To the naked eye,
the beehive cluster clutches
kin of lunatics.

© Matthew Harlovic

Dwell not in the past
nor dwell on what is to come.
Concentrate right now.

© Matthew Harlovic

i hid cigarette
cartons from
my parents as
well as yours
because i knew
it was what you
wanted because
it was what they
abhorred.

© Matthew Harlovic

Cast [kast, kahst]
1. v. To throw or hurl something; fling: We cast our desires or ambitions into a river called life. 2. v. To shed or discard: We cast away our struggles and fears which eventually subside into the shallows of our shores. 3. n. A slight trace of color; a tinge: Although the cast of the sunrise upon the river’s edge leads us to a new-fangled dawn, it takes us away from our fate set by the current. 4. n. The form in which something is made or constructed; the arrangement: The cast of the river’s scenery is stowed up as memories so we can reminisce on the features later in our lives. 5. v. To twist or turn; warp: The river casts into various routes that carry us to our travel’s end.

Curiosity
it kills and conceals the keep
Generosity
it fills the mind up with cheap
talk, think cautiously

© Matthew Harlovic

You spread lies around town like a dandelion.
Don’t try to hide it, it’s written in your iris
There’s no need to cry about the crisis now
because it’s all crystal clear like a cirrus cloud.

© Matthew Harlovic

Two-sides, one mind, it isn’t easy to think.
Don’t blink but lip sync the lies fed from your shrink
The missin’ link is tied to the rails of our genes
Tinker with the braille when you rip apart the seams
I’ve seen kingdom come but it's visits are brief
Pay mind to the thief, small talk isn’t cheap
I keep to myself and that man in the mirror
Sharin’ one stare, my character is clear
The gears are still spinnin’ jenny, well enough
Peers leave in a feedin’ frenzy call it tough love
When push comes to shove we rid our resistance
Flexin’ up the shell, tryin’ to counter inhibitions like...

Flight or fight, it's a rite of passage
so you better be able to manage
Flight or fight, it's a rite of passage
so you better get those loose ends fastened

Just give me a second to make my amends
Anchor it down, bound it by fisher’s bend
Let’s pretend that your “friends” are backin’ you up
But the sum of one sums up your lack of trust
Yup, don’t dilly-dally, tally up some bums
If yah in the blind alley at the end of the run
Well you better have a pair of iron giant lungs
For if and when the worst is yet to come

Flight or fight, it's a rite of passage
so you better go and grab a bandage
Flight or fight, it's a rite of passage
so tell me what the damage is kid

© Matthew Harlovic

Piece by piece
the paint will peel.
Chiaroscuro,
tell me what’s real?
I touch, I cut
but I feel nothing.
In time, I’ll heal
but for now
I’m blushing.

© Matthew Harlovic

I drink coffee
                  She prefers tea
           together we make the perfect

               buzz.

© Matthew Harlovic

forgive me for my outburst,
i have a tendency to run wild
so from here on out, i'll live on
the outskirts of my inner child.

© Matthew Harlovic

you reminded me
we have to eat a peck
of dirt before we die
but why on earth save
the pie in the sky?

© Matthew Harlovic

I’m a cry wolf
wrapped in steel wool.
I fell head over heels
for a part of the whole.  

© Matthew Harlovic

There’s no “I” in noose but there’s one in noise

© Matthew Harlovic

I’m sorry Dad, I probably won’t be around next year.
Once I graduate I think I’m gonna be out of here.
I only say I think because I’m never really sure
where I’m going and whether I’ll endure.

© Matthew Harlovic

Neither man nor machine,
these beings; being pipe dreams
were conceived by the silver screen.
Unseen by the naked eye,
they have taken you and I
by surprise like a tractor beam.
Neither the factor of genes nor factories
nor anthropological capacity.
These beings, being faculties of thought,
predetermine the preface of the plot.

© Matthew Harlovic

through all the good times,
all the bad, all the happy
and the sad. i’m glad to say
you’re da best friend
i've ever had.

© Matthew Harlovic

perhaps if we bring our fates
together we will create
a date with destiny.

© Matthew Harlovic

I hope the flowers arrived on time.
I was never much of a “punctual type.”
Though I function, alright especially on the mic
when the speakers bumping something awfully tight.
Got me jumping in my sneakers reaching greater heights
to locate the light bright enough to melt glacial ice.
But twice I’ve been in the inferno wishing to return home
like clicking my heels will take me outta this turmoil.
I learned the most loyal friends are embroiled to the very end—
despite how the road bends. But it takes work on both ends
to make amends when things are blown out of proportion.
I should’ve known endorphins would’ve played my *****
with the sweetest melodies that I should’ve recorded,
but I didn’t have the courage.

© Matthew Harlovic

Dear Sophie,

Most these
nights have been lonely
so I wrote these poems
in hopes that you'd phone me.
I mean, if only.
I would take your hand in holy matrimony
because you've shown me how to be myself.
I know it sounds cliche but I used to keep to myself
like one little incident and my self-esteem might melt.
But now I see myself in a greater view.
I don't beat myself up no pay-per-view.
So I have to thank you for all that you do
You lifted my spirit when I was feeling blue.
Peace to my depression like see ya later dude.
I used to be a mess but then I met you.
You swept up the pieces
when you didn't have to
and I thank you for that.

Sincerely,
Matthew

© Matthew Harlovic

oh* Don’t you Ever be
Afraid hush That is Him

© Matthew Harlovic

Ever since my birth,
her stretch marks
have caught my age
on sycamore skin.
If you were to
peel back her bark,
you could pin point
the years she spent
nurturing her saplings;
two fair oaks,
pitted like pine needles,
that ***** her fingers
every so often.
But she does not
weep like a willow,
she continues to give
her life away to raise them.

© Matthew Harlovic

I don’t deserve
to have someone so
deserving of another

© Matthew Harlovic

I’m not at all different
I’ve never made a difference

© Matthew Harlovic

If three-dimensional objects
cast two-dimensional shadows,
then fourth-dimensional objects
cast three-dimensional shadows.
If this hypothesis holds true, then
we are the shadows of the fourth dimension.

© Matthew Harlovic

i often wonder where the time goes
when i watch my calendar
like a slide show.

© Matthew Harlovic

tell me you fear me
tell me I scare you
tell me what I wanna hear
and maybe I'll spare you

© Matthew Harlovic

If the world revolved around you,
injustice, insufficiency, and insolence
would get stuck in your dreads.

© Matthew Harlovic

I’ve been babbling in Babylon with all the scholars
dabbling with dreamers,
thinking like a toddler,
mocking the monsters
dancing at the masquerade
and walking with the wickens waiting for my wake.
I’ve been rambling in Rome,
hanging with the hippies,
skipping some stones,
gambling with gypsies
getting dizzy with the drunken monks,
putting pity parties on for the pacified punks.

© Matthew Harlovic

Dreads are not dreadful
They are jaw-dropping deadly
Drop-dead. Looks can ****.

© Matthew Harlovic

Raindrops
will drive
you *wild
if they hit
the same
spot…

© Matthew Harlovic

you straddled
my mind with
the way you
drew a narrow
line between
what i knew
about you and
what i have
come to find
but you raddled
my body with
addle-brained
designs, never
once drawing
one of a benign
kind.

© Matthew Harlovic

i met my
better half
on adams
yet, she left
my side like
an atom.

© Matthew Harlovic

you made me promise
to never lose hope
but who would’ve
thought you were
the one to lose it.

© Matthew Harlovic