I am a poet with words a plenty
But I weep in jealousy
Because my audience is limited
My words do not transcend
Translating easily
Into other languages

But paintings and sketches
Can bend and break those
Barriers

One word can mean
Two or more things
In different languages

But an eyes is an eye
Hands are hands
The ocean is the ocean

And visual arts
Can share more then
My simple words
Dare to do

The broken branches
The barren tree
Bereft of insects
And fluttering leaves
Ancient oak
White and tall
Legendary
Among them all
The base was brown
Now calcified
Or is it ossified
Till it’s fossilized
Where ostracized
Lovers carved their name
And promised
To return again
Where children
Once reigned
In make shift forts
The tree now holds
The many eons of echoes
Masses of memories
Soon to be released
To you and me as we please

It is a shame
that true gems
are not given
the light they need
to sparkle spectacularly,
whilst dull coal figures breed
contempt and greed,
spreading the diseased seeds
of creative mediocrity.

We mere mortals
are not granted
greats spans of time,
cannot cross
the expanse to find
the coal has compacted
cause the fact is
that practice
will outlast us.

New beauty perceived
will be retrieved
long after death’s
dark and dangerous reprieve
has collected our tired forms,

but I prefer to be
awed by the artistry
that you share gracefully,
exposing exploding shards
of your rapidly beating heart
along with the other parts
that presently bleed poetry profusely.

Bereft of depth
the cattle calls
a chattering clutter
of noises that bothers
saner minds
and their ****** daughters.

When fools ferment
deep discord
from a good temperament
turning sweet wine
into a bitter product
wilting from some
rotten vine,

and honest hearts
no longer entreat
the wisdom of fools
they once deigned
to share
humanity’s goodwill
and ever shrinking grace with.

Let them loose their tongues
and see drool dripping
like a sea of diarrhea.

For these things are
matters of darker dreams,
past times parting
partial truths
to the cruel schemes
of the obtuse
and greedy hearts
who abuse
all those
who challenge their views.

I watched her skin
Go from black and white
Then
Start filling out
With color again
Slowly saw the warmth
That had once withdrawn
Come creeping back in
And the pursed lips
Pointed with sorrows kiss
Turned inside out and up again
Refreshed like my favorite web page
Reanimated
Alive instead of stagnant
And black hair turned to brown
Her grey eyes turned to hazel explosions
And the walls came crumbling down
Without knowing
What the showing of such warmth did
I saw my skin start filling in to
I was not smiling
But there was life anew
Brewing and burning through
The dark illusions I was struggling with
I never got a chance to thank her for it
So this is it
A poem of gratitude

Check out the lights
Lets transcend the heights
Of my own imagination
Past garbled salt water
Part boiling mermaid daughters
Asinine aliens
Magic beings
Mystics and monks
Praying to
Diaphanous demons
A Virile and vain vampire
Dating a sparkling tree spirit
A wretched wizard
Hanging with Witty Warlocks
And Witches in weird wardrobes
A Wicked werewolf
Courting
Alluring angels
Naughty Gnomes
Teasing tiny
Pretty pixies and
Frightened fairies
An Unlucky unicorn
Being chased by
Dangerously daring dark dragon
Greedy goblins grabbing gleaming gold
Goofy Gargoyles
Glad handing
Gorgeous goddesses
And a cranky Kraken
Staring at a sickeningly sultry siren
Sitting on a salty sea stone
Trying to eat an enlightened elf
A leprechaun laughing
At a ***** hobbit
Who is trying to ****
A hairy and hostile dwarf

All stream lined in time
Put on a perfect pause
Cause they don’t do anything
They are just fake figurines
Cardboard cutouts
Pretty poems and portrait
Painting in my mysterious mind

I lead with my left,
And follow with the rest
Of my body.

React with the exact flow
Of my subconscious,
And come back later for the editing.

Life is not a boxing match,
But it feels like I’ve been
Fighting this and that.

Fist in hat and swiped it back
No magic tricks
To help me with it.

Just one thing to the next,
And I no longer reflect
What I expect.

I am just a wishing well
Of show and tell,
Pennies in, but only smoke come out again.

Good men are slaves
to a system
that has them
trying to stay strong,
trying to pay rent,
to feed moms,
and their children.

They do the wrong thing
because they need money
for food, cloths, shelter
for car insurance,
for maintenance, and
for medical emergencies.

So, the goodness,
We would like to see
gets buries out of
necessity.

Kind hands
become calloused tools
and the hardworking man
dies at the plant,
were other good men
are struggling the same
with some minor variations.

Time broke the heart of Van Gogh
Wrenched the soul of Edgar Allen Poe
As the ages spoke with words and paints
The romantics yielded up all of their pain
And put it on display in canvasses and pages

Did’st thou forget where hopeless lover sprang from
Not your modern sparkling blood suckers
Not your star crossed werewolves
Not your dainty upper crust debutantes
But from poetry
From the poems of life
Which art does so poorly imitate
From the scripture of the worker
From the not so quite ancient days
When lovers sailed away
To find their place
From the rash heartbreaks
From those verses of yesterday
Not those shades of grey
That displace your face
And find your faith delayed
But from the plays we played
And the words we said
From Romeo and Juliet
Began that creative trend
Rushing full blushing
In to their foolish end
But then again it is their love I covet
Hence my love poems are birthed
Pale imitators of past affections
So when I say I love thee
As the sun loves the moon
When I rush to reach what can never be grasped
If ever we are together
Knowing it will never really last
Let me hold you in Shakespearian affections
All lust, and love
All ash to ash and deadly brash

Oh, how I wish
my tears
would steer clear
of the fear that
lives here.

I am tired
of the hate
that is inspired
by the spiral
of bad faith
actors working
in accord
with each other
to enhance
the discord
that smothers
compassion.

I am exhausted
from passing
my passion
from within
to my pen,
from my mind
to my computer
and pasting
pieces of poetry
on social media
sites
that profit from
greed and destruction
in the form of
views and ads.

It all feels bad,
and I would be glad
to grab
a long nap
and never have to
rise and see
the violent spree
of soldiers killing
civilians,
while the state claims
that these children’s
suffering is justifiable,
that these horrors
are deniable,
that these lies are viable,
going viral, and capable
of making some lives
less valuable.

Disembodied voices
Sit in a conference call
To convince tellers
To tell people
That credit cards
Are awesome
That it won’t cost them
Much at all
And they can get rewards
Not mentioning
That the percentage
Of interest
Outweighs any rewards
They claim are so great
And if the cardholder is not careful
Heavy debt waits
To chain them to
Financial insecurity
And a job that is cruel
Countering the countenance
Of mankind’s
Desire to be free

Do not wait for me.
As troubling as it may seem
I babble on
breaking brooks
in my stone laden
dreams.

Do not stop
or slow a step behind.
Please proceed.
I hope you find
the peace of mind
that eludes me.

Do not carry me
when I fall.
For I am far to broken
and each shard
of my being
is a dangerous thing
made of
silver and sterling
nighttime daydreams.

Do not worry,
I was in no hurry.
While you rushed into
the death you thought you knew
I stayed behind
to enjoy this time of mine.

Do not look back.
Fear finds its own facts
and sadly I lack
that spark which knows eternity.
Unfortunately, there is only me
here in the moment
on my mud rock
that pirouettes space.

Do not stop.
Go on and rush to death
because heaven or hell
awaits your final breath.
I don’t mind
keeping my heaven and hell here.
Whilst you wither and disappear
I’ll enjoy the crystal clear
running water,
the clean skies,
the beautiful animals
that you cannot take with you
when you die.

Do not worry one bit.
I got this.
Just go on my dear
I’ll rest right here
because this is such
a sweet and wonderful
but one time only life.

The revolution will not be televised,
unless it is being used to vilify,
or is being politicized
by those political guys
trying to score votes.
Any fair press will be silenced or brutalized
along with other protesters.
The leadership will be euthanized,
or demonized unless they can be
subdued quietly.

If you are under the illusion
that you can fight back physically
you must be mentally silly.
The cops got equipment
left over from the military
cause the war machine
wants to sell our government
the newest toys.

If our government has any say
they will find a way to lock away
anyone who might inspire change.
If you don’t believe me
just look and read
about Assata Shakur,
or Angela Y. Davis.

If you know or love anyone
who is out there trying to save us,
from the congressional and big business,
power hungry alliance
you better pray that they keep their defiance
just low key enough to slip the notice
of Law enforcement, or POTUS,
cause this country isn’t for us
and does not provide justice.
It is just a business that is made
to break and degrade
while the working class is enslaved.

Thud drip thud drip thud drip
The plaster chips bulges and rips
Tears chunks and moistened bits
From the edges to the other tips
Crumbling as if this is it
Those creaky bits no longer fit
Bent the metal frames till they are ****
Thud drip thud drip thud drip
I cannot sleep through
this
Even with a pillow crushing my ears
I can still hear what I fear
The house is coming apart
Just like me it will all disappear

The curves swerve
Like a private seduction
Wavy roads marked
For ****** success
Excessive adrenaline
Mixed with hormones
Desire sweating pheromones
Gasping breath
Grasping flesh
Shaking off emotional dust
By satisfying their lust
Spooning in a cocoon
Wanting someone
Two caterpillars
Moaning to become
One
Butterfly
Their parts intertwine
Fairy wings fly
Going up
To come inside
Aawww   Awwww
Uhhhh!

I know I won’t be here forever,
and I am just wasting away,
watching politician playing their games,
play acting outrage while preventing change.

There is a no place for my face
that shifts and distorts from the pain
that I am forced to witness over and over again.

I’m not the cleverest
but stating facts makes me feel like
I’m trying to scale Mt. Everest
while screaming against the bitterest winds,
like I am going to have to watch all of my friends
slip off the top and drop nonstop
until our whole civilization ends.

I’m just dressing my heartbreak up in
stark sparkling words meant to
amuse and enlighten all of you,
until the same fate catches up to me to,
and my legacy disintegrates
with the rest of the human race.

Welcome to
The red white
And dark blue
*******
That owns you

The tax kings
Bleeding you
For better dreams
You will never make it to

It’s true
The wealthy rule
I’m not sure
If it’s a secret cabal

But they take it all
Rake in the money
We make them
While taking more

We feed the fed and the IRS
The justice system
Is the department of property protection
Run by big fat white men

I guess I’m ranting again
But I am tired
And getting sleepier by the minute
We got to many dogs
In this fight
And I’m not sure
If we can win it

That is why this poem doesn’t have
A happy ending in it

She writes sentiments
made to soften the hearts
of harden men and women.

In silent interludes
she scribbles
gentle syllables,

Rich whispers
fill my ears
hushing
the harsh pains
I feel
like torrential rains
on a raging forest fire.

I desire
to find
myself inspired
to write
something
as deep and beautiful.

I lust for larger words,
or perfected prose
to put something of me
and humanity
back into
the mind of strangers.

Body shoved hard
against the metal.
Back cracked
against the lock,
all my books,
knocked, dropped,
and lost
by school mates
passing by.

Rage face curling
in a horrible form.
Like a shape shifter,
I watched her
change faster
then any monster
in movies
or on tv.

So, daily
I wished
to be invisible,
not a superhero
just a perfect dodger
so, no one could see me,
and I could
sit peacefully
reading and thinking
about everything
instead of living in
daily anxiety,
jumping
at the slightest touch
overly alert, and panicking
too much.

We cannot time travel.

We cannot unravel
time’s cruel arrow.

We cannot fly
like a sparrow
returning
from whence we came
revisiting old places
that only lay
in our memory.

We cannot replay
the day in any real way,

and by we
I really mean me
because I cannot
go back to see
deceased family
or just steal one precious moment
from my childhood.

I cannot
look at my baby brother
when he was little,
then hug and squeeze him.

All I can do
is remind him
presently
that he
is a treasure to me.

I’m trying
to reduce
the undue
influence
and time consuming
presence
of certain
social media

The gentle lover listens
Desires to hear her stories
To see her expressions
Read her movements
Unlock the mysteries
To softly caress
Her sloping flesh
To hold her
No roughness
Put flowers to her lips
A paintbrush
To touch
Every inch of  her skin
To begin again
Listening
As her breathing changes
And when she sleeps
Naked beside him
The gentle lover
Slowly covers
His lover with the soft sheet
To keep her safe and warm

Daylight shades
paint the frames
and Instagram pages
with beautiful smiles
and short blond locks
that look out at
the world with
a certain
curiousness.
Snapshot moments
of social projections
pushed out onto
the internet
so strangers
can view
those small lies,
because
these pictures
do not know
or show
a quarter of
the truth.

Behind the
staged displays
of fun and cosplay
there are
dark shadows
with deep corners
where broken hearts
bleed clutching
their bruised wrists
and split lips.
Where blood drips
on the cracked tip
of the kitchen
counter top.

There are
repeated rapes,
cruelty and denial,
honesty rejected,
and despairing.
There is
a sense of
resignation
to not let this
invasion
define her life.

There is abandonment
from those who should have
safe guarded
her pulsar heart,
there is
injustice,
and while
the darkness
has not swallowed
her soul whole
yet,
she still finds time
to give light  
to a friend
who was trying to lend
a compassionate ear
to her.

These photos
do not dare
to chart the depths
seldom shared,
or explore more
then mere outward
pleasantries.

There is so much
left to see, hear,
and hold dear,
deep conversation,
neuroscience
and psychology
discussion
that are enlightening,

so much more
then mere flesh,
or hastened breathed
burnt by
desirous men
and their
unwanted intrusions.

There is dark art
and a heart yearning
for the burning
of an honest
and caring love,
one that runs
from safe fields
searching desperately
for the person they need
to protect
because to do otherwise
would destroy their life.

These photographs
are little lies
that we put out in the world,
smiles that hide
possible fast
or very slow
suicides,
especially if
there is
no one
ever around
to ask
“Are you ok?”
and if not
then to ask
“why?”

It is private,
inviolate.
Yet, I intrude,
dress up and abuse,
take their suffering
as my perfect muse,
take dark interludes,
and use them as cues,
as tiny clues
that lead the way
to make poems great.

Sorrowful inflections
become wordy reflections
worked to perfection
for my ego’s elevation,
for the ecstasy of creation,
and this drug I imbibe
gets me super freaking high.

Tears and stress,
bodies undressed,
hearts exposed
and in taking those
I become criminal.

Liminal moments,
seconds stolen
for the sake
of verses swollen
with emotional clarity.

I claim sincerity;
That I write these lines
to help closed mind
break the barriers
between truth
and what emotions mean.

But as these words meander on,
I wonder is it right or wrong
to write the painful songs
that do not belong to me.

Dead flesh
falls fast,
like statues of ash
which drop
after that
horrible flash.

Black shadows
of negative space
paint the sidewalk
in that nightmare place.

I can see the shaded form
of former children
who once ran and played.
Now all that remains
is charcoal dust
and pictures that must
bear witness to
the loss of human innocence.

Atomic madness,
mushroom clouds
made this
tragic story,
leaving sick clouds
to cough up
nuclear poison
on another batch of
innocent children.

Green fields with white lines
mark the marching band’s time
as two rows of three
bright white lights
glare back balefully.

Teenage players push the lines
measuring their manliness,
but it never really moved me
as much as it moved the herd of kids
I grew up with.

So now after they cut the arts,
they debate whether to
cut the yards
that students run through.

After they cut the children’s
one hours of freedom
to create and daydream,
now they want to cut
the football team.

In a hillbilly town
that is where the
white line is drawn,

cause you can take the arts
cut the quivering heart
of creativity
that helps us learn
how to solve problems
uniquely,

but you can’t cut
the concussion causing
sports team,
that would be redneck
heresy.

You think you know anguish?
You do,
and every time you hurt
I am standing next to you.

With every jagged stained glass tear
that cuts across you tortured skin
bleeding equal part what’s out
to what you keep putting in,
I am watching you.

My kin, dear brother and sister
unevenly met
in the dark places
that I have not visited yet
but I am always close by

When the cold concrete
is your winter pillow
and pneumonia coughs
liquefy your lungs
till, you puke fear and despair
I am there.

When the bomb blast
shakes the very core
of your family values
and your shadows
are more real
then those who were killed
cause remembering
is the worse nightmare of all
just know
I am walking two steps behind.

When your face was red
wearing welts of her rage
bruises and broken ribs
stifling your breaths
while you wished for death,
I was on your shoulder
looking through your eyes
loving you,
wanting to comfort,
and understand you
and the ones who hurt you to.

So, maybe
my light can banish the violence
and joy can spring anew
letting all of you
join me.

It’s a sorry sick visitation
of your life in animation
cause everything you do
is humorous to you.

Colorful sketches
and comedic timing
set up the words
and keep some
for rhyming,
as Instagram,
Twitter, and Facebook
miming
meant to impress
those who
you think are watching.

Social psychology,
human imagination
puts us in a lie
with our horrible
miscommunication.

So, we watch the blue water
burn with all that fire
wait and see
the ocean bleed
because what we desired
was for people to pay attention
to our overgrown ego.

Chivalry is misogyny
demeaning the feminine,
implying weakness
that needs defending,
and unending serving
by a noble male authority.

Courtesy in counter
is gender neutral
merely seeks to help
in kind
those it finds
needs or could use
assistance.

You were a sweet dead red head
A dream I made up to hide myself
A hope I harbored inside myself
The queen fairy of never was
Safer because you never could have been

Held up by crimson silk strings
Hair tied and dried up but still fluttering
Admirers still gawking and shuddering
At this beautifully dead thing

At night I made up stories
Safe fairytales were I could tell you
How much I loved you
A vessel for all of my hopes

But I threw away those dark dreams
All those horrible but loved things
Must go so they can’t grow anymore
Even though the casket caught I still had to close Pandora’s box

I buried you in my memory to become
And empty dream my dead fairy queen
I never knew you nor will I ever
Perhaps this loss is for the better

But sometime when I sleep
Your specter makes me weep
For all that lost potential

Moderation
Is for drinks and painful pleasures
For cancer causing goods
For guarding against the chaos of
Violence and dangerous behaviors
But do not cut the chord
Do not drop discord
For the sake of comfort
For in her eternal and cosmic glories
In her spatial and endless stories
The raptures and wonders
Are made for wrapping us up
And letting us go
Collapsing into the new dimensions
Of our various art forms

I am certain she does not love me
the way that I love her
so full,
so poetically passionately,
so self-destructively,
so lovely,
In all her darkness.

A black sun that burns brighter
than any celestial body;
I would let myself burn
to touch it,
to see it I would let
myself go blind.

I hope she does not mind
that I love her so deeply.
I give it freely,
not expecting anything
explicit in return.

Hoping that she
will always be merely
one poem or message
away from me.

We are all space men
traveling
on a spinning rock.


She sits softly
spinning in
the infinite.
Blue ball
clouded and romantic
and I love her.

He will suckle
and spit
drinking blood
from your ****.

He will spread your legs
and leave
an unprotected present
deposited
past your ****
once he climaxes.

He will claim your womanhood
and demand that you submit
to his weakness,
calling his faults
dominance and confidence.

He will prey upon
ancient insecurities,
that subconscious programming
because you do not know
your own binary coding.

He will trick you into
drinking your resistance away,
plant his pin *****
in your fertile crescent,
and if you try to erase
that lifelong mistake
he will claim
that you are a sinner.

Subdued you will
sublimate your will
and fulfill
fifties sitcoms
housewife fantasies
for a family,
sacrificing all your dream
for the man who schemes
to enslave you.

I am always sick
Sleep deprived
From nightly drives
Midnight shifts
That I love

I am always sick
A little gassy but afraid
That it won’t be gas
That comes out that way

I am always sick
Tired of all the certainty
Righteous indignity
Self-proclaimed victimization
Of this white conservative nation

I am always sick
Of what my world can justify
How my people can swallow lies
No matter how hard I try
To inspire them to be better

I am always sick
With no end in sight
No angelic tunnel
No godly light
No hope for something more
Than this one life
One day I won’t be sick
But that will be the day I die

Corporate engineering with slight color variations
and logo imprintations do not impress me.
Assembly lines do not find or make time
to free the proletariat’s enslaved mind.
They just distract us with delusions of
capitalistically designed versions of individuality.
The fact is unbridled greed can only collapse this
mad consumer society,
because selfishness subtracts the humanity
that got us to this age in the first place.

Good morning phantom of the far flung sphere,
lovely specter surrounded by space dust,
circular celestial body
that is but a sparkle in my imagination,
may the day bring you blessings
that twinkle like the piercing lights
that ride the evening sky.
I hope dark dreams dared not intrude
upon your restful interlude.
Instead in the place you lay
I hope dreams of love and joy are displayed
and replayed until you awake.

Little tiger
Tiny lily
Blooming flower
Colorful
Purple
In a field of red
Yellow
With a brown center
Sleep during the winters
But please remember
To come home
In the spring

The man who gave most of his life
working so many early mornings and late nights
gets fired for being too **** nice
should get more than a piece of paper
saying we will not see you later
and don’t even bother coming around here again
should get at least an I am sorry friend
instead of a slip demanding his resignation

The hungry child with a dry scabbed and bulging busted lip
should get at least a silent sorry
from the one who did it
but the bully will not repent or even admit it

A broken building busted in by American bombing
should get at least some sort of silent sorry
Some sort of repented remorse
instead of politicians going hoarse
demanding more and more war

She is who she says she is
Perhaps in another time
Her muscles rippled with a mannish gleam
And her labors where of the masculine
Herculean

But now she is feminine
Concealing her strength
Beneath soft garments
Concealing her past
Under a new name

Genevieve
Who was once Gene
Now is free to be
Who she wants to be

The rooster
Becomes a phantom limb
Split and turned in
Sleeping
How freeing
For her outsides
To match how
She feels within

Thick lips strong chin
Broad shoulder
Deep voice
I am fascinated

It never bothered me
In fact I saw it beautifully
Variety in humanity
Why should you be
Bothered

Rough wheels run circles
Around a static background
Passing the same horizon
Over and over again
Like some old cartoon
Driving in place
As he races to his next stop
To live unload his next drop
Early bird waiting hours plus
Hoping they can fit him in
So he can hit the road again
Before his electronic log
Locks him down for the day
He brings his paperwork
And waits
He pulls his tandem back
Then waits
Drops his trailer in the door
And waits
Rest stop gas station shower
On the road
Smoke stacks cough up
Black clouds
Yellow lines
Become yellow blurs
Another load down
Another pick up
The road rides him roughly
Home beckons him on
Fifteen hundred miles
To his own bed
Coffee break and **** stop
To clear his head
And the sunset runs seventy miles
An hour
While he pushes seventy-five
Two million miles down
Two million more to end his life

I want what devastates me

Sugar so syrupy sweet it sickens
Red liquid slows and thickens

Black lips painted poisonous purple
With thin lines of strychnine
My fair long haired Mary
Marvelous Magdalene
And terrible Typhoid
Saint and Succubus of lusting frenzy
Draining the core of me

Morticia the Mortuary Queen
With fatal fingers that feel
My moist internal organs
Throttling my throbbing heart

Dear black orchid
Princess of the pentacles
Funerary eyes of fire
Waking Walking Death

Yes she is so bad for me
Still, I want her so deeply

Bubbles blow up
dancing in
cold shadows
as multi colored
oil spirals
circle
inside those
soapy dreams.

Fireflies
lite up
late nights
while flint rocks
make shocking sparks.

I sit on
the rough rooftop
looking up
into the dark
infinite,
that same space
that shared
those strange moments.

These thoughts
are carried long distances
between
those strange instances,
a pleasant past
of playful moments
that never lasts,
but blast pass
all those broken
memories.

We cannot get back
to the past
that we once knew
cuz that would undo
all the progress
we've made.

Life's not like
a video game.
We don't get to redo,
no replaying
going through
old levels
that we want to.

So, if it's just one shot
one life that we're given,
one moment to live in
this game we're playing.
Then it's not about winning.
It's not about losing.
It's not about gaining another day.

I won't see you after I die
but you can always stop by
and read what I write.

Everybody is nobody
To somebody
A homebody
Aged female
Children gone
Wrinkled skin
Brown eyes
Rotten teeth
Holds tightly
To old memories
As they slip like mercury
Between her fingers
To be forgotten

Tired old veteran
****** back
Body sore
From the last fall
Hurts to breath
But at least
He is still alive
Holding down
The old folks town

The sidewalk ***
Hungry and lonely
Looking for nothing
Affection forgotten
Joys lost to the
Ravages of time

Little boy bruised
Abused
Miss-used
By angry adults
Tormented by other teens
Hazel eyes hold no light
Only finds hope in
Razor blade delights

The middle aged sage poet
Stumbling through life
Half awake
But more alert then others
Wrinkles of pain
Under his eyes
Those bags are full
And sag so deep
That they burn

Not movie stars
Or pop divas
Nobodies
Forgotten remembered
And lost again
Fragile beauty
Breaking with time
People who I claim
As mine
My brotherhood
We are all beautiful nobodies

I play the same song,
set that beat on repeat
so, I can write and think
or think and write
about my strange life.

A glass complexion,
distorted reflection
filled with old and new
shades and hues
of my personal truths.

Like a mirror I exist in
the dark hallways
from old schooldays
as I crept quietly
to get whatever ology
book I needed
to do my homework.

Like late Friday nights
working with my mom
at the daycare center
cleaning up
to save her a couple bucks
as I listen to the cheers
an see the searing stadium lights
from the high school
less than a block away.

Like red flesh swelling up
though not quite bruising,
from the anger of a parent
who felt some unknown rage
that I cannot decode;
Silent stares in contemplation
facing the man in the mirror
with a queer confused face,

My memory is
like a baby bird
that sat straddling
the thin brown branches
barely balancing
precariously
close to falling.

Though I navigated their world with a poet’s compass,
needle pointed northward towards the stars,
sails set open to capture heaven’s winds.
Clear fabric flapping;
I found strangers laughing
at what I had that they were lacking.

But with the quill of curiosity
and the telescope of hope
to chart the rough waters ahead of me,
I became the sea scribe of humanity
wanderer in love with those
who will never love or know me.

Squid ink to parchment,
I write to the complacent
sending cresting waves of
hope, wisdom, and love.
The seas become the ocean.
My arguments become less cogent.
Till, my heart capsizes
leaving no survivors
in this saltwater wasteland.

I am a coward. It is my weakness, and in knowing this I should be made stronger. However, my weakness perpetuates my weakness. My meekness and desire for peace makes me **** near gutless.

         I write to love. I write to dance. I write to feel.  I write to live.

I could have sat with the gangrenous, seeing the sawing teeth shred skin to cut further in. I could have held the hand of the dying; saying soft soothing words while they were vomiting blood. I could have joined the ranks of the foreign legion, became a non-religious missionary. I bet my writing would have been improved and all my other talents better used.

As I said before I am a coward. My heart breaks easily from poetry, movies, songs, photos, and tv shows. Imagine how quickly I would crumbled faced with the real reality. If I could see the seething rage, feel the ****** stumps, clean the bandages, while listening to their horror stories how easily I would break. Worse than Humpty Dumpty with smaller bits that crack and split permanently deformed, spiritually desolated.

I can watch the wicked human show from a distance. I can immerse myself in the darkness, but there must be a quick escape. I have to have a switch to click and make the nightmares go away. If I stayed, my thought would stray to the razor blades or pill bottle ways.

         I am a coward. I am sorry. So here the naked man is with all of his cowardice. I am sorry I could not be a better less bitter superman. All and all I am so terribly sorry for my weakness.

A grin with thin rimmed glasses,
smiles with delight
as she speaks to her sprites,
whispering
with hands wide,
telling them to listen to
her tale of things that go
bump in the night.

“When I was very young
there was a crooked old tree
that sat savagely waving
down the road from me,
a mess of gnarled branches
that looked like they could
grab you up and take a bite.

One day I went out to play,
saw a small squirrel,
and chased it all the way.
Until, it climbed up that
wooden monstrosity.

Distracted,
I did not notice
how the grass reacted,
shrinking under my foot falls.
I failed to see
how far I had actually gone,
because to my little mind
the distance from my yard
to that tree was shorter,
but in reality, it seemed to be
approaching me rapidly
as what was behind
faded out of sight.

Daylight became night
quicker than expected,
and I suspected
that I should go home,
but when I turned around
I found that I was lost,
and all alone.

I heard a twig snap,
then felt a limb smack
me on my lower back.
My body seemed to contract
as I lost my breath,
and a fog of coldness
washed over my flesh.

The wind lifted
a small pile of leaves
revealing tiny
black shiny beings,
a nest of chittering beetles
that started skittering
ever closer.

I cried out. No sir,
and tried to hoof it out of there,
but I had lost my sense direction
and didn’t know where
my small house was.

A little bug
that looked like
a hairy brown spider
leaped up on my dress.
I quickly flicked it off,
then flinched when
I heard something
purring.

I turned in time to see
a small pair of glowing eyes
focused directly on me.

The feline
passed by
rubbing gently
against my thigh,
and then strutted away.

I followed that kitty,
and I thought we
were heading back to my city.

We passed a stone fence,
and a small wooden hut,
a little gas station
that didn’t have much,
plus a tiny graveyard
and a busted gray car.

I walked so far
that my feet got blisters,
saw a stranger,
and cried out, hey mister,
but he didn’t even turn around.

I kept going not knowing
if I would ever get back.
Nervously, I started to laugh.
I had probably snapped,
cause I was scared and starving.

It was dark and cold,
and I couldn’t find
anyone to help me.
People didn’t even
acknowledge my presence
unless I bumped into them.
I tried to speak,
but no one would listen.

I never got home,
just settled here
in this little cottage
for the last
seventy plus years.

No one has stopped by,
in such a long time
so thanks for listening
to this story of mine.

Now, come closer my little dears,
because I am soooo hungry.
I don’t want to be rude,
but you look like food.

Why are you running?

You see when you heard me calling,
you shouldn’t have listened,
like me,
you to are now missing,
but I know where
your new home will be.
There’s a place in my stomach
because it is so empty.”

The little old lady smiled,
chasing the last small child,
with a sharp tap on his neck
she laid him to rest
in a well-dressed bed
of greens and liquid red.