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 Jun 2016 taylor
Joshua Haines
Ma and Pa,
lover doves,
kiss with fists
and hug with shoves.
He said,
"God, have mercy on the feral,
for as wild as they dream,
it is only because
their hearts are too tame."
 Jun 2016 taylor
Joshua Haines
Slumping over their shopping carts
like porpoises on parade.
Baskets overflowing with
fritos, doritos, and sugar-ade.

Reckless the dream that changed
what they couldn't,
to swim through foil bars
soaring from cash to vein.
Girl with scissors, cutting hair,
to reach a new brain.

Sofa-living, so much thwarting
thoughts of inadequacy.
Streams of image, money
-- and American Honey,
I think you are fine
the way you hurt.
Coins dangling down,
above the baby's crib.
Songs of tri-color flags,
Songs of how.
 Apr 2016 taylor
Joshua Haines
And I am tortured by regret,
things I've not done yet.
Thinking this defines me.

And I cannot deny
that I'm terrified
of fading to black.

I used to cherish every doubt--
now unsure in what I've found:
my instability was transparent
and now it's apparent...

And I now keep the lights on,
lay in a cold bath until warm.
My lips, so purple and svelte,
have sealed all I have felt.

And I stay a static transplant,
a homely nomadic infant,
stumbling towards the abyss,
thinking it's what I've missed.

I used to utilize the past,
stretching time, but at last,
the only fire I've consumed
will soon fade to black...
 Apr 2016 taylor
Joshua Haines
This reality, different from yours.
Sandpaper ice-cream cones sold
in engulfed, aflame stores.

This body, tense yet soft
tears underneath
the rub of rope.
My friend's feet swiped
a flailing chair,
And her neck did snap,
feces everywhere.

This sky, wrapped in saran wrap,
becomes pregnant when it rains,
the plastic weighed down by water,
slumps down the aquarium sky,
we slump down as it kisses us,
crushes us, mashes us, thrashes us.

- It all changes here,
from god to god,
from year to year -

Her hips lay like cursive,
pale, promising, pent up
like the shoulders of
an anxious angel.

Her hair a burnt brown,
wrapped around a whatever-count pillow,
like a L'Oréal snake, sleeping sullen,
drifting off into a designer dream,
unsure of this, unsure of me.

I see her as a child --
No, I see me as a child --
No, I see us as children.
This. This surreal feeling I get
when you're around me.
When the world is around me,
vibrating underneath my Toms.
Vibrating in my prescription bottle.
Vibrating between her legs, my ribs.
Between each page, so much is hidden:
my early swearing that my late love
is slowly draining.
 Oct 2015 taylor
JG Fletcher
Novella
 Oct 2015 taylor
JG Fletcher
Changed
I've changed for the better
That chapter I penned
The year previous
Reached it's conclusion
Suffice to say

That book
A novel, rather
Called Life
I haven't finished it

There are stories yet to be told
For now, this will do
Written in mere increments, while watching some Netflix
 Sep 2015 taylor
JG Fletcher
Sometimes I feel lost
Like I'm aiming the dark
And I seldom succeed
In my progression.
But these woes I face
Are just another part
of everyday life
Maybe the only way forward
Is from within
Written several days previous
 Aug 2015 taylor
JG Fletcher
It came as a discovery, really
I've only started to realize
That coincidences, though they exist
Are not common occurrences
Everything that led up to now
Happened for a reason
As much as I'd like to
Dismiss it as a coincidence
I can't bring myself to
Each day is full of surprises
And that's what excites me the most
Written on my stay in the beautiful city of Nuevo Vallarta
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