come on baby we can do it

if you listen to the music

and follow the movements.

lose it all to a lucid dream


a fluid stream of consciousness

between another being.

it’s a freeing feeling
to see the ceiling



crash before your eyes.

i find it kind of healing
to witness one’s demise

‘cuz it’s gone in a flash



but it’s feels alright

not to fight the light.

© Matthew Harlovic

if life gives you limes,
squeeze the light
out of it

© Matthew Harlovic

I’m avoiding a void, Freud warned me of
by worming my way in to the apple of my eye
I know it sounds paranoid as above so below
ground zero dark thirty where I heard the well runs dry.
Hell, I wonder why I try to quench my thirst for knowledge
from any ***** puddle when I’m at a cow college
‘cuz nowadays I rather cuddle up with a good book
than be-fuddled by how to transgress, ring a bell hooks?
Well looks deceive and I can guess
by the wings you have yet to receive
we have come to the some of nothing
from something I thought we were far beyond
but maybe I was wrong at the end of it all.
You said it wasn’t my fault but then again,
Freire taught me how to lock
away my thoughts in a vault.

I’m hemmed in with Hemingway in the corner of the café.
We spend half the day laughing at our neighbors savoring
their lattes but condemning how they stray away from nature
‘cuz labor’s not their taste.
He says, “What a waste of time.
Do you see a better paradigm?”
I agree because I was scared at the time
to embarrass myself in front of an idol of mine.
I know it’s futile to rival a dead mind
but when they’re better than the headlines
I don’t mind if I never shine brighter than a dying light
‘cuz it only really matters in the end if I’m trying right?
but what am I trying for when I lost a friend to love and war?
Cut the ties, I’m alive.
Who was I dying for?
Who was I fighting for?
Who was I writing for?

Shelby tells me where the sidewalk ends
and well, he’s been a better friend than you’ve ever been;
ever since you left me and met he who shall not be named
nor blamed for this game you played against us.
Again trust was just a part of it all.
I was miserable like Margaret Hall.
Withdrawals always reinforce walls of remorse
and of course, I’m the source of all your problems
but who took the time to resolve them?
You weren’t forced to endorse any course of action
except follow the laws of attraction.
Perhaps gravity magnifies abreaction
or the severity of abstraction.
Yet Apollo would swallow
all his pride and passion
hollow out his home
and throw a match in.

© Matthew Harlovic

she stabbed a cig in her lips just to sip the smoke
as i tripped off the second hand secrecy she spoke
i was choked up. i couldn’t cough out a comeback
for comfort as she drew a new one from the pack.

those ivory black irises lacked pigment.
they looked as bleak as the stars in the distance
or was it just a figment of my inhibitions?
or some innocent incident that kicked in my skepticism?

in an instant my instincts clicked in again,
it was getting late so we made our way down the bend
and in the end, my intent was never met
but she did teach me something that I’ll never forget.

she said "a habit is a habit, somehow we gotta have it.
i know it may be tragic but somehow we gotta have it.
a habit is a habit, somehow we gotta have it
and someday we’ll drag it down to our caskets".

she tried to play a queen in a king’s reign
but you can’t share the wealth if you’re the one who pays.
we’re drawn by the waste, we’re taunted by the taste
but maybe someday you’ll get your life straight

and so we laid waste beneath the marble moon
as the tar tore off her taste buds as the ashes bloomed.
as her charcoal perfume loomed in the moonlight
as my hands laid on her waist, waiting for a goodnight kiss.

but with a bit of luck, i could’ve caught
a little more than smoke in my tear ducts.
aw shucks, i should’ve known a lot better.
she may have had a halo but her wings were severed

and never will i ever make the same mistake twice.
if you break my heart once, i’ll be gone by daylight.
i promise that you’ll wake up all alone tomorrow
and i know for sure you’ll light another Marlboro.

smothered by my sorrows, i know how it’s tragic
but a habit is a habit, somehow we gotta have it.
a habit is a habit, somehow we gotta have it
and someday we’ll drag it down to our caskets.

© Matthew Harlovic

i am leaving soon
so forgive me if i speak bluntly
but what are we achieving in this country?
to think, we hung the moon and stars.
i’m stung by the pungent stench of cars.
fix the carbon sink or tend to the garden.
lend a hand out to those who are starving.
Darwin would loathe our progress.
i thought old growth was both
a blessing and a curse
but things only worsen
the more we nurse them.
clip the wings of a serpent

© Matthew Harlovic