A shadow on the wall since the beginning of time
Doesn't like writing poems composed of rhyme
And while she likes to pretend she's real
She can't explain why she doesn't feel
But it's okay, because a day passes
She likes watching the masses
She doesn't need a savior or a soul
She doesn't need love or a home
A nest built inside the rib cage
To nest a pile of burning sage
Smoke billowing out of her mouth
An elephant choking her by it's snout
Eyes hollowed out by butterflies
And empty mouth filled with empty cries

You must create something elaborate
Twirling your fingers around like ribbons
Weaving together magic and wonder
Gliding gracefully, this is your stage
You are alone in the light, with yourself
Wearing robes of imagination & frivolity
Sliding across, dancing a beautiful dance
You're not paying attention, swallowed by your mind
You don't notice what is slowly creeping from behind
Dark robed figures inching up towards your back
So many, with masks of clay and paper mache
Painted ****** red and black
With hollow eyes and hunched over spines
Each with a grisly word painted on their chests
Each reads something different, something awful
You have to keep yourself busy or you begin to crumble
So you don't notice what they say, you don't see them


     Life
         Poverty        Religion  
             Time                             Anxiety    
       Destitution                                         Fear  
           Loathing                                                        R­eality  
            Age                                         ­                                   Conscious  
         Bitterness        They circle around you             Critique  
          Past                        As you twirl               Loneliness  
      Depression                                    ­        Insanity  
          Hunger                              ­Intoxication  
   Emotion           Death  
        No Hope  

You never see it coming.
And you are swallowed whole
A
DARK
DOWNWARD
SPIRAL
BADUMP
BADUMP
BA­DUMP
The only sound
Your heart beating
AS THEY CLASP THEIR BLACK HANDS
AROUND IT & TUG YOU
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
down
down
d
o
w
*n

Nothing is a sadder sight to me
To see a business with empty windows
The blue building I pass by every day
With the once solid stairs only marked by a paint print
The man in the yellow jacket and the American flag shirt
Even though America is why he is walking on worn down shoes
320 on moffet, dilapidated apartments & hollow doorways
Nothing is a sadder sight to me
The blinking open sign that flickers, only welcoming ghosts
The boy who gets off the bus stop alone, walking by it without a glance
With his back pack strung tiredly over his shoulder
The universal feeling of not fitting in still fresh in his memory
The field of grass, deserted
A cemetery of parts & wheels & headlights & people's once dream machines
Nothing is a sadder sight to me
The lady who lives on 2nd near the sewer drainer
With hoards of stuffed animals waving from inside the windows
As she sits under the awning surrounded by them, smoking a cigarette with trembling fingers
The girl driving with her hands tightly gripping the steering wheel
Grinding her teeth as she watches the people she sees while on the road
Blinks slowly, as she knows home is where she is alone
But she'd rather see this road side sadness then the blank television screen
Nothing is a sadder sight to me
And she screams
As she crashes into a tree
The man in the yellow jacket turns his head
The boy's back pack falls to the ground
The women leaps up, her plush lifeless friends tumbling around her
The building are silent, remorseful
Nothing is a sadder sight to see

Paper cranes frame shadows as they fly above me
Eyes stirring under eyelids as they fill my dreams
Small paper balloons floating just above my reach
My fingers twitch as I try to grasp glowing strings

A paper man, I made, stitched up with bits of yarn
Turns his head, hearts for eyes, promising me no harm
His sky high legs bend down as he extends an arm
Fingers curl around me as I step in his palm

He lifts me up higher, then higher, then higher
My eyes light up as the beautiful scene transpires
Violet sky, birds, balloons, all for me to admire
Dancing around me, filling me with desire

All of the sudden a song fills my ears & head
It's making me turn my back, flooding me with dread
It controls my body, it pulls me to the edge
The birds scream louder as I'm closer to the ledge

The paper man looks, there is nothing he can do
The song taking my body, twisting it anew
Propelling over the edge, my final adieu
Closed my eyes and for once, I actually flew

*Wake up

You say you are just another misguided ghost.
I'm humble & I don't mean to boast.
But you are the most beautiful ghost I've ever laid eyes upon.
Luminescent & lovely, I find my opinion of spectres foregone.
You eradicated my frown & I found myself grinning.
If there wasn't distance between us, I know that another ghost (I) would have seen you, call it sinning. But my iridescent heart, it would have started beating.
Even if a wonderful glimpse of you probably is, fleeting.

crack
falling*
The winter dries you out.
The winter ties you down.
It takes away your warmth.
It wants you to drown.
The frozen sheet above your head.
The way your fingers bled.
Your fingernails scratching the ice.
Worn to wounds, sinking like lead
A fatal breath, nothing now is dry
Widened fear fills your eye
The current gives one final tug
Your hair waves goodbye & then you die