Your lives can be
tragically
tinted
by your profession
and studies
but equally elevated
by the same.

Tears scar
my fevered
red face
as I rage
against
these
unites states.

Pillars of pain
pushed to the point
of bullets and
blood stained
t-shirts.

To young,
to run
far enough
away
that day,

Now politicians
send thoughts and
prayers
but that is
much too little
to even be late.

The media
garners
silent stares
of inaction
while anonymous
internet commenters
call grieving parents
crisis actors.

facebook posts
of dividing positions
put friends in
combative opposition.

I would like
to be fair and neutral,
but the roots
run red and deep
as this dark sea of grief
rises from its sedated state.

So,
I keep on asking
how many more children
have to die
before people do
something right.

Let us all stand united against the hate and intolerance that ignites violence and oppresion, whether it is in foreign lands or in our own nation. Let love reign supreme and hope that hate fades.

For the ecstasy
of love
I would have
cut my tongue,

I would have
silenced myself,
suffocated my outrage
for the chance to exist
in the elevated state
of her embrace.

I would have
slowly sliced
the essentials
of my identity
to feed said addiction.

So, in losing
even the illusion
of the chance of love
I am freed from
the strangle hold
that it would have.

Even though,
these are the truths
that I know,
I am certain
that I would
happily relapse.

The laws of man
are stretched and torn
worked like taffy.
They are the
sustenance and armor
of the wealthy
while the rest of us
are crushed
beneath their weight.

It is the heart of me
that she does not
even bother to see,
a red bridge that breaks
collapsing into
a darker crimson pool,
I set this mess
before her,
expose my scars,
as I worship hers,
whisper gentle affections,
promise fierce protection,
but she turns away
unswayed by the fruits
of my heart,
and I turn away
forgetting the self-love
I struggled to attain
and succumb to
that old familiar pain.

It is a cold pose
of white folds
on top of snow,
as thin arms wrap
softly around
the soft porcelain
skin we have found.