You kissed me on the corner
Of Highland and North Central
A block away from my house
My eyes were closed
My stomach was tightening
The air was still
On that slow June day
That was just hot enough
To justify ice cream
I had walked over that spot
A thousand times before
Unaware of its purpose
I've walked over that spot
A thousand times afterwards
But now it has been transformed
Into a nerve ending
Independent of my body
Every time I step on that corner
On Highland and North Central
For better or for worse
Memories flood in unbidden
Fresh and as volatile
As that June day

The cold wind cuts right through
Goosebumps appear on my skin
Your eyes are this sweet glacial blue
And your voice is sweet and thin
I hold your hand in mine
As the snow gives under our feet
And the stars up above shine
The street barely looks like a street
It looks like a winter wonderland
Its been awhile since our last walk
And this one was a little unplanned
But you certainly can talk
I can't really feel my face
Your face is a windblown red
You challenge me to a race
Before I can say anything you have already fled

The walls were white and bare
And I endlessly stare
As the light explodes off the wall
I lay on the floor in a sprawl
Half dead, half alive
I've taken a dive
Into unknown emotions
Large unmapped oceans
Drowning can't breathe
No exit, can't leave
My body useless, my mind a battleground
I lay here waiting to be found
For a voice in the dark
For a chance to embark
Wash up on dry land
Use my own two feet to stand
The sunlight turns to twilight
Everything isn't alright
I feel helplessly alone
Weighed down by a massive stone
I dreamed of the sunrise
That must materialize before my eyes
For at night I do not sleep
I simply weep
Everything is changing
My thoughts rearranging
My body does tire
But my mind is on fire

You know every single word to every single song
And you always sing along
Each song is tied to a different memory
Everyone fits a moment just perfectly
You've listened to B-side and EP
And searched as far as the eye can see
For those rare releases only on cassette tape
And you always manage to scrape
Just enough money for when they're in town
And they've never let you down
Because when you've hit a dead-end
You know you can always depend
On them to turn you around
To help you find solid ground
To you its not just a song, an album or a band
Its a way to understand

I got a map in one hand
and a compass in the other
My bones ache for foreign sands
And my lips tremble for a mysterious lover
But I am a sailor without a ship
Like a tower without a foundation
I'm starting to lose my grip
I'm losing my sense of navigation
Now I spend my days on the shore
Staring out into the ocean
Was I like this before?
So easily overcome with emotion
But alas my time has past
My hair long turned grey
Even the great rocks on the shore do not last
Time and water get them, as they got me at the end of the day

Two people talking on the train
Thunderous overwhelming roar of motion
Drowning out all sound
As if someone put them on mute
****** expressions and hand gestures remain
The bare bones of the conversational garnish.
Before cell phones or headphones
Were there more conversations
Or were they sardines trapped in deadly silence
Hanging over them like a toxic gas.
When the Train is filled to the brim
Almost bursting and spilling out  
And it just stops in the middle of the tracks.
A sudden silence and a stillness
Without the rhythm and motion of the train
you realize that you're standing mere inches away
From at least four different people.
There's a audible sigh and curses because
Everyone on the train is trying to get somewhere.

The impossible is incredible
Eating the utterly inedible
its a flight
Its utter delight
To see your confusion
Unable to reach a conclusion
Its beyond your understanding
And I don't plan on landing
Waiting for the fever to break
Seeing whats at stake.
The fire is burning
And no one is learning
So I glide up here in the atmosphere
Seeing all that is far and near
I fly up here until i can land
And people can understand

My hands are shaking
There is no mistaking
That I am lost in the dark
I somehow ended up at this park
The swing set looks vaguely inviting  
And there is no use in fighting
My ever present notion to be in motion once more
To be still is to be at war

Its just a thought
But where did it come from
Your mind gets caught
on what you have become

Sometimes in the depths of the silence
From the back of my tiny shack
I can hear your laughter
Ever since I boarded that train
To travel out west to the territories
Every cell in your body has changed
You've become a different person  
When I read your replies
I don't hear your voice
I constantly look at your photo
To remind myself
What you look like
And why I am here
But I'm starting to feel the strain
Of the three thousand miles
That are between us
I long for the day
When instead of paper and ink
You will be flesh and blood
When you're no longer just words on a page
And I can hear your laugh again

When I try to write about you
It always sounds hollow and untrue
When i try to capture the feel of your face
I stare and stare and then finally erase
every description feels inadequate
none of the words ever seem to fit
all of my words have been taken away
and I'm left with feelings that i can't  say

The whole place smelled like a **** hospital; sterile and white
And then I broke out of there in the middle of the night
And I felt utterly free
I didn't know what it meant to be me
But I was about to find out
I cast aside the shackles of self doubt
And I shall attack the world like a starving dog to a slab of meat
I jumped and I manage to land on my feet.

Everyone you see is the main character of their own story
With their own plots and supporting casts
Friends are just people with overlapping narratives
That's why train cars are fascinating to me
The entangling of so many narrative threads
So many people that i'll never see again
We are a series of rivers
Thousands of tributaries flowing and converging
For a single shining moment

Laying in the endless grass
Just waiting for time to pass
Time slowly moves
Its runs in well worn grooves
The sky bleeds a bright red
Some things are best left unsaid
People talk and say nothing
useless words are unloving
Thats why i sit in silence
Because half said words lead to violence

There's something lost in translation
Something lost from mind to paper
Where the most precise words fail
From paper to other discerning eyes
Where the words are no longer yours
Intentions are stolen and melted down
Forged into weapons, new and beautiful
Things you never intended to create

Warm echoes of silence
Cold faded memories of violence
They all flood my head
Fear and doubt keep them fed
Dark whispers in my ear
i wish to be with out fear
To be free
To just be me
Free of all this weight
All of it cleared off my plate
So i can be free as a bird
Not to care about a word

The colors flared
Everything became brighter
The sunlight glared
It all became tighter
Words flowed out like wine
Time slowed to a halt
You're eyes shined that familiar shine
I took a snapshot and stored it in the vault
A perfection encased in the eternity of my mind
Then its all starts moving once more
The gears of time will always unwind
But memories build our core

Trudging through untouched snow
Face made red by the wind
Cold felt in my bones
Distant stars looked down on me
From the depths of space

Drinking cold water in summer
Relaxing in the reclining lawn chair
Watching clouds drift
Mockingbird's melody carried
On the wayward breeze

Scrambled eggs sneak under my door
Finds my nose
Jumpstarts my motor
My stomach howls
In an instant
I'm down stairs feasting

We're the lone car on the highway
Everyone else is gone
The only ones left in the universe
That greases my throat
Confessions and secrets flow
In the sanctuary of two am

When Inspiration strikes
Fragments and whispers
Condense, take form
Go from thoughts to paper
In an instant
They go as quickly as they come

Tell me who you are.
Any old lie will do
Lies will get you far
They speak louder then you
You drive fast down the road
Specters of the past on your tail
They just add to your load
You hear them wail
Wailing so many different names
Ones i have never heard
Your an expert at games
So many lines blurred
At the next stop i leave
You hardly look at me
You hardly grieve
I could never see what you see

I guess someone fixed this door
It used to creak a lot more
The interior is wearing a coat of dust
The metal ceiling fans are starting to rust
Times decaying powers are working full force
They throw me way off course
No longer submerged deep in the past
Reality hits me hard and fast
This was, at one point, my living room
Memories,like weeds, start to bloom
Dad(If he was home) was always drinking
My little sister never had an inkling
Mom was always working
But the bills were always lurking
Soon there was a lot less food
And it didn't help the mood
When dad just went off like a bomb
And just went after mom
I remember vividly the day
That child services took us away
Dad wasn't home and Mom was in tears
And in her eyes I saw her worst fears
I stand in that room till i can't anymore
Then for one final time I head for the door

The stars were out in full force
They were my only source
Of light.
Because tonight
Its just me
Alone, by the sea.
Writing secrets in the sand
Things that no one would understand.
They always get reclaimed by the water
And like a knowing mother comforting a daughter
I always feel like a weight has been lifted.

Disappointment washed over your face
Radiating off of you in waves
Creating ravaging riptides
Dragging me down into depths
Unknown and unexplored

We walk in a silence that begs to be broken
The words we wish to say go unspoken
I can almost see the tension
Reality is put in suspension
I can feel the words on my tounge
They are as foolish as I am young
I can't do this;I can't look into your eyes
And tell you warm sweet lies
Right now truth is the only path
In the head i've done the math
Thought out every word
How to strike every conversational chord
I just need to propel myself down this dead end
Some wounds my never mend

When she talks you can hear the smile
And she does it with such style
You watch from a distance
Your friends offer you assistance
But your too scared
And look a little impaired
So you wait till the fear goes away
and you can go make her day
Then that time has come
To stop looking so glum
You ask her out and she says yes
it was a success

our fingers interlace
we stare into deep space
and liquid dreams swim through our eyes
and we imagine bright orange clouds and purple skies
we concoct secret alphabets
and hope that neither of us forgets
the fire in our eyes burn brightly tonight
and all i have is you in my sight
Sitting on the midnight grass
we watch the over head stars pass
i've never felt so tiny yet so large
so helpless yet so in charge
the world cast its weight upon my back, yet i'm light as a feather
I could walk in a blizzard in shorts without much care for the weather
you make me do amazing things
i love you and all the trouble it brings
but its small compared to happiness i feel
you make the impossible real.

I walked down the well worn path
As the sun climbed up the sky
Light seeped through the trees
And the heat pressed down on me

There was a large rock off to the side
Like it was placed there just for weary hikers
I climbed on top of the rock
And sat there for awhile

There was something carved on the side
"Kate+Roger summer of 87"
A day, a relationship, an act of love
Forever memorialized in stone

I wondered if they are still together
If thirty years later they come back here and laugh
Or maybe only one of them does
And smiles a bittersweet smile

The clouds, low, thick and suffocating
Made the world feel compact
The airport has normalized
The strange metal beasts
That fly unhindered by gravity
The clouds hang low
The beasts fly high
The sounds of Engines
And Trembling Sonics
Are now heard without context
An otherwordly screech
By some lovecraftian horror
About to pierce the veil
And plummet into our plane

Flames consume her lips
Light dances on her fingertips
Her eyes are cold with desire
How can i light her fire?
To make her laugh dance and smile
Even though its been awhile
My brain is wired
And at the same time so very tired
With all the games i play
All the things that come but never stay

I am built backwards
I sleep most of the day
And stay up all night
From midnight till dawn
Those are the best hours
When I gaze out of my bedroom window into the darkness
I don't see a black void threatening to swallow me whole
But rather I see a calming and tranquil ocean of shadows
It makes me feel like i'm the only person alive
Because after I turn off all the lights
After I stop looking at my phone
All I am left with
Is the soft embrace of the silence of the night
Except not quite
Because within that silence
I can hear my beating heart
The air flowing through my lungs
The blood coursing through my veins
And my brain is flooded with thoughts

Trains delayed
Nerves frayed
The rain isn't slowing
And the winds keep blowing
I'm stuck on this platform
Trying desperately to keep warm
In my pocket is that photograph
Of me and you having a good laugh
I glance at it every once in a while
Just to make me smile
By now its almost ten
But I couldn't tell you when
I was going to pull into your station
Because that is information
That is being withheld by the fates
And they can't be trifled with petty dates
And the long term plans
That slip right out of our hands
And unravels quicker than string
Because we don't know what the future will bring
But the fates will not beat me down
And I will make it out of this town
I will come home to your smiling face
And hold in a warm embrace

I'll tell you more than the truth demands
Of a land hidden in the sands
A city only spoken of in tongues long dead
Whose name will linger like a spector in your head
And I must confess
That you will obsess
For half a century
From my curse i shall never be free
I don't know what keeps me going
Even if i die without knowing
I know it's too late to turn back now
I wipe the sweat from my brow
As the heat strangles the air
My companions and i all stare
They've all been with me for years
As our hope slowly disappeared
Only our friendship remained
We stared at the sands until it became ingrained
deep within our brains
it fanned the old flames
one more try, one more excavation
I should have chosen a different occupation

It took a while to wake up today
My alarm went off before the sun had even risen
I kept delaying the inevitable by hitting the snooze button
But eventually I gave in and got out of bed
I bundled up, braced myself, and opened the door
Walking into the cold was like being submerged underwater
I could feel it trying to infiltrate every opening
It was slowly seeping through every layer of my clothes
I could feel it burning in my lungs
I could see it when I exhaled
It made the air seem quiet
And the sun seem dimmer
And in the dead of winter even time moved slower
The trees had long ago lost their leaves
And now the bare branches
Stretched upwards into predawn light
Like a thousand skeletal limbs

I've been listening to the wind get caught up in the chimes
As I try and find the pulse of the times
I try and turn my visions into substance
And gauge the type of resistance
That my attempts might receive
I try and perceive
The way the light passes right through the trees
And the direction of the breeze
Blows right through my ears
Whispering to me all my fears

Everything was fine yesterday 
But today I need to sing the blues
When I woke up this morning
The sun was a little bit dimmer
The birds were out of tune
Strangers seemed stranger
The buses were running late
In my mind nothing could go right
My own thoughts turned against me
Everything was out of order
A darker shade of blue
I couldn't tell you
What the difference was
Between yesterday and today
All I know is
Today I need to sing the blues
Because I have a song that needs to be heard
Or else all the notes
Will build up in my mind
And take over every inch of space
But you need to hear my song
So you know that your not the only one
Who sings the blues today

The apartment walls are as thin
As cell membranes
Your life is seeping into mine
Through osmosis

You're room is right above mine
And sound and fury and smells
Come through the divide
Flowing freely as wine

Our clocks are aligned
The car door slams in the parking lot at two am
You drunkenly lead girls up to your lair
Unaware of anyone else in the building

You **** with the windows open
The bed creaks above me
A major seismic event
Complete with a screaming damsel

There is a song burning in my brain
Like a feeling I can't contain
It defies any explanation
It breaks every limitation
It is a pure transmission
To me from the musician
I know every groove in the record
Every note of every chord
Every word of every verse
For better or for worse
This song has become apart of me

I inscribe my poems in chalk  
Scribble them on the pavement
Even though tomorrow it will rain
Because in the fleeting moment of its existence
I hope a stranger will stumble upon it
And be moved by the random encounter

Sometimes when I try to force a poem, nothing happens.
But in the moment before I fall asleep
In the swirl of commotion that consumes my mind
Pops in that perfect line that was just
Out of reach
Then the flood gates open
My mind is awash with line after line
It goes as quickly as it arrives
If I don't get them on paper quick enough, they start to decay
That's why I keep a notebook next to my bed
Often when i read it in the morning it doesn't sound like me

When I digest poems
I often regurgitate them
It's like throwing up
Alphabet soup
The letters
Are in a different order
Coming up
Than going down
After they've been
Saturated
In my juices
They become mine

Yesterday I saw George crossing the street
In the high summer heat
We were walking in opposite directions
A series of random connections
If I didn't make my train in time
If the hill leading to the station was an easier climb
If I hadn't stopped at the vending machine
To quench my thirst for caffeine
Then our paths wouldn't have crossed that day
Its something I struggle to convey
A moment so fleeting
A seemingly random meeting

It was daybreak
We were still awake
The sky was basked in a pale light
as the sun came to end the night
We were sitting on the ground
Your breathing was the only sound
That I could hear
And I wanted us to disappear
from the flow of time
Preserve us in our prime

Stale cigarette smoke
Lingers longer than you did
Half a pack of death
Half a pack of relief
Clings to my sheets
Like a ghost refusing
to be exorcised

Nobody is behind me.
Nobody is behind me.
Nobody is behind me.
I double check
I feel my muscles relax
Giving into it
The pressure is rerouted
The valve is momentarily relieved

Deep within the maze of bookshelves
Past the travel section and the nonfiction
Is the place where we can lose ourselves
And be free of all restrictions
I seek refuge in the realms of fantasy and sci-fi
Lands where monsters and magic reign supreme
And in the blink of an eye
I'm submerged in the authors dream
Where characters leap off the page
An assassin sharpens his sword
An usurper king seizes the crown
The armies face must the approaching horde
A hero must rise or the city will drown
And that's just the summary on the back!
Every book is portal to a new dimension
When the real world threatens to attack
Escape into a book, it relieves the tension

I was walking through untouched snow
Feeling the frigid winds on my face
As distant stars dimly glow
From the cold depths of space

I was drinking cold water on a hot summer's day
As I sat out back in the reclining chair
Watching the clouds drift away
And a mockingbird's melody flowed through the air

The smell of scrambled eggs sneaks under my door
And suddenly I'm wide awake
My stomach would wait no more
I’m quickly downstairs devouring pancakes

We were the only car on the highway
Traveling in the dead of night
Where there are things you can only say
In secret and out of sight

Inspiration strikes in the dead of night
Fragments and whispers linger in my head
I write them in my notebook before they take flight
And choose another poet instead

My words are delivered
To the shores of my mind
By The Veiled Lady
She comes to me in a rosewood boat
From a distant land
She speaks to me in tongues long dead
My mind goes blank
My heart discerns their meaning
And creates poetry

I can feel it in my bones
I can hear the dissonant tones
I see the clouds shifting above
I hear the cry of the mourning dove
Its song kicking in my head
I'm filled with dread
I wander down the empty streets
Hearing a strange series of beats
The rhythm of the times as it were
And time became a blur
The sun vanished into the trees
I can hear the night breeze
I look to the stars
I ignore the speeding cars
And focus on the heavenly lights

The future shines bright
In the theatre of my mind
The past is always better
Through thick rose tinted lenses
The past was great
The present is dying
But the future will be great again
Now is being suffocated
By boundless optimism
And reverence for the dead

Her eyes gleam in the light
Like stolen treasure
Her laugh replays in your mind
Long after she leaves
She is never there long enough
For the cracks to surface
For her laughter to ring hollow
For you to notice that
Her smile doesn't reach her eyes
She wanders from place to place
But she is not lost
She is fleeing
From the ghosts
That haunt the church
That she left behind
Five thousand miles ago

I can't face the consequences of my inaction
Or predict the severity of your reaction.
I can't tell you the whole story
But when someone does, it will get gory
Blood will spill from severed ties
And fate will roll it's loaded die
Shared memories will untangle
Momentarily our futures will dangle
Helplessly and fall through the cracks
I'm launching a preemptive attack
In my head it seems a lot worse
maybe I should let it run it's course
Instead of having one foot out the door
I should be doing more