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 Sep 16 Rob Rutledge
Moe
I didn’t ask for angels  
or bullets  
or love that felt like a ransom note  
but here we are  
driving nowhere  
with the sky unraveling in a bad alibi  

you talk as if chaos is a language  
and I’m fluent now  
in your kind of logic  
where nothing makes sense  
but everything matters  

I was ordinary  
until you stole me  
not just from my job  
or my apartment  
but from the version of myself  
that never asked for more  

you said  
let’s make a mess  
let’s rob the stars  
let’s kiss, we’re fugitives from fate  
and I didn’t say no  
because I didn’t know how  

I keep waiting  
for the part where it all falls apart  
where the gods get bored  
and the magic wears off  
but you keep dancing  
and the world owes us a soundtrack  

I don’t believe in destiny  
but I believe in you  
in the way you look at me  
I’m not broken  
just misfiled  

we’re not heroes  
we’re not sane  
we’re just two people  
who refused to be background noise  
and maybe  
that’s enough  

---

Want to explore this in a surreal visual style next? Something that captures the absurd romance and divine mischief of the film’s tone?
 Sep 16 Rob Rutledge
Moe
I take it  
because the world was too loud  
too sharp  
too much  
and now it’s quieter  
but also  
less  

I don’t cry anymore  
which feels like winning  
until I realize  
I don’t laugh either  
not the kind that shakes your ribs  
not the kind that makes you forget  

I’m not drowning  
but I’m not swimming  
I’m just  
floating  
in a pool that doesn’t change temperature  
no waves  
no storms  
just still  

people say  
you seem better  
and I nod  
because I am  
technically  
but I miss the chaos  
the color  
the ache that reminded me I was alive  

I sleep  
I eat  
I function  
like a well-oiled machine  
but sometimes  
I want to rust  
just a little  
just enough to feel the weather  

I know it’s working  
I know it’s helping  
I know  
but I also know  
there’s a version of me  
buried under the dosage  
who used to feel everything  
too much  
and maybe  
that wasn’t all bad
 Sep 16 Rob Rutledge
Moe
the moon forgot  
how to be round tonight  
and i
i misplaced my name  
somewhere between  
your shoulder blade  
and the breath  
that almost said  
stay

(why do clocks insist  
on knowing everything  
about leaving)

i tried to write  
but the letters curled inward  
petals afraid of morning  
and the sentence  
ran away  
with the silence

you were never a person  
you were a parenthesis  
i stepped into  
and never stepped out of

the sky  
is not blue  
it’s memory  
trying to remember  
how to feel

i loved you  
a comma  
pausing before  
the thought  
that never arrived

and if i could  
unbutton the stars  
i’d fold them  
into paper cranes  
and send them  
to the version of me  
that didn’t forget  
how to feel

but i did  
and you did  
and the world  
keeps spelling itself  
wrong
 Sep 16 Rob Rutledge
Moe
the coffee’s burnt again  
and the cat’s staring like it knows  
I haven’t cried in six years  
but I’ve been leaking in other ways
through the fridge light,  
through the cracks in the drywall,  
through the way I say “fine”  
when I mean “I’m rotting.”

the mailman dropped another envelope  
with no name, just a whisper  
and I thought maybe it was time  
to bury the version of me  
that still believed in clean slates  
and women who don’t flinch  
when you say you write poems.

I’m overdue for a funeral  
but nobody wants to dig  
unless there’s a paycheck  
or a priest involved  
and I don’t believe in either.

the barstool still remembers my spine  
and the bartender’s got a face  
like a broken clock
always stuck at 2:17 a.m.  
when the jukebox plays Sinatra  
and the drunks pretend  
they’re philosophers.

I tried to write an obituary  
for the part of me that used to care  
but the pen ran out  
and the paper laughed.

so I lit a cigarette  
and gave the ashes a name.
When I read
poems from the past,
I barely understand them.

I try, yes—
but they are minds
from another time.

It takes time
to connect with them.

Then I imagine myself:
will they, in the future,
read the poems I write to you
and understand
anything at all?
 Sep 16 Rob Rutledge
abyss
Swinging in a blanket swing,
the sun hitting most of my body,
cold wind hitting my arms and face—
autumn’s coming slow and steady.

I close my eyes,
the sun hits my face,
leaves rustling, kids playing,
I fall asleep—
listening to the sounds of divinity.
A bit of what I felt during my time in nature on a blanket swing
I once did meet a lady fair,
With twinkle bright and wild-eyed stare,
She bowed to me, then just like that,
She farted gaily in my hat.

The tavern roared, the fiddles played,
A legend in that hall was made,
No crown of gold, no feathered plume—
But thunder sealed my cap of doom.

And though my pride was blown apart,
She won the night with fearless art;
Not queen, nor saint, nor diplomat—
She’s the woman who farted in my hat.
What is the color of love per se
is it heart pumping red
that gets to  your head
or crimson velvet like my chalet

How shall I sketch and paint you
should I outline you in opaline  
or trace you in soft green
can I easily blend in with you

Do we make a picture perfect painting
for all eyes to see
     or is it just you looking at me
don't mind me... if I do a little tinting

What color is love when it sits alone  
does it reflect every shade
              of your personal parade
is it hard to hold, or easily atoned  

What is the color of love ? Tell me.

    

Note: Per se  is a latin word.  It means, "By Itself"
The Dream was promised, / written down
in flame —
yet forfeiture now stalks / the open hand.
The rich lie laughing, / nameless, safe
in stone,
while strivers lose their wages, / marked
with shame —
the state collects / the pieces it has planned.

A hustler saves, / his dollars seen as crime,
the sirens flare, / the badge becomes
the judge.
The ladder snaps / for those who climb
in time,
and hope runs out / like pennies through
the grime,
the dream reduced / to ashes in the sludge.

The rich are born / with armor thick
as night,
the poor are branded / guilty when
they rise.
The law defends the throne, / condemns
the fight,
and every flash of freedom / sparks
its spite,
a dream recast / as fraud before our eyes.

No mob could scheme / a shakedown quite this wide,
no outlaw holds / such brazen, sacred claim.
The Dream’s been flipped, / its golden core denied,
a crown of ruin / dressed in holy pride,
the state itself / the thief who killed the Dream.
 Sep 16 Rob Rutledge
Chips
Basking the scorch,
Of summer’s peak,
The soulful sights,
Bracing breeze,
And the buzzing bees,

Green as far as the eye could see,
One sip of pure nectarine,
A dazzling waltz in nature’s theme,
Sparks a warmth within,
This lucid dream
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