Autumn racing red and gold
behind half-open eyes of icy blue.
27th Fall. Step into cold
          and race through
          alleyways I've known.
A crunching stride, solitary breaths.
               Staccato notes
banged out on sidewalks' grey scales...

               ...I'm every inch
          of this softened ground,
these shoe treads, hieroglyphics...

               ...My town appends
                      its runic fate
                                    onto
              my story's granite page.

Crisping air, engulf my lungs.
Ensconce my face in drowsy weather.
Sleepy eyelids, sliding down
to Main & Dow Street. Watch me hover
                                         along the margins.
These last 4 months of quiet aching
engraved in me come roaring out now.
               Autumn streets stay silent.

And Kendrick Park
               has whispered low
                              in bashful rustling;
I climb the boardwalk,
               my thoughts are gilded,
                              responding slowly.

The breeze abates,
               it's halfway warm.
                              Bellevue & Lewis
I am a statue;
               smooth, cold marble,
                              still in November.

And, soon, the Summer comes with angry glares.
And, soon, this stony face will disappear.

These months will always linger in me.
Does my ghost haunt this place already?

I'll return here every Autumn when

October signs off on the Summer's death.

And I'll be tracing all your features with

forgotten footsteps' ancient hieroglyphs...

inside
there is a deep sadness.
you let it in when you ripped
my heart open.
it swarmed to the
open wound.
don't worry,
my heart is fixed now.
she glued it back together
with her love.
do you realise that she spends
her whole life
tidying up after you?
the thing is:
when she closed my heart
she forgot to remove
the sadness from inside.
so now it's trapped.
and it's trying to escape.
my heart is bursting at the seems
as it fights against the muscular walls.
it's going to break free
any moment now.
and the tears will pour.
make sure you don't have a broken heart
or it will come to you next.

Forgotten**
by Seyed Morteza Hamidzadeh

O, witnesses of the night
Exile me
To the most distant point of the universe
In the complex area of the vacuum
Moment by moment
I think about my enjoyment
That night
The voice of the calligrapher's pen was heard
And I feigned sleep
I became tired
Time
Is my place to act
I have acknowledged my faith
I shall go to the cemetery
To dig a grave for myself
But,
The weather is cold
It's snowing
And umbrellas
Have put my burial ceremony off.

I'm locked
Surround by chains
that lock me down,
Surround by pain
that destroys my name

I'm locked
No woman nor man
could ever wish for this
I'm drowning in hopelessness
If there was a way
to release this curse
I wouldn't have to suffer by
going through the worst
I wouldn't shred a single tear,
My body wouldn't ake
And I wouldn't be taken back
by my mistakes

Im locked
Destroyed by the life that is my own,
To the devil it feels as if I'm sold,
Every day gets dimmer
my life gets darker,
To God I am just his stocker

I'm locked
If I were to be given a second chance,
only then would my vocabulary
not be filled with I can't
Only then would I not count the minutes
Or count everyday life
as the witching hour
I wouldn't cower in the corner
Or write down death dates in my calendar
Like I used too

No
I would get a new chance at life
I wouldn't die by my own hand
And wouldn't say it was just a knife

I don't believe our lives are a puzzle
No--
I believe that life is a puzzle

The difference is
That you do not have the whole puzzle
Like some people think

You are one piece
In a larger puzzle
You fit next to some people
And not next to others

But it's not quite that simple
It's life we're talking about,
After all

You see,
Sometimes people change shape
So even if you used to fit next to them,
You may not be able to anymore

In fact,
Sometimes they have moved to the other side of the puzzle
And they are gone
They no longer complete
The picture you are creating

And sometimes,
You change so much
That you don't fit the puzzle anymore
That is how I feel

But don't jump to conclusions,
If you leave the puzzle too early,
The person you would have fit next to
No longer has anyone to complete their picture

So as you can see,
Your life is not a puzzle
You are a mere puzzle piece
Life itself is the puzzle

Hey...
It's such a little big word.
Its also for some reason what comes out of my mouth,
Before any other combination of words in the known world.
You look like you deserve more than that.
Yet, here I am, mouth probably too far open
Staring at you for what I imagine is too long
Creating a moment in time I'll probably obsess over forever.
I'm clearly awful at hello's and new beginnings.
I'm even worse at saying goodbye.
Which is what I'm always worried I'll hear first.
How do you explain yourself to someone else?
Someone somewhere set all these unspoken rules,
I've never been able to figure it out.
But you have kind eyes and it makes me want to try.
There is something ephemeral about the whole process.
It's such a weird weird ritual that keeps the world spinning.
Hey...I'm a person and so are you.
Here are all these things that make me...me.
But that's not what I say. Not what anyone says.
We say hey.
I can't tell you how I'm both confident and anxious all at once.
How you look beautiful, but you could very well destroy me.
I can't say how I stay up forever and relive my life in moments.
I can't say how I'm a narcissist who doesn't believe in himself.
I can't say in all my time on Earth, **** is still the strongest word I know.
Or how I swear something other than your body attracted me to you.
It isn't something I know, but I sure want to.
I can't say I have a soul that cares about people more than it should.
Or that I could care about you, if you wanted me to.
I can't say how it took the kind of courage normally found in soldiers
Just to walk the twenty feet to where you're standing.
But here I am and there you are.
Drink in hand and a smile that could stop a heart.
With the moments before and after I speaking lasting an eternity.
I swear the world starts spinning again when you reply...
Hey.

My shoes are scraped and scuffed,
But I'm still walking.
My voice is pained and gruff,
Yet I'm still talking.
My fear appears so tough,
But I'm not balking.
My love had never seemed enough,
So this is shocking.
I feel so blessed.
Each wound a test.
Please hear me knocking.

she wakes early to plot the day
makes the bed where he once laid
she works out to stay trim
curls her hair so she's proper and prim
she cleans the living room
the kitchen
the bedroom
the bath
the halls
the windows
the tables
the floor
she washes and folds the laundry
and puts away the dishes with a clatter
overwhelmed with quandary
pretending the latter doesn't matter
only focused on having dinner ready
when he steps through the door steady
and she does it all
yes she does it all
with a frown on her mouth
and a furrow on her brow
yes she's going mad as a hatter
perfect makeup
mixing batter
what's for dinner
new lingerie
makes her look thinner
she's got to please the man
she's got to lick his hand
petrified things will fall apart
if she doesn't play her part
she's losing who she is
afraid to be a Ms.
all day long
she thinks of pleasing him
humming a caged bird's song
for she does this all desperately
desperately desperately
running from the candle *****
her love just doesn't seem enough
doing all she can
to keep this man
pretending she still has an identity
and that she's not just a mechanical thing
that she's more than just
the desperate housewife.