Do not say the worst is past
Do not say everything is okay
For everything to be well
You must first go through hell

Please don't take me for granite,
     despite my sometimes polished surface.
My strength isn't a constant.
I must bend to the pressures
     of sorrow and loss.

Please don't take me for granite,
     I am not cold to the touch.
I am not resistant to the
     stains of memory.
Granted, we both have failing points.

His mind is screaming that he’s on flat earth
but his body sways from an entire week’s worth
of pints and ***** on a wave-crashed boat.

Rolling waters (from the wind and rain?),
All while two lovers begin co-mingling,
and deep into night he’s lost while thinking:

“My mind screams of solid ground,
My body tilts and tumbles ‘round,
I think of the one who no longer waits.
And though I’m not alone,
my heart still breaks”

Falling asleep with a mind
full of caffeine
and fever dreams,
the wanderlust saddens you
as the hallway light slowly flickers
into tangible nonexistence.
Spirits assault your shell
of vice and cold monologue
as you dream, tapping into your
infantile fears of smoke and mirrors
and waking up with
one lifetime too many
hanging over your head.
Rain stings against shingles
sending your thoughts
hydroplaning into silence.
Thunder flashes against
the background of sirens
and missed phone calls.
The weather forecast looks grim:
Slightly cloudy, with a
one hundred percent chance
of remembering who you've been.
Anticipation...

Death's mask is a mirror,
he is us
we watch ourselves slumber
waiting for each breath.
You listen closer,
trying to find a song
within the static,
human fragility
at its finest.

Petrichor presses against
your window pane, threatening
to intrude on your atmosphere
of Viceroy smoke and mildew.
The clock ticks closer to midnight
and your vision smears like
a watercolor painting under a faucet,
slowly sliding into blankness.

Step into the clearing
Take a deep breath
Slide the robe from your body
Slip slip slip
Raise your arms above your head
Feel the breeze caress your skin
Listen to your heartbeat
Thump thump thump
Hear the music of the forest
Sway your body to the tune
Dance with the trees
Rustle rustle rustle
Open your mind to the magic
Laugh with your heart
Fill your soul with the power of the moon
Whisper whisper *whisper

it hung like a sack of potatoes
from
the
ceiling,
it
hung; looking simply heavy.

many people came in the room
saying                                what
a                                        shame
what a                              shame
what                               a shame
what a shame shame shame...

They stood there
all                   just
looking    up
together.      up!
look                  up!
look                      up.


the women were
just                  crying
and                  the men
tried to comfort them.
but
still...

    for a very long
time,
not
     a soul did
                 anything
except stare up...

After a long while, they slowly
moved
to
try to untie the ropes,
still
sobbing over the lifeless...

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet--
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.