The cicadas scream there mating song
Courage runs thru me
I'm gonna tell him
I am
The conversation has lulled
Perfect time
I'm gonna say it
 I'm gonna scream it to him
"Babe, I know you love me.
I know you tolerate my children for me.
But babe, my baby is sick.
He's sick in the head.
He..."
I'm gonna do it
I'm gonna tell him the rest of that sentence
My mouth opens
The words begging to come out
It's as though they know me
Know my fear of saying it aloud
Aloud to someone who isn't...
The cicadas crescendo their mating scream
We are deaf to anything else
The words die before they exit my mouth
But one day they won't be there
Summer will be gone
"Closed for the season" sign plastered in the sky
"Thanks for staying!
Come back again next year!"
That's what it says
Yeah, that's what'll happen
The cicadas silence
Fall will come
Along with the words that sit
Sit at the edge of my tongue
The reason I started smoking a pack a day again
Why I'm asked "why are you so pensive?"
"Do you really want to know?"
I'll tell you, then you'll go screaming from me
"An abomination! That's what it is!"
The cicadas stop me
But only for now
I will tell
In the dark
When there's no light to comfort you
Whlie I'm breaking
That's when I'll tell you
Don't leave me. Stay
This is when I'll need you most
When the cicadas have sung their last screaming ****
When the green leaves turn orange
when I tell you what he....

EVIL rides in SUVs with the windows all blacked out.

HONOR                drives a plug in car that leaves no resdue behind.

APATHY rides in secondhand Nissans with the clear coat
                                flaking off.

CELEBRATION rides in limos with open tops for standing up in.

TRAGEDY            rides in a long black hearse with all the horses
                                under the hood.

BRAVERY drives a bright red Moped that cuts in and out of
                                traffic.

POVERTY must ride the bus in a much too long commute.

ARROGANCE drives an escalade that’s the fourth left turn on a
                                yellow.

BOREDOM drives a station wagon missing the left rear
                                hubcap.

PANIC        races in the family car where panting and blowing
                              isn't helping.

HAPPINESS       drives almost anything with a baby in the back
                              seat.
                    

MACHO ­       drives a Ford F350 with wheels even bigger than
                               his ego.

MELTING *** preens in a souped-up Chevy that dances like a
                                hip-hop star.    

PRETEEN       rides a bicycle and dreams of a Mustang.

YOUTH      hauls *** in a Jeep Wrangler with the rag top
                             down.

MIDLIFE CRISIS  rides a Harley in a group of seven on weekends.

OLD AGE    drives slowly in an ’83 Chrysler Imperial that
                           won't fit in the parking spaces.

LOVE   floats along on hopes and dreams and has no
                          need of wheels.

ljm

You want me to leave the room
So I don't inhale your doom
Little do know I have an invisible cloak
I'm no fool
And it won't help you to make me leave
Don't you know I'm already dying
So if you're going to **** what's dead
Shoot me in the head
With your blasted smoke up my nose
I'll help plan the funeral
With white roses in my hand
Only to be tainted by the air
No one can breathe
You want me to leave
But I refuse to
Please damage me
So I can be buried right next to you

The sweeping fiddle,
Notes glittering,
As the trees sway,
Gently as the swinging strands,
Of the weeping willow,
Tangle and strangle me,
Who is hanging by the crook of my knees,
On a tree branch.

I'll only listen 'til I fall asleep,
And crack my skull,
On the stones below,
Swinging, swinging, by my feet,
How cold of you not to notice me,
Singing along with your endless playing,
And enticing my wakefulness in a bribe to exile,
With the lullaby's melody.

I've been tricked!
Now you cut me down,
And take my dead body as your pleasure,
"La, di, da", still playing while you kiss me,
Quite the fiddler you are,
But mind you,
The tree nymph's lips cheat too,
Now you're fertilizer for the tree and I'm still humming and dangling.

"La, di, da, da, DAAA! Delicious!"

do you think
cloaks of normalcy

societal smiles
wash away reality -

that screens pulled close
pious veils drawn

means all is well -

that children next door
from 'respectable' homes

aren't used like so much spoil
displayed with polish

to the highest bidder -

what tales do you keep
to sleep at night

in perfumed air -

'it's far away
some hapless child

not where I drive
with tinted glass

they're lower class
don't know the Lord

mere runts down town
where father drinks

can't pay their rent
make decent wage

so sell the kid
for sordid nights -

- n - o -
it happens

to tender buds
in wealthy
suites

and poorer shacks
in any
place

and every age
from dot to
grown

they stay unseen
stare at their
sums

are ***** this night
sob off to
sleep

as mother too
walks right on
by

deaf to the screams
he wants his
due

so he will take
her brother
too

'now be a man'
says worm to
prince

he lies to all
most to his
face

and no one sees
and no one
hears

the silent screams
with veil drawn
close

they look askance
and walk on
by