If you think no one can change
then you believe this of yourself
and if you think this of yourself
then this is why.
Don't listen to the parts of you
that don't tell you the truth
should they benefit
if you believe the lie.

A curtain of black hair
drapes across her
utopian face,
her lips pursed
in concentration.

I ask,

what are you
writing about?

and her mouth curves
into a deadly smile.

She says,

"A compilation of 21st century
horror stories and other
*catastrophes."

i've been trying to explain this
my whole life
and one day
i will finally find
the right words

i am not going to stay

i will always find a way to fly
always find a way

i am sunlight
but never the sun

i will never be something
you can hold
always finding a way
to let go

my roots need air
not earth

to be held above water
is to drown

something in my heart
tells me
i will never belong

to anyone

one day
i am a flower
and at night
i will close my petals
opening the next sunrise
to have my clocks
float away

i will always
grow in the meadow
wild
where i can live
and die
on the summer breeze

i am not going to stay
i will always
want to be free

Es ist in der Selbstbeschränkung,
     die ein Meister zunächst selbst zeigt.*
         - Goethe
We are,
by definition,
our limitations,
especially
those we choose.

They trace
the borders
of our being,
create our
distinctive,
singular
humanity.

Lines we cross
at great peril.

OK. Today may be dull. It happens. Sure.
But tomorrow remains rife with possibilities.

Podcasts of Trump on on the value of modesty.
Street fights in several extinct languages.
Hillary wins at Detroit poetry slam.
Jihadists explode poodles in crosswalks.
Island countries wave & grin as they sink.
***** flicks found starring Merkel and Putin.
A sane, reasonable presidential election.
Angry cats with opposable thumbs rebel.
Men & women speaking & understanding each other.
Brock Turner announces *** change operation.
God announces: No More Mulligans!
Gender wars conclude. Everyone’s dead.
Debut of lost Bach Partita for Electric Kazoo.
New, hip-hop production of Treblinka: The Musical.
Shakespeare cloned. Buys poetry anthology. Dies.
End-up, instead of start-up, launches in Palo Alto.
Smart phones install apps with annoying ads on users.
Common sense becomes common again.
Victimless rhymes decriminalized.

This is America! Never two dull days.
Take Heart! Tomorrow, there be Wonders…

I pass myself off as a replica.

previous applicants need not apply?
why?

are we just fodder for cannon when needed
and when needs arise
who dies?
not them tinpot general men
it's us
and then the telegram's sent
to the family?

I suppose they just text telegrams today
it's another institution that passed slowly away

there's much to be said for the personal touch
but we don't get too much of that.

On Sunday I usually hate Sunday
which is the day before what I call
no fun day
a monday
and I want it to be Friday

I'd like it to be Friday in
nineteen sixty nine
but likes are like time mines
they blow up in your face,

that's why I pass myself off as a replica,
I never knew the real me.

Quiet the mind for a little bit longer
Intend on noticing the end and beginning of each breathe
Stop controlling everything for a little while longer
Focus intently on extending and nurturing this thought
Expand it to include yourself and others
Reincarnate into the interest of the other

Separate yourself from your own understanding
Play with the thought
that this might be the most important thing ever said
Let go of the reoccurring disappointment
Notice your standard
Destroy it
Notice its inherent importance
Expand it to include yourself and others
Look up from writing
She is gone

I've done it again
Had homicidal intentions for the same thing
Telling myself to quit it just doesn't have the same fix as sinking my teeth into warm blood

Eat  Live  Starve  Repeat
That's the rhythm to the vampire beat
Is it a yearning or a needing?
A wanting or necessity?
I'm afraid to confront the ghosts of those I've murdered in my head
But for peace of mind I have to remain haunted