Chaos from my mind moves to my skin
This time,red drops falling instead of tears
The cold blade dances across my wrists
Leaving long, raised pink bumps
Reminding me of me strengths
And weaknesses
Soon they will be just white scars
More red lines and bumps will take their place
Marking my body like tattoos
Like battle scars from the war in my mind
My mind remains blurred
The cutting doesn't help
But only numbs the pain
Some ask "Why cut?"
I  say "Why live
everyday a struggle
another day
another scar"

Words hurt
More than anything
It can **** someone inside
All it takes is one mean thing
And every bit confidence they have
Just shatters
They start questioning themselves
Believing what you say
What you've started is a storm
That won't stop
Until its wrecked everything in its wake
It's easier just to be nice
Even if you don't like the person
No name calling or cussing people out
Don't use words like ******
Or ***** or emo
Don't call people too fat or too skinny
Remember
You don't know where they've been
Or what they're going through right now
You never know if the last thing you say
Will be the last thing they ever hear
So be careful
And choose wisely
Because in all reality
*Words can ****

old checkbooks
sales receipts
gas bills
insurance cards
love letters
college transcripts
repair estimates
project ideas
garden plans
teaching certificate
resignations
copies of copies
greeting cards
collection letters
red light ticket
pencil drawings
broken dreams
rental agreement
prescriptions
church bulletins
life

I see the Superior Gitche Gumee.
The clouds slowly descend after a lazy drizzle fills the air with grey.
From atop this hill I look down,
Upon the steely blue-grey waters
Churning with eagerness to throw themselves upon the rocks of the shore.
As my eyes trace the horizon covered by a soft cloud curtain,
A soft smile sneaks up on me as I realize
I can't tell where the skies meet those waters
As they drop off the edge of the earth
Into nothingness.

The determined flowers stretching up from the bushes press upon me
A scent unfamiliar,
And as I walk away, I look back to see one lone rock
Staring back at me from among the waves.
Across the highway, where the drivers speed past
(As they presumably do every day),
I view the mist-covered forests pouring over the hillside
Like some great verdant blanket.

A pair of older men stand along the rocky shoreline below,
Swapping stories and secrets
As they skip stones.

Sometimes I cannot keep part of me
from asking the stars
where comfort can be found
without weaving the desperation
I feel under my skin
into a rope
that wraps around my tears of sadness.
I am left watching hours
take in the days
and never quite understanding how laughter
can tell someone to call out to the sky
then break and run
on the legs
of sheer madness.

My skies shouldn't tell me to get lost
inside of all I know
when I long to create an ocean of language
we both can plainly speak
without ever feeling any pressure.  
When tomorrow rings in the beginning
of what lies under all that I know to be
held in a distant place,
draped in shimmering hope ,
shall I watch you
write your name on my skin
while I cry out in pleasure?

I never asked for you to bring me a garden full of lies
where one has to work
in the shadows of forgetfulness
inside of a life with a smile that fades
as I regain my sanity.
The truth can be grown in silence
then burn brightly
as part of nothing and still lie beyond
that which soothes our hands
when they tremble
because we can smell the crow
we have to eat so humbly.

Listen to the lines you missed
when you stepped
into the shoes of a man
who no longer relied
on all of his senses
when you began your journey of echoes
where stars once danced.
Do you remember empty promises
as they run through the days
silent..........
even though you sing?  
Take a chance and lose your mind
when you find there is no way out,
as you rush to remind your tears,
of how they sting.

I truly thought
I had found myself
in a wondrous place
where you could truly see me,
and that all my words
were forever immortalized.
Held close.......
inside of your everything,
soft......as a breeze.

I laughed as you stared
into my eyes, asking my name.
With my heart in your hands
and the moonlight
at your beck and call.
Then......watching you walk away,
I smiled.......
even though I realized
you never knew me
at all.

I have known that the sun can hear thunder
and how its brightness
can be unfathomable,
like my dreams.
Since the beginning of my pulse
I have been honored
with good days
that left me grateful
inside of the sweetness
never stifling.........
within all it means.

When midnight kisses the glass
that morning has already
tasted......
Like a thirsty spider
crying out........
for the rain.
All of my senses are
swept through
knowing, my words don't fall
on deaf ears......
or stand there,
all wasted.

No, you cannot know how I'm feeling
but that doesn't mean
our world's stopped spinning.
The sun.......
can still hear thunder
in all the ways you love me.
You lift me up
in the midst of a storm.
All my senses are swept through
my words stand in stillness
a storm's ending......
is love's beginning.

Have you ever found yourself  quivering
outside of lines
stained
by what you thought was a love story?
Wondering
if you will be swallowed whole
by the window you sit and stare out,
in love's well meaning glory.

Beneath passion  blowing through the door
visiting your mind
like those little things
filled with a warmth
you have wanted
for so long.
Often, you find life
is at its happiest inside your dreams,
where nothing's wrong.

Sometimes in the middle of the night  
you want to be
a never-ending flow of love
smiling at the hands
on the Clock of Emptiness,
stuck in place.  
However, time melts into years
until starlight becomes well versed
at hiding the shadow of tears
on your face.