If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you
If you want a partner
Take my hand
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
I'm your man
If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
And if you want a doctor
I'll examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
Climb inside
Or if you want to take me for a ride
You know you can
I'm your man
Ah, the moon's too bright
The chain's too tight
The beast won't go to sleep
I've been running through these promises to you
That I made and I could not keep
Ah but a man never got a woman back
Not by begging on his knees
Or I'd crawl to you baby
And I'd fall at your feet
And I'd howl at your beauty
Like a dog in heat
And I'd claw at your heart
And I'd tear at your sheet
I'd say please, please
I'm your man
And if you've got to sleep
A moment on the road
I will steer for you
And if you want to work the street alone
I'll disappear for you
If you want a father for your child
Or only want to walk with me a while
Across the sand
I'm your man
If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you

i feel

naked

but vulnerably so;

i don't want to let you in,
show you the deepest crevices of my soul
not for fear of embarrassment,

i'm just not going to let you break me in half
like that.

"leave before getting left,"

a motto for girls like me.
                                                             you don't know the frustration
                                                           when things don't go as planned.
stop saying
                  g
                    o
                      o
                        d
                          night.

Love is a sunrise
Love is a rose
Love is the tingle
That starts in the toes

Love is an autumn leaf
That floats on the breeze
Love comes alive
When love flutters free

Love is a car
That is always in drive
Love is a city street
That is lit up at night

Love always has
The softest of hands
And always gives into
Loves high demand

Love is a whisper
That is spoken out loud
Loves when you kiss her
In a tumultuous crowd

Love is the brightness
On a sunny day
Love is a shower
In the middle of May

Love conquers all
When love is set free
Love is a handcuff
That binds you and me

Love is an ocean
You can lose yourself in
And once you've dove in
Don't want to come back again

My New Found Fashion Trend

You know I never really understood
Why they wear their pants that way
Pull them down to their knees
And walk around all day

But they say it is the fashion
It's a new trend I should try
That underwear is very cool
And catches people's eyes

So I decided I should try it
I pulled my pants down way to far
Then to show the world how hip I was
I walked through Central Park

All the Children were excited
I saw them point my way
They even told their teacher
But she made them look the other way

Well then two cops they came running
I assumed to see my style
I thought my trend was catching on
But those cops they didn't smile

Those cops would start a new trend
One I didn't like as much
They put my hands behind my back
And slapped on silver cuffs

Now this jail cell seems so small
With this big man next to me
He says he'll be my best friend
And he likes just what he sees

So glad to see this courtroom
Filled with people from the streets
They yell rethink your fashion trend
If you're wearing a G-String

Well the Judge he was not happy
But he would not give me time
He said wear a G-String where you want
No one can take that right

You see the Judge he wore a G-String
Underneath his long black robe
Since he did not find me guilty
A free man I could go

So I walked outside that courtroom
As a free man once again
And became so very famous
For my New Found Fashion Trend

Carl Joseph Roberts

This is not a poem, this is a life.
I have fallen in love, and I know you've fallen in love (at least I hope you've fallen in love). But, our love was antithetic, it was electric, it was eccentric, it was modern. It was like moonbeams, it was like the pavement after rain. Our love was timeless, but most importantly, it was faceless. It was without impression, it was without imperfection.
I just wanted to remind you, that this is not a poem, this is a life.
I met you, and you met me, but it wasn't face to face. We never walked down the hallways of our high schools and brushed the backs of our hands together. Never would I be able to compare the glint in your eyes to the way the sun shined in our favorite spot last Wednesday at 4:32p.m. We never sat on your back porch, or leaned precariously over my balcony, and nervously leaned into one another. Never will you understand the trembling of my knees when I first heard your voice (this is all becoming very poetic), and never will I know the unabashed heat of your skin; or the cold of your dangerous glare. I'll never meet your mother, and you'll never meet my father (but that's okay, because we wouldn't want that anyways), they are our secrets locked away in a box underneath our separate and never merging beds. I crave nothing more than a love that cracks open my ribs and sends a  hurricane barreling through my heart. Few have tried, yet none (only you) have succeeded. The failed have only summoned a cold winter within these bones, but you struck up a blistering summer and an incomprehensible spring, where my eyes viewed nothing but random march showers.
Sorry, I forgot that you were not a poem, and this is our life.
Only upon assessing the damage your vessel created with your departure did I realize that this is not a poem, this is a life.

(a.m.) 03/12/14