goldfinches and chickadees
cinched on branches
chirping up the trees
do they sing this song for themselves
to feel at ease
or is it to be heard
for the betterment of humanity

when I write in the dead of night
what is it for?

my girlfriend
told me I needed to sit down
                                                  before hearing it
her sylphlike fingers hovering over
                                                            ­my cut-up cuticles
with eyes hovering past my head
                                                          un­committed
but convincingly connected to my soul
                                                            ­      immovable

just then
Unidentified Flying Objects
                                                crashed into our chat
through the tense atmosphere
                                                   and down to where we sat
their gaze lasting light-years
                                                 and blasting neon beams
into the split ends of my hair
                                                  setting fire to my precious dreams
and splattering brains onto her mini-skirt                                                       ­           
                                                     ­                   it was an ugly affair

to end
if i were alive
                        to recount their excursion
i'd add she stepped over
                                           the ****** matter
hopped aboard the mothership
                                                       with no coercion
and was never seen
                                  without her extraterrestrial lovers
again

when i get to heaven
           i'm living with the pigs

my home in the sty
           while my soul is in the sky

i'd rather squeal in the pen
            than sit with the bigwigs

and though my neighbors snort and cry
            i'm fine to writhe and eventually fry

the magnified, mascara applied
                                                    eyes of my skull
burn holes in my thighs
                                       mulling over the size of this hull

i chunder my lunch and wonder of
                                                          everyone else
and if they're also laser beaming love
                                                               i­nto themselves

or if they're boundlessly born with it
                                                              unstained smiles, strained bites
maybe they're just born with it  
                                                   no pained bile or insatiable appetites  

either way, i hardly
                              can infer
if my stomach is
                          half empty
                                          or half full

serve me a slice of pie
with a knife and two forks
and a side of stolen looks

we'll split our piece
equally discreet
severed, yet even and clean

quietly savoring the saccharine saliva
as our tongues linger over
a bite of shared sin

quickly the fire truck
jumps from its station
clamoring into traffic
disrupting its flow
like a boulder sat in water
the cars swerve and collect
on the side of the road
only to soon return to their stream
the casual chaos continues
and I wonder what it’s like
to be able to go about routine
when tragedy is occurring
just up the river

the answering machine let out a beep
with a message soon following
just words stringing together sentences
phonetics, tongues branching the space
between syllables
not a voice, a sound decorated with an accent
created by a language that has taken
all of history to form

and i slept through it all

you can hear the transmission towers
around my house
buzz if you walk underneath them
electricity with somewhere to be
shoving breakfast in its mouth
and rushing out the door
to my neighbors and their 32 inch
flatscreen TV

and i slept through it all

the DVD player will keep replaying
the film if you don't unplug it
one continual loop all night long
scene after scene, cinematic sequences
following quickly in succession
without a hitch, without fault
one actor triggering the other
one domino falling upon another

crashing and burning

spiraled far into the nighttime
i woke up
to unfamiliar noises and unseen voices
people made of black and white splotches
projected from a box aflame with static
and i decided right then
a starring role in the world wasn't for me
falling back into sleep

the movie continued on forever
and i slept through it all

Could've sworn I saw a light
Buzzing through the pines
On the hillside
Gazing down at me
Like a singular eye of god
Peeking through reality
Wondering what's become
Of it's creation

Opening myself up
That same light protruding
Nearly went blind
And felt strangely vacant
Like that divine intervention
I prayed for by candlelight
Finally extended its hand
But retreated last second

Saw that shine again
This time in the eyes
Of a deer by the lake
Couldn't stand the scrutiny
Quietly shuffled my fingers
To the trigger of my gun
Aimed best I could
Tarnishing the light for good

(In my mind
she's gonna live forever)

(She's gonna live forever
in my head)

I can't see her in the clouds
but I can hear her in the rain
I can't comprehend her corpse
but I can smell her flesh

Swords storming down from above
Pierce my hands
Pierce my eyes
Pierce my heart

But try to avoid my brain
The part in which she's wrapped around

i will continue sleeping
and the wild horses will keep on running
with each gallop of their hooves
they'll match the clap of my heart
until they trip over themselves
with exhaustion
breaking their ankles
and never rising again

endlessly she looks on
lashes never flinching
no lids weighed by metal
to blink as you rock her
imaginary tears to fall

a little box freshly made
smells of melted plastic
made by wrinkled hands
with eyes shut tight
droplets soiling the exterior

the night her wisp of a candle
dimmed and turned to smoke
i held her in my arms
knowing she couldn't hear me
yet still sang that lullaby
the one that played each time
you pulled the string attached
to her back

and when i peaked down at
the window of her entrapment
my weepy eyes reflected on
her cracked porcelain skin
i imagined her mint condition
just like the day
i brought her home

my heart is hole punched
hidden in the back of my folder
rings clamped tight
to keep it from fluttering away
and though i don't write in pen
my words still bleed
ink smudged arteries

the wild turkeys cross at
the same point of the road
everyday
no matter how many times
they lose a member to tire
hood or window
they cross and bleed
flapping and loving

the field is miles long
moments created and
dissolved in the fog
tuffs of feathers marred
and sacrificed

Florence
meet me once more
in the ditch of the road
and we'll kiss atop foul
corpses

The earth calls me home
Whistles my name and claps toward the woods
Her tangy voice rings through the elms
Suppertime is swiftly approaching

The world hides me under her tongue
Raining down saliva that burns the eyes
Deeper into her cave I dive
Acid bubbling down my throat

Nature collects my body
Another trophy placed in her burrow
Burying us all further and further
She sings hymns every day above our graves

And though we pretend this song isn't sweet
Humming along
We all fall into the pit