They met on rainy days
  when the air was thick,
laden with the
   scent of old musky
     scrapbook memoirs
           & salt tears' reminisces

They say it's darkest before dawn,
    dusky gloom met its match in your shadow
          unreality swears by your delusions,
       compounded in fear of disclosure
              that light at the end of oblivion
                  took revolution's number nine train

You're like a poetic ***** den
       when life gets chaotic

She was gooey like maple syrup

     & marshmallow s'mores,

stronger than  a mountain lion

    protecting her cubs,

wore prescription rose-tinted

     sunglasses with GPS,

she'd been around long enough

   to see through most of the

         flimflam and negativity,

was agile enough to laugh at

      her own cheeky caricature,

wouldn't put up with the travesty

   'neath debauchery's cunning

still, she wondered as most do,

  what was to become of a world

so engrossed in the overthrow

    & disparaging mockery of others

she bade her time waiting to grow

    older and wiser in hopes

she'd be around long enough

      to experience a sunrise view

            in universal accordance

      before her own last sunset

                  ultimately bit the dust,  

         burning in all-inclusive ashes

There is breath in sweet darkness,
sanctums beyond twilight and madness
where the shining of reality escapes,
  naught discernible sensibilities
   nor reasoning of spun agenda's logic
       amidst pale incognito moonlight,
   whilst tangible perceptions wait for the
             shocking awe of a glaring dawn

Papier-mâché bliss,
wrapped of wafer-thin
  promises midst kisses,
glued together with
    yesterday's adhesive,
fallen as separate pieces
   of wayward glances &
   capricious charades razing
     death do us part illusions
   in finale's flimsy tissue shrouds

fragments of a photo album
     piecing together the cracks
         of agenda's recollections,
snapshots of a mind's embrace
on pages of past phases & blank spaces,
  folded, pressed and placed in the
         recesses of once upon a time

Conjugated amid liberated duality,
     surreptitious catharsis of
        poetic revelations' flip side,
          the underbelly of sentience
  potentially validating perceptions'
          indefinitely extended,
figuratively speaking beyond
      literally unleashed metaphors
             play it backwards, if you dare

Poets were created
       to emulate grandeur,
            whilst suffering the blues

Unprecedented poetry,
   newfangled conception in
      idiosyncratic transparency
perceived by the hierarchy
    to be the garb of peons,
thine command accepts nothing
 less than the likes of sonnets
   penned deliberately archaic
        in Old English tradition,
figurative language
  of the huddled masses
      is strictly forbidden,
  contradicted,
     ostracized,
        anesthetized
           and possible grounds
               for poetic eradication

The versification in your poetic rhythm
        pales my composition's conflagration

aromatic coffee awakens senses
   midst the gestured warmth of radiant
      smiles's 'tween morning brew,
reverently paused to catch
    the awe inspiring  poignancy
               of sunrise's exhilaration,
whilst cozily wrapped in the delightful unfurl
   of captivating poetry's skillful delectation
    a rising ritual begun many blue moons afore,
  tempting consciousness, feeding soulfulness
    enlightening sensibilities as it
        enriches the day's appreciation
               'pon the keen awareness of poets,
tempests from all niches of the world
   coming together amid upheavals and serenity,
ceremoniously dubbed fierce confirmations
      of words expressly borne, communing the
         artfully spirited of resourceful artisans,
     procuring special collective bonds that
               only poesy can wholly dictate,
they look upon us as enigmas
  rather strange breed of puzzling characters,
     as this inexplicable endeavor
        escapes their stifled perceptions
         of conduit's musing reasonable facsimile,
we're merely cognitive passages for
    experiences on common ground
       in realizations of all-too-human foibles
          eccentricities, yearnings and fortitude,
released deliverance of  potpourri
   serving up inky joy beyond expression,
    intention's distinction deciphering
      reflections in meditative affirmations,
breadth of unrestrained beholden visions
   conjured notions of paramount significance
       wherein lies evidence of life's burnt offerings,
beginnings and endings of hearts' indulgences
     wept in resolute  celebrations of existence

                *as only a poet could discernibly translate

Trump's next speech - -

**We the people,
aside of me
believe in order
to convince
a perfect union
only the rich
deserve to survive,
will give each and
every citizen
fifty bucks if they
don't let Latinos in

Felt the pretense behind closed eyes,
  composed vibrations of rhetoric              
   freelancing in executing ignis fatuus

drank the kool-aid of your own grandeur
   a punch drunk conviction's onus
   in false pretenses of a  mislead head trip

a study in contradiction's convulsions
    simmered of half past lucid judgement,
   junctures of reality submersed
      in cloudy formations
        impervious to reasoning*

...a saga written upon piqued skies of indifference

In the shadows of a
    darkly relinquished night,
 an unrelenting musing beast struck
       presenting a proposition,
         as he pranced about
           viscous vision's intentions,
promised a copious poesy garden
        'tween early morn's
            buttercup metaphors
              & dusk's poppy delusions,
danced 'til lavishly penned spirits
    were indubitably unleashed
        exploding 'neath elliptical eclipses;
whence the sun it did bounteously appear
    midst all its magnificent splendor,
        whilst Delphic inky nectar dripped
           deliberately ascending beyond
                   hellbent scripted passages,
    midst vaporous voids of creation
                'pon paradisaical prolific poetry

pseudo-expression's
       jagged diamonds
  a fugazi sans brilliance,
  shiner midst vague skies
           in the eye of
       practical indifference

raining magpie madness,
   darkly drenching the
       marrow of vital spirit,
thieving in night's anticipation
clawing eye's conscious thunder,
     lashing 'pon tainted yearnings
plucking rendered heartstrings
       engaged of looming silences,
  submerged in doused inequity
      of blackened skies ambiguity

Half past intermittent lunacy,

  quarter to expectations in

restoration's consciousness &

   brain filtered hullabaloo,

catching flies whilst passing time

   it's all set in  enigmatic mindset,

take a pill to swallow the moon

    or sun yourself on a deserted isle

hardly matters the schemed schematics,

   makes not one bit of difference

               to the ravenous cuckoo clock

Elusive moon beckons dark currents,
     sand's sparkling pageantry  
             drifts out midst frothing tide,
submerging lover's imprints 'neath
     the realm of alluring seascape illusions

beauteous rushing realms of a besieged mind
    forgotten rhymes of scorched memoirs
delectation's reminisces 'pon dusky cloudbursts
     hazes of reflective delirium's inclination
scripted amidst skies of smoldering verse
   sans tomorrow's twilight of synchronicity nor
reasons beyond glorifying poetry's sublimity

Midnight's haze
  tempting luminous eyes,
reminiscence unveiled in
  the misty dew of a
  kinder predilection,
beguiled under silken
    guise of gratification,
affection's contemplation
      delving a timeless
       memoir's gaze
  of infinite possibilities,
scripted upon burnished
    sky's reflections
gently unraveling
   a love note's knot
carved in your
  persuasive penchant,
souvenirs spoken of vital
   heart's poetry unfurled
 breathed in smoky
     vapors semblance,
held you skintight
    'pon my breast,
knowingly heaving in
    sighful surrender
exhaling a bygone
   rendezvous's indulgence

I burnt out my head
on the asphalt jungle,
doctor recommended
rest and relaxation
and these little blue pills,
now I'm living in the burbs,
on a cul-de-sac of ritalin rainbows
& my neighbors are druggie unicorns

rose red rain, like
    blood tears
    running
     through veins,
preyed on the night
  as sinners pleaded
    for their dragons
      to be slayed
       in kingdom
         come's escape,
gray cloudbursts
  darkly applauded
    their defeat
     in thunderous claps,
aware there's
    no redemption
    for demons buried
      deep beneath
     an endless
       decreed fate

Her perfume smelled of cheap Musk,
      tobacco and passion flowers,
the scent of betrayal lingered
         long after she had retreated

whispers flowing gently
  'tween the softness of fallen rain
celebrating each bittersweet moment,
breathing in the exhales of fiery fate
mulling over a cuppa fresh brewed coffee
         in spaces of last night's frenzy,
a dreamt recollection of poetry &
   appreciation of a brand new dawning
sense of anticipation in realizations'
  mysteries of experience are sublimely reverent,
   as the knowledge that pauses serves a purpose
      in the seemingly simple complexities
           of honoring loving indulgences

Wildflower 'neath a
     giant weeping willow,
         comforted by the shade
  her fragrance wafting darkly
      whispered into the wind ~
   she'd been 'betrayed by the sun',
frail tendrils blistered
     of indiscretion below
            burning discrimination,
   fallen neath the cracks
        suffocating a delicate essence,
she could no longer bear the
   deep-rooted superficiality  
         of seeds buried within *****
                    little implanted secrets

At one moment in time
  she was poetry in motion,
'til she pirouetted herself
  unto dusty shelves
midst old clouded rhymes
   & recollected love notes
yet, there were echoes
  glistening 'tween strands
   of web's interlacing design,
meshing her finessed
  past within gossamer's
complex entanglements
  amid labyrinths of
    ancient symphonies
she dances, still ~
  silently in her head
flirting with destiny
       albeit, not as grand

She's like deliquescent caramel,

the cool side of a pillow

        to lay your weary head,

subtleties of springtime &

          warmth in wintertide,

whispering hope upon lush  

        Zephyrus pipe dreams,  

    mellifluous nymph with wings

                 of a butterfly warrior,

softly determined,

    unfailingly true-hearted,

       whilst relentlessly ferocious

  Wise, yet sometimes struts

        blindly in the light,

       as dulcet tones of a cello's

           melodious marmalade

            in sentiment's tender fancy,

she's beauty, charm,

         knowledge, poetry,

               utter strength,

               & humane weaknesses,

she's twisted and ethereal,

           her aura sublimely captivating

     you may covet her body,

            you'll never possess her soul

Herein, laying dormant,
    veils of reposed
      secrecy 'neath
       foamy seascapes'
              frenetic passages,
languishing below
   sunken treasures'
     false facades of
        reticently rolling
            shrouded bluffs,
 shaded of darkly impetuous
        hued blood in
          unceremoniously
             bound convolutions,
a million ancient
     undisclosed shadows hidden,
     notwithstanding combative
        rumblings of death's
         unwelcome sycophancy,
depths of centuries'
         old unparalleled stories,
 whence hush-hush
       undulatory influx
          of defiant upsurges
            and turbulence reside,
     that of which only the
          winds of indiscretion,
                 clandestine spirits
                      & gods could surmise


*...as  privileged moons watch over amaranthine skeletons

I loved you 'tween the rushes of love
          and downpours of ecstasy,
    midst windswept rapture for the ages,
'til the storm ravaged our destiny
    left behind crumpled passages in its wake
still, I hold those love letters to my breast
  whence those dreams of passion
       wake amid dormant slumber

Pen'd the most refined poetry

    whilst dreamily sleeping,

like fancy musings in the haze

    of lustrous paradisal ponds,

   it dissipated on the horizon

i cried symbolical tears

     for this miscarriage

  of poetic reverie's injustice,

all i could recollect

   'twas written neath

      the grand oak tree

as starlings sat silently gazing,

    held their boisterous song

  whilst i eagerly scribbled,

& paused to delight in the majesty

  amidst sterling skies' misted allegory

the moon was abundantly ripe

    seasoned of versed enlightenment,

as it loftily floated towards clouds' spell,

   'twas something profoundly reverent

    about life, death and baby's breath,

translation ascended the sweetly scented ether,

           ...the essence of it lingers still

She was a fiery seashell,
  lost 'neath convoluted oceans
     amongst opuses of pure poetry,
artistically outspoken
   'tween invertebrate reality
secretly devouring mankind,
  beware Herr Lucifer,  
she rose from the gaseous chamber
   to live amidst ashes of immortality
         & renowned marital infamy,
      the eternal burning spirit of Lady Lazarus

Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair  
And I eat men like air.
                 - Sylvia Plath

the damage
has already
    been done
by the time
  brass tacks
rise to
  the surface,
and all the pretty
maidens are stacked
   like Russian wooden
       nesting dolls,*
in an insatiable
  hunger, yearning
   to possess
     the most toys

She was all starry-eye blitzed
  which was one helluva party
'til a lit moon crashed her high,
    hungover indifferent
             clouded sky falling -
      tripping earth's cruel stratosphere

Your poetry is like
Stockholm Syndrome,
I'll follow you 'til I die...

the sun lost its memory
in a familiar taste of irony,
stood amidst a raging fire
in vast depths of the sea,
destruction was eminent
as the horizon slowly fell
neath domesticated rainbows
emulating malnutrition,
and the poetry of the masses
sunk to oblivion once again,
fate tempted destiny
as the bird within heart
of a universe in denial
died without sustenance
dulling senses of validity,
in an antidote for gloom**

dawn was discontinued indefinitely

Linens scented of

last night's rendezvous,

  still wafting midst

            reticent moments,

cognac and aromatic

   candlelight burning 'neath

      surreptitious breaths,

  as we deciphered

    sultry shadow's seduction

              midst clandestine poetry

Swallowed the sun
  in attempts to
       feel the fire,
dimly lit universe
   eclipsed neath
    inescapable moons,
horizons were hued of
  brackish tea's
   indifferent sympathy,
as solar systems' fate
      lost in darkly orbits,
  relinquished their balance

A swashbuckler
who sharpened
    his sword
upon unkind
     poetic words

The universe is immeasurable,
  we are merely infinitesimal
    machinery keeping pace,
as churning cogs tick wildly
  transmitting within allotted time,
attempting heartbeats' cohesion
  clocking our own honed destinations,
accumulating illusions 'tween mass
   waiting to return as a speck of dust
      in the never-ending saga of
           inexhaustible collectives amidst
         systematically creative contrivances

Obscurity's trenchant
     sorrows blotting
        tissue paper cuts,
tears aptly smeared
    in hidden fears of
        first dashed allusions,
darkly flippant metaphors
       sans passionate accolades
          left to gingerly decay,
    grandiloquently speaking,
       'Happily Ever After' is
           hardly a verbose nuance
             throughout a quinine
                         poet's collection

stars silently
    enveloped
     turbulent seas,
gingerly dappling
   each current,
whence the tides
   were stilled
'til they ebbed
    'tween streams
        of serene
            spring waters,
      rushing its
          banks in
             cascades of
                tranquil
                     awed hushes
                         overflowing
                                midst
                                   surrender's
                                                   quietude

Trapped 'tween
  adjectives' objections
succumbed to
  long-windedness,
snared 'neath an
  expanse of circumlocution,
paraphrasing periphrases
   buried under layers
       of technicalities,
all in a day's multiformity
   working midst the madness
           of poetry's sublimity

You spoke adamantly of gentle courage
     and sharing spring's flourished nectar,
the swooning rhythm of swaying trees
   and the easeful breezes that flow
     'tween endearment's sensibilities,
misty moonbows 'neath dusk's stormy skies
     lavender sunsets midst rosy horizons,
affectation surging amid life's turmoils
     wallowing in self indulgence &
the harmony of olive branch surrender
    and thrumming heart strings of patience,
it was then I comprehended, darkness doesn't
   last a lifetime when lit by love's fortitude

I adore you as if
    you were divinity,
   midst shadow's darkness
      and wildflowers' flourish,
cherish your dignified sensibility
       in all spaces without pride,
breathe your complexities and
          simple nature's composure,
where affection prevails 'tween
    sun and moons' compelling power,
savoring your enraptured essence in
           the realm of my own being
   hence, consummating  
             an unqualified existence