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Aug 2023 · 61
Al and More
Nick Burns Aug 2023
Pound for pound
Ounce for ounce
Tell me there’s more
I have so much
We mean it all
Tell me there’s more
I can’t console
There’s no repair
Tell me there’s more
I drink and eat
I should feel full
Tell me there’s more
I should be one
I should be all
Tell me there’s more
Feb 2022 · 78
pipe dream
Nick Burns Feb 2022
anticipation
mundane brain
cell amputation
weekdays built
toward bored
flogging guilt
dead med kit
needing feeding
without exit
Nov 2021 · 146
Valleys Fold
Nick Burns Nov 2021
these eyes as a fish-eyed lens
the mind’s eye turns into them
capsize belly-up again
recycle my abdomen
Jun 2021 · 77
Wrapped in Leaves
Nick Burns Jun 2021
Winston, how do you do?
The long burn always
suited you.
Somber smoke and draw;
Cut dry but always
pulling through.
Never let the heat run out;
let time lull by and
smother fools.
Brass plume and patting snare.
Our bodies packt like
thieves with care.
Digital patterns breathe like air.
Glue cracking, splitting;
bands don’t care.
Salted earth is always fair.
Fermented stacks of
ashes bear.
A strange ode to cigars and Radiohead :)
May 2021 · 243
A Sunday Amiss
Nick Burns May 2021
I’m only still
in our bed
waiting for you,
but I guess
just your side
will have to do.
Apr 2021 · 81
your nocturnal presents
Nick Burns Apr 2021
light-footed,
seeds: hidded.
green-chaired,
white-haired.
jaws: fitted,
teeth-bitted.

one ounce,
too speedy.
three loves,
for teeny.
your lies?
believing.
you could run the world
from your momma’s house,
from your barn house,
from your silo house,
our flintstoned-foot mouse.

RIP, Vasily.
2019-2021
Jan 2021 · 97
The Canine Design
Nick Burns Jan 2021
Cursor flashes:
there,
and not there;
there,
and not there.
It reminded me of you.
Not because you have left us,
not because you will be back.  
But, because of that little glint
that goes as quick as it appears.
My routines have been reduced
to some sort of stutter with no end.
Plural forms when singles will do;
not two leashes, one instead;
one bowl of water, one of food.
They say all dogs go to heaven,
but we don’t get to go with them.
Lost a good boy today.
RIP Poe
Jan 2021 · 106
Guilty by Dissociation
Nick Burns Jan 2021
Nested topic,
co-diagnostic.
Inverted spirals
contain the heroes.

Double cross me,
ensnare the copy.
Commitment en masse.
Only we can stop me.
Nick Burns Nov 2020
the only way
to leave
without leaving,
to see
without seeing,
to be
without being.
Oct 2020 · 66
Hey, listen.
Nick Burns Oct 2020
I know I came home mad
and I know I didn’t say anything
and I know we had family time,
and it was fine.
I know I helped you go to sleep,
peacefully.

I know I’ve built a case
and I know who it’s against
and I know I’m buying time,
and that is fine.
I know that I’ve needed sleep,
anxiously.
Aug 2020 · 41
No World for Lennies
Nick Burns Aug 2020
Dreamt a dream for two, you did.
There’s a stake, if you can grab it.
Two travelers together live,
ain’t nothin’ funny-like about it.
But, now you can’t do nothing,
Jus’ gotta go and let ‘im have it.
Go on an’ tell ‘im how it’s gonna be.
Go on an’ tell ‘im ‘bout the rabbits.
Jul 2020 · 66
hayfever
Nick Burns Jul 2020
This is
a time
to have
and to
hold
and to
yearn
Jun 2020 · 73
Interplanetary Run
Nick Burns Jun 2020
I stopped off at the moon,
on my way to the Sun,
for one final look at Earth.
Then I couldn’t help but stop at Mercury
for yet another glance
as my eyelashes turned to ashes,
set to orbit our star.
Mar 2020 · 74
The Reach
Nick Burns Mar 2020
stepping
inside
just
to see

well,
it never
hurt,
spittin’
the dirt

better
to die
than
to be
Roger, that *******.
Feb 2020 · 49
The Superpower to Vanish
Nick Burns Feb 2020
Uncomfortable in tights
Cape limp in the un-wind
Eyes closed tightly
Teeth a-******-grinding
I have the power to disappear
If only I could use it
Feb 2020 · 64
her and ther
Nick Burns Feb 2020
cut man
disrupts depression
unconsciously
a hero
in bits
Dec 2019 · 132
Sleepin’ with the Wishes
Nick Burns Dec 2019
My greatest wish
is my greatest fear.
Not a wish for value,
but a wish for fear.

My greatest fear
is my greatest wish.
Not a fear of value,
But a fearful wish.

Raise the blinders.
Plug your ears.
Pray our words
may disappear.

Plug your ears.
Raise the blinders.
Sweet solitude
welcomes reminders.
Oct 2019 · 122
muscle from bone
Nick Burns Oct 2019
separation
does not ****
the soul
the soul
cannot die

separation
muscle from bone
our spirits stretched
beyond the unknown

you carry me
i carry you
however far
however far
we’re strung

separation
muscle from bone
our spirits stretched
until we’re both home
transatlantic flight down half-crew split
Sep 2019 · 101
Epiphetic
Nick Burns Sep 2019
I’m crashing
I love you
beat the brakes
right off me

you’re rushing
I love you
push the sun
to the sea
Sep 2019 · 121
forget this
Nick Burns Sep 2019
wanted to
to **** you

i love you
just improve

wanted to
to **** me

we’re helpless
forget this
Dec 2018 · 310
Frames of Snow
Nick Burns Dec 2018
I catch myself
feigning sadness;
‘’Tis the season,’
my voice might creak.

There is a dread I keep,
from year to year,
from month to month,
just for this week.

Forgetting why
should make me smile.
Yet, I don’t feel replete.

This season shines,
faux philistine;
Yet, still, you’re incomplete.
Nov 2018 · 147
Still still
Nick Burns Nov 2018
Getting better
is so alien to me,
to be the three
that we
set out to be.
I pictured ruin
or a split,
but not writ,
though we
resolve to breathe!
Still, I’m the type
to measure in nights
not days!
Who stays?
Who goes?
Is it the same?
Still, you’re the type
to always be right
not wrong!
Won’t you stay?
No, don’t go.
I want to play.
So, please say-
Please say
you will stay.
I know you
will always stay,
my little rose.
My little fae.
Aug 2018 · 176
plainweavers
Nick Burns Aug 2018
they who filed the bars and sent the world to the stars
in a slow, but heavy descent, god only knows what they meant
with an enveloping down and a comforting cry
is a rating for us to decide or just to imbibe
well, step aside, because i...
i can definitely imbibe
Aug 2018 · 823
Going, going, gone.
Nick Burns Aug 2018
My alarm clock screams.
Been awake for three hours;
so ahead of the game,
unaware of my powerless range.

I’ve been tossing, turning, creaking,
coming up with new names;
another attempt to link together
all of my fireless plains.

Hey, I’m running on fumes.
Hey, I’m Eugene Tooms;
stretching, twisting, warping,
got you reaching for clues.

It’ll all come together,
posted up in my room;
just typing up a dichotomy
of life as a lifeless plume.
Aug 2018 · 152
miss her misters
Nick Burns Aug 2018
relation devolved:
a walk to a crawl?
relation evolved:
adapted free-fall
to death
or to life,
in the wake
is a funnel
in disrepair:
a lost time
after ma’am’s,
after misters;
no need
for callous,
just blisters.
raw puppy eyes
converge
in the sky
as our lids
slowly close
over waste.
Nick Burns Aug 2018
We’re both homesick;
I need you and
she needs peace.
Aug 2018 · 381
Feeder
Nick Burns Aug 2018
To everyone, I’m a vampire.
Not to them, but to me.
Know what I mean?
Sustenance is consequence
and I’m convinced
You were convinced
And ever since
The sky repents.
It screams for me!
For forgiveness.
For love and hate
And all between.
You’re a vampire to me
But not to you, I mean.
Do you see?
I’m sure you see.
Aug 2018 · 132
translucent shells
Nick Burns Aug 2018
i’m at a service
for someone i didn’t know
but wish i had, i suppose
you never said much
but now it means more
yet i’m still an outsider
without feelings about her
as your insides knot up
and your son can’t understand
i’m a phantom at best
with an invisible hand
Jul 2018 · 154
twice down on
Nick Burns Jul 2018
I wrote in circles like a vinyl ******, but still running, and bounded over what could have made the story wholly forgiving.

I am the only one
to ever hear
exactly what I said:

I cannot begin
to tell you how
this might end.
Jun 2018 · 187
a stuttering dream
Nick Burns Jun 2018
you’ll probably be
more sorry when
you’re dying
stopping wrongs
from writing
please stop trying
stop chasing dawn
still
about waking up
on lawns
quit

you’ll probably be
more sorry when
the light goes
out tonight those
doors
aren’t windows
time heals
but when though
we’ve been closed
an illuminated end grows
quick
May 2018 · 294
Drop them dead.
Nick Burns May 2018
The market was empty,
if not for my voice,
as I crooned my sermon
as an effortless remedy.

Echoes are still validation.
The crowd had no choice,
but to take in a message
of my self-flagellation.

The instrument cracked
as my voice became hoarse;
each syllable sprang
with the skin off my back.

Per chance did you hear
that my music doth ****?
If you survived its sound,
it must not have been near.
Apr 2018 · 282
Tomorrow Morningstar
Nick Burns Apr 2018
When I’m the
last of the fallen,
the absolute last
that Death ignores,
you’ll find me
crawling toward
the bright and sunny,
the endless calm,
the milk and honey.
Apr 2018 · 160
the buckling weak
Nick Burns Apr 2018
we’re but a reservoir
against a faulty dam
a rain away
from a flooded plain.

what fruitless
destruction
lies just beneath
a surface we can’t keep.
Mar 2018 · 166
nightstream
Nick Burns Mar 2018
It was just one of those nights
One of those nights where you get to bed at a decent hour
And you’re just laying in bed closing your eyes to sleep
And you think of something small
Just something like a song you heard
Or maybe a band
And you wonder if someone you know might like it
You wonder if your brother might like it
So you think about it and realize you don’t even know
You don’t know what they listen to anymore or if it has changed
You really haven’t spent much time with them recently
You really haven’t spent much time with them in the last ten years
You start to wonder why
It feels trivial but you keep asking
Where did the relationship go
Where did it go wrong
How much was ever really there
You remember the last time you were together you had a bad moment
It wasn’t really the last time you were together
The last time was good
But the incident feels like the last time
It feels like maybe that’s where things changed
Even though it probably isn’t
Even though it was probably always the same
Or it has been for some time
You remember some of the things you said
Some things that were out of line
You’d done that with your other brother too but he usually got the better end of it
Still you were both drunk
Sometimes the truth comes out like that
Sometimes you’re just stretching
Sometimes you’ll never know
You remember you owe him money
He seems to have forgotten but that doesn’t make you feel better
Does he care about that
Could that be the hang up here
You remember other people you owe money to
Your grandma leant you some once and you only paid back a bit
You know she doesn’t hold it against you
But you know she has only forgotten if she wanted to
That doesn’t feel good either way
You remember the time your dad had to bail you out of jail
It was a mistake and just a misunderstanding
You didn’t know you had the warrant
You thought your fine was paid
The charge had been from years earlier
That didn’t take away the disappointment from his face
That didn’t take away the lecture you got on the way home
Who knows how much he paid for bail
He paid the balance of the fine as well
He was too upset to thank for it
I guess you never got around to it
Another time you were in a pinch and had to ask your mom for money
Your power had been shut off
You were unemployed with no prospects for a job
She flatly said no at first
Then not without a solid plan
But you didn’t have a plan
You didn’t have any plans and that’s why you called
You ended up heating up canned food with candles for a couple days
You fed your dog at least half of whatever you had
None of it felt good but you couldn’t blame your mom
Was she right to say no
Was she wrong not to help
All you know is you never asked again
You trust she had her reasons one way or another
There’s nothing much to say about it now anyway
Or at least you wouldn’t if there was
You know your parents love you the ways they know how to
You know your brothers do too
It’s 2 AM now and you have thought of everything
It’s 2 AM now and nothing is meaningless
Oct 2017 · 210
Intrinsically Cyclical
Nick Burns Oct 2017
Nature in passing;
Autumnal awakening.
All must die to live.
Oct 2017 · 204
mewithyou
Nick Burns Oct 2017
I can't speak.
I can't hear.
I can't see.
My mouth.
And ears.
And eyes.
And I-

And I forgot about you;
About who you are to me.
About how you help me love.
About who we can even be!

And I, my eye, my eyes!
I'm here, I hear, I'm here.
I speak, I sing, I speak!
Who can we both be?
Who are we complete?!
Tell me who we both can be,
if we can be quite anything!

And I!
My eye!
My eyes!
My eyes!!!
My ears!
My mouth!
My eyes!
And I-

And I can't speak of this!
Won't hear of it.
Won't ever see it through.
Can't speak!
Can't hear!
Can't see through you!

And I am I!
Said I am I!
Said I am I!
Are you?!
Oct 2017 · 435
Shadow Pattern Beat
Nick Burns Oct 2017
I am not alone,
though, seldom do I speak.
All implicit ties
must be auctioned off in sleep.
I could never follow, baby;
I could never lead.
If that's good enough for you,
well, that's good enough for me.
I could never stay or, maybe,
I could never leave.
Be that as it may,
I just want to be.
I just want to be.
I just want to be.
This is for my friend, Jack.

This wouldn’t exist without him or his recommendation of Manyfingers.

Edited on 3-5-18.

Original below:

I am not alone,
though, seldom do I speak.
All realistic ties
must be severed in our sleep.
I could never follow, baby;
I could never lead.
If that's good enough for you,
well, that's good enough for me.
Be that as it may,
I just want to be.
I just want to be.
I just want to be.
Oct 2017 · 188
Wolves in the Throne Room
Nick Burns Oct 2017
Walk softly thine lamb.
Take care stepping; for there are
wolves in the throne room.
Jul 2017 · 244
Maritime to Die
Nick Burns Jul 2017
Rope on a barrel.
A phone call in peril.
Oh, powered harpoon,
we'll be together soon!
The sinners are desperate.
We can't leave it to a vote.
We have to be against it.
Gonna need a bigger boat.
Jul 2017 · 209
SVH
Nick Burns Jul 2017
SVH
I had a Light.
My last light
was last time
we had a light;
our last light,
our last time.
Jun 2017 · 233
Fixed Odds
Nick Burns Jun 2017
We are
the unbeatable,
unachievable,
most believable
horse in the race.

I am
the beatable,
the achievable,
the least believable
horse in the race.
Jun 2017 · 211
LoverssrevoL
Nick Burns Jun 2017
If I'm dying, I'll die slow.
Let the credits, let them roll.
If I'm dying, it won't show.

We could last an eternity.
Just for one god ****** time,
destroy uncertainty.

If we're dying, we'll die slow.
Let the credits, let them roll.
If we're dying, you won't know.

Let ‘em roll.
Let ‘em go.
Mar 2017 · 381
An Ugly Flock
Nick Burns Mar 2017
Herd mentality is spreading,
it is the new plague.
Madness is surging
at the end of all days.
The hive mind is swarming
and set to engage.

We could have done more;
we should have known better.
We're one and the same;
we'll all rot together.
We're one and the same;
but birds of a feather.
Nick Burns Sep 2016
Imagine what was a wall,
covered in twisted metal
and oil and filth and dust;
the tracks still in tact,
for they must be.
They must.

Play it backwards,
you will see,
the potential lives
I used to seize.

Play it forward,
close your eyes;
here comes the wreck,
here come the cries.

And *******!
It can't get worse.

I said, ‘*******!
Rewind this curse.’
*******!  *******!
We’d best reverse.

And *******!
We've all seen worse.
I swear, *******!
Just stop the hearst.

*******!  *******...
This can’t get worse.
*******.. *******..
this is no first.
Sep 2016 · 899
Analog Kisses
Nick Burns Sep 2016
Analog kisses.
You'll soon be
my Mrs.

In a digital mission,
you're sculpting
my vision.

Analog kisses.
We're closing
the distance.

Digital collisions
are spewing
precision.

Analog kisses.
Seminal wishes.

Seminal wishes.
Analog kisses.
Jul 2016 · 357
As We Crumble
Nick Burns Jul 2016
I'm not
the person
you think
I've become.
I'm not
so sure
about you.

We are
each one
side of
a canyon;
our shores
spreading
slightly apart.

You are
what I
need to
be whole.
Yet your
love for
me dies.

I miss
the endless
love that
you held
in your
beautiful eyes.
I had the edit of the century and closed my browser. I’ll make this an all-timer, I swear. It just needs some love.
May 2016 · 333
These Days
Nick Burns May 2016
These days,
Darkness actually envelopes me.
As box-fans are speaking to the dead.
There has been a mutiny happening.
It's going to happen again.

These days,
Demons haven't left footprints.
No, they've only time for their claws.
There is no need to cover evidence.
There is but hate from straight to cross.

These days have all become nights.
These days have nothing to lose.
These days are here for a fight.
These days bring only bad news.

These days,
I'm losing time.
I'm one without cause.
I'm one without rhyme.


These days,
we're on the rise.
We're one with another.
We're the all-seeing eye.
Apr 2016 · 396
Oh, do I proclaim!?
Nick Burns Apr 2016
I just want to feel alive!
-
I've been thinking about absurd things;
drumming up terrible ideas from an
endless well of no return!
-
What return could I muster?
Can I play the wolf without
preying upon the weak?
-
I'm searching for a middle ground;
yet, still, to codes, I am somewhat bound-
codes that may not live inside of me.
-
Oh, I've seen terrible things!
I have actualized- Nay! Come alive!
I've been here the entire time.
Where's the compass in me?!
Am I drawn to believe?!
Oh, tell me! Am I so unsure!?
-
We're all complacent in our own ways.
We're all bearable in at least one case!
-
We're the honesty
that we would love
to lead.
Apr 2016 · 401
Despair
Nick Burns Apr 2016
My love is burning evermore.
My love breathes ashes in the air.
She is the closest I abhor.

She is Despair.

My love is longingly ignored.
My love, she answers with a stare.
She is a cost I must afford.

She is Despair.

My love is pulsing with desire.
My love is anxious, unaware.
She is but one voice in a choir.

She is Despair.

"My love," I'm asking, "are you scared?"
My love is shaking, broken, bare.
She is forgiveness scarcely shared.

She is Despair.
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