driving nevada 562
passing sunset park
the air is a scorcher.
desert mountains surround
this dusted valley.
your radio plays AM stations
in your old '46
as the motor roars and my hair
blows wild in the wind.
similar to when you raised me,
but now twice my old age.

the air is a scorcher
and I'll be here only two days.
I put my head on your shoulder
and you tell me we turned the wrong way.
my protector, you've seen me grow -
"but for the grace of God, there go I."

have you ever felt so strong?
as I tilt my head back, and catch the
second pass,
heavy footsteps pass the bedroom
and call my name.
I stay here, I lay here,
and count the nails in the ceiling.
and sirens are sounding,
cars are speeding by,
dusk has turned dark.
engines rolling,
where's the wind?

they sit in a circle of chairs
and watch the night get darker.
we talked about the coast, and
sleeping near the water.
still, sirens swept the night away.
skin so pale, dirtied by dust.
spiders webs from nail to nail.
streetlights shine through tree branches
as everyone moves from outside, to inside
at the kitchen table.
I can't bring myself to bed yet,
tomorrow starts too early.
have you ever felt so strong,
that it stung you in that moment
and stole each and every of your senses?
senses swept by sirens.

if I could lock my doors,
close the blinds,
and simmer the sunlight,
I'd get lost in the darkness
and write poems that
play hide and seek
with my other half.
still, this mist sits,
and I shy away from opening
my eyes completely all the way.
hiding my face in the palms of
my hands, and trying not
to understand.
until then, wasted.

I wanted it all,
so I ran.
gotta sink to swim,
to fall within and fit
right in.
face me.
I dare you.
chase me.
and if this feeling
flees, I promise to remind
you how to breathe.
rain trickles down my spine,
until the water makes me blind,
I'll sink behind your mind.

each drink he slid me
was stronger than the last.
i called my mother on
the east coast
while staring out the window
looking into the fog.
the evergreen trees bleed
as i tell mom how weeks have passed.
i woke to quench my thirst,
and ate the cold pizza on the counter.
all the while i held the scroll,
i liked it best watching it burn.
the evergreen mist wakes me in
the morning and whispers sweet
nothings in my ears.
check marks in all the right places,
you must be mistaken, destined
to flower, destined to vanish.

i miss you when i try not to
think about you, i miss you a lot.

mud splatters stain on my skin as
muscle rips from my shin bone.
beatles bleach gravestones
underneath a canopy so high.
low hidden within the clover-
covered floor,
snow-capped mountain tops
fill my eyes.

out of breath, taking a knee
scabbed elbows,
ground breaking.

and beauty marks will
fade within a tumor
that no  suit of armour can
save you from.

forrest green,
make me clean.