Broken conversations,
empty lungs,
doors half open,
hearts almost out of love.

We used to talk of how
we used to be infinite.
But now every second now feels
like a stroke against an unforgiving current.

Our conversations broke
as the flaws of our souls
fell through the cracks of this glass foundation.

These upset words that escaped you
left the air around me a little sad,
a little awake,
and with a lot of echoes.

My lungs went empty
talking you down.

I left the door open for you.
So you can walk in
and slip in quietly-
I won't say a word.

And this heart could never go empty,
not mine.
Yours,
at this point,
I know not.

Flowers never lost their color
as long as you walked this earth.

I am here when you are not,
I was born through the pain that was brought
Upon a child who always sought.
The truth that never came,
Staring at faces all the same,
Lost in a wave, that was about to cave.
No one could hear you, but I could.
Always telling you things as you listened
I knew you always would.
Our growth was divine,
Strengthening with time.
You never knew I was there,
Until we were homeless,
Sleeping in that chair.
I whispered to you
"I'll always get you though"
In that moment your faith grew.

Not a word has been spoken since that night.
The night where words ran wild, and no one saw the light.


                                         My heart is breaking from the people who leave.
                                             My heart was stolen by night's terrible thieve.


                          The secrets and lies that people deny.
                          The heart and pain that is dying in time.


The blood that is streaking across the skin.
The razor can't stop digging in.
                    
                                           ­             Words of hate leave ink on your bones.
                                                        Wa­nting no more to pick up the stones.


                   I wait for death to take me home.

Take one breath at a time
Adorn each piece with a chime
Let hearts beat in sync
As feathers in air must sink!

Take one step at a time
Bless a beggar with a dime
For so do hearts entwine
Like broken glasses of wine!

Take one day at a time
Grace each line with a rhyme
For so do poems ferment
When pens and papers cement!*


© Raphael Uzor

You are a rainstorm in an Arizona summer.
I don't know whether I should hide
Or bathe in you.

A lot of time spent
having miscellaneous conversations with the air.
Even stupid questions like "how's your day" acting as if it'd give an answer, or, even more,
a whisper of inspiration
It's an obligation, or, maybe a delegation, or, a confirmation?
that we will create a masterpiece before insane peace
With a piece of our minds becoming a little less peaceful by the day.
Soon our minds will turn into violent catapults hurling out sentence after sentence making our paper bleed
                                                     Black, Blue, Red, Gray
Joining a cult created by the letters we created ourselves
falling into the abyss these stanzas and paragraphs invite us into
And don't get me wrong, it sounds terrible, but it's home.
There's no place like it.
Where these words are so much more than words,
they're family.
But frequently, we get into arguments that erupt into something sinister
and our desks become littered with papers that wilt and wither into nothing more than liters upon liters
of a type of alcoholic beverage that'll tempt us into becoming outspoken drunkards
But that's the goal:
*to be outspoken.