.

~The sting of reality hits me square on the chin,
and these four cold walls keep closing in.
I'm gonna leave this old town,
I wanna leave it today.
Give me ten thousand balloons
and I'll fly away.

Over these crumbling chimneys,
and these sun cracked tiles.
Beyond the sea of heartache
and those faking their smiles.

I'd surely leave tonight,
I don't even care if the sky is gray.
Give me ten thousand balloons
and I'll fly away.~





.

.
snow leaps branch to branch
bird shivered in craggy pine--

one black eye blinking!

an arc of white light
just pierced the gray enemy;

it's my first snowbow!

.


~friendship-

-no water required
it sails on pure trust~


.

The sound of rain rises
and rolls up my window.

A herd of wild
sea horses gallop
through bubbles
of an overcrowded tank.

The gods of steel
have rusted to the belly.
Their monolithic structures
are falling-
falling.

Detroit is no place for children,
unless you keep their gun loaded.

So waves of poets
crash on the sand
of wondrous places
with a pen in their hand.

With songs on their tongue,
and dreams in their eyes.
There is still inspiration
in the friendly skies.

So do yourself a favor
and buy American,
because the old Detroit
is now the new Japan.























.

.
I am part soul,
I'm here for a kiss.
I grasp at her stars'
photosynthesis.

My long lost Atlantis,
a rose from dead seas.
She shows me the doors,
but hands me no keys.

I'm the fallen columns
all scattered about.
"Twenty thousand leagues!"
I heard someone shout.

She's my chipped chiseled stone
below the mucked mire
that leads me beyond
Calcutta's cold fire.

Ah! Lethargic genius,
there's gathering birds
where dogs lap at the *****
we mistook for your words.

She hides in my veins
while it's raining outside.
She's my universal
osmosis suicide.

She really is...






.

.

Seems that I'm spending
most of my time down at the Karaoke King.
Under more normal circumstances
I wouldn't even say a thing.(But...)

I need to invest some more time in me
or I'll never become a star,
because I've sunk a pretty penny
just pimpin' out my car.

And this Mississippi mud
is even bogging down my truck,
and if I don't keep it rockin'
I may never get unstuck.

Success always comes from hard, hard work
it never comes to you from afar.
Would you please remind me tonight
to change the strings on my air guitar?

And I've been too tired to dance
with my own silhouette.
I just want a house out in the country,
and a brand new black Corvette.

My future's slowly rising,
it shouldn't take me long.
You see, this stage has been my home
and this here's my new song!

I need to invest some more time in me
or I'll never become a star,
because I've sunk a pretty penny 
 just pimpin' out my car.

And this Mississippi mud
is even boggin' down my truck,
and if I don't keep it rockin'
I may never get unstuck.

Wont you help me,
please; won't you help me?
Because I want to be a star.

Just do me a favor and remind me tonight
to change the strings on my air guitar.
Please do me a favor and remind me tonight...
to change the strings on my air guitar.






.

Vaguely lit
--- by the summer moon,
starlight reigns from an ancient song.

Her sweet madness, shrouded like a child's secret;
--sang to her like she were a dying friend.
Their smiles twinkled as a banana spider spun
Venus into her web.
Moon shadows planted their face
in the tall grass
as shimmering willows sent their fingers feeling.
Memories from across the centuries
came flooding back like a retreating tsunami.
Her soft touch tingled on his skin,
something even Picasso couldn't capture on canvas.
His thoughts dove into the dark depths of her eyes,
swimming in the dancing starlight.
She tossed stones through the moon's reflection
and a million moons slow danced across the surface.
They caught shooting stars in their nets and
sealed them in jars,
and just like the moon...

I hung there.

And Just Like the Moon...


Vaguely lit
--- by the summer moon,
starlight sang her ancient song.

      Her sweet madness, well shrouded like a child's secret;
--sang to her like she were a dying friend.
Their smiles twinkled as a banana spider spun
Venus into her web.
Moon shadows planted their face
in the tall, dewy grass
as shimmering willows sent their fingers feeling.

       Memories from many centuries past
came flooding back like a retreating tsunami.
Her soft touch tingled on his skin,
something even Picasso couldn't capture on canvas.
        His thoughts dove into the dark depths of her eyes,
swimming off into the dancing starlight.
She tossed stones through the moon's watery reflection
and a million more moons slow danced across the surface.
     We caught shooting stars and sealed them in jars,

                                              and just like the moon...

                                                                 =========I hung there.

.
And the night comes darkly
as seconds become minutes.
A million feet shuffle as
the mandolin's strings vibrate
hard like diamonds. Drink the darkness
slowly,the sickness will come, thick
like a pocketful of sighs.
Let's carve our initials into
the moon while it looms
so low and naked over a poets' sky tonight.
Minutes become hours, days become nights.
Now we walk a little slower around
the windowless corridor.
Me, the raven, and Forever Moor.

.
Starvation and sorrow follow winter,
annihilation of the summer wind.
Searching the barren ground like the fat crow--
there is nothing. Nothing! My cold foot is pinned.

I am tempted to follow the archers,
paint bulls-eyes on the dark side of the sun.
Then I can measure my dreams in light years!
Ah! Nevermore is a poet's work done.

In my pocket are pennies that mingle.
Yet, they won't buy the warmth which I require.
Won't you sing for me that sweet lullaby?
Sonnet for a sonnet. My world's on fire!

How long until the winter sheds her skin?
Will the fat crow ever come back again?




.






.

A sudden shaking--

Gray thunder dust
chokes out sound,
cloaking the world in death...

Goodbye's ghost is a pale rider.

Another unloved winter melts
as today lies on the brink of tomorrow.

A shifting sky is saturated with screaming colors,
where secrets pretend to be untold as
another black pearl nightmare is extracted from her bleeding throat.







.

.Well, there's another idea that died in your mouth!Are you still waiting for eyes to see beyond the little door?What is behind it?An open shoe box full of your poetry?There's cliches clothed in their Sunday finest.Shiny shoes and a red bow-tie.To escape naked into the streets inthe middle of an uncomfortable conversation,only to find that your cigarette was lit and wasbackward in your lips.You screamed for the fire department andyour father just laughed.Just when the dust on your wine bottlewas finally at its thickest,someone entered the roomand polished it off.Pardon my smile, butyou are so funny!Did you cry asyour insect collectionwas flying away?Lace up your shoes,because I double checked your closetand there ain't no bears in there.And, yeah. I'd quit smoking if I were you..

.
The
puppet awakened to...

martyrs-

selling raffle tickets
to the resurrection of
heaven-


as
the dawn
came crashing through
the trees...


and the moon hung lifeless
like a wet rag,
clipped to a frayed clothes line.

To
superstitious souls-

wearing antique flesh
like over sized overcoats;

and eternity mixing
with dew
and flow i n g
s l o w

                l

                      y


into the holy river.

Who cut the puppet's strings?











.

.
She walked naked into the woods,
where the moonlight danced with fog.
Where an owl competes with a coyote,
the rush of the creek drowns out a dog.

Fascinations overwhelmed her,
she just wanted to know.
Then a future reading of an ultrasound
appeared from within the glow.

She looked beyond the stars above,
as Saturn's colors began to swirl.
She thanked God and she walked back home,
she now knows that it's a girl.









.

.
The sails, the wind the deep blue sea...
Life untethered is the life for me--
War is brutal upon the raging swells
the clashing sword and cannonball...
we pray against a bitter wind
the tattered sails, they rise and fall...
Rare to touch the earth below our feet
to always heed the sirens call...
The smell of death on salty air
their final dance in this aquatic realm...
Liquid dreamers hoard their take
while whiskey eyed captains clench their helm...
Sailing through the Isle of Whyte
shattering its' mirrored waters...
taking all the gold we can find
to raise our sails and daughters...
The goblets of gold we raise each night
are toasts to leaving Rome...
We'll make new trails across old wakes,
we'll crash through seas of foam...
You can take pirates off the sea
but it will always be their home...

.
Now, lil' Jack Horner
go sit in yer corner-
the anger in here's growin' fat.

You need not fight me
to help to drown misery-
I'm always willing to drink to that!.

.




Count the stars in a moonless sky
as Borealis dances alone.
Reminds me of a cold, distant fire--
or childhood memories churning.
                  *
Making their bed on the cooling sand,
a new lovers' fire consumes.
Embers crackle and the night rages on
while the rest of the world's slowly burning.
                  *
Borealis, twists and turns and
sings,"How sweet the sound,"
as a sleepy ocean lullaby
comes crashing to the ground.
                 *
You've got comets and Cupid's
arrows falling all about
as dolphins race through
an electric atmosphere.
                 *
Where time and man
co-exist as thought,
when you choose the right door
you're outta here.
                 *
Count the stars in a moonless sky
as Borealis dances alone.
Reminds me of a cold, distant fire--
or childhood memories churning.
                  *
Making their bed on the cooling sand,
a new lovers' fire consumes.
Embers crackle and the night rages on
while the rest of the world's slowly burning.
                  *
Borealis, twists and turns and
sings,"How sweet the sound,"
as a sleepy ocean lullaby
comes crashing to the ground.






.

.
Your whispers ricochet
through lonely lamp light
f
a
l
l
ing
as soft as sanity makes another run at the door.

--Years of pain, and rains....

Dank, dark whispers are like runaway trains.

.

~sweet cherry blossom

losing their power to cling

paints an old man's sky-


a pink path softly
lays at the foot of Mt. Fugi,
as a young girl collects withering flowers-

in a brown wicker basket.

                            ~

Soft clouds slide up one side of Fugi,
and then they slide down the other.

Koi leap through a thin veil of petals-

and water.

Cool rivers winding like time...~













.

So sadistic comes the night
in red stiletto heels.
Many fallen angels
knows just how this feels.

Vampire slayer's
record player
spins without a bite.

I am falling through
the stratosphere
at the speed of night.

Let me go,
rock & roll,
I hear the night time sing.

Smokey bars
and steel guitars
rock Saturn's neon ring.

So sadistic comes the night
in red stiletto heels.
Many fallen angels
knows just how this feels.

I am falling through
the stratosphere
at the speed of night.








.

.
If I could just blame it on the shadows,
maybe I could forget about the rain.
Am I all alone in this universe?
Is the sun ever going to rise again?

With just one thought I can think that it's so,
to create a valley flooded with light.
To chase ev'ry shadow down to the sea,
to watch them swim away into the night.

Half the world thrusts money into my hand,
while all I need is right behind my eyes.
Little pockets of Heaven lined with gold,
I'm giving away my excess supplies.

I'm trading shadows, replaced with new light.
There are better days, so bring on the night.



.

.I don't dream of Aphrodite.
My small muscles not too mighty.
Who should tell me how I should feel?
Winter days have feathers flighty.

Where can I find some time to steal?
Another green organic meal!
My life goes on disorganized.
It fills my soul with zip and zeal.

Find gold touching Midas' eyes.
Atlas shrugs just before he dies;
And Ayn Rand ran to Xanadu.
My echo waits for your replies.

Then outer space starts out as blue--
Jupiter spins on axis true.
Dark side of moon. Oh! What a view!
But I still want to be with you..

~Death reminds me
of a certain summer day,
a mother's smile-

like a father
you've never known.

Like rain racing
down a foggy window pane,
or a child's pain passing
with a kiss.

Like:
just realizing
the butterfly's beautiful
purpose before
being hit
by a windshield.

Death is not
always black,
sometimes
it's blood red;
or just a mental
hesitation.

A hiccup
in the chasm of time.
A demise of
thought-
or

is it?

Just another invitation
for the stars
to fall with the rain,
to dance on your grave-
to wash away
the silver moon.

Until memories of
that one
summer day comes flooding
back to fill in that empty
six foot hole.




.

.







Wordless stranger talking,
sealed doll eyes crying--

as salty moon flies smile.

Black cat's white shadow arches.

Deep sleep escape...

He mentally buries the lost picture
of angels swimming

in holy water--

beneath a thousand shades of
blind twilight.

.Times fly--Leaving calculating clocks behind.Tell me sir,What did you think you'd find?Hour by hourThe old man's losing his mind.After breaking every bone in the butterfly,No persuasion remained in his muddy blue eye.The ruddy questions grew from who, how, or why.He gave no solace after removing its' wing,Claims he just wanted to hear the bird sing.Then he removed each leg one by one--And he watched it flopping in the morning sun.Then he kissed his wifeThat's been dead for five years.He wiped away all of her falling tears.He asked politely if he could have this one dance,And he held out his hand, then he peed his pants--The demons made their way, screeching through his brain.The butterfly laid there, could use a little a pill for pain.Still, the old man stared as his life went down the drain.Then he seen two human-sized butterflies--Uncoiled their' fuzzy tongues and they poked out both his eyes.They broke the mans' legs and then they snapped his back.The old man died of a massive heart attack...I never believed the old man that day,Until he up and flew away--(singing...)"We don't need no education.  We don't need no...""Are you feeling O.K.?...Time to go. (beep, beep) Time to go...Are you..."Is there anybody out there?"

.
Bleeding ripe woman,
wet naked stone;
honey rock dries--
fast star bone.
Dead memories change
just like laid,
wants fly open--
soul sky parade.
Sea moon dreams,
daddy heard stars--
known little face;
death drives cars.

________


Rainy days wash--
brick looking mud,
blank reality strings
dry midsummer blood.
Dog's child minds--
revolution spreads wings,
***** molten other
fraught angel sings.
Corner ocean waves--
milk sounds morbid,
freeing minnow slaves
gritty condor kid.

_________

Catch passing eclipse--
my suicidal dream!
Kissing dying lips,
conscience eagles' scream.
Roots stop barely--
silver burdened rhyme;
river's metal tracks
help God remind.
Lofty smokeless breeze--
bird's echo box.
Ice burg floating,
saturates frozen socks.

__*____

Rings pulled strangers
silk blossoms singing--
remembering ancient maps
deep words bringing.
Canon pirates' soup
dreamer's record stalkin',
river's whole amount--
dead man walkin'.
Instant scattered corona
clenching eagle drowning;
rubber slamming secrets--
reading Robert Browning.



.

.

She gazed upon †he grea† expanse,
sof† sand hid small †oes on her fee†.
A deser† daisy gen†ly caressed her hands,
†he sunshine made her day comple†e.

She walked alone on this beautiful day.
This li††le angel had jus† †urned seven.
†o ga†her her momma a fresh bouque†,
for some reason has lef† her for Heaven.

Each flower was burdened with a clump of dir†,
I wi†nessed the swee†es† †hing †oday.
I had cried and wiped †ears on my shir†,
when my mind said †o jus† walk away.

"Daddy, can Jesus le† her come ou† †o play?
How do you answer a young girl of seven?
"Jus† like we did †he o†her day."
"We can, when we ge† †o Heaven."




.

.
I am the man that's she's drivin' wild,
but Mona Lisa never smiled
as an adult or a younger child--

She was wild as the wind
on the western plains;
could run much faster than the driven rains.

Trains ran through her with whistles blowin',
you couldn't tell if she were comin' or goin'.
She'd clip rose stems and arrange them in a vase--
still...I never seen a smile alight on her face.

I'd spit out a joke,
her smile wasn't half.
I felt I lived
to make this girl laugh.

So I pulled out my brush
and asked her to sit for awhile.
She looked so pretty in her paint by number smile.

still... Mona Lisa never smiled.

.


Can you feel the rhythm rise,
but never, ever leaving the ground?
The bridges sway with every song that  they play,
I can barely wait for the sound.

A sonic exhilaration
crosses dreamstates of predecision.
While wild wizards are haranguing the warlocks,
the devil makes a quick incision.

In the hearts that are subdivided,
to those full of James Brown soul-
there's an evil wind that's suddenly pinned
your face to the totem pole.

Echoes from dragons seducing a sigh,
there's an ache to leave in their blood.
Some-
when they run, run far, far away,
while others are still stuck in the mud.

Can you feel the rhythm rise,
but never, ever  leaving the ground?
The bridges sway with every song that  they play,
I can barely wait for the sound.





.

Twilight moon--
drifting unaware.


A sudden flood of color
shimmered on a sea of glass.

One million angels were trembling,
holding back their song.


A world sleeping blind--

dreaming downward
awoke...
to a clear reflection
of reality.


Fleeting shades of shuffling sound
glowed white...

like flames of a deep love.



Suddenly--

Chained whispers
exploded into God's song.

.


Collecting the years like a lazy butterfly
caught in the mouth of a lost time infested net.
Columbian Crush!

Where it never rains love nor money. ***** clothes,
***** hands, and
***** minds fill man's hole. Singing shotgun,
bottom feeder's cameras sling the dirt
and shoot the moon.
Wild childrens' vines still swing.

Will anyone here be voting next Thursday?

Remind me why time was killed,
so brutally gunned down in broad daylight.
He apologises as he secretly scratches her name
from his little black book.

Bartender,
another shot of Columbian Crush
on the rocks...

.Ancient forest-
wood and stone.
A doorway open,
a boy alone.
Summer's slumber,
a feathered choir.
Comparing her
to stars on fire.
Cracked clay horses,
a dried lagoon.
A place to sit
and talk to the moon.
Sweet Spanish moss,
roots in the sky.
Not suitable to climb-
I'll never fly.


"You cannot save shadows for a rainy day."-redbarchettadrive ♥.

.
His hormones rage as
she bathes in the setting sun.

Hollywood tan lines-



Beauty--

and the beast beneath the

Corona Borealis.







.

_
We woke to the sound of China cracking,
and curtain rods hitting the floor.
Daddy arose and he seen the light,
the **** was red-hot on the door.

He woke momma in a terrible fright,
we three kids were asleep down the hall.
When the hall lights began to flicker,
our lives were all that he saw.

Questions lit and burned out,
I don't remember calling 911.
Life was rushing fast before our eyes,
burning out like a cold setting sun.

It sounded like runaway freight trains,
a rolling thunder down the hall.
On a track leading to dominoes
that were not quite ready to fall.

They heard us children shrieking,
you know we were scared to death!
"Everyone get down to your knees!"
Was death's artist drawing their last breath?

Daddy wet a towel and he turned the blazing ****,
realizing our screams were no more.
He dashed through high flames down the hall,
and he kicked in our bedroom door.

Frozen and huddled in the corner,
behind our new bunk beds.
Daddy heard us  praying real fast
with a Pokemon blanket over our heads.

Daddy picked up the sobbing twins,
and I told him that I could run.
The fire must have reached daddy's .45,
I heard bullets fire from a gun.

Then a new skylight appeared up above,
the room reeked of daddy's singed hair.
It then began to rain inside,
we knew that a crew was out there.

The front door then burst open wide,
and in came a laser light show.
Narrow beams of light danced upon the smoke,
showing them the way to go.

The policeman sat his wife in a cruiser,
and daddy walked out of the dream.
The children climbed onto the fire truck,
I heard an oxygen mask muffled scream.

.
These wrought iron dreams
won't bend in the wind anymore.
Unleashed immortal magick mimics death
within the hazy orb of crystal,
while the wizard stands motionless in the corner.

Darkness subdivided as his metamorphosis neared
completion.His dark black wings dried slowly
in the diffused moonlight.
My hands trembled as blood curdled up
the grimacing face of the moon,
an ungodly scream sent shock waves through
the unmolested silence.I left
the room.My unraveled nerves recoiled
at the touch of darkness.
The wizard pointed at me as I asked--
if I could continue the dream..

.

God tossed stars
tumbling across the universe--

a scintillating dream
so full of white rain falling.

This makes me think
deeper, and the light years
just roll across heaven
really,
really slow.

--Even a dark star casts a little light.








Published 04/09/2010

.Dear Geezus,    I am six years old and I need some help.My momma used to tell me that if I ever got intoa pickle that I could call on you and you would help me.Well, I think I'm in a real pickle.    Every time I get off the school bus after school,I walk into the house and I can never wake momma up,and she's always sweating real bad. I called 9-1-1 likethey told me to in school a long time ago last month. It didn't help.I always find her plastic tubes with pins in them and big rubber strapslaying on the coffee table.Sometimes when she wakes up she gets really, really mad at mefor no reason. I didn't do nothing wrong though.I am very scared Geezus!Can you pleeze help momma?I sure do miss her smiling.P.S. Can you take from me my pickle?Love,Zachary

.
We were so much more
than the sea and shore...
yes, yes:
we were so much more.

We dreamed every dream
together, unpinned--
I was sky,
and you were wind.

We were so much more
than sun and moon,
you were every grain
of sand in my dune.

We were so much more
than earth and sky.
I look up to heaven
and still ask why.

We were so much more
than beginning and end.
Despite death...
I still have a friend.

.A crucified mind
hangs like a brutal memory
as thin starlight falls
on the Mississippi river,

washing down a scream; illuminating
silenced shards of a broken life.
Thoughts fraught
with apology
get dragged down by the stone.

It feels like a double milk dawn
ever since
you've been gone.
Eternal friends,
your atomic God.
Your omnipresent
force
field.

.My hands take custody ofher full plump cheeks,almost as rosy as her lips.Her eyes become so blueduring the eclipse of Neptune.Gold flecks in her eyesswirl like the rings around Saturn.Her smile crashes into my heart likethe Jupiter comet bombabardment.And my heart shines like the sunwhen she calls me poppy.She wants me to read her a story...

.
Origami rhythm
folds within his soul.
Thundering horses
came before the rain,
as merry-go-round melodies
skip across the sea.
His concept of desolation
changed with the wind,
with the eclipse of the eagle.






.

--They race to reset
splintered bones.

Society changed
humanity's war.
Revolution breeds-a stand up
death.
A martyr's enchantment
spins-on the rim
of risked inspiration.

Moral power balances
on a thin wire as this one man
war continues...

Forgotten flesh behind cold walls,



pressing nose to steamed glass--


With weightless memories,
your ache hides within a dream
like whispers on a scream.


--playing moon games.

a black widow wrapping
flies is the only sound.

The silence roared like fire,
standing in the shadows of surrender...

etching goodbye in the mist.

.




Another cigarette?
Nah, that won't do the trick.
Morphine tab? Percoset?

One? Two? All?
I don't know. I just
know I hurt. Bad!

Why would she do that?

I have a razor that could
take these memories far, far away.

That woman knew I'd be back
from the war
as soon as I could.

He was my best friend.


I asked him to take care of her
while I was gone. Not exactly
what I had in mind.

I tried to move forward,
to evolve. There must
be a trick to metamorphosis.

I just wanted to dry
my wings in the sun
with her.

Now I just want
to fly away.

My tears that are falling
only make me lighter.

I am going to fly.
I'm just tired of waiting for my wings.

I must be really big,
because I am falling hard.





.












.

.They extricated colors from my dreamsand splattered them onto canvas.Natural starlight rapped softlyon my chamber door,illuminating my life.Hopping to and fro, the ravenblew out each candle,one by one...as  starlight flooded the night.Suddenly brilliance met the brush.

.


Snips & snails & midnight shadows unaware--

...the soft flesh of wildflowers tremble
in the blistering wind.

Slowly shifting their tattered reflection...
Twilight fire, painted angels
bleeding dreamlessly.

A perfect stranger
melts like a million echoes ground into dust.
Eternity glowed like a falling moonstone.

Girl's souls
really are sugar and spice...







.

.  



spring Fugi wind storm
cherry blossom explosion
renders the lamb pink






.

To usher in
the wind of change,
you have to make room--

you must rearrange.

To slumber in fields
way down by the sea,
to be haunted by the scent
of sweet ambergris.

Where the tolling
bells of time will mend
those long, lost hours
when you needed a friend--

they will resonate with
reason until the end.

Go ahead and reach
for every star in the sky,
don't ever get hooked
on Who? How? or Why?

When you open your sails--

your dreams are in reach.
Ships are made for the ocean,
not for the beach.






.

.


My father bought a granite slab,
he'd chip all day at stone.
Though his fingers bled so much,
he chipped until they were bone.

Night and day he'd chip away,
fragments filled the room.
What was his motivation?
What was in this granite womb?

Shards of light fell on the room,
dust clung to every beam.
His sculpture seemed to have a beating heart,
the sculptor fell back with a scream.

From within this lonely tomb,
the blind were made to see.
Forever, I'll have my fist to my brow,
forever my elbow to knee.

I think I am alive,
I think that I can think.
I think that I have eyes,
I just can't make them blink.

I think I'll stay in this position,
permanently ******.
You may never hear my voice,
from the stone, I've only groaned.








.