I can feel the greasy fingers of America
Closing around my throat, it's
High time to high
Tail it out of here, my friend

Let's go.

Peace!
Sang the turtle
Life!
Croaked the frog
Love!
Chirped the crickets
From under their home log

And the owl raised one gloomy eye
To witness the parade
"But love is just a camouflage"
He said within the shade
"Delusions and intrusions, why
That's just no place to be"

The owl rambled on until
A cricket climbed his tree
Now this brave fellow hopped and jumped
In the great owl's face
To squeak out
"Love is everything, in every time and space"

And the owl moved his beak, annoyed, intent to have a snack
But a skip, a jump, a somersault
And the cricket's safely back
Among his friends, and as they turn
To march themselves away
They sing out to the owl
"Hope you have a grand 'ole day
And love will come your way
And love will come your way"

need sleep, will
love?

it's a worthwhile youth, really
wired together by realism and surreal
inquiries preceding the longest jumps
and happiest falls

delirium comes naturally, set into the
whispering trees soon to be enhanced with
visual technologies from your sunken
hungry couch, laden with hopes and aspirations
killed as often as lifted boulders

free the tiger, free the only place
for monstrosity, electric lights, emotion
squeezed like toothpaste from heavy
lips


is there no answer
                                         for

tonight as a night of submerged intellect
tonight as a night of dimly persistent dreams
as a night of dry baths, of words gone stale in the
face of the listener

you who are vibrant, come
shine a little closer

It's a silly thought but
    am I being tested? compared as
                  one of two?

I hope not.

Blood-red, wine
royal against midnight

This is a
waste of time, all my
thoughtful pretending

and I seldom allow
myself to recognize who
I want to be, surrounded by
strings, a silently persisting
taboo future

I am permeable.
Your thoughts, your words, you
Pass easily through me
Or would do so normally
But there is a snag, a
Rusted dull orange of a
Barbed wire fence threaded
Through a tree
That stops this
And we have grown
And we will grow
As the tiny umbrella plant became
The tropical masterpiece, beloved
Beneath the blue

Should charcoal clouds gather, we
Must not join the masses
But embrace the storm
And embrace each other
We'll be alright, I know it
Anything less than wonder is impossible
And we refuse to shop at the GAP

I say what I mean, and I mean what I say

Nothing will change
Because everything about us
Is perfect.

What is it about the forest
That is so appealing?
It is the knowledge that
Sitting there
You are surrounded by
Living beings

And open your mouth
The air rushes out
In harmony

Reverberations resonating
On the same wavelength
As the friends who surround you

Deliberate individuals
Understanding more
Speaking less

But speak they do
And it is in your best interests
To listen.

Believe in the unabashed wonder plain on my
open face

         we sow the future now, and my veins flow with the
                best for you

     nothing is torn down like walls, we'll live a long life, we
                                    will, as beautiful as the leaning forest before this mighty breath

   close your eyes, you
know I share my voice, now
         take comfort, everything
   is alright.

smokey eyes come
my way into the pages, come

let me listen to your heart and
match time in the forest

Hey there
              fish fry hey there
muscle goose hey there
       red hair atop a plastic horse that
     spins in endless circles

Hey
     there
   in-between the trees don't you see it it's a
       cloud but floats higher it's a
               great puff of white, so distant it
          must be someone's forgotten dream
  set free to wander
                  
      hey
   there it goes, oh here it comes no
        don't feed it or it will stick around give it a
  good kick in the ribs like this see?
            he won't be coming back

Gather then and witness the
        kindness at the heart of
                     human nature

What came first, me or
the harmony words?

sometimes I wonder

Conscious nonsense
             Don't you see I'm trying to
  think about my  
                             next
                                      ~move~
                   ­             I've
               run out of pawns I've
babbled with this brook for too long to
                             think
                             is the
                             idea
                             but
                             not
                            even
                           idealists
                           consider
                            that a
possibility at this stage, do they?
                                                        
  ­                                                   Ripped fabric in my head
                                               kerpow
                                                         and the lights
                                                                                                     go
out.

It's no surprise you
can read my eyes

                         perhaps it's like a mirror
                         seeing so much of yourself

You've left a hole
                             (In case you didn't remember)
  With no darkness left inside

             A bright hole - unlike any other

that engulfs me as I light four candles on a rock
        and think for forgiveness
   and rise with the smoke

                                                                ­    because we all want to drift away and
          singe our faces in the aftermath

hey, sorry
I think I ended on the wrong
note- (supposed to be a C but anyways)

I didn't mean to cry, honest
sat there in the car after you had left just
replaying all the time we've spent out here
and how we probably won't be back
ever (what a powerful word that is) or
at least for a considerable while

it overwhelmed me a bit, that and
our candle selves burning to ashes while
they set your pants on fire (I will find you
some new ones tomorrow, I promise)

only I can never free the words from my heart
(they want) so (badly to be heard by you)

please hold me and tell me you'll miss me, even
if that's (stretching the truth a little)

because I'm fizzling like a
flame under tears
and smiling at the same time, so
happy to know you for
who you are

She's dead
     you see

The mango erupted in
           peels of laughter
    reduced to orange pulp
        and noise as we looked on
   with barely suppressed
                                     hunger

Wake up, and see the sun outside
It's four o'clock; I've got nowhere to go
Pictures in the sand, they fly beneath my feet
I'm unknown

Faded memories are too much for my soul
The key with life is to let it unfold

Welcome to the day, when all of us as one
Will rise up
They tell us, they tell us again that we can't make a change
Prove them wrong, we're gonna prove them wrong

Though faded memories are too much for my soul
And all my enemies are plotting in the cold
The key with life is, you've got to let it unfold

In lieu of making promises, let's
say there are some words that
refuse to be half-hearted

since when is it unfashionable to
be a gentleman?
that a bold romantic, stifled by nothing
and free in spirit should struggle at matters
the ignorant find laughable is
tiresome to say the least

As a certain young girl fell down the rabbit hole
So too do I grow queasy at the thought of
A change in my surroundings
Mind you
The written word and expression
Occupy quite a large space
In my daily existence
But there is much to be learned from others
And sadness follows introspection

A fall from grace is nigh impossible
Beginning on the ground floor
As we are found
Choking in the dust, we
***** for the door handle
To encounter smooth memory
And long-forgotten resolve.

maybe I'm filled to the
brim like cupped hands under
the bathroom faucet

maybe the words that scorch this
tenderness in my mind with lonely
potency are yellow children of
a summer sun and its flower bride

maybe laughter is a dance

maybe when we get down to it, we
never really go anywhere, remain
hand-in-hand across state lines

and this heart snuggles up with
that one and the two grow stronger
out of their freedom heat

maybe I'm thinking too often, but
these thoughts orbit you like stars,
keeping me company until morning

It's a shame being
sensitive.
               wouldn't it be easier to
                 just be like everyone you
                 consider trapped between
                  their teenage years?

                no no NO
                no NO
                NO no !

                no thank
                you, where
                I think is
                far from
                perfect but
                it's mine.

Courage
                    born free like a summer breeze, free
                    to twist about and meddle with all
                       sorts of inspiration

that warning light isn't right (been
      meaning to have it fixed), but
              if you insist (your
          tank's quite full)

       here,

             take some of mine.

I thought they were kidding when they casually
proclaimed the stars that night spectacular

now, faced with a crowd of relative strangers on a learned rooftop seeking
solace in the sky, I know what they knew then

that each day, night, moment, nuance flickers once
and burns out, though light continues

and when the darkness smothers me in night, walking halogen-bright streets
I run for my pen

I've got a head full of
laughter and an aching heart
and moonlit walks and waffle
talks

They don't know
None of them do

Otherwise they wouldn't be here, right?
impossible.

They can't know
but I have to tell someone.

Remember how I said I wanted to...
Well, I didn't actually say it
But I did think it!
Anyhow, tonight is just a night
But the walls are gone
And we stare into the darkness beyond our candlelight
Wondering what might emerge

Because I want to
But I'm going to break all the rules
And ask you
Before I do.

freedom

~
inhibitions lost
within a din of
heart

~ ~
hearts lost without a
din of inhibitions

~ ~ ~
delicate, you
need not remind what
is found

the past moments blur
together in a rush of colorful
awareness, no more words to describe
conversation permeating the dark, sometimes
walking quickly and then ever so slowly

something holding the two to a bit of nature, as if
it were a magnifying glass to free them from anything
else, only breathing only freedom ever closer and
there's nowhere but here there's
nothing but now

keep it up keep it
up for as long as you can
the beauty the simplicity

all I write could be meaningless
and I would remain as I am
and no one has to know
how could anyone?

tonight it is clear
and no one else has to know

did you
see the flash? gone
off like a bulb to record
this company in wooden memory

don't tell me what you
don't have the words for
I understand

dreaming is only
one way

I want you to see yourself
through my eyes and through
my heart
for you to know
tonight
how you are
to me

Some days you wake up and don't want to do anything
Some days you lay on the couch and take a marathon of naps to the tune of endless sitcoms
Some days your body aches and your mind vaguely recalls what you put yourself through the day before
Some days you don't think you can continue

Those are the days that make you stronger
But only if you get up.

Skies have been cloudy for days
Great mothballs threatening liquid
Vengeance, and all the weathermen predicted
Rain. I for one anticipated a second
Flood, torrents of water so as to wash
Everything down the drain
And why not?

That would be horrifying and
Exciting in most respects
But the rain refuses to be
Dislodged from its clouds, looming
Above a waiting world to firmly assert that
It will not visit, not until the grass is a bit greener and
The flowers show their true colors

But the brittle brown grass cries out for water and the
Cracked gray flowers weep with despair
Because, of course
Water is vital, and
Everyone needs a rainbow

I just woke up from a dream
In which I was falling
Thinking of it now, I wish I had
Ended up in your hands after
Such a tiresome plummet
And what did you dream?
Hopefully rainbows, yes

Hopefully a full spectrum of
Colors swirling from a waterfall
Or a great gathering of all
Peoples to make peace and
Birth love beneath the shadows of their
Bombs

These are the dreams that should enlighten and
Inspire you to live fully and selflessly in the
Hopes of one day breaking the thin membrane
That stands between the wishing world
And ours

filibuster to the end, my
     friend of real significance, we've
come this far hand in
             hand so the taste
          is only sweeter

Twisted is the path we weave
Between the vines as
Torture turned a temple
Beneath mounds of promises
Waits patiently
For the next explorer

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

This is addressed to the ears of whatever is wrong with me.

*******.

I will not break.

Just take this paper and
Fill it with your hopes and dreams
Get it all our, purge yourself
Ink as acid, eating your thoughts
As they are put into records
Pressed into pedals

Invest in a quality pen
It will be your best friend with
Whom you fight but it all works
Out in the end sometimes

Free your mind, meditate
Don't run away when you look
In the mirror and see a fungus
Staring back at you, beady eyes
It's just a dream, so write about it

Understand insanity is a relative term with a long
Twisted history of art, and
You are the next generation of the Dickens
The Poe, the Dickinson, the Card, the Hawthorne

Discover greatness in yourself, for
You are a writer
And you can do anything

While it's easy to talk about holding on to
moments, they always slip through your
fingers in hindsight (I never thought I'd miss
having my name penciled on a napkin holder)

always is a strong word, I just
know I won't be around forever

and I'm not supposed to, not
yet

This morning
I watched a bird
Ram itself into the glass
Beside my door
Infuriated at the intrusion
Of its reflection
Forever angered
Forever shaken
By the ordeal

We're composing, you and I
Composing something greater than
Either of us can imagine
And it makes sense
For one to find the other
On occasion, the universe demonstrates
The greatest of compassions

I'm afraid
No work will be done today
As happy as I am
It is hard to attempt math
Equations on a cloud

She kissed my scars
That moment lingers on, whispering
I like you for who you are
All of you

And I do
My heart giving me
Away at times
I do

Nothing will ever be the same
Least of all my life

Might I be the first to allow, with
cold drawing near and burnished
autumn in revolt against vivid-scorched
months, all crisp words and bare
arms,
           reflection on these nineteen
years is done with great anticipation, for
purpose and love and vision and dreams, the
foundations envelop my years, stamp
me with 35 cents and a kiss for luck, good
heavens
                  I'm on my way.

It's right you know, really
spot on when someone throws that
phrase out, there being "no words for this
moment, no suitable avenue for a memory"

see
all they forget is the part with "no
dreams like these living in that beautiful head of
yours, no mixed laughter quite as musical"

but each is
always to finish with a soft fizzle, a hot shower
of sparks and touches,

it's no
fireworks show these minutes in the dark, even as
my heart "oohs" and "aahs" all the
same in the kaleidoscope that
surrounds you

I don't care who you are.
If you have written something heartfelt,
Post a link or direct me to it
In the comment section
Please

I always brush my teeth
before I kiss your picture

late-night thinking doesn't
     end
until five
(when the sun decides to
            go to bed and pins
  up a
    paper cut-out and a "will
                   return soon"
  in its place, billowing warm
     fingers over the world)

Firestorm
The ticking stops
And we look around, astonished
To be in a forest, surrounded on all sides
By charred trees
Victims of wild energy
At one time or another

It is in this corpseyard
That brilliantly colored
Paper clues lazily drift
Down upon the breeze
To tangle in your hair
And cover my eyes

But not until much later
Would I realize
Had I opened them
And not remained fearful
Of these new lenses

I might have seen through their voices
The vibrant hues you brought with you

But as is
We merely circumvented the beauty
Made our way slowly to the gates

And, unknown to us
The magentas and forest greens
Wilted in the darkness
As we left.