A person is a bulb
and when they are broken
words spill out

The stars are shining and the
Voice of Louis Prima is leaking
Through my earbuds and for now,
I've gotta take some time to myself;
This is my peaceful time,
Buona Sera

you are a tapestry and when i touch you my fingers come away
dripping with thick oil

each night i see your finest threads turn to ropes of gasoline;
you are a spark away from going up in flames

i want to drop a match

i want to see you burn

i promised that when
the sun hit i'd be happier
but now my mind is clear
and i'm back to my senses

don't think i want to do
this anymore

the sun rose today and my
heart said we're going to the
river, going for a ride
and my mind said that sounds fine

i'd like to learn to live
slow again

You're wasting my time

You can't call my bluff
Time to back up, ********

I've escaped the ties of those around me
and living free has taught me to love
myself and never feel shame for living

but when tricky broads and mindless
dogs try to stick labels on me, provoke me
to fight, a fist around my neck looks a
lot like an invitation, so I shut them down
and ignore the thunder in my brain

I remind them they know nothing about me,
I am self-assured, unassailable, and I can learn
from people terrified enough of new things that they'd
come and attack me, and they're scared that I know
what's in their head

I'm a mortar shell deprived of black powder
And there's nothing left but the echoes
Of an explosion I once delivered lives
Before the one I'm living now

Melt me down for scrap and fit me into
Something new so I can fly again

I see it in your eyes -
The endless inertia, energy spent
And left behind, recycled in an
Overcrowded skull

You were killed in the snow
And left to dry in the sun,
Beaten back like the weeds,
Held down like a martyr
Underwater

What's harder than leaving
A human being behind,
Sacrificing a billion would-be's
And countless possibilities

And what irony could be found
If I did stick around and if I
Did discover that nothing lay in
Wait for me?

I care about you,
I do,
But I can't linger on people
Who make me feel confused and
Lonely

Blades and cogs and coins alight on my carpet,
the one which I purchased from the courtyard vendor:
his name is Copper, for the wire

An orange beard stain'd by rusting iron, white
by nature for his age - eyes sharp and gray,
like black smoke from the pyre

My home is back behind a long-forgotten throne,
atop chipped flagstones carved from the riverbed,
the one which we call Hyena; the first name is long lost

Hunting dogs from towns far and wide gone wild in the heat,
children kept high on shoulders  - we rather the sun than
the dogs' sparkling teeth

Twisted aspens and birch among the rains, turning
green like veins of jade beneath our feet -
axes shattered from our forefathers, unusable on stone,
our only defense is our teeth and bone

Skies span blue and brown in season,
sands stirred up in far the east,
I blame the winds here and again:
dust killed my mother back there and then

If my sin destroyed your
fragile covenant then maybe
it should've disintegrated already

Often it feels as if the past
is a desperate, dying dog, its
teeth stuck on the hems of my
jeans, beady eyes intent on
dragging me back to darker times

This feral beast will scrounge up
my hope with a wag of the tail,
drawing me closer so it can bury its
diseased claws within me, taking blood

I want nothing more than to put a
bullet in its ragged face, but that power
is not innate

I feel older and in control,
Or I should be

But instead I feel young and
Terrified

I don't know what I'm supposed
To be but I know that lingering on
Tear-wrecked faces isn't helping
Anyone here

You've got a one-track mind and
It doesn't feel right
Doesn't rub me right

Breathing in smoke,
Inhaling fear,
You're a cyclops

I can't remember if it was me
Who gouged out your eye
But either way I've got a debt to pay
And the time is now

You are not my friend

Until we sing at the sky and
Your fingers run my back like
A racetrack

Until we speak like family
And the world bends to give us
Space

Until our lips touch and
Sound exits like in a vacuum and
My heart stops and starts again

You are not my friend but
I can dare you yet to overcome
That fear of yours and hold time
In your hands like you've held so many others

Like God above,
You are not my friend

like all your **** as if you are the one
i can hear in your heart and your mind that you're done
i want you to see me like more than dead weight
boy nothing on my end but leftover faith

you know you can't
make everyone like you
at best you can hope
they'll tolerate you
never hate you
they're always late

i've spent so much time
thinking about this
and how it keeps failing
and whose fault it is
and how to stop it
and how to return from it
and i think i've found a
solution

to break a death spiral you
must first disengage
state intentions
be friendly
care for one another
at arm's length
love from a distance

I wrote of desert stones many months ago
and I lost my pen to the paper and
sacrificed my ink to the moon

Written with blood, this writ
sings of my dedications and
poems penned with names in mind

Unmeasurable love and adoration
beyond simple words, I feel more than my
body can handle

So please, stay here, and never
leave me to the night, for you are
my light and I am your shadow

I am too fearful to return to that
which birthed me

There's been a delay on the press
And a shout in the streets; they demand
"Give us our books!"

And lo, such a tragedy is this
That we must wait for the
Yeti to emerge on this
Winter holiday

I can't express how titles
Dictate content, or how
Names are formed after I
Hear the voice behind the face

Don't do affection, just
Throw it out and dust the
Curtains and be done with it

I just wanna love myself and
Thank God I'm the best he's
Ever made

You could say I ruined everything if
Everything wasn't ruined already

We're so quick to blame but have
You taken a moment to make peace
With your shortcomings like I have?

Acknowledging mediocrity in and of itself
Is transforming it into something more, since
An effort at least is never worth nothing

Yes, I truly resent you, but I don't resent myself
And I wish you the best in seeking the means to
Enable yourself to say the same

Until then, rest peacefully

It's where I keep my
Unfinished masterpieces
My polished imperfections
My broken promises

My draftbook is littered
With work and unwork
Like a handyman's abandoned
Toolshed

Forgive me when the books
Flow slowly; it's all I
Can do to stay standing

Fizzed at edges like
seltzer water
from a plastic pack

Tell me - what do you
see?

You tell him - I see more
than I asked for

A smile and a grimace and
the alkaline aroma of burnt lemon
wafts in the window

Rock music and emotions in song
legends cast in gold
hesitancy in cracked discs
honesty in teary eyes

Dreamer Boy, you tell him
I see more than I ever imagined

It's a rainy city and a sunny one
all at once.

Faith delivers miracles
And this keyboard is too loud;
I'll probably wake my brother while
Typing this all out

But before I lose my train of thought,
Remember that I'd rather die under the lights
Than lose you to them

Blame it on the wine and on
the roses

This is the city of angels

Blame it on the killers and on
the embezzlers

This is where they come to
rest, so let them rest

This is where they come to
die, so let them live

Sup on wet flesh and sip on
sweet blood

Grip green cash and step on
the graves of the forerunners

They built this land and these
angels are not yours

Sinners, unite.

Why blame it on the virtues?

It was the same yesterday
And today and tomorrow
And I'm praying for a change
But abandonment is the solution
I don't want to accept

By the end of the day and the sun is
High I find myself forgotten by
Those whom I love and I begin to
Feel that heat in my chest

I run home like a child pushed to breaking,
Hands tense and clutching denim,
Breaths forced because breathing is hard

Praying for change, denying what I
Know is true, I need to
Escape these echoes

Pro-blade whispers on the edge of things,
There's no running from this

Forcing myself to sip water is different
Than drinking sunlight and taking in
Attention gets me high but it never lasts

By the time I'm home the world has fallen
And I'm putting the pieces together to
Figure out why it broke and if I
Caused this myself

Keep this boy alone

Can't find a reason to stick around since
It's easier to dust off bad looks and
Double-meaning words than
Rely on a dead man's grip

Get a new love.

365 sunrises is simple math,
But you can't forget sunlight
When it's winter just because
You feel like it

Wrong me and I will eclipse
You because standards mean
Nothing to me and I will
Destroy the charts where
They stand

You know this.

your stories make me cry
my chest never aches like this
i wish i could get these tears to flow
i didn't know they made dams this strong

I take a step and plunge
Headfirst into a well full of
Oil and grease

I roll my eyes to the back of
My head and I see my assailant
Behind me

Eyes in my skull as old as gold,
Seeing lands to which I've
Never been

Never been there to pray for peace

You feared you would tear us apart
like you did last year and I told you
that I would never let that happen again

Three months until the truth of my
powerlessness came to light, and my
only option was to let you drift away

And when our eyes meet I feel not even
the common affection shared between friends,
and when I speak to you your head turns as if
we had never before this moment met

I am a pursuant who runs and goes nowhere,
and though my legs grow strong and my lungs
learn to feel pain I feel guilty for letting myself
spend so much time on you

I know not to regret past decisions because they
made me who I am, and there's not a single thing
I regret about you, I just can't help but tell you that

It hurts how we let this die so quietly

You're quiet when we're near;
beautiful and inquisitive is
what I see in your eyes

I've met people who'd rather not be
figured by how they appear

I know you're wearing a mask and
I'm so scared that we might speak
in the wrong way, I'm so eager to
impress you

How do I make this fun again?

Find me in the far East with a bow in hand and a tree at my feet and a deer fleeing to the sunrise. I hope to find a way to escape the sun before it overtakes me. The deer seeks light. I seek nonbeing. The tree has been destroyed. The North still governs where I set my feet.

Find me upon layers of ice with an ax in hand and a mammoth at my feet, buried under a million years. I cut through a thousand and then a hundred thousand and then I’m there and my ax is cutting into ancient, frozen blood and my own is flowing and I am dying a million years ago. Snow begins to fall. The million years ago meets the now and I have an adequate grave.

Find me in a casket six feet underground with a rope around my throat in case I escape again. It’s happened twice. This time, when I wake, the rope will secure me and I will not be able to dig myself out. This is good. This is what my family wants. It makes things easier. It’s good.

Find me awake in my casket, hands ****** and lips bloodier. I kiss the silk lining of my coffin and the rope cuts off my breath and my claws cut through the rope and I push forward and wet soil falls into me. It is raining. I escape the graveyard in my white and red and brown suit and I hide in a trash bin before they can find me and **** me and bury me again. This is the eleventh time I’ve escaped. It is the last. My veins are filled with preservative and it is colder and drier but I am alive and that’s all that matters. The sun comes soon. I’m not ready for it.

Find me on desert sands with a rope in hand and a horse nearby, thirsting for the river a mile off. I am mesmerized by an image before me. It shows an island. My mind tells me that the island is where I want to be, so I mount the starving horse and make my way to the island. I am clad in a white and red suit and the horse pales and they call me Death. They call me Death because I scare their children at night and I seek the island that harbors my dreams. I don’t know that the grains of sand beneath the hooves of my horse are lives.

Find me on that island and know that this is my destiny.

We were supposed to go to church
But you tried to **** us first

And I know you've gone too far and
Maybe now you can fix things for yourself

We've done this before,
You and I

I mean, it wasn't
You and it never
Has been before but
The spirit never changes

When you look at me
I feel faint and
It's all I can do
To go to that spot where
We first met in hopes
Of finding you again

I don't know your name
Because our meeting was
Fleeting but maybe we
Could fix that, someday

Or not

I know you're fragile
And when I tried to hurt you
I helped you instead

i am not hidden
covered in newspapers
draped head to toe in red
head veiled like a fugitive

you are not hidden
you are blue, white-tipped
like a mountain in the snow
surrounded by a vast sea
with hands that can break crowds
but don't bother doing so
with a gaze that fells clouds
but it isn't worth the time

you're all alone
but for a million waves
and a thousand stones
and me

I'm biting down on wax and steel
I say,
Turn the lights down
I didn't ask for this

Sing some ******* about silent
tears, we'll listen and root for you

Shy away from moonlight, lest it
change you into the animal you are

I've got my mental caps lock on
and it's taking its toll

The days roll by, iron gray and cold
as gunmetal
It only gets whiter from here

I'm waiting for the snowfall on winter's eve,
savor that blue sunrise, slough off the orange
at last and take that warmth for granted

I've got a fuse when it comes to
Simplistic affection

It makes me feel small again and I
Don't like to make sacrifices

in the clouds is a charity
it moves from town to town
sometimes it sleeps
when it wakes, it rains
and when it rains, it pours

look up and see a window to heaven
stare as long as the sky is clear
realize your days are numbered
make meaning from nothing
fear death

when the air is cold
but the sun beats brightly
i am caught in the middle
of a land war between
two perfectly balanced forces
wherein my body
is the battlefield and
my mood is the spoils

Self obsessed roamers wandering
Without a path in mind within
The bounds of a world they think
They can see

They think they know

What love is and what it means
To get lost and that neither of these
Things are evil but are in fact the
Two remaining wonders of this world

I know exactly what peace is and I
Hate myself for filling my head with
Meaningless feelings and material desire
And I will do anything to get lost in the
Woods again for if you know your mind
Then you are never truly lost

Don't destroy our safe haven
Because it ****** you up a bit

"The gods envy us because each moment
may be our last," murmured Homer, and pen touched paper and a legend was born in which a man killed a god*

My fingers drip crimson as I unfurl my hands at my sides
My eyes shine silver like lunar spotlights
My skin ripples with the vitality of the young
I grip a pulsing heart in a bloodstained fist and I
crush it, curling my fingers around it, digging into
the arteries and veins

This moment is my last, for a curse darkens my gaze
and the heart of a dead god dies in my sight

Will you rejoice or run in terror?

Perhaps the manic glow of ichor in my eyes intimidates you like the devil once did. Guess which form I will take next.

Kick the ground and it'll send you flying

Hit the wall and you'll punch right through

Power, oh power.

sickening grip on reality as
you
bend
it

Stretch the miles and retract
Go go to the edge of the universe
And your sneakers will track stardust
Into the kitchen

I know you feed on gossip
******* yourself off in the corner -
You think it's glamorous
But that gossamer mask is gone and
Between the **** and the half-drunk
Smiles, the truth was always there

You pretend that you don't care but
I know
That you care too much and it's this
Fear that fuels you through the dark night

i was walking the other night
closed my eyes
saw you coming at me like a flashbulb
i saw you before i heard you
but you were so ******* loud

knocked me off my feet, you know
you did and you
broke my bones
bled my ears for every last reaction
until i had no more to give

i drifted awake the next morning
silent until noon
i couldn't trust my own voice to produce
its sounds or my ears to hear them
you had deafened me so
and blinded me so

my hands twitched to replace the cane
you'd never offered me so i could find
my way, alone and afraid
crawling back to you
stiff like a dead man
numb like a soldier
soft like a child

now, i sit still

smoke to ward your feelings away
and i don't have the strength
to call you a coward
i just wish you wouldn't bake

i'm dying to tell you
that one of these days
i've got to go and take
some time with the
wind and stars above
because you're way too much

i'm sorry your heart pulls
too hard and your body can't catch up
i've got a similar problem but
i'm happier with the pain
i wish i could be numb
like you

i wish i didn't burn
like you

I could chase you for a hundred years
And never take a single step