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and here i am again
at the intersection
of pedestrian language
& old wives tales
swallowing gum
like 7 year memories
opening umbrellas inside
cause i can't seem get away
from all of this rain
i ******* with my left hand
cause i was told
back in highschool that
"it feels like someone else is doing it"
it gets me wondering
about the difference between
losing you and finding out
that some one else found you
or my sleep
or lack thereof
its starting to tear me apart
i keep having this dream
where you are in
an unfamiliar body of water
trying to wash my poetry
off of your hands
or the one where
something happens in my chest
every time you sit
on someone else's bed
i'm tired of feeling like something you've misplaced
but don't have the heart
to look for anymore
tired of you saying my name
like you're trying to bury it
i'm tired of wondering
if you can tell the difference
between the absence
of my voice & silence
the other day
i almost started sobbing
at work when a woman
asked me about
our equipment
i was explaining how
things come apart
and almost mentioned your name
it made me think
of how you used to say
things like "what would you do
if i showed up on your doorstep
one day?" now, i haunt
the windows in my house
i don't leave for weeks at a time
i sit on the porch like the dog
you didn't shoot behind the shed
the one that refuses to die
until you come home again
i told somebody once, that
you didn't even know
what my voicemail sounded like
i wonder if they thought
it was because you
are so important that i never
let it ring that many times
before picking up
or if you dont know
what it sounds like
because you've never called
you can't be the ****** weapon
and the search party
i'm tired of all the seats
to the ferris wheel in my chest
being empty
tired of your voice
being the one i look for
in abandoned places
that one sound i beg
to bounce back
down vacant hallways
i just seem to stand there
in all of that quiet
like someone looking for a mistake
on an eviction notice
so i guess the hardest part
isn't letting go
it's forgetting
you ever had a grip
in the first place
and since you've been gone
i wonder if when
you pushed yourself away from me
you used your left hand
so it felt like someone else did it
The lotus wades

     Shallow water

          Even and calm.

Her petals brighten

     In the beating sun's rays,

Glowing of tranquility.

          The onlooker grows jealous

     Venom green with envy

While the lotus rests,

          Mockingly green leaves.
[written 1/23/08]
...
    A breath of air
the closing of eyes,
    exhale; release
look around
    sigh.
Inhale again
    now hold this one in
I am full
    to the brim
All of me
    is within.
...
[ taking time to center yourself ]
vinegar on your hands
you can't drown the filth
like the cracks in the floor

but nothing is as personal
as paper
and your skin on mine

maybe sometime they'll learn to see
the horizon we are
and the sunrise i've been painting

silver over gold
clay over granite
everything will perish, too

or maybe i'm wrong
the hunger eats my soft insides
i grow plants in the afternoons

maybe someday things will fall into place
just like all the shiny pennies
at the bottom of the fountain

but there will always be thieves
they come in all packages
and your eyes must be wide

to trust is to die
why give the glass to shaky hands
that hold no value in your trinkets

"day three
still no compliance
end note"

"day four
suspect found dead
no foul play suspected."
If ninety-eight percent
of our DNA is shared
with a chimpanzee.

Than how
truly different
could you be
from me.
August 10, 2014
Twenty-sixth
I wish I had enough free time in a day
To express what I truly stand for
I can change people*
I can help
Wish*

-Joseph B Schneider
© Joseph B Schneider. All rights reserved

Sometimes I stay awake at night trying to think of a way I can help people. Without my family going without. It's harder then I anticipated.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Because good people can grow from it.

-Joseph B Schneider
© Joseph B Schneider. All rights reserved

— The End —