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Looking to tell a story in which you’re already in
Spinning with clouds foreshadowing downpour
All in the while the sky is fire red

Resting on steps of paved metaphors

Searching for magic or the ghost of,
As words drift in the breeze,
The crowd unimportant, secondary sounds too

“But we recycle our lines and dig through the plot.”

“—Swallow someone else’s lies.”

My own thoughts interrupted

“I stand here unnoticed appearing dull and lifeless...blush when I’m green, brittle without leaves—but I am more than what I appear to be.”

“A resting place for wings and twigs ...I’m rooted, but every prime of spring, I fly.”

“Wind and rain are friends, although seasonal deaths, snow says hello, and through the freeze it pleases.”

“I represent life and death, just as you do.”

—so what’s the point?

“That’s your story.”

City tree
Even when you have it in front of you it's already gone
Music lasts longer than people
Into the seamless dusk of night
Nomadic illusions
Colorful fumes

Holding what's not real
The lonely dance awaits
She left before the lights came on
Lay with lie
The beat is dead

Bummed out tunes
Run and run and run
Towards the disco-tech

© C. Valencia
Haven’t touched words in a while because I’ll never see you again
You who once agreed with god really just being everywhere and everything
Still, you prayed and prayed for me
The natural sufferer
True to the prophecy

Love is the reason religion still exists
Faith from the old world
With the good of the new
You who taught me to listen
Simply because the earth speaks
I cherish every memory

No one’s ever worked harder to receive less
All-knowing you laughed at your own fate
Sometimes luck skips a generation
You saved it all for me

Cry for someone while they’re breathing
While they can feel the sadness from the void they’d leave in you
And be joyful once they rest
For they are everywhere and everything
Dedicated to Luz Dary Montoya Chica, my hero.
Dreams shrink with age and our aging bodies
follow
Disappointment underlines the expectation of
self
Deprivation withholds participation from true
form
Death in shallow waters and the stream of
always
Downfall isn’t anything without the rise of
hope
Dawn sprouts life on days we don’t
believe
Detestation dwindles when our first choice is
love

See?
For mike
Fireflies at sun rise
Breakfast with butterflies
The first uttered words of a sunshine
Your eyes lost in mine

Our legs wrapped together
Like two clouds in the heavens
The stars whisper it's written

You and I
Forever

© C. Valencia
The sight of you brings hesitation
Train of thought stopped dead in its tracks
Carefully choosing my words and ****** expressions
Controlling my stare
My ears warm up to the sound of your voice
Turning red, as my friends tease
I attest, they've yet to see me this way
Never did I think I’d meet an aura first
Yours emits peace and happiness
Kindness and true inner beauty
Nothing in existence has been more self-evident
You, all of you--
No need for melodrama
Or tragic romance
Unopened love letters
Or tightly wounded hugs at last good-bye--
With you, it's simple
Let's hold hands and as we walk we'll change the world
If we fail we'll have at least built a home
Wrinkles will come and tears will fall
But if you're by my side
This rock can revolve off its axis
I've already been floating eternally
I just now know that forever is you
The yearn for self-fulfillment is really just a void that death fills
I don’t believe in god but I drink spirits
There’s a pulling feeling in the air
It tells a story beyond our own despair
True existence projected in the sun
Reflected on the moon
Spilled upon the mountains
Caressed by fog and morning dew
I float and hover
Beneath me is no one
Above me is everything
I am the ghost of gloom and doom
Yet to me, this is beautiful.
Lucky penny on the floor
Thinks he’ll never be much more
Sound bytes and coffee
Tourist Fridays have him conscious
So many to shine for

Lucky penny on the floor
Thinks he’ll never be much more
With the face of Abe
And the might of bronze
Remembering his worth in dollars

No other coins deemed lucky
Or lived with such a worthy president
Still, the past is just a precedent
Floor penny, Starbucks, 48th & 6th ave, 4/18/16 nyc
Miles Davis soothes the madness of the morning met
Pleasantly abrupt is our perception
Too in a hurry to say thanks
Doors never held open
Don't take offense
For that's the way in the mad city

As rugged as the rust water dripping down the subway train
stained puddles marinated by ***** concrete
We walk the streets of authentic filth
Old buildings and souls
We wake to strive and be much more

Sun rays sneak past the gloomy clouds
Showing success in defeat
No matter if it be yours or mine, says nimbus
As the gray fades, we go back to black and white
Same path  
Two sides
The most precious of gifts are left unwrapped

Doves are still pigeons
And dreamers can be quitters
A forever smile is self denial
Like sweetened iced coffee
Or sweetened anything

The unsweetened mad city

© C. Valencia
Breezy heights lift the underground scoundrel with notes of jazz and volcanic caffeine
fiends everywhere below, anywhere above, addiction as a means to a beginning
liquid cigar on lips propels the express into sobriety of the mind
maybe not
the man that is looking back at the poor lonely boy over the hudson
so vulnerable yet absorbent
so defeated yet resilient
there are voids that will never be filled
how can the parentless parent themselves?
by avoiding parasites and loving oneself
tuning your own strings
writing your own music
telling your own tale
I see his reflection waving from blvd east
that little fiend of a boy who became addicted to the right things
o how you’ve reached over the river…
Manhattan 6/17/2024
down in the Frio river
where George Strait first swam
i grabbed ahold of the rope
and swung right into the country
where clear water flirts with the hot sun
and my face is kissed by their entanglement
freckles of life
eyes of a child
simplicity with audacity
laying hind down on the shallow end
as the stream tickles my toes
and the minnows say hello
wishing this were my childhood
but today i grew a little
Shrinking as I wait for my shrink
Minuscule in appearance
Skyscrapers overshadow
Obsolete rock with tiny feet
Plants feed off the heat from nearby concrete
Each brick cemented by century
Droplet from the sky is opposite
Magnifies true irrelevance
Cross legged at the cross walk
Visitor at the cross road
Flickering light bulb thrives in day
At night it diminishes
At night it's just a fade
First five minutes
Red flicks and burns my eyes
Mute but loud with color
Spirit travels down eigth ave
Recollection of life during transit
Rain check on the hospital bill
Life uninsured
Death assured
Silent ambulance
i like standing on rainy city corners
they are as busy as my thoughts
drops from the above
spill like falling neurons
connecting all five senses
to the brain that is my sky
i miss taking the bus
and my affinity for public spaces
even though i am shy
and--I miss walking without commitments
it is a truth in which a lie
For my Tia Luisa. Thank you for teaching me how to laugh, dance, and dream. Rest in peace
drawing inspiration from across the street, nature's light is missing though it reflects
most gloom-full days, and i am my happiest
I miss friendship touching on my shoulder
tapping for my attention
Reminding me of my foolishness

We can't breathe the same air anymore without worry
Even though we use to share it
Strangers and what would be foes
a breath now drawn is a breath untold

I saw blood stain concrete today
On the day of the last Trebek
I was triggered and now i'm here
drunkenly writing this garbage

The capitol was stormed this week
By a hurricane of fools
Can we blame them?
Only a symptom
The disease is you

I miss my friends so much
mostly in my twenties
aimlessly waiting
walking
talking
and then laughing about it

what a time we had
now i'm bounded by four walls and a paycheck
lest not forget the rolling chair
I'm still young and dumb
just a different type of fool

Back to Trebek
Hey George - I'm sorry i didn't make it to your funeral
Your son tried to kiss me in my sleep and it broke our friendship
Thank you for the knowledge

I miss the days where i watched you smoke over that ledge
so carelessly and free
telling stories of what your life use to be
flipping your scratch off coin

Little did i know you were clawing for survival
hoping to win yourself a marvel
a surprise
everyday before seven pm
You don’t want the deck
Only a need for one
Somehow the shuffle still gets you
Warranting the luck of the draw
When the wild card is once in a life time
Yet you still bet blindly
Hoping for the forever hand
Full again but comes up empty
Find another way
If she smiled then she meant it
Ash has no density
Free from the party
I can’t get this song out of my head
The one you sang to me a Saturday ago
I’d  kiss you next year
And thereafter
Probably not

— The End —