I see your picture
reading through the same
yoga, cooking, and travel
version of a person
trying to cast a wide
net
instead of focusing
on the truth inside

Where does the end lie?
All I know is that
I’m alone
and want to share
the experiences of
a life
dare to explore the soul
and the fire

I once met a man
and asked him what he saw
where he's been
he said he's been to every land
every space
and he's never been the same
again

he said what are you hoping
to find in the
end?

It's inevitable
he said and you will see
that you may walk through
the forest and touch the trees
and crunch the snow on the
mountains' caps

but you'll never live
the same way twice
you will change
and shed your skin

you will become the earth
and settle deep within the roots
love will come
love will go
there is no time capsule in
the world I know

that can preserve anything
forever

I stand before the monumental
I am crushed by its shadow
I am humbled by its ego
And I can taste envy

I ride the turbulent waters
Like the kelp behind
An ocean liner, I am jostled
Holding firmly as
I slowly inch my way
Out of the water

Eventually I will be free
By searching, by fighting, or by accepting
Fates cruel woven string
And what is clear to me
In the end I shall breathe

Do you ever
move through your fears?

Pull the tab, take a sip,
contemplate what brought you here?

A heart full of blood
with
a mind flooded of
memories
of thorns  

Torn

Sutured

Breathing but gasping
for air

What has brought us here?

This dead space
in my mind
Lost in the world
that
worships decline

I can no longer
see your grace,
can no longer
touch your face

I refuse to let
you leave place

You must stay

Without hearing what
I have to say

Imagine rain
that doesn't quench soil's thirst
Imagine heat
that does not warm your body
Imagine the radiance of the sun
blocked by a 2 story billboard

Then reimagine me.

She looks like the devil
A devil to whom
I'd sell my soul

Meltdown my senses devil
You are in control

I am numb

I am the tortured one
For I see you drift away

To unknown realms

Forced to float around the
Omnificent sun

Forever chasing your
Name

I am threatened
by the blank page
what secrets will
I expose?
Who will I be
when I become
ink?

The past that has
broken my skin
gave me scars
I am not ugly
I am
strength

For most,
they fit the mold,
they sit neatly
within all the gaps,
morphing into
shapes society deems
worthy

I was another story

I failed the tests
I failed the assignments

My time was spent
not
trying to learn to be,
what,
I am not,
but who I wanted
to be

I wanted to discover
the forest from
the trees

I rejected their narratives
the so-called "model student"
I became myself

I became a life

I see the front page
I read the headline
we ride this
coaster
on borrowed
time

I don't have
a large enough
*******

to raise
high

enough

My life is a
match,
striking the box,
exploding into flame

The power of friction

Burning brightly,
hot
with youthful energy

Slowly the flame dies
until a smoke trail leads
to a burnt match tossed
to the floor

smoldering in place

Sharp teeth
in rows on a strong jaw
snapping
at the finger tips
that scratch
razor wire claws

Breathing with
intention
beating expectation
that's what we do
that's what we're known
for
victory against
adversity

Don't underestimate me

Don't declare the heart stopped
beating
it pumps for life
it pumps for others
it's ready for anything

Your sharp teeth are dulled

Sink deeply
Into sleep and
Dream of
Bright places
Where you can rest
And write the pages
Of your life
You deserve

Reset your beating heart
To the beat of heavy rhythmic
Pleasure
And succumb to the voice
Of gracious mystic
Splendor

Let your eyes devour
The light of reflected dreams
And lungs gulp
What ink has already
Described

We'll find a way out
And dive deeply
Into the seas that surrounds
The souls of
True loves
Harmony

I bleed red
as do you
I suffer in my body
in ways you
may
recognize,
how shocking it
is when we
realize,
not all bullets
are made of lead
not all bombs
are detonated
to ****
but to control
removing all humanity
from flesh
and bone

Did you ever
sit
try to write
but no matter
the words chosen
they don't feel right?

They mock you
from the page,
erase them in rage,
as they don't say
what you feel
on the
inside

And you're
too proud
to hide behind words
that don't
reflect your
life

Life was hard
Growing up
No college fund
Bills unpaid
Gas and lights turned off
Frequently
Hard to do algebra
By candle light
Hard to read books
With shivering hands
Two parents
Worked a job a piece
When they were not arguing
They were silent
Misguided and caught
In the clutches of the
American Dream
Now with me
We dared to mention
The truth of reality

Life was hard
Growing up
No college fund
Bills unpaid
Gas and lights turned off
Frequently
Hard to do algebra
By candle light
Hard to read books
With shivering hands
Two parents
Worked a job a piece
When they were not arguing
They were silent
Misguided and caught
In the clutches of the
American Dream
Now with me
We dared to mention
The truth of reality

When we read words
Of sorrow
Authored by another
We attack the page with
Lines and erasers

The words become
A threat
A danger in the brush

We are executioners
Of sorrow
Survivors of the prose

With each other we are
Stronger
Through sorrow we grow
Close

I am the moon
I am full of life
Radiating
Then
I'm partially hidden from view
Slowly to be covered
in shadow

Her long hair
draped
either side
of her hazel eyes
and her lipgloss
shielded
the truth of
her whispers
I remember
her desires
the flowers that
bloom
and the texture
of her goosebumps
as I held her
on top the windy earth
a laughter
a crow
sowing seeds
of feelings
we dared
not explore
as we drift
with the undertow

Our feet have
a finite
amount of space
to walk
like sunlight passing
through monolithic
towers of economic
power

Our small planet
shrinks
minute by minute
day by day

roads, signs, fences,
urban decay

walls, boarders,
wars, governments,
aggression,
& hate

We've lost our ways

limitations of a vast
wilderness we once
roamed
as the wind travels
in the spaces
between

trapped like electricity
in machines
and now we
live in small bubbles
and believe that freedom
means
to isolate ourselves from troubles
beyond
barricades

You
You should know by now
that your flashing cursor
lives in a temporary domain

That you will only
remain silent
between chatting neurons
and won't live to see
the day 10 years
from now

I'll be sipping from
champaign flutes,
you'll gather dust,
and your color will fade
by the sun without guilt
nor remorse

Your logo is a curse,
a badge,
that reads
Hello My Name Is:
existence temporary.

for you don't know me
nor the font I choose
you don't feel these words
like I do

You think your so
perfect by correcting
the misspelled
and underlining
past mistakes

You can take your
fascists dictionary
and grammer
machine

and depart into
darkness
into
a cold
black screen

Two leaves
blowing with the wind
shy in front of the sun
and restless
in front of the moon
divided
we conquer
lonely deserts
and friendly grasses
together
we pierce the ocean's
cloak
discovering submerged
lies
and gather brittle truths

The world
as we know  it
loves to tell us
who we are
and what we will
become

But the world
doesn't see the truth
in our minds and
the love in our
hearts

We are guided by our
passions
And the romances
we have are with
the search for
our being and not
with the world's
desire to dress
products in human
skin

Sometimes it seems I
don't have the skills to recollect

My thoughts struggle
to catch their breath

Crack the spine
and scribble them
down

life rafts
float survivors
between
the then and
now

Music
reveals a mouth
with missing teeth
as well as
a set of untouched whites

Sounds that accompany you
deep into the night
as your finger taps
to rhythms
that linger
past the rise of starlight

To connect with song
is to connect with humanity
and the journey of our
phantom being

We've killed and made love
to beating drums
and from a few lyrics
we've grown closer to our
lovers and
recover
when lyrics become a
tool to remember

Noise from speakers
morphs into our voice
our strength
our peace and
our sovereignty
The purest escape
from reality

What do you do for a living
and how much money do you make?

Where did you go to college,
was it ivy league? Or somewhere I never heard of?

What have you contributed to the world
and what legacy will you leave behind?

At what point in my timeline did these
question make my stomach ill?

Why am I trapped between give and take?

Must we all live in the foreseen world and
give up the natural flow of our lives?
To satisfy the desires of titans
while we scramble to die?