He does his workload
That man is responsible
More will be given

At one time I was the oldest and you the youngest
I long for those lost days, days of innocence
I am still the oldest but now I am waiting on you
Giving your body over to a bad real estate deal
The tattoos on your arms cannot conceal the tacky
Tract Housing or
The New Developments
I know it's hard
I know you will fail
More than once
Many contracts have expired but the offer
Is still on the table
The more you put in
The less of you is left
I know it is hard
and I am here

It's the end of a long hard week
Nothing to do for the rest of this rainy evening
Sitting there I relax
My kitten decides to join
Sitting there,
purring
She expresses how I feel better than I can

The heat of the mornings are
slowly being replaced by autumn's approaching coolness
It looks like another summer for the books
It is harder to make memories now

Those forever days
Hours spent at the pool
Surviving off of Goldfish and cookie sleeves
While hair went blonde and skin went brown
The paradoxical AC freezing the skin off of your bones
But you can't retreat to your blanket without preparing yourself
for dinner

Those endless hours spent alone or with company
Doing everything and nothing
A place where Kokapeli's pizza still exists
Or experiencing that fender ****** as a witness
The girl gets out to check the damage
She is wearing only a bikini
I felt like I was in an Updike story
Only in the summer

Make no mistake make no excuse
It's not your fault they are obtuse
Serenely synching your tie
Air cut about to die
You are not theirs to abuse

Starving and searching for food
in the cupboard and freezer
If my pantry was in "Oregon Trail"
it would be meager

I wasn't looking
for it
I did find it
Down
Down in the recesses of our Earth
My lamp shown enough light for us both

Glove in Glove
Rock by Rock

A love that is born in the absence of light is a mighty
Love after all.

Pulling her into the light of day
I knew we would be together

Seeing you is my vacation
Unlocking the door to my room
Dim yellow bulbs will
Illuminate your tunic of
caribbean blue
Who needs a trip to the islands
When I have you?

I had a three hour layover so I ordered a bartender's handshake
She smiled at me and said "welcome home"
I smiled at her mistake and
told her I was only a visitor
She placed two glasses down and poured the fernet and ginger
The strong solvant dissolved the feeling of being alone
She poured another at half price
For the next three hours
I sipped the heart out of a perfect San Francisco night

The water recedes again
Nonchalantly walking back to it's home
The smell remains in Old Town
The sewage scent hitchhikes the breeze
To make it's way up the street named for kings
The water will return
and I cannot afford to live here

Day 1
Laying on my stoop
Wings fully spanned
Gray and Brown flecked fur
So still
Do bats bask?
In the morning it is gone
Carried off I assume
Nature has it's way

Day 2
It is back
The bat
In the same spot on my stoop
Wings pulled in it's breathing so fast
It's French Bulldog face sits up to take me in
I don't want it to suffer
Up it springs
Flapping it's wings hovering inches from my face
Eye contact before it flys away

Day 3
He doesn't visit everyone
You must respect the bat
Changes will be made

Existential Detective
Hanging from my neck
an inherited Saint Anthony
I find lost people
even when they are me

That spark came from within
Radiating outward
People could see
And return my smile
I was soft and happy
Like a wonderbread lunch

Time passes
Caught in quicksand
Sometimes wormholes
Head down back up
No time for lunch today
Life's drum beats on
I hear it
Oh do I hear it

My day starts in fifteen minutes
The drums are easy to hear
When your back is the bass
Sipping the last bit of coffee
I notice the toast on my plate
Burnt Toast
I give him a fraternal nod
I step out into the street and walk to work

As I step out the door into the gravel  lot
I can feel the coolness in the air of the coming fall
It will make itself comfortable here for the next few months

Looking down into the gravel I see
white and cork cylinders strewn about
Cigarette Butts
These are our stories
Some would say our *******

Our day becomes more bearable
when we are able to share stories
in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette
Maybe I should take up smoking

There are a years worth of stories back here
My only fear is
that they will not last longer than the
cigarettes

Time does not exist
Or so I am told
An artificial instrument
created by man
As it turns
the Earth shrugs it's shoulders
She doesn't know what to think either

Time is not linear
That is what I hear
Everything has already happened
and is happening at the same time

So...wait.

I imagine it like one gigantic explosion
Our lives play out
Everything happens separately and at once
My ten year old self and my eighty year old self are one in the same
I have heard that

There are some people I wish I could talk to again
The ten year old smiles and continues the conversation
I sit here and think that if everything has happened and is happening all at the same time

Then

I am still having those conversations
with Living Ghosts

You are special
All I ask is that you do your best
I am proud of you
You are special

If everyone else jumped off of a cliff would you?
You are better than that
You don't know what love is


Choose something you love
Never work a day in your life
Work hard
Respect everyone

Don't make the same mistakes as me
You are the future
You still have the rest of your life to figure it out
You always have a room upstairs
I wish I had known what I know now
My job is killing me
It's not for everyone
If I only had more time

Your mother and I are getting a divorce
Can you set up my twitter account?
Hey buddy I want you to meet Dinah
I just don't understand what goes through your head


Stop being so...
Compassionate
Sensative
Cautious
Depressed
Honest
Diverse
P­assionate
Caring
Imaginative
...no...
ENTITLED.

Blank
Blank Yellow Pages
more than one
Green Lines of Loss
Blank
a message to the right
Duel-Pad
It is a duel pad
every step of the way
An internal fight that will only end when I finally pick up my pen