It's the feeling of the edge against the ***** of your feet,
Your center of gravity swinging, pendulum light
To and fro, causing quite the commotion

It's the idea of the fall that's most frightening;
The mental picture of anguish we conjure
So clearly it could be stamped on celluloid.

A sinking, really
The steep angle of a roller coaster;
The proverbial rug pulled out from under our feet
The architect of gift and curse

traitorous
how each face you turn
is another cheek for me
to meekly reach toward

an attraction to
rate of change

the first one was coy
it held me in its gaze
and built a house of straw
for me to crawl in

the second, more familiar
a me in you for me to see
and dive into head first
familiarity scratching at the scalp

the third, half smile and half frown
the kind of face that martyrs itself
on a crown of need, a list of to dos
that cause a summersault inside me

the fourth, set in glass
fixed, permanent, fragile
one misstep and it's bad luck
seven years of wandering

away from you

Sometimes you’d softly sing me to sleep
Songs that tend to make women weep
No nursery rhymes for this little boy
Just tales of women robbed of joy

No wonder I'm the same today
Morality tales of heart’s decay
The imprint on my earliest thoughts:

Love's not love, unless you feel caught

It's like the reality of falling leaves:

In autumn, people seek them out
Their perfected performance of death
A leap from ten stories in a party dress
The taffeta catching the up draft

No one gathers to see the aftermath

Of carnage covered by dirt and water
Taking beauty and churning it out
Brown sledge grunted up by the earth
Spit out, mangled, the marrow exposed

It's always the same
The crowds bottleneck, shove, push
To see the start, but at the end
Everyone is looking for an out

Such happiness for what follows hello, for
Everything that comes just before goodbye

When I left you
There was nothing left
For me to give

A slap on the ***
Feet firm on the ground
And that's all I had

No moon over Manhattan
No Bambi eyes on the prize
Just two hands, two feet

Ten fingers, ten toes

You'd think I'd at least
Have wrapped you
Bandana blue

Tied you to a post
And slung you over shoulder
See saw of gravitas

Instead I had empty pockets
Hole sewn into the hem
So that when money went in

It just fell out again

I think you're better off
Busking on the street
Earning pennies for thoughts

People will take pity
A gift that's more than
What I was given

But then again
What do I really know
I left my dignity behind

So long ago

It's exhausting
All this heat
It rises like the balloons
Full of *******
That promise satisfaction
Like a heavy meal
In your belly

The mercury is boiling over
Fumes that make the hatter
Mad and frustrated
Sad and depressed
Searching for a better tomorrow
But we know it's in jest

The court is full of sparks
Flashes in the pan
That leave you blinking
Unable to focus
Palms pressed to your eyes
Calling forth so many stars
Were struck dumb

Like fireflies in the summer air
They flicker in and out
And maybe if we cross our eyes
Just right, they can focus
Take away our doubt
And fill the glass half full

But this heat is relentless
A fever pitch that's begging for an end
No matter how full we want
Our glass to be, the drops will rise
Condensation clinging to the sides
A mist that relents and moves into the air
A collective sigh of defeat.

I would reach into my chest
And wrestle my heart back into rhythm
Because only beating hearts can take a beating,
And maybe you don’t know it
But if making me bleed, leaves you wanting more
Then each time you disappoint me
I’ll keep a little life in my veins
So I can be resuscitated.