It's never too early to realize
what you have and treasure it

And never too late to marvel
at your surroundings or
company

I'll build a place for you
    with **** carpets.

In light of current world standings
The committee of the human condition
Has agreed to conduct an experiment
Each of you will be given precisely
Three hours, in which you are to find
Another
              Interpret these instructions as you will
Your time begins now

Rioter.
              Look in the mirror.

Is this the way

      you

            want to make a difference?

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 is better out loud.
It is out loud that we learn
And in learning all things are possible

Do you remember the candles
Lost as you were inside their flame
You do.

I can see it in your eyes
They contain so much, really
Instantaneous connection via gaze
I do believe I've just about finished
This chapter in my life

Yes, there's the bold heading
Visible through these thin pages

And once one is through
You'd best start another
Or get lost in the margins
Of someone else's notebook

It is as silent as a library should be
Though they rarely live up to their namesakes
And on occasion a noise might
Betray the location of one inhabitant
Blissfully stuck between bindings

And it is funny that what some people fail to recognize
For lack of proper examination distance
Can be quite apparent to an outsider
Funny
Like clowns.

Once upon a time, there lived a mouse
And he went for the cheese.

*snap

"Sketch a picture"
He suggests
"One with birds and
Trees and soft green grass"

"Lose yourself among your creations
As they carry you from this hell-hole"
A pack of paints exchanges hands
Accompanied by a brush of dark mahogany
And nylon bristles

"Paint the most desolate places
You know"

"Bring your art to the alleys
And to the cracked walls
And to the the train tracks"

"Brighten the day of a stranger
You may never meet"

A burnished bronze coin is help up with grimy fingers
But declined with a smile
As the artist makes his way
To the wall by the stream
Where he will paint her name
In stars

Bold my words.
You may lose the sky but
Never stop trying

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

In search of a discovery
Worthy of my time
While so many
Twisting shadows stalk me
Feeding on my determination

A blue sky crackles with lightning
Instantly gray.

I hide behind my walls of sound
My fearless protectors
And dare not venture out

into the storm

bring me your silence
bring
     me, full of wonder at the waterside
bring me
         a lifetime of long walks
bring me real
               freedom for two, for here
               far from worshipped lights
bring me you
                      and
please take all that I have,
all I will be in your hands

Names grant things identity
We lack the ability to determine this for ourselves
And so others assign it
For us to blissfully pour our ignorance
Into their molds

4:40 PM

learning all about the little
nuances that try to define what it is
exactly that lies at your core, the
buzzing generator of unmistakable  
charm, patterns of thoughts like ever-shifting
wallpaper in your head, forever reluctant to
meet my eyes for fear of our mirrored
colors merging into one, pools of green and
earth

5:06 PM

no surprise to figure life is about moving when
raised on the road and pit-stop friends but
I'm at a loss when it comes to leaving you with a good
impression, powerless to live these last few days to the
fullest, stuck on that expression, those colors

5:32 PM

meaning thrives in the silences between our speech, only
beginning to gather itself up before we carry on, fascinated
by the effect our own vibrations can have on another, sure
the aftershock will hit any day now, the yesterday

6:24 PM

next time I hope to embrace the silence as I do whenever
you head off into the sunset, ridiculous quiet building a time
and space for us to enjoy the company that comes with
forgetting I am there and never being able
to forget you

The moment when you
Pass under a bridge and hear
The rain stop

Just a moment, a perfect
Few seconds of silence before the sights and
Sounds come flooding back in

Enjoy it.

I'm almost at the point where I can
Forgive you for how badly you've hurt me, but
We can't I don't You
Can't pretend like it never happened


that's even worse.

painted a guitar today
and somehow the glossy
made it to whispered coat racks in
my head, "protecting against
rain, sun, and humidity" and

preventing me from running these
tired fingers down your cold, glassy face
as the road rises up to meet me
and my words

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

Waking up does not
                           always
    mean opening
                   your eyes

       Sometimes seeing isn't
                        half
                            the battle

Peace is healthy
   in moderation

first silhouettes fade
into softer remembrance
then light up the sky

fight
   as it seems we both do

we're so alike it's
scary

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

I ****** up.

how can I tell if you won't
show me?

         which runs are for exercise
         and which to tame a wild heart
  
    sometimes
there's nothing in a glance
             but our eyes meet far too
             often for mere circumstantial
             evidence to stand

        if only I could climb within your head
        read what plasters those pages

so as to decipher
a course of attention
          founded action
                foundation
                                               and determine
                                          why your unwavering gaze
                                             graces mine

You lost my
mind while it
lay in a pocket of
spring

           sprung up like it's
           rancid, quick thinking
           held on to

a half frozen pinkie,
three-fourths of a
day

Nights like that one
Remind me
I'm no one special

I may sweat over song lyrics
Analyze chord progressions
And spend more time with my notebook
Than the average person will

But at the end of the day
I'm just like any other teenage guy
Trying to work up sufficient courage
To kiss the girl he likes goodnight

reciprocal patter, the rain and window
     gather resolve, together birth a drop

to swell down and
join the others

Silence on the radio
radio silence for all of us

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

People use pictures when they can't
                                   find the words
And photographs when they can't
   hold on to them

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

The song is stifled
The day is done
The night lingers
The cocoa cools
The bird falls from the sky
The apple turns brown with age
The child begins to cry
The very image of rage
The failure shouts
The ghost in your periphery

*All will fade to nothing
When I find you.

Takes a while to sink in, this
new place, the smell of cleaning
products and wood, leather and
old books

This is my home—how did I get here?

I work maniacally, rearranging as a signature,
desperate approval for this change

So much space
"you'll be comfortable"

living apart, what
life should I lead?

In this space
Resides Fortune
Jealousy and Fear
In the corners
Glowering miserably
Sadness stretched out
On the couch
Head inseparable from hands
Joy is tied to a post
A humiliating position
Fingers brought together with
Barbed Wire
Casting out a smile
As Anger sharpens his ax

I want to throw a bomb
Amidst it all
To end this
But decide to
Watch how the scene
Plays out

Life distilled
Before my eyes
A revelation so simple
We should have missed it
If not for the spark
That hit like a downy pillow
To the face
And compelled me to turn
Around

Whispers of the mind
Too soft for others to hear
Shouting within our heads
Birth impulses that
Once we comply
Give rise to a fantastic newness
A wholeness of self, simply
Miraculous in nature

Walk with me, then
And put this theory to practice
The secrets of your self
Yet unknown to me
Carry an allure
Poised and potent
That gets me
Through the day

Exploration, soul through a straw
Thought they had told you
Oh, did you now?

Shouts from nostrils, echo
From synapse to eyelash
Universal reverb, total
Drunkenness, did we
Say chocolate? Should
Be *****, bleach, anything
That burns for an instant and
Brings relief through the fogs
Of god-knows-what-else and

Is she coming in here to see
Me like this? Oh,
Please no. Once is enough
And even that time left a nasty
Band of scar tissue mocking out a
Word, I fear for my mind in
Spite of everything. It fails to
Consider my heart and plods on
To the grave, as determined as
When it first twisted

Help me
I'm afraid I've returned
to the place I wanted to leave far behind

But it's a part of me now
And I cannot forget

I'm heading down to the river
In the hopes that when I turn around
You will be there

Help me before I help myself.

You're my picardy
third, the major apex in
this slice of life

the one that brings the audience to
its feet like so many jacks from their
boxes with the pop-out love you
shine all the time

Just look in her eyes
          she doesn't mean a thing

     you and I both should
                       pack up and get out
                               or we'll snap

Everything will be alright for you
Because it should be
And for us

I promise. Hold me to it.

You are a beautiful person. Remember our discussion of the word?
On all accounts
Please don't forget that.

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

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)

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

In disguise when
                  surrounding people boast inflated
   concepts of importance
        
          If they cannot recognize me
                      when I change, how
             will they recognize my ideas after
       I am gone?

Hello.

"Maybe not tomorrow
but someday"
She tells me
"the flowers will wilt
the light will dim
the roads will diverge"

And I wonder
How will it be
When I no longer recognize you
And you no longer see me
Will I feel the knife
Slowly as it inches into my heart
Or feign indifference and burn all traces
Of you

A valuable question, certainly
And one to consider
But no answers come to mind
At least none I can bring myself to
Singe this page with

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.

Monetary wealth makes no difference
In the end
It all comes down to how you have
Gone about expressing yourself

Who has listened
Who has taken the initiative
And such

So scrap your hammered ideals
And join me.

To turn back the clock
Seems like it might fix everything
which is, of course, misleading

Fixing one thing crushes another
Perhaps the other is more important
Perhaps not
but who is willing to take that kind of a chance?

I would.