.
Why am I not good enough for you?
Why would you throw what we have away!
Tell me why!" And as the stairs began to poke and ****.
I light, take a drag, and blow.

"This is rediculous!" And as I rose from the stoop.
"There's just got to be a reason!
You don't do something like this without a reason!"
Were the words that flooded out of my mouth,
As I pushed our once inviting door open,
And I light, take a drag and blow

"You owe me this, look at me!"
She just continued packing a box
full of our things, our lives, her lies.
So as I flung the box to the ground.
Grabbing her shoulders I screamed "Why!!"
Just light, take a drag, and blow

Her fiery stare was more telling
Than any word that would follow from her lips.
"We haven't been right for years.
You've changed, I've changed."
And I knew there was no more I could do.
Except light, take a drag and blow.

She continued with, "I can't believe you're surprised.
Where do you think I've been going?
You are worse at keeping a wife,
than you are at keeping a job," she sliced.
She was right. I sat down on our former love seat to think
Just light, take a drag and blow.

I helped her pick up the scattered contents,
Of the box I had strewn to the floor.
******* each lie, my ears teary,
I knew this was it. He pulled up at 9.
She left with him at 10, my heart sulked in the corner
I just took a drag and blew.

She said, "Why can't you just be normal."
In her accusatory tone.
I knew my answer wouldn't faze her
Still I felt it important to defend my case.

"Normal huh,
Is that how I was raised,
Is that what you want from me,
Is mediocrity something I should strive for."
Her gaped mouth tightened,
But before she could form her rebuttal,
I began again.

"I want more than normal,
I want neon lit dreams,
On a high-def highway.
So that even in the darkest night,
They'll be illuminated in bright crystal.
I want more from myself than anyone could ever hope to beg out of me."

Her face had softened by now,
Shoulders dropping
As if taking their first vacation in almost 2 decades.
Her back was now lost in the sofa
Seeing my opening,
I continued.

"I don't have normal interests.
I don't have a normal family.
I couldn't see normal
From the highest peak of my life,
And even if I could, I wouldn't go on that journey.
I want more."

By now her face had changed in my eyes.
A muddy blur of someone stuck,
Stuck wishing for something.
Something that she lost over the years.
She lost control,
And so she still grasped
For what she had remembered it feeling like.

There had been a coup.
A new ruler had emerged.
Now, finally ruled by the hands and feet
That would build this path.
And walk this journey.
Regardless of plan or purpose.
My future was mine.

You know what would be miraculous.
The comprehension of reality among the populace in general.
That would be a miracle.
We live in an age where these twenty something tweens believe that they are all,
One second from stardom.
Newsflash!
It doesn't matter how many people
Follow you on Twitter,
Friend you on Facebook,
Or how many followers you have for your YouTube channel,
If you can't find a single original thought for yourself
In that pop music filled-
Romance and Action movie watching-
Book of the month club reading-
Head of yours,
If you can't think and feel for yourself
YOU ARE NOT A STAR
You are a hack.
You are just normal.
Like the rest of us.
So stop trying to get discovered,
And start
Thinking,
Feeling,
And Creating
Something for yourself.
Something for the world to see.
Something original.
Because you can't get by on the coat tails of others forever.
Sooner or later you will need to survive on your own.
And then when you've created something on your own.
Something worthwhile.
Something from your heart.
Then you have a chance.
A small chance,
But still a chance
To be a star.

I was never one for dancing,
But I was always interested in the view
Tonight was no exception.

The music played your theme
Your hips moving, to rhythms
My feet would soon forget.
My heart fluttered
Matching the tempo of drums
Then Pounding faster.
As your twists mesmerize.

The lights play games of tag
On the ceiling,
Across the walls,
On the floor,
Across your curves.
I'm swallowed by your visage.
As the room follows your lead.

Spinning,
Twisting and contorting
Carrying you towards me
Or me towards you.
I no longer can tell.

Your eyes sparkle
In between the strobe.
Inviting me to join you
As my body learns a second language.
First clumsily, but
Each second brings fluency.

We are lost in each other.
Letting the music
Hypnotize.
Our bodies, symbiotic.
Energy pulsing-
Through each other,
Into each other.

During a moment of clarity I think.
If she drank a poisoned cocktail.
I might ask the bartender for what she's having.

Mediocrity isn't my favorite flavor
But I make do
Tasting other sensations and qualities as well.
Like candied revenge,
And carmeled success.

But mediocrity is slightly different
It's bitter...
But not enough that it would ever cause me to settle
For something else
That was further from my seated reach.
It's also stale, at times,
As if it were left out on a bar all night,
To be eaten by others looking for, well
Anything.

As I bit down on mediocrity once more
I couldn't help but salivate
At the thought of achievement and drive
Memories of their savory aftertastes overtaking the putty being mulled about my teeth.
And I swallowed the paste.
Mostly to get the taste out of my mouth.

But as my taste buds clear,
And my thoughts drift elsewhere.
The idea that one more hand full of mediocrity
Might not be that bad.
Creeps into the back of my mind.
After all,
It is within reach.

Heart beat, beat again.
Don't leave me alone my only friend
Don't leave me here to die in vain.
Don't leave me please just say my name
Just clasp my hand keep me awake
If I sleep I'll slip from your embrace.
So shake me hard, I'm leaving soon,
Keep me from slumber and here with you.
My blood runs cold it won't be long,
Please sing to me an angel's song,
True beauty's voice inside my ear
To fill my sails away from here.
This ship I'll take to rest in peace.
Sweet voice, sweet girl, sweet night.
Cease.

I search, but I rarely find
The reasons they say that I'd be fine

Fine is perspective I say with a wink
First amused then confused they stop and they think
"What does he mean," they say through closed teeth.
I'll tell you what I think and believe
See no one ever gets out of life alive
So I find it inexplicable why someone would try.

That might seem negative in practice or thought
But life hands out lemons or so I've been taught
But the second half of that statement I never have bought
Don't make lemonade be happy with the lemons you've got
Cuz each one you get teaches you something you see.
Just embrace life for itself what will be, well, will be.

Some risk the now for future's sake
Spend all their time planning just to get raked
Over the coals by the pressure they've placed
On themselves trying to force their lives into shape
I learned early on that square pegs just don't fit
In round holes, so what's the point in forcing it.

Life ebbs and flows, steals, lies and cheats.
If you aren't ready for its storms you'll be blown off your feet
To weather the storms of lightning and sleet
You'll need recover regroup and repeat,
The lessons you learned when you were so young.
Yes, plan a future but in the now, please, have fun.

The venom leaped from her tongue, Into my ear,
And I wish I could say that
I didn't deserve it.
But in the heat of the moment
I went for the win
Instead of
Letting
It
Go.
Maybe I should have kept
my thoughts
To myself.
Perhaps then we wouldn't be in the predicament
That we
Are in
Now,
Had I took a taken a
Moment
To
Pause.

With her throwing whatever
She can grab ahold of,
That isn't fastened to the floor or wall.
And me,
Hoping to dodge projectiles,
As I stutter through heart felt apologies.
Realizing that my razor coated words
Had finally done the job,
But that I regretted them the instant
They passed over my
Tongue
Teeth and
Lips.

There was no going back
To the argument we had been having,
Before my mouth loosed
What would be my regret
For years
To come.
Because how would she forgive me
If I
Couldn't
Forgive
Myself.
The words had been etched
In stone.

In separate rooms we retreated
Our ceasefire seeming to begin
At the same time
Her arm
Grew
Tired.
Through the wall I could hear her packing,
Between her sobs and screams.
And on the guest bed I sat.
In stunned silence
Shocked that we would
End
Like
This.

When she burst out of our bedroom door.
I rushed to see if I could meet her in the living room,
And as she gathered
Things that
Were hers,
The idea of "ours" having vanished hours ago.
I snuck in words that she would never remember
I'm sorrys
I can't believe I said thats
And
Please forgive mes.
The words pelted her armor, but bounced off
With nearly audible
Pings
And
Tings
My words had created my own Jericho
My former comforting walls,
Now tumbling around me.
As she slammed the door,
Bag in hand and the words
"I'm going to my mother's, don't call"
Hanging
In the blistered air.
I sank into my chair,
The scene
Of
The
Crime.