Her thoughts so weary and bitter tasting
Forevermore to feel tired and wasted
Aging dreams and makeup nights
Feet so high she hits the lights
Falling for the guile of each street salesman
He opens his jacket; "Each is a haven,"
Claims of lightposts, illumination of the dark
She's falling asleep on a bench in the park
Urbanization of hardy measures
Have tempted her to indulgent pleasures
Whiskey whiffs of fallen kings
Street lights showing off the obscene
The days are gone of lasting serendipity
She's misplaced in what was once her own city

What to do about wanderlust?
Should it be quelled?
Desktop backgrounds are my only escape
Maps with tacks and backpacks with knick-knacks
It all seems so far away
Cobblestone steps are wearing down
By the feet of enlightened in wondrous towns
While chairs are pushed in
Or left out of place
Thoughts are escaping to the vacuum of space
This Earl Grey is mint tea in Tangiers' seats
Or gold and black Yunnan at her highest peaks
It's sifting through pans of Fynbos' red leaves
What to do about wanderlust?
Should it be quelled?
I seem to dwell

A peddler strolls by and opens his jacket so
Fringed and de-hemmed by years of practice
Each pocket a carrier for emotions held captive
Yet the rise in his voice shows a seller proactive
His face reflected the age of sweet old
To pick and choose, each product seems bold
A timepiece to shimmer with lost-alloy gold
Or perhaps a locket with photographs sold
"To hope is to dream; do not fear or capitulate"
He states so methodically yet his words calmly resonate
"All my items are free, but to you, they are fate,"
To finally feel that they one day will sate

He has a lot of photons in his pocket
Waiting to be taken out
And thrown about
But every time he reaches in
To grab a handful or two
They slip right through his fingers
Because they're fast
Quite literally the speed of light
Energy driven by momentum
And that's just what he
Needs

Dandelion meadows
An invasive species
Taking land from the hand
Of the previous leeches

Precipitation
I felt the raindrops
Hit my lungs
Like a cigar
I wasn't supposed to wholly inhale
But I breathed deeply
As if the earth were a hookah
With endless coals
Lit
As the street lights
Illuminated each drop
I only missed
One or two

Extrasensory perception
Perhaps a sixth sense
Feeling and reading
The mind bends
To subtle nuances
And blatant clues
To discover clairvoyance
That you already knew
Illusionist mindsets
And trickery too
Can fool you to think
They know more than they do
When all people are prisms
Slightly off-hue
And all are a song
On a radio un-tuned

When your pencil is aching
And your cup is filled
With thoughts
You're quaking
And your words have spilled
Ending droughts
Graphite breaking
And your guise is milled
Joyous plots
Are making
Your paper so thrilled

Liquids and lipids
North and south
Fatty and lean
Mouth-to-mouth
Resuscitation
Breathe
In and out
I think I need the Heimlich too
Compress my chest
Until I come to

This is what I imagine it feels like
To be a tree, blossoming in Spring
Watching its fruits and flowers
Become vitality
This is what I imagine you feel like
To be an azure river, arduous journeys
Until you reach your delta, knowing soon
You will become, once again, part of your ocean
This is what I imagine it's like
To be the cloud, billowing as it gets darker
Knowing soon, it will be a part of its earth again
Natural cyclic routines
Bring more beauty than we can dream

Walk, the coals beneath my feet
Searing at my skin
Why is this pain not felt?
Thick skin? Loss of nerves?
A blast through the wall of reality
Draws unto the leering smile
I'm grinning as I'm pulled under
My body is on fire
Why is this pain not felt?
Thick skin?

The clouds are wonderfully white
The Sun is peeking behind turbulent grey
Blue lakes and ponds are ephemeral in a way
Skygazing
You realize it's you
The clouds, the water vapor, the elements - you're oxygen and hydrogen and nitrogen and carbon and so much more
You are a product of all that is, and we are all together like this
The wonder comes in waves
How are you so blue?

Softly spoken, send me surges of
Electric energies to emit endless echoes
Silently stirring so to sing, it urges
Encapsulating that so elemental
Superseding the strife with serene sayings
Ending the edges of errant easels
Saving the straying to stay in stance
Embrace to emanate an eternal enigma

Man, I sure do wish I was up in space
Flying and gliding
Slowing and observing
Checking out comets
Maybe having a cup of tea with Mars
Or maybe like, a Diet Coke
Whatever Mars would prefer, I suppose
Except not Diet Rite
Because what kind of life
     anyway
If I were in space
I'd want to dance with Pluto
And chat with Jupiter
I'd ride the tides of spacetime to find
The asteroids of ice - I'd take a knife and grind a slice
Stick it in my drink
I didn't forget
About my tea-party with Mars
"Man, this is stellar!" I'd exclaim, far too often
I'd journey on a boat
Or a spaceship
Or nothing
To the center of the galaxy
And I'd probably think something like,
"I knew this place was pulling me."

For favored solutions
When life is so brief
Open doors and open books
Are half-asleep
Gems glimmer and glisten
For purity's sake
In mental affluence and disillusion
The brain wakes
For coveted miles
When walking is done
Open doors and worn coat hooks
Are welcome
Locals bid well and listen
For status' sake
In sleepless intuition through cognition
The brain wakes

Sometimes, it's best to be still
Quiet like the remorse of an impulsive statement
Quiet as your dreams, daydreams
To be still, like life
Quiet like the silence of mental strife
Your own mind, to feel once again
It's not tangible like the heaviness of a room
Filled with grief
What you've been told versus what you think
Sometimes isn't even comparable
Whispers of enlightenment dance around your feet
The difference between what you've been told
And what you think

Summer is singing
The spectacular sun
     stains my skin
Its song a sweet serenade to subtlety
Insects slowly swoop
     so to satisfy
Seriousness can't be taken seriously
Summer is singing
Each step in the sand
     singes under sandals
Somehow the setting sun is enough to stop sadness
Sweat spills over
     into the sapphire seas
Sometimes I forget how sacred summer seems

It's so lovely out here
I think I'd be okay if I never went inside again
All I'd need is paper and a pen

And maybe a little food

The tapestry in the window
Has fallen on one side
But she continues waving
To the passersby
Gifting them gold from her left hand
And showing her stance
Perched upon a lotus
She's a still-life dance
Algae consuming her kneecaps
As she remains in a trance
Her eyes deeper
Than what could be portrayed
With the dye
As we are all deeper
Than what is portrayed on the
Outside

Parades and bikes
Lily pads on ice
Frozen lotus blooming
Hand me newscasts for free
"What's in store for today?" I ask
Allergic to the ink
"A horrible tragedy -
        you won't believe!"
It's a spectacle of disgust
A shock factor of distrust
For everyone to see
Who's the biggest celebrity
I read the front
And taste the back
Page 33, ink smears in black
"You need to care about this," it says
To me unwittingly

In this room alone, piled with wishbones
Each social high on golden throne
Feel the breeze with shaking knees
Empty space is all I see
Though triggered by the sadness
Each glory yell to madness
Tells tales of the past enough
To incite the desert dreams

While drones buzz by like angry bees
A hornet's nest is waiting
To capture each like saws to trees
A story worth creating
Through the fairy dance I'm singing
Each brazen glance is seeming
A little less like added stress
To describe this desert feeling

Though peacefulness may hide itself
In shadowed, dripping caverns
A stalagmite of good fortune
In the cheers of beers in taverns
Behind each whisper of enchantment
Comes a desire for life enhancement
But not before the felled tree lore
Is recounted by fire-lit lanterns

I get down on my knees
In front of honeybees
I sit directly in their song
Just to hear them hum
They always watch me carefully
When I say anything
They always fly away
Like I would disturb their flight
And their short-lived life

A staccato accordion
Chimes merrily as the spotlight turns
In the star-ridden distance
I can hear The Entertainer
It's out of tune - but a jack-in-the-box jingle
Doesn't carry well in the wind
The Ferris wheel has stopped
But the passengers are unaware
Their gypsy laughs and joyous shrieks
Loop carelessly around the air
Whimsical men in gargantuan top hats
Guessing weights and handing out sugar
Decorated elephants and dilapidated circus tents
Circle a trapeze artist as he wows onlookers
It's warm out here
But there's a chill
Something ominous
A sound that's shrill
It could just be a ride that needs to be fixed

Guaranteed satisfaction
Limited supply
Get it fast - run!
Our sale ends
In 30 seconds
Trample your neighbor
And buy the best one
Bend over
And check it out
Head to the register
And we'll apply the discount
We promise

I open the front door
Which leads to a pathway
It's small, and stone, on which I walk halfway
And stop
I'm at a pond - in its reflection the home behind me
Stained-glass windows
And a crystal-coated chimney
It's small in size, but the window reaches high
Two birch trees, and countless willows
Hearing hums as the wind blows
To the green vines crawling
And the red leaves falling
Cross-legged, I sit, and observe the birds
They're drinking from the pond
With satiated chirps
While dragonflies and animal eyes
Peer 'round the raindrops' descent
Soft books and leather seats
Await me inside

The Great Andromeda Nebula
No longer as such
Now, she is a galaxy
Close enough to touch

As with life
And consciousness too
We form a singularity
In which attraction cannot move

Or can it? It's unknown
The wonders of this mold
It's Torricelli's Trumpet
Filled with finite gold

Take me on Cassini
Each pass-by in blue
I've seen Jupiter, and Saturn
And Epimetheus too!

I can't wait to keep on living
In this fantastic, beautiful, enigmatic,
expansive, wondrous universe
With you