Tsu.co is a social media platform with user owned content, that pays you.  You have to be invited to join, so consider this your invitation. My short code is PrttyBrd. My page there is tsu.co/prttybrd.  Look it up and see for yourself. It's another way to get your original art, pics, poetry, stories, etc. You can post links to your page here as well; driving more poetry lovers to view your awesomeness.  ☺☺☺

Severed ties to humanity
Vacant eyes
Vapid words of witless wonder
Hanging on the insipid
And shunning the inspired
Road less traveled, too much trouble
Super-sized spare tires
Alcoholic ultra-guts
Fashion models ******
Crack ***** beautiful
Shades of gray pave the way
To a rock slide of morality
Honesty; when it gets you something
Lowered standards make the grade
Submission no longer requires a beating
Consequences be ******
Village idiots rule the world
Silenced masses
Hopeless and withered
Blinded by conformity
Change the “Norm”
Can one voice change the world?
Believe in something
Suffer together
Stand alone
Suppressed by fear of unknown causes
Physical symptoms of man-made convenience
Ease of use
Stress and tension
Souls for sale
Buy one get three free
Put them in a plastic bag
Suffocate, asphyxiate
Society
Waves of massive zombies
Couch potatoes
Governmental finger puppets
Train of thought’s run off its track
Mindless we wander
Tell us what to think
TV, a dark temptation,
A brief reprieve from real-world Evil
Close your eyes
Find religion in whatever form
Take the hand of many
Or walk the path alone
What is right for one
May not be right for all
Make the choice
or it will be made for you
Herded like cattle to our own demise

fear, loneliness, and anger lead to stress
stress leads to ulcers and anxiety
yelling and screaming absorbed like sponges
short tempers, curt responses, attitudes
nature fights nurture, there is no winner
highlighted things most hated of ourselves
inadvertent lessons learned by innocents
molded by fear, yet still guided by love
can't teach, "do as i say, not as i do"
they do what they see and learn what they live
blind to the effects of our own actions
responsibility belongs to all
more than a person, it takes a village
even more than a village it takes you
it takes you not ignoring what you see
it takes you to offer a helping hand
it takes every one of us to force change
in that change is found hope and strength and help
Community is not a neighborhood
it is not a town or its citizens
and it cannot be fostered in a word
it must grow in the hearts of the people
willingness to care and an open mind
baby steps toward each other today
and a sense of responsibility
tomorrow's flowers are planted today

Luna, My Love
I see the beauty in the darkness
Luna, My Love
I hear the stars sing your praise
Luna, My Love
You see me off to peaceful slumber
Luna, oh Luna My Love

Look for my electronic soul
In all the places where you found my electronic heart
By the ethereal light of the interwebs,
Through an electronic connection
Dancing to electric heartbeats
Pulled to your electric guitar
Singing words that color me lovely

Gray days and blowing wind
On sad and naked limbs
The bitter cold imagined through the panes
Nestled in warmth and wrapped in a blanket
I am loved,
Dressed up and beautiful
The smiles that gaze upon me
In awe and wonder
Are well worth the journey's end

To ease the cries that pierce the soul
To hold on while you lose control
To be there when you almost fall
To be close enough to hear your call
To chase away what makes you cry
To give you wings and help you fly

An empty soul floating atop a sea of bleeding hearts
Sinks when the rain turns to a flood
Drowning in the pain of others
Hiding amongst their misery
Filling like a sponge,
with the decaying love of strangers
Overjoyed to belong,
despite the lingering nothingness
Joy evaporates the liquid anguish, however slowly
Time brings solitude
Returning to the surface even emptier than before

Unable to breathe
My heart, in a state of panic
My soul, half joy/ half pain
With the darkness a true void
And the light, divine
So twisted in two
That breaking is imminent
Which survives
Darkness...
Or
Divinity
For to live as two
Is not living

There is wisdom in a life well rounded
Lived with both joy and pain
Depths of despair
Weightless heights of bliss
There is peace in a heart that loves
Vulnerability and trust
Truth in all things
Caring more for someone other than yourself
There is fulfillment in accepting your mistakes
And continuing on your path despite bad choices
Demons can only die when you forgive yourself

I can live
In the joy of moments lived
If I knew
You found joy
In those moments...Even now

The birth of spring brings hope
The breeze carries dreams from far off places
The time is drawing nigh
And the blood rushes more quickly
Every second burning more brightly
Than the one which passed before
Mere days is what lies between Hell and imminent Heaven
Days, which will torture with the slowest of time
Inevitably give way to the rush of unity
Which leaves in seeming seconds
Still, these days will linger
Yet, still turn to hours, and minutes, and now
Ah, if only the now would pass as slowly
If time could crawl from the moment our eyes meet again
To the moment we must part
Perhaps we could live in that place for all eternity
Never having to feel the heart burn through flesh
As the distance grows by inches to feet
To that dreaded thousand miles
Oh, how those smiling eyes beckon
And dreams birth hope
The smell of jasmine in the evening
Brings joy in knowing it's just
A few more days......

Piggies at markets
Piggies at home
Piggies eating cows
Starving piggies crying

Confined in close quarters
begging for quarantine
love tastes like carrion

Breathing mold spores
appeals more than
the kiss of a dying heart

For to taint joy
with the stink of decay
haunts honesty with living lies

A heavy heart
cannot power the light
that fuels a soul

I designed on a string from my ❤️ to yours
the twists and loops of yesterday
Celtic rings in tactile squares
a monochromatic dream sequence
in patchwork futures of sutured memories

large squares of Bay Bridge yesterdays
smaller ones on seagulls' wings
I'm still working on a future
every stitch in time lost and loved

it smells like me...

a gift to wrap the long and lonely nights in love
where months of me are woven into miles
that tether my ❤️ to yours

I'd hoped to be done by your birthday
it lies unfinished
a bin of fragmented dreams...
...maybe I'll finish by Christmas

just to feel close to the ghost of you

In his hand he holds a heart
A heart that was once her own
It has no wings to fly away
To where the PrttyBrd has flown

Since it could not follow
It awaited the return
To dwell in the empty cavern
Of a love that will ever burn

Ne'er to be filled with purpose
As the cavern is sewn in steel
The fire will char the surface
Where there is nothing left to feel

She could not bear the weight
Upon her wings so frail
A heart so full of love
Returned to no avail

For it had beaten just for her
Though she never realized
She had thought she set him free
But epitomized his demise

i.

melted ice cream afternoons
bogged down

rising from asphalt
in magical mist
that transforms
the day into
a test of endurance

even dusk offers
no solace
in frozen watermelon bliss


ii.

smoke permeates fabric
hair and every surface
with peace and grit
wafting over
the crispy
edges of predawn

begging sleep
to the most stubborn
insomniac

rotisserie style dreams
till morning


iii.

there's less death today
waiting in line
in candy store nightmares
begging silence
from the jubilant

but the sky turned up
a dream state

in that beguiling beauty
is brilliance


iv.

in shadows
the earth falls silent

rustling through
tall tales
the moon births

images in hidden corners

evening strolls
turn adventures

and every day
burns quick
to be reborn slowly


v.

the weight of hell
in short tempered bites
**** will with a proficiency
unseen outside
a viper's silent hunt

ready for war
with fists losing
responsibility

breaking triple digit
pressure


vi.

Incessant banging through walls built faster than I am strong enough to demolish, cradling lace so it won't rip on my forked tongue. There is only so much care left to handle perception just trying to breathe through a smile.

Arrogance was strong in this youngling
A child playing at being a man
An air of confidence unfaltered
Unrelenting desire
A wanton yearning to consume flesh

Black rules in a white world
Where all is in hues of ash and cement
Self-knowledge builds strong shelters
Past pain is present mortar
With blocks of crystal tears

So this boy, sweet and tender
Loved withoout learning
Longed without grace
Fell without balance
And cried in darkness to an uncaring diety

Cried for those long gone
Cried mostly for the liars,
The cheaters, the judges and friends
The demons grew in the shadows
Lit with the embers of pain

Now, caged in his tear-stained walls
Transparent and safe
He sees without flinching all he once did
Finding home in strict command
Of all he holds dear

No place for frivolity
No needless emotion
All or nothing in matters of the heart
To break, lest he be broken
To own, lest he give too much
To push against pleasure
And claim happiness in humiliation
For it would never again be him

Clear walls like a skyscraper
A firmament of glass shards
Hanging in wait
Of vibrations to set them free

A man's mind
A man's body
A man's need
With a child's heart

Though hardend with experience,
Scarred with it
Calloused
And struggling to survive

He will not leave his prey
Though she has lost his interest
He will not leave to cause pain
To cause guilt

Responsibility squarely on her shoulders
A burden she could never understand
So he pushes
And she goes...broken

And the child cries
Unseen within himself
Unrecognizeable
Unfamiliar

He carries no blame
Feels no guilt
For it is she that turned her back
And the walls remain

The man with rules in bold
Burned darker with each failure to comply
Tantalized by a lady much like himself
Black lines in a white world

She challenged him
He taught her freedom
In giving him everything
He was afraid to return

He pushed, She tried harder
She pushed, He ran
He pushed, She faltered
She pushed, He attacked

They paused for a moment
Her broken and him afraid
Shards shaking as  he fights to maintain control
Loosening bit by bit

This child
Longing to believe all he chose to forget
Fredom in love
Trust in another
Welcoming the truth about love

Which is simply:
When you love someone
You get out what you put in
Your only concern is their happiness

He looks like a man this youngling
Devouring the innocent
Unwaverng in his vision
Of truth and self-granduer

Soon, he will learn
That a real man nurishes that banished child
And shares himself openly
With the one his soul adores

Yes, this child resembles a man

I waste too much time
Thinking about you
Talking to you
Sleeping with you
I waste too much time
With you in my dreams
With you in my heart
Sharing a soul with you
They say time is wasted
When one isn't being productive
When there are things that need doing
So, I waste too much time
Sharing moments lost in love
Consumed with your essence
With what ifs and what could be
I linger in the most peaceful of places
Yes, I waste too much time
Being happy with you

I want you*

Alas, the obstacles outweigh the need

        
                                              *Sorry

It was the child within the woman
Who could not let the heart believe
That a mere man could be so trusted
Without reason or reprieve

So they tussled through emotion
To see his thoughtfulness unveiled
But left invisible, unnoticed
It was the child who had prevailed

So the woman's barren heart
Bled in oceans on the floor
As once again she was transparent
Behind the tears which she endured

And so this man who claimed to love her
Called her Goddess, his living dream
Proved indubidably that in the heart
However pure, lives perfidy

Razor-sharp fingernails scrape layers of flesh from eyelids
Splaying them eternally open
Can't unsee what's been seen
Can't unhear the sounds
Or unsmell the odor that rots in nostrils, infecting every rose
There's no stopping when they all stink the same
Can't undo, can't undo
Safety in bile where nightmares are birthed in reality,
In places that fester like the remnants of the lids that blinded
Bleach doesn't clean untruths
Fire doesn't  burn hot enough to mask pain
Blisters seem like hope
Hope to heal
Hope to resemble something familiar
Peeling skin back with teeth
Wishing for them to bleed
When scalding tubfulls try to cleanse
the grime that sludges through a broken mind
Attached to a heart mindlessly lashed in the shame of

Love

Weight of the world
Broken shoulders and cracked spines
Long run consequences
Short run bliss
What's right for now
Or what's right for later
Good for one
Or good for others
Rubber arms cannot balance the sides
Today's frustration swallows tomorrow
Delinquent youth
Intolerant with age
Rules or freedom
Is there freedom within the rules
Is tomorrow forever tainted by mistakes from today
Perhaps tomorrow is tainted by things further in the past
Then again, could that be where true liberty lies
Letting go of bad choices
Living with the bed you made by accident
Do accidents really exist
Is there even a path
Mistakes that matter need not be ones own
Buried under a world of nothingness
It matters to no one but you

Write with me a thing of beauty
For everyone to see
To gaze upon our very souls
Together, you and me
Words that dance upon the heart
Like a feather on the skin
Feelings painted honestly
In hues from deep within
Write with me a thing so lovely
That everyone will know
The purest of emotions
In two hearts at once betrothed

Changes within
Changes without
The game without fun is useless
Rules are guidelines not facts
And so the wall begins
The first brick laid in tears
Pushed back across the line
The next laid in blood
Words lashed out
Toughening tender hearts
And the foundation is set
For the wall of regrets

She cries for his pain
Wishing to absorb it all
Without memory

Is there life to be breathed into a dream long since dead?
Is it too late to strive for what could still be?
If life's journey has pulled things far out of shape, can the path still be found?
Everyone is where they need to be, so then is it that what was meant to be is?
Does longing in the heart really mean that something is missing?
How can a void, however minuscule, be filled if no one knows how it came to be?
How important should one be made to feel?
If there is so much happiness in this place, why does it feel like someone else's life?
These days are good, but a little empty.
So is it better to have days that are full of bad?
If there is hope for more, does that mean that there will be more?
If you want it, but getting it might cause pain, should it be sought anyway?
When is it time to be top on the list?
In order to be on top, do others have to be pushed down?

Words so sweet to bridge the distance
Bonded souls bring joy to heart
Ran the path of least resistance
To the core right from the start

Passion bleeds straight through the skin
Birthing feelings too intense
Ravaged spirits deep within
Break through loves weakened defense

Enveloped in the jubilation
Caused by being someone's sun
Belligerent intoxication
When heart fights mind to love someone

Stop the swimming thinking river
That makes the pain come hard and fast
A pain that is easy to deliver
When you have a broken past

Take the good for what it's worth
Though the darkness leaches through
Trust the light that brings great mirth
Before the shadows swallow you

the holes run together to make nothing
                                                          that consumes everything

torn to bits with nothing left to rebuild
                            pulling threads from passersby
                                                      gluing them in spit and sparkles

      forming the fabric of a frayed future
hidden behind that toothy grin that blinds the best of 'em

                              a bit of accidental charm and sparkles turn gems
  catching the moon you just hung

besotted sot
    truth like poison thick on spirited tongue

                                    can't believe what the bottles tout
can't  trust liquid truth in ashen breath

dragons of legend breathe Fireball lies
                      that smell of candy and taste like the death
                      of tomorrow's enamoration

When expectations are in line with
            reality there is no
                              
                                      disappointment

With the wisdom of the ancients
You speak in clues
Your depth, beyond comprehension
With a cracked smile
The distance peeks through the stars in your eyes
Souls united cannot be fooled
With weight enough to suffocate, you sigh
As my heart tries in vain
To lift you to the sun
I will hold you tightly
Space, nor distance, nor time
Can make us falter
Can make us doubt
You sigh, and my heart is heavy
I love you
And you smile....