Shh.
Don't tell.

I'm losing my mind
And there is nothing else to say

I feel as though I'm falling
And **** myself awake

But sleep is a feast
And I'm starving

Up the hill
                  drawn fresh from a well
           Fire bubbles over the bucket rim
                  and all is still once more.

[Return to forgotten ideals
      Keep writing for as long as
                                                  it takes
                      to fuel the fire
                                    build the walls
              I'm beginning to doubt this act
                  accomplishes anything but
       It makes me feel better, it
                  makes me feel, it
                        makes me
           continue my nonsense like
                      so many of you
    explanations, accusations built
                        from the same blocks
                              such variety within
                                                    rigid boundaries]

Good morning
splashing a sunrise across my
pillow to remember only
fifteen days before the
sky dreams of dirt, rich
ripe and golden

all the clouds can do
is watch

Am I alive?
Is this real?
I feel like a dream?
I feel like dying?
I feel ****** up to the core?
Translate.
And don't be turned off now
Embrace it.

Who are you waiting for
out on that branch of yours?
                waiting to take the first step on the
                        whispered way home
please be patient, you've
   painted your soul into my heart and
                     I'm letting you deeper
         chiseling candlelight, feeling time
             swirl around me, getting
     so beautifully lost in one day, one
                             day after another

When the lights go down
all I hear is this moment
   and the soft reflection of
   lamplight on our faces is
                           all I see

Names are failed attempts at
      guessing the true nature of things

speechless more
often than not

Welcome to life. It's not that nice of a place.

Here's your survival gear.

It's called love.

quite frankly I'm
startled to see you
right now

thinking you must live
beside my thoughts, all
the time you share
with them

but here you are
here and beautiful.

What will tomorrow bring?

Get back on top, beat yourself down
Explode to incredible heights and defy gravity
It never ends until it does.

I ventured out
          into the wet blackness
                of our forest at night
    armed with the best light money can buy
        and fire
                                  and memories
                      but even the best protection can turn against you
                  



                                                                ­         and so I fled.

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

As it turns out you're
      not the only one to think
                              like you do, there
           are scores of others whose
             thoughts wander the same roads
                  with poppy fields and
                        no speed limits

I am a styrofoam cup with the
bottom gently cut out, but
                                              maybe if I pour in
                                            fast enough, I can still be
                                                              ­                  full
          
                             for a little bit

I have reduced my life
to voices and pictures

hard to see what
comes next

Hello
       what is your sign?
  
oh, you're neutral.

        then what
               may I ask
          do you bring to this equation?

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

A log
sitting
on a
man
gets
up

Why do I make music?

            well, dear
to drown out the god-awful silence
                         you give me

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

Of all the questions that flutter through minds
Why should this one be any different from
"what is my dog eating by the sofa?"

Depth.

In posing this question, a hand is extended.
An offer is made to be included in something you may or may not have a reason to be included in, to open your mind and concern to the life and troubles of another.

To not ask this is to turn a blind eye to the signs.
to recognize and ignore
to not care.

It can mean the difference between the living and the dead
the broken and the whole
the enslaved and the free

The masters, substances of many names
Will not stop in their conquest
Will not cease their destruction
unless acted against.

Ignorance will not suffice.

Pose the question then, should the opportunity present itself.
Everyone has a story they choose not to tell

How much we miss from these withheld thoughts!

Seek them out, with noble intentions.

The whole foundation of the recognized word
Could be crumbling behind our eyes
And it would not matter

Great missiles of anger and hate may be aimed at us, fingers
Poised above powerful buttons
And it would not matter

Because right now
Here
You are with me
And I am with you

One hand in two, three
minutes stretching out endlessly
keeping time while the world spins
around and around my heart

I am in awe of that moment.

What's up with love anyway?
It tends to leave you hanging
With only a passing glimpse
A promise
An empty promise

Come back?

Please?

Eaten alive by

this is only the beginning of
a wonderful time

                            Brought to the knees of

                            what will tomorrow, next year
                            deliver?

                                                           Sent on a daydream

                                                           making friends with the heart
                                                           of all that knows heart

Be ever present

in the lives of those who carve
their own spaces in mine

tough love, coarse like
gritty asphalt, torn knees

makes me ache for unscripted
cheer, for a single bulb in an
otherwise dark room

unremarkable and
significant

Fishing for a soul
Glimpsed her once, a time since past
Never have I seen her since
My lines are tangled; I am my own doubt
I'm fishing for a soul, emptiness is my name
Until the day I see her again.

Sick sick sick
eating poison pills that might
taste good if they were tangible

sometimes it's hopeless and
I can't help you until I
help myself.

over hills and heads
sometimes it seems as
though it's us against
                                the world
or is it only me?

dwindled like a sputtering of fire
less bright against a dying sky
than it should be

Say your goodbyes
       pack the door closed
       spread your wheels
                                                                                          and fly off
  
     dreaming of yesterday
                       working for tomorrow
      for a whole new time
                        a whole new you
      as unknown fades to familiar
                        and you sharpen a pencil
      to ****** the words ahead

I can't talk with you
   I hope you understand

the rain
        every last drop
     warned me not to
          
told me to stay the hell away
               and that, my dear

is exactly what I will do.

It's impossible to fake who you are
Improbable and although conceivable
Absolutely undeniably impossible

Discovery comes with time and it's a mutual
Reimbursement when time leads to discovery
Please don't take too long, I don't know how to
Wait here

I want to see you
Every moment of every day
Never grow tired
And never grow old

life is suddenly
blatantly
impossibly



clear.

All this talk of destiny when
        What I want right now
                        Is a sandwich

I turned around the other day
In the hopes that the view might change
from where I stand

But the tree still lay at my feet
Its branches twisted
Its leaves tattered

A proud vessel for good
demolished
by my own hands

And why did I do it?

honestly,
I hoped you would turn to look.

Come to terms with
no man is a god and
those who believe in themselves
end up furthest from their goal

I'm better on my own
I'm best on my own
   It's best to be on your own
     I'm better on my own

The burning
      man
   watched
       the
       fire

listen
   the sound of a million tears
       soaking you

drenching your mind, and
  won't you come outside to join them?

a million more
and they keep coming

        no light but their own
          no warm, yellow glow

             just gray-white, off-color
               liquid sadness

               pouring down from the sky
                    and into you

just silence.

                   
silence        and       rain       and
               hidden screams

Do you ever feel strange?

I do at times.

The world is a cruel predator
Preying on the innocent.

Save as many as you can
Before they go under

Sit alone, forgotten room
An empty piece of paper
You clear your mind, blow out the smoke
And open yourself to thought
A minute passes, an hour
Begin to wonder if it will ever return
And then it does
Hand grasps at pencil
Words flowing out of your head
Fill one page, then another
So many thoughts, all rushing
To get out, to be heard
Inspiration has left its mark
On you
You will not forget its touch
Ache in its absence
Revel in its light
It is you, and you are
A part of it.

I'll catch up with
    you later
  on the road to
     somewhere

Have you
              twisted yourself up to see if you can
Have you
              passed the night awake by fire
Have you
              come to realize the significance of significance
Have you
              come to recognize your realization as flawed
Will you