Continuation without meaning, meaning
Lacking merit, chains whose warders have
Long since deserted
Fallen prey to common gestures

There is no editorial for these thoughts
Of sound mind and sight body we
Press on

Some say it is the chlorophyll that keeps leaves
Green
I know it to be hope
I know, should hope grow tires and fail
To recognize her surroundings, leaves
Will drain to brown with
Worry

I challenge you, try to understand
Walk in the depressions left by the others
Feel their breath fueling your thoughts but
Keep them your own, always and
Forever your own, even as
Forever deflates and sags inward, a
Shadow of its former self

Reason, everything's about reason but to what
Ends, for what purpose and why?
A reason
Will not bring people together
A reason
Cannot solve a problem
A reason, a stupid ******* reason
Can't do much of anything at all

What is it for? What
Do we seek to justify somehow with this
Talk of talking we need
Three-dimensional speaking we need
Spheres of understanding not this
Circle we ride in silence without so much as a
Remark about the unchanging landscape

Fallacies will be present in all walks of life, hell
In every stone witnessed in all walks of life,
Hell,
Everywhere
And to dwell on them is to play the fool to
Succumb to defeat to rise above all we
Know and realize there is nothing else but
Cascading color waterfalls and this nub of
a pencil

Nothing crucial, no time for time when
It all is so vibrant, yet reflections adore
Our world because we invite them even
As we recognize the harm done, still welcome
Views built on the backs of the long dead and

Idealistic initial impressions of a
Flower before the wind steals it from the
Tangles of your hair and gifts pedals to
The breeze

I feel like a bed of coals
glowing brighter with each
passing moment

All choked up inside because
                             there is so much I never say, wanting
                                                    to share everything and grow up
           way too fast, that's not how
                           things work around here, not
               now under microscopes

                                  I love you to the point of
  not breathing, a precaution to
     ensure such radical notions remain where they
       are, but today you

                                           told me the greatest thing you could
                                               ever have brought to my ears, that you
                                                             ­          recognize
                                                        the simple truth, the difference, this
                                                wonderful knowledge you and I have of each
                                                 other, something others chase for so much
                                                            time­, and yes we have some of
that loosely-defined handhold on
reality, the ticking, but
                                           I need you to know, I
                                                               ­         
still cannot find words.

I would scream
                     But that's not what I do
I would rebound
                     But that would be blasphemous
I will be strong
I will be strong

Time will stand still

We will fall for time

And who can describe the drive
that leads teachers to teach and
dreamers to reach for their
impossibles

I'm reaching, don't
stop teaching me the impossible
never taken for granted (you've got a
heart so big)

my weakness is not that which might
seem to take eleven years or longer, I
revere you and in reverence might
falter a time or two with the noblest
of intentions

and always the pictures I've shared through
words like hugs guiding me, granting
purpose and definition to each struggle
and success, leading alongside cliffs
watched out for to the end that is the
present and the start that is a future

God help me, I cannot imagine
the newness without you, let this
bumbling wordfall, this clatter of
heart assure, soothe

for I am real as the
bones of the oak, as the
glow of a fire on
timeless sand

and just as solid and
just as warm, let me
show you

I found a bottle in the attic
Beneath a film of dust it read
"Liquid Dreams" and "Do not consume if
you have a history of broken hearts"

A gray-green light shone
Through the tired glass

I popped the cork and drank deep of others' desires
And here I am

You have to believe
    otherwise, there's
            nothing to be done

to hear the music singing, an unfiltered
hum in my ears always

and want nothing else.

What do I deserve?

My answer fluctuates between love and death
you see

Curiosity didn't exactly **** the cat
It just left it crippled in the road
For someone else to run over

Is this so wrong, this self destruction.
All you need is love
To bring you down and demolish
Every ounce of self-worth, but
Is this so wrong.

The luster that comes and goes
Sustains not myself
For lack of sustenance will be the end of me
And love, the fickle jester
Taunts and flaunts her invaluable charms
Just out of
forever out of reach.

Roses bloomed just below her eyes
The battle with the wind raged on
And as the Earth turned a tired gaze
It was left speechless by the energy
Contained in this slight figure

In her mind, she lives atop a great cliff
Threatening clouds of maroon on the horizon
And she gathers herself up
And she gathers herself up
To stand amidst it all

The roses flashing crimson
Signal to the world a soul who
Will not yield to adversity

But great rains fall and a massive wave
Crashes upon her
Her feet are swept out from underneath
And water closes in

The Earth holds its breath
Unbelieving, unwilling to accept what it has witnessed
Yet she surfaces atop a mountain
And she gathers herself up
And she gathers herself up
And she gathers herself up
To smile.

I hope they surround you tonight
Grace you with the gift of serenity in your evening hours, that
Once they have been introduced to your benevolence as I have
They will do all in their power to grant you safe passage through the
Theme parks and grasslands and flowery meadows of dreams in which
You walk unseen with every whisper deafening

[Orange]

Plastic eyes cannot see me
Plastic ears cannot hear me, plastic
Tongue cannot taste me

Bitter rind is protection
For sweet tangy juicy but
Plastic does not benefit cold
                   Dry air inside

We both are almost alive, I
am dying while you project life's
Illusion for reasons best left unknown

I will rot before I gather dust.

A greeting
        twirled across blacktop

     lazy in the sun, grown
        deeper in the eyes that

     reveal cloudy soul thoughts
          billowing like smoke before a fire

Have you ever had a moment when you were
right where you should be?

     I've just had a day.

let's go on adventures, it's
   the simplest things that stick in
       your mind and hold us together
              like a well-wrapped Christmas present

I do not have
time for the
   harvest moon
   tonight

They smoke, somber around us
    cooking phrases in our daily newspaper

dancers in their own right

     While I'm just trying to figure out how to
             breathe you in long enough that
                   I can float forever when you're gone

The heat outside must be a result of the
General increase in emotion that sometimes
Follows summer, top down and
Music eased up and maxed
Out among the sunglassed groups

Flipflop tans and cool lake water
Rubbing on bronzing lotion that
Allegedly prevents tanning

Today is a day, is the day
For adventure and discovery
All to ever want a cove in which
To waste away each and every hour

Drink plenty of water, make
Plenty of love and you'll be
Alright my friend, alright

There's always the lemonade if
Heat should assume the role of an adversary
Sparring on the green grass
What better way to live?
And where are you, to wonder
I'll play louder for you

Grow up when you want to
                              

                How you'd like
          Up
Grow

                   so that when you reach the top

It's somewhere you'd like to be

Where were we before I
crossed these eyes and pressed my
tees against the
grain?

against the wine when it's my
time to shine in luster I'll
do my best to muster the strength

I will need to
be that man for you

Woke up this morning and for a little while
Was confused as to why my eyes were bloodshot and hurting
Gingerly prodded to assess the damages, deemed workable
And then I remembered

My cheek pressed into the carpet
Riding a seemingly endless flow, mouth
Twisted open and eyes shut
It was the watch that got me

It felt like the equating of sides, the returning of possessions
And then the door. I hate the door.
When I heard it close, I lost it
Forced myself to remain composed until I could escape upstairs
And let loose.

"How quickly the clouds seem to move
When there's no space for thought"
A mantra once forgiven
I'm glad that I forgot

The air between these twisted words
Jumps straight up through the page
And stays with you, awaken to
A hollow earthly grave

Pull yourself together
******* with scotch tape
Pieced back with rubber bands
Nothing whatsoever to do with paper clips

Caffeine in crosrodaires
Kicked the habit to the curb

we're done with all that

so get back up on your wall.

sometimes happiness and
I are right
there beside you
and when you turn to
look,
            we get bored and
                              leave

Your mind is a fortress
My mind a battlefield
Your views are precise
Mine deluded

Your love is new
My love is worn
Your pages pristine
Mine wrinkled and torn
You observe the truth
And dish it right out
I fuel the fires
That only lies spout

Sure, you have your faults
But that's quite alright
I'm happy to have
You with me tonight
And as for mine, dear
There's no need to fuss
I can assure you
Of all this because

You are the air I breathe, to clear my head
You make my life worth living
And that's the truth
Please let me in.

The eraser came before the pencil
                          Mankind wanting
                            To purify its slate
          Long before anything was written

   The pencil a justification
                after the fact

Expectations are a funny thing
You expect things of yourself, which is beneficial
Goals you'd like to achieve, a future you work to write

it's the expectations of others that bring to the table a problem.

There's a thing to be said for letting your loved ones choose their own paths
There's a little teensy thing that always gets stepped on

name's freedom, mom.

In its small voice it cries out and argues on your behalf
Too often do we set it aside
Disregard a valid point
Stifle a light

So I ask of you a simple thing
Let me live my life how I choose
Not how you'd prefer me to build myself, dad.
But the crooked, beautiful way I piece things together

on my own.

She's leaving soon
[Masked bandit runs onstage and stabs in heart, leaves]
And it's going to be excruciating for
The next month and a half
But there is no such thing as goodbye

Goodbye is, in truth
A word, a phrase that should have no place in this world
Seeing as all it does is transfer its dark tail to an
Unknowing and usually unwilling recipient
[Bandit returns, retrieves knife, leaves]

The vast majority of the masses would consent to labeling my ideas as
Idealistic.

Fine then, I suppose they could be thought of as such by people who consider
Them to be impossible, improbable, or merely unlikely
There is a rhythm to my thinking, however, to
Take a good thing and expand upon it, learn from it, live with it, grow
[Clowns dance across screen]
Until all the self-righteous fools and their cemented mindsets become old and
Sodden with unknown wealth

Intellect can only get one so far before one must understand that
Not everything will be understood
[Large dog chases tennis ball across field]
And to persist in questioning, in excess discovery is to eliminate the wonder
The beauty that persists in all things, or at least to
Diminish it

Keep the volume up
The love strong
The fire burning
Your heart sound
Your dreams huge
My will stone
My mind clear
Our lives intertwined
Our lives intertwined
[Sunset fades to black]

I'd like to be a jumpsuit
  so I could wrap myself around you
       in an endless hug.

Dear God, I cannot stop thinking about you.
Your images is seared into my mind
Your voice echoes in my head
When I look in the mirror, I see your smile reflected back at me

My friends tell me my eyes have changed color.
Have they?
I haven't noticed.
I'm only concerned with that unique turquoise that makes up yours

The days grow colder, but
They are only as cold as the time not spent with you
And this time
Makes up for all the frigid hate that cloaks the rest of the world
Fully.

Dear God, I cannot stop thinking about you.
A melody passes through my ears
Invoking memories of times since past
The stars, so inviting
Revealed many truths I have yet to find fault with

What I found then
Has changed my life
For the better
Dear God, I cannot stop thinking about you.

come sit with me and the
setting sun (promise I'll lean
into you, all angles and whispers
this time) but our closeness always
seems to fan out past the initial
firing of chemicals, and your
hand fills my heart, leaving little room
for much else

The trees and the animals
   do not understand
          why we insist on
     h~u~r~t~i~n~g
                        them so

Is it safe to assume I'm forgotten?

Is it safe to
assume this feeling will pass if I
only go to sleep and dream it
away?

It is safe, now
close your eyes.

What if the closest I get
to that moment is now?

I do not dream as of late
It is most peculiar.

You see, I used to dream
Quite often, in fact.
But those I cannot remember

The fanciful wishes of a lighter man
I wish I were still a dreamer.

(-x-)                                       
                    ­                                           up to the top of the world and
                                        will lift you                                                         let you see how softly
When I am capable, I                                                                ­                  the sunrise beckons
                                  

because life is sprawled out around
us like a sphere surpassing our
periphery, that is
                                we should spin in
                                circles holding each other
                                tight, laced fingers whispering until you and I
                                figure it out well enough to

land on the cool, sweet grass
(together after all)

I try to refrain but retch
And my thoughts splatter the paper

True conversation, simple as
The twig caught up in our river
Meandering along
Strips us of the shell they covet
Within layers of their own
Shining opaque splendor
A beautiful visage
That disturbs even the casual passerby

We are not the first ones.

Careless escapists frequent our haven
And their troubles vanish
As ours ooze from our pores
A vile sludge that falls and
Squelches between toes
Leaving us clean, relatively speaking

Upon our exit, we scoop up some of the stuff
And fit it back inside
Determined, the impure
Resolved, the imperfect
To sink further
Into the madness

Everyone wants to
                           box things up
                 Seal it all behind zippers
       and buttons and clips and plastic wrap

         In the hopes that what is
                               inside the box is
                In some way better than what
                                             Exists outside

Up on the roof there are choices
The freedom to fall, it's a hefty decision
But a decision nonetheless and one we all must come to face
In time only the whispers will survive
Lingering in the ears of the attentive
Lost within the murmur of countless souls

But there on the roof it is simple
Life or death, hell or beauty, togetherness or solitude
All brought to light above the lights
Of dull orange, illuminate the drug deals and
Quick kisses in alleyways
(We never saw it coming)

To jump would be a mistake
But so is life at its core
Turning in upon itself in a vicious cycle
Until we are flung off, one by one
Like leaves rattling in the spokes
Of your shiny red bike

So many lines peel off my mind
Like the **** coating on a succulent clementine
You remind me of everything good

Hope abounds

And every sentence is with exquisite reason
Each word branches from the great waterfall in
Shimmering intent

It is not coincidence that we fit together perfectly in our hugs

Just a note, wavering softly in the darkness
A pure, beautiful sound
Open your heart, close your eyes
And let me breathe you in

Bravery is not a small feat.

To stand tall and announce to the world your hidden
          it takes formidable inner strength.
The very idea of taking it to the open
          haunts and frightens you.

To what end?

If we succumb to the temptations of silence
Jump toward the Siren song
          we are finished.

Why are we here if not for chance?
          for chances are, chances are everything.
Why do we persist if not for triumph?
          risks are the surest paths to reward.

If then, chance and change are gates to paradise, why
Do we shy away?

fear.

Unjustified, unnecessary, indescribable
          fear.

Demolish it, and in the ashes of what was once a god-forsaken
          wasteland
You will discover
    
          hope.

so many laughs and
loves and glasses of watered-
down whiskey to share with
all of you

out of concern for your
general well-being, let's
boil all of the sludge and drivel
down to choice words (it'll
slide down your
arms more smoothly)

not what is wanted or
wanting, never allowed
whistles to get into the
dreams that keep you
up at night, down when-
ever they appear in your
periphery

only words, syllables (only
an overpass at night, halogen
halos on a concrete angel) can
carry the undeniable weight
of my thoughts

living and dying every day
in silence

will you never
learn? fill me with
insignificance, set
me on fire and I'll
burn off like a tick

:

with social graces carried
over in naive rubato, it
always goes too far before
I notice the source of all
this flying dirt

:

I don't share well, never
intend to pursue that
strange notion, always
feeling that I am not
alone should be warm but
buries me alive in
soggy thinking
tonight

:

mind over (it
shouldn't) matter

:

oh if time were a
bomb I'd blow us all
up and forget to look
under my ribcage

:

p(our) (my)self out

Unwelcome tears
Intruding upon my relative
Calm
Never make it to the surface
But wreak
Havoc inside

Something is wrong
Something is a bit off
And I must live with it

The problem cannot be within
Its cause must reside outside
This fragile charade

Something caused a crack
Something ruptured

Life as we know it
As we live it
Is false
And serves no purpose

Even love
The fearless protector
Balks at this truth

God help us all.

The face that passes before your eyes
Is it mine that plagues you so?
Oh to condemn its actions and wander
A featureless phantom
Lest you be troubled

the other night
   after you were kidnapped
              I ran
lost behind in the shadow of taxi
                    cabs parked at green lights
jumping statues and sleeping smiles
               until my heart's wheezing kept time with
cellophane yellows, reds and
                                   popped like a bubble, still
not suppressing any bit of you, only
                        anxious to learn more about what
lights your fires and soaks your skin
                  desperate to discover whether
jumping into rain-showers curls your lips upward
           in half-melted lazy warmth that
I might drown in you and
     be happy

One way
                               Stood at the top of a knoll
                A new low
No waiting looks welcome
                               One ultimate perspective

      A thousand open faces
                                                     Enjoy the passage of time
You had me at
                        Today matters, darlin'
You had me at
                        Archipelago Lotus Flowers
      3 pink hearts, an ornament of a house
Your world in
                        Every
                                ­ Square
                                             Inch
Just for fun
                         Make it worth remembering
Just for fun
                         Love heals (hazy yellow dreams)

      These hand-forged items
                                               Absolutely ridiculous
Became beautiful earth
                           that happily shapes us
    
       Though our feet may leave
                                             Have faith in the future

Jackson's trespassing music

Bottle up the joy
Bubbling inside you
And pass it along
To another who
Might find it challenging
To combat the charcoal sky
And most importantly
Tell them why

I watch as you take a
       flying leap into the water
  sinking down three, six, twelve feet
             eyes closed, crinkles of concentration
           at last reminded to follow your bubbles to the surface
     and wave excitedly