I cut my wrist on a blade of grass as I tried to bury the past.

© Matthew Harlovic

To understand anything, even yourself,
you must live with it, you must observe it,
you must know all of its content,
its nature, its structure, its movement.
Try living with yourself, all your faults,
your functionalities, begin to see that you
are not living in a static state,
you are constantly changing.
But do not get caught up in opinions,
judgments, and values.
Live with yourself.
Learn about yourself.
You must do this, in order,
to understand yourself.

© Matthew Harlovic

Medicine: a metaphor
for the meta-commentary
narrating your thoughts
before you even think.
Ask your shrink,
if you think
you’re in control of your thoughts.
Temporarily you are not.

© Matthew Harlovic

The centaur; he who
channels two halves together
on an arrow's quill.

© Matthew Harlovic

Yesterday, she caught her curves
in the center of her palms.
She cuddled the skin
and coddled the effort
that she put in
to make it shrink
but she still thinks
it made no difference.

© Matthew Harlovic

I'm here for you,
always and forever.
Whoever you are,
wherever you are,
just know,
I'm here for you.

© Matthew Harlovic

I hope that you will live happily ever after me.

© Matthew Harlovic

“The side of her head is shaved,
isn’t that weird?”
Afraid to admit my attraction,
I nodded in agreement.

And in a low voice
I responded with,
“yeah, weird…”
Yet again he pointed out,

“Look at her septum piercing!
Doesn’t she look like Benny the Bull?”
I looked away. Under my breath
I said, “I think…she’s cute.”

My friend turned
with simpering eyes.
“Really? Cute?
You’re a ****** too.”

I looked up, “I’m not weird.
I just think she’s pretty,
that’s all.”
He scoffed,

“Nah man, you’re really weird.
Tattoos and piercings aren’t attractive,
they’re weird but I guess weirdos
are attracted to other weirdos.

Flustered, I looked up to him.
“So what?  Punk rock is pretty.
At least I’m not a pretentious ******* like you.”
And with that, I left him there.

© Matthew Harlovic

You use ink for your skin. I use ink for my notebooks.
But it seems to me that we have a common interest.

© Matthew Harlovic

Grab a barrel cause,
if life is like a river
then there is a cliff.

© Matthew Harlovic