just get out of here
          flame on and up and out
    
                   go on

it's not like life is a card game and
we're all death's aces
                no
                   we all lose or we
         all win, depending on your philosophy
                             in the end

      hurry up and let's get out of here
                                   this chapter is far too long
                   time to start ripping out pages

Just you
right?
                 intense
                   fiery
                    explosive
                  you
                                        an­d it's
                                       crazy outside right
                                               now
                                                             ­                people
                                                                ­           are killing each
                                                                ­           other for money
                                                                ­                                               but that's never
                                                                ­                                                           news.

Laughter is the
light that draws
all these mindless
moths and

this fog makes
artificial lights
artificially much more
beautiful than they deserve
to be

If you want to know
   what I think we
                should do
    just pack it up and
hit the road right
                now
It's easy to see what this
              world is coming to
just pack it
        up and hit the road right
                           now
           I want to know what
                  you are           too
                              feeling
    so let’s pack it up
                and hit the road right now
       I’m guessing but I’d
   rather
            know the truth
                       oh let’s pack it up and
                                   hit the road right
                                          now
               (there’s no need
  to find the way back
                  nothing left to tie us
  here all I know is
                         I’ve got hope and
          I’ve got windows to my fear
               oh my dear)
                                         just pack it up and
                                       hit the road right
                                               now

It's late is it late
          already when the floor smells like cinnamon and
       welcomes you softly then refuses to let you up
                            and fire climbs streetlamps sheds
                                      orange-red light on this scene
Did you catch the
           entrance of our heroine by the stair
                 with patented uncertainty
                                 mystery's mark upon the air
                                           we breathe so
                                                       casually
I couldn't tear my eyes away
         wouldn't miss it for the world the
                       one I like to be in every
                             once and again

Let me tell you
             something
this world, our
         world
                              is not merely in constant flux but a state of revolution
                                                the periods of war and disease, of poverty and greed are
                                        coming to a close but
    hunger
                       hunger will remain close to the heart, hunger will
                 remain transformed, a hunger for humanity because
                                                         ­          this world, our
                                                                ­            world
                            craves understanding
and to
     deny its plea is to dim the lights on
                        dreams of our people, therefore
               a new system will be implemented, a system
                                                  in which our schools will no longer spoon-feed prior
                        accomplishments to students but will
encourage and
                                            inspire them to bring forth their own

Don't waste the
  sunlight now it's
    a beautiful day to feel
  that golden glow all around you
          no time to waste with meteor showers
       jump on up here!

    wait, it's a candle
someone left burning.

                                                               ­                                           sigh

                      don't waste the candlelight.

Speak
       to me I'm
    sleeping away what's
   left of the day and
           there's been nothing better
          since I've known so
and even though
       I find it fairly new I
                  really like you.

As it so happens
              (you never would have expected)
    that dastardly ghost to show her face
  but face you they did and              
                      for reasons you'll never understand
              yet the dog and the girl watched
                               silent as the moon
                       pulling at its strings
                            and letting the tides dance

Do expand upon your
  entrance to all that this is
and all that we are rises to the occasion
      
                                              jubilant
                                        holidays come to a close
                                           and the weather outside
is flawless

ATTACK
    the fallacies of faults in
      earth, cataclysmic sighs amid
     green smoke
to infuse the silence with purpose, retract
   walls upon walls is beyond me
                a test?
        surely it is
                       and through this doorway lies
           redemption
     amid people in the throes of passion and despair

Let me spin you some lines
from the top of my mind
there's not yet enough for an album
I want you to hear all the things that I've said
and I yours and let's talk about them

great
    green
       galomping high lights

amorphous purple elephant.

Life as we see it is
all about new beauty
and you've been brave this
new year

There's something to be
said for a vision of water
endless soup and hey we
might as well be floating
for lack of depth.

Does anyone know what this joy is?
This great sun illuminating me
I can feel it warming me from the outside in
calming my soul
forging the bonds of our friendship
two by two as the weather gets cold

and I know what to do about all this
I will do everything
and then it can find how to fix me

I give up
please
hear me life
please
give me any... any heart you can spare
because I am lost

Hello!

      I mean

He
            Did you see the way she looked at him? That, that
            is either the craziest stare in the stars of our eyes or
            an indication of infatuation!
                      
                           I say, infatuation? Thought we'd done away with that long ago
                          
             It comes back in a different way however, with years of experience elsewhere
             when you end up realizing who your true friends are and how you've strayed
             from constructive friendships to chafing ones

llo!


I mean

           Hello!
           How are you?

Sometimes
you feel so empty
and so full
to be confused
about what comes next

A frivolous fire crept 'tween some toes
Climbed up a calf and met with a knee
Danced past a waist that nobody knows
Up through all that blind fingers see
It crawled its way over the length of the skin
And over full mountains of rib-cages when
It got to the heart
And found you there

I'm a washed up fool in flannel pajamas
And I bet that line got your attention
See I thought there might be, between one and three
A whole world for us to rent space in

While time rambles on, I'll still write my songs
And hope you will make your way home
To a warm wooden fire, a mug of hot cider
And a kid who still calls you his own

I will follow you
         into the darkest of places
         before the saddest of faces
         love to shine through
         love to love you

http://soundcloud.com/samueldickinsonmusic/i-will-follow-you-into-the

Perfect
as the father once
told his son
                 "just wait"

I want to breathe what we have
lived for up until this point in
our life, love surging forth like
spawning salmon, powerful
and unstoppable magnetism
yes, breathe it in and expand
our hearts, savor the moment
every moment as a unique
collaboration, a creation of
two souls once lost and now
found again by chance

Come back around and make me
smile when I expect clouds on the
horizon and we're instead greeted
with a warm sunny afternoon and
our dogs' laughter when they know
what we are only beginning to find
out of the bleakest fogs a welcome
to the home that lifts the spirit

Sunrise is really going to be something
when we get around to it, you know I
miss a lot of things around this time of
year, reflection, family and friends with
one missing seat at my table won't you
come fill it sooner rather than later and
make it really something, this sunrise
once we get around to starting it up

Your voice.

I miss you.

And you're right, it should be easy.

I've resolved to follow my dreams,
       quite literally

For instance, I had a dream the other day that
  (I cut all of my hair off and)
the following day
                 I did

Now I'm just waiting for the day I awaken from a
  dream in which I laughed with you forever;
           is that strange?

Because I know that day,
     and it's the one I've
   been waiting for
              (for the longest time)

I cut my hair for
                    nostalgic reasons
like why I told you I wear that cologne on
          special occasions

When you come home, I'll be here
looking almost the same
        but a little wiser
     and with full awareness of what I have
                full appreciation
             for you, friend

Oh, yes
    many crazy adventures await us
                 in the near future

So hurry up and come home
          so we can get started

        Time is only a number, but
   loneliness is infinite
              
                 until it ends
       and then only possibilities
     go on forever

You don't realize what you have until it's next to gone

You don't recognize the truth in a "first" until long after the seconds and thirds

You don't appreciate comfort until you have known true pain

You don't realize what you have until it's next to gone

But I'm going to do something about it.

L

You might think you will always know what's the right thing to do, the right thing to say, but ninety-nine percent of the time, you will be wrong.

O

The wrong words will come out, the wrong reasoning, the wrong separation, the wrong wasted years of experimentation. You both will suffer.

V

Somehow, one of you finds a way to bridge the minute crack between your hearts and takes the initiative to do so. You begin to recognize how much each of you truly care for the other.

E**

And then somewhere along the line wires are crossed and out pops a spark.

     And it is this spark that births a brilliant new fire, with flecks of the old.

I found myself wanting to get you a necklace
  you know
to replace that one with the silver heart you wore before
      the chains got all tangled

I even picked it out, a light blue teardrop of glass to
match mine

no symbolism gets by you, and I wanted to get for you a
    tangible reminder that sadness is always there but

safely contained in a beautiful teardrop from
me to you if that makes any sense whatsoever
to lift up the latches and feel our breeze come
through the glass

there is a sense of fragility in tangible things
  a sense that cautions me from investing any power in one

if only there were a way
I hope you never forget

light through the glass / to wake whistling and shoot the
mockingbird / takes longer to warm a bed than / with two / one
and one forever / alone a promise to keep / you safe from / him
you / safe from you

in turn / the moon a wall / sunbeams penetrate blue / lively laughter
for once now / never again

joyous loops / (sensuous sputtering) to / life as we see it / but love
as we / plead remains (fault of the tried pleads guilty) /
silent

months return / in spiteful presence call / back the rain time /
rages over this landscape our / ravaged faces / weeping with
relief / as they pass

I miss you / so far from / trying to find yourself / lose your / self /
in the trees just / make sure when you / come back / to me / you
remember how wonderful life can be and why you should never
consider / leaving / when I'm waiting for you to knock on my
door

*I miss you too / and it's lonely out in / these woods but I remind
myself / replay your sincerities in my mind when I find myself /
drifting

I'll be home soon / please be there

Real virtue is not found
    in our unfortunate town

        Leave me be if you cannot bring
        yourself to leave intact your moral obelisk

                                                            You are sheltered

        And I will protect my own as
        the only thing worth saving

                                                 I will shelter you

Real virtue is not found
    in our unfortunate town

Lead me back to where I am
Floating above myself in brilliant
Shimmering crystalline detail

Shards of speech sunk deep into
these green tendrils of progress

expect the best and you will find'
at times you eat the elephant but
mostly it eats you

What place luminescent
joy has in a winter storm
I know not, but between
the labored breaths and
windy retaliation, it
shines

Oh, to learn in such
a freezer, clear heads
with minty logic as
one wall and one time
only stand between
me and a succulent
noodle-feast

Up and at 'em
whispered half-awake to a
sun that yawns above the window sill
from somewhere deep beneath soft pile blankets and
crisp laundered sheets to
present their fresh aroma as a
billowing of color in rich warm golden
vision and see what a thousand cameras could only
hope to find hovering in a periphery, hidden among
storm-clouds

In a moderate, questioning tone

          She whispers

    What do you think would happen if we dated again?

                I think it would be the same melodrama as it was back then.

And in a soft, resounding murmur*

           He answers
  
     I don't think so.
  
                 Not this time.

I didn't know

     after all those band-aids we so
    painstakingly crafted for each other years
       years ago
                           yours had fallen off

    I wish you I wish you
      I wish you had told me sooner it's
not
     the best time to get a call like that in
            a sunny dog park
          
            but I will be there for you if you're here
                there for you when you leave
             there for you PERIOD.

                    nothing will change that

  It's funny, no matter
            how long I rub my eyes, I can't seem to
      catch my breath catch it maybe nope

             I will be there tomorrow
                and we will talk about our past

and your future

Hello night I've come to know
Through darkness silent river flow
And lay me down to rest for good
In time I will go when I should

Happiness runs
          from where you need it most
    to places it should never dare to explore
        
but even feelings grow tired
  and this one is not the athlete she used to be

All these letters I've held on to
To spite me in my current condition
Hurl
          word after
                     word after
                                word
    (afterwards, hardly any heart to think)

tempt my flame and lose the privilege of
    their homes in my memory

Fresh from the water
I embrace the soft yellow glow that
Fills my writing space

This week's end, a resolution to explore
And the crickets sound their approval

Colorful breath
escapes lips frosted with a hint of cinnamon

the picture of immortality
captured with soft patters from

falling flakes, each one
a world in itself

As I have grown to understand

Most everything can be fixed with
      a little duct tape and minimal effort while

              S
               c
              a
               r
              s

          never fade to those
                scarred by time; unforgiving
   are the years that forbid such

                     (memory lapses)
      to look upon

  unblemished skin and see
                
              
                   ******        wreckage
            
                                                 since faded to
                                                              ­white ribbons like smoke

Power face
      Adrift between shadows

      oo
     l    m                   purple pedals
   B       s            

Split down the middle
                (Lemon wedge)
    Rhythm and knowledge and

                                    Humanity brought to a flower
                           So it wilts with the
                             weight of the world

In turn, now it's yours

Roll the dice (faces)
Explain your name to
These blind ears and
Let them taste you, all
Noise in the salty darkness

In turn, now it's mine

Pointed tongues rage
Liquid illustration
For an often
Misjudged combination
Wounded station
And lately

They've raced a new direction
Embraced the bleak reflection
Erased their true protection
To worship their children
Eyes in the fire

Testify before your false god
        built of owned wood
        burnt to glowing ashes on
          pulpits like eggshells


    forgive all transgressions
  for to give
       merit to
     an inch to the game
                
                          will mean the end.

Ambition
           as in
         where the hell do you want to be you
         can't be satisfied with where you are so get
             up get out get out get out to
Beauty
            holy like swiss cheese, all
        tricky to find but once you've got it
        it sticks for life, our redeeming quality
         exquisite fault for
Heaven
          's sake, rich warm liquor still
               coaxes words from reluctant throats
           did you think you'd make it did you
            honestly believe we'd let you slip
       away not a chance not a
         chance not by chance chance chance

    I've forgotten why I came
   *Let me help you remember