on a ******
and I don't think
anyone minds-
this is when times are
most friendly-
my throat makes sounds of violins
so the room must listen to me
working the feelings
dreaming of a perfect time
*yesterday has yet to come

That one where my head is being sawed off;

I can feel the teeth of the blade biting into my flesh

and I know I am going to be dead very soon.

Or the one where everyone

I’ve ever loved

is gone

and I know

I will

be alone

forever.

Then I’m at the top of the stairs

and falling

into

a black

infinity of nothing.

Or that time I remember

I have a baby

and that I’ve not fed it

or given it a drink for weeks

and now my hand is on the doorknob

opening the door where I remember it must be

and I’m dreading what I will find.

*Sweet dreams, nighty night, don’t let the bed bugs bite.

he cries out her eyes
shakes it til she sings
that's the way it goes
but it's the craziness
getting me down

the hardest part was starving it
every ideal like springtide flowerets
you turned to archaic grisly gravel
watch them crash through
weathered rooftops
watch them fall

drawing maps with hungry voices
winding staircase. hidden street.
drained from stepping on recurrent
cryptic papers scattered floorboards
no matter how many times they're
cleaned, there they are

bright coral turns vile muddy brown
when it stays in the sun too long
alone, everybody knows that
that's what they thought
beneath a brittle beacon, cloudy day
they'll keep pretending, it'll be okay

This was a fishing village
when people were speaking
the king's English, dead
like the fishing industry
Now the tourists have accents

Truth be told
this was a fishing village
long before that
But we don't speak about
what those folks spoke
Something Algonquian
or another dead language

When the tide is out
I walk the shore and look for remnants
Pottery and stone tools, and such
I find a lot of plastic
and bottles, plenty of those
We've been a drinking people
for a long **** time

Once, I found a child's shoe,
sodden and filled with sand
It had a blue lace,
still tied, and a smiley face
as the tide was going out
Kind of sad, really.

r  ~ 8/28/14

Tell her to sleep
Because or else,
She won't.
She's afraid of the nightmares,
And she wants to stay awake to fight the monsters

Tell her that there's hope for tomorrow
Because she's probably lost faith in today
And she needs something to fight for

Tell her that nothing is over until she's finished trying
Because she really doesn't want to try anymore
She'***** the ground a few times already
And she's afraid to fall again

Tell her that she doesn't have to be okay all the time
Because she is tired of standing up straight and tall
She's ready to fall apart
Without breaking down

Tell her that she's not the only who's broken
We're all just made of spare parts
Borrowed from each other
Because none of us are perfect

Tell her you love her.