Call a                          doctor/ plumber/ priest
My heart is               broken/ leaking/ deceased
My life is                   worthless/ so much better/ over
I'm going to              **** myself/ tell your wife/ Dover
How could you         leave me/ not know/ lie?
I hope you                return my stuff/ come back/ die
I'll never                   forget you/ forgive you/ go away
I need                        closure/ a DNA test/ to tell you I'm gay
Your                           face/ crotch/ top of your back
Is                                so beautiful/ lumpy/ unusually slack
Your                           ex/ mother/ best friend from school
Always made me      great coffee/ feel inadequate/ drool
I will                           miss you/ **** you/ stalk you forever
That way we can      be friends/ get away with it/ be together
I'm sorry                   you did this/ I did this /we failed
I promise to               pay you/ dye it back/ get you bailed
Please don't               leave me/ show the Polaroids/ write or call

(*delete as appropriate, just delete it all.....)

can't you see what i'm trying to do
it's about ******* time you knew

so cold it's almost hot
your face an apparition in the backyard lot

broken glass above snow above grass

There is nothing insignificant in walking past someone.

A whole universe just strolled by,
their anxiety caused by that test coming up,
their worldview that differs from yours,
their moments of joy
pure adrenaline
depression
monotony,
their troubles that may trump yours
their Aunt with that terminal disease
or the Dad that's never home,
their mental to-do lists that grow and grow and grow,
their images of reading on that comfy chair,
their time spent by the bonfire,
and their favorite quote that's always in their head.

But we just keep walking despite all there is to see,
and we're thankful for the people that walk by our side,
and share in our moments,
our troubles,
our images,
our time.

The drums roll with roaring madness.
In the ears of many, it claps with might.
Animals hide, overcome with fear and sadness.
They cannot escape their feelings of fright.

I see the blinding, bright light flash.
Electric is the stormy sea.
Before my eyes, multiple pale streaks crash.
I take shelter away from the trees.

In the maelstrom, the hillside drowns.
With anger and misery, the skies weep.
In its dangerous wake, the fire mountain frowns,
submitting to an unyielding sleep.

And I close my eyes eternal
As the land becomes infernal.

Your hands feel the cold stone
of this textured tower wall. You look up
and see an arched, hollow window gaping
like a moaning train tunnel, darker inside
than the moonless night sky.
Instead of a door there flutters a rose petal,
dry, crispy, impaled on a thorn
that succumbs and disintegrates into the cold wind,
leaving the skeleton of the thorn bush
without its last memory of sunrise.

This chilly autumn air pierces the bridge of your nose
as you turn your hooded head away and take a muddy step
back toward the woods you braved through
on this chilly, moonless autumn night.
As the impending fog before you thickens
the last touch of almost starry night disappears
with the resounding click of a tower door in the distance
that never existed on this chilly, moonless autumn night.


[First draft]
Your hands feel the cold stone
of this textured tower wall. You look up
and see an arched, hollow window gaping
like a moaning train tunnel, darker inside
than the moonless night sky. This chilly autumn air
pierces the bridge of your nose as you turn
your hooded head away and take a muddy step
back toward the woods you braved through
in this chilly, moonless autumn night.
As the impending fog before you thickens
the last touch of almost starry night disappears
behind the rolling black clouds.

Even the dry, crispy rose petal impaled on a thorn
succumbs and disintegrates into the cold wind,
leaving what’s left of the thorn bush
without its last memory of sunrise.