I turn over the pages.
Fold the corners to remember.
Feathers.
I trample through the rest
Of this anthology.
Try to rip and tear to forget.
Concrete.

My sledgehammer is rubber
And my drill is sponge.

The wind is a thief
And my tools are blunt.

And there once was a day when I took a drive
Drove hundreds of miles
Back to the place where we first met
Back to the street you swept me off my feet
And I can still hear your voice
Vibrating through the halls
Can still see the breath
Drifting from your lips
Those ripped jeans
And over sized shoes
But nothing compares to the look you gave me
The glitter in your eye you tried to hold onto
I knew then, you'd be somehow significant to me
And here I am
Driving hundreds of miles
Racing away from these feelings that overwhelm me
Only to know
You never deserved me

Ocean's
flowing currents
wash over me
with blue noise.
Burning waves
tangle my hair.
Salt *****
my skin,
making my nerves
raw and singing.
The dark sea
saddens me
with it's
cold caress.

He is red
Flakes of skin breaking away from his arms and face
He smiles stretching the cigarette stain on his white mustache

You young people have got it all wrong

Let me tell you a story
Don’t worry it’s a funny story

He looks behind him to make sure he can soak up my time
I tell the cashier to stay and check if anybody comes

One time there was this really dumb bird
Had a nice beard like yours
Real busy guy
And he waited til winter to fly south

If this story is about me I’m not sure

Some of us work real hard
And still manage to justify that we have nothing

I wonder if he knows I can see the boogers in his nose

The bird finally took off for home
But it began to rain
He kept flying
Then it started to hail
The hail beat his wings
It was getting hard to flap
His body began to shiver

He smiles again
It makes his lips crack and bleed a little
Underneath the stretch of yellow
He exhales and his breath smells sweetly of beer

It began to snow
Lightly at first
Though it was cold it was easier to fly
But the snow fell thicker
It coated his body
His heart slowed
He began to feel really tired
He started to descend
He was dying

He places a hand on mine for a moment
His is comfortably rough
Shovel callous rough
Cinderblock stack rough

If that touch was for me or him
I’m not sure

All these stories are just ways we beg people to stay
This poetry is just a way to keep you here
Touch you with my rough and tremble
So you can look at my cracked broken and ******
A little longer

The bird kept falling
Until he hit the earth
And you know where he landed?
Right in a big cow patty
But the warmth of the fresh ****
Melted the snow
Gave him his life back
So he rolled around in it and began to sing
He sang and sang and sang
And a hawk heard the singing
It was winter
The hawk was hungry
And he ate that bird with the nice beard

He slaps the counter separating us
Eyes widen to mounds of earth
Two big fat piles of cow **** staring at me and smiling

I don’t feel like laughing

And the moral of that story young man
Is if you’re covered in **** and somehow happy
Keep your mouth shut

These stories are just reasons
And I don’t feel like laughing

I laugh anyway