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.

Conformity will never birth
understanding

be true to your
self and it will
thank you

Cold winds blow the autumn leaf from its stand
Twisting and turning in waves of air as it slowly
Falls to the ground.
Until the mighty tree, once so full of green
Lies barren under darkening clouds.
But all is not lost, its sacrifice is not in vain, for
Even as the last leaf falls
As the final animal settles down to wait out the months
The winds are changing.
Glorious green returns and claims its home among the wood
Plants reach up to the sun
Animals crawl out of their burrows to greet the rising day

It was winter.
Now it is spring.

These days
        our days are not
               numbered
   not at all subject to the
     order we love to defy

I refuse to believe anything to
the contrary,
                      there is no judgment day
                          


impossible.

Dear heart

stop taking things so
seriously,

I have three fourths a
mind that likes how you're around and
a stuck twenty five bent on
shutting you down before
inside (and I'm trying) out loud with
count to two, one is familiar but
(water thinks) so are you after the
rain comes and white-washes us
clean

but white isn't neat, who says red isn't
true and the two next-best colors aren't
yellow and blue? It appears as though
wisdom (seen through a blank lens) is
only now starting to shift shades and
blend in the hues of the thoughts of the
heart's hidden song

to think some folks can't find
a place to belong!

nothing to say kind-
ness full of getting better and
hidden out among going nowhere for
lack of a better desert to waste early pills in

feeling requisite and searing updraft setting
weaker weaker dear quiet desert dear
freedom downed glass of freedom

fitting room water room dear
don't wait for anyone to go

away early desert
better pills full
of getting quiet

unfamiliar rooms will you say
when I've gone away?
and all the up-tempo living
will you say when I've
gone away? Ten steps
to the waterfront ten
steps to raw beauty will you
say will you stay when
I've gone away?

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

never lose your sparkle

promise me.

[Orange]

It's nice to meet you I
See you're smiling am
I funny?

We only have a short while before
I must go so let's converse let's take
Advantage of this new friendship why
Don't you say something?

Your hair is well-brushed I must
Say you look exquisite

I guess I'm alright for an orange

I remember when life was all about
    soft edges and incandescence

        ( subtle timbres that echo )
         (                                          )
           (                                      )

until that stillness shattered with the
      blunt force of
            thirty thousand wandering souls
                              scurrying back to safety in their
                              respective books

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately
About college
People I love
Careers that might interest me

Too much thinking can make your head hurt.

So I let my thoughts dissolve
dissolve is the wrong word.
I let my thoughts expand through my music
Through my pursuits, my passions

We never know where we will end up tomorrow
It could be anywhere, really

We could never see the people we are familiar with again; today could be the last day.

I hope this phrase never is demoted to cliche status; it is far too important for that sad fate.

The point I'm getting to is

Live tomorrow, today, whatever time you are in
With as much soul, as much class,
All your strength and all your love
As you will.

Leave nothing unsaid, leave no story unwritten.

Lest it be forgotten.

You are the reason why I
wake up every morning

                and do you know why?

         because I believe you can do anything
    and I want to
                              extend that anything
                   to the moon and back

I loved every thing, every inch
                                            and the song-streams never ceased
    But now my moon has left and the tides
         are
                  all
                       a
                         s
                           kew
                     so why should I be able to channel anything?

             the group mentality is to reject the sober and drink until

        nothing
        matters
                          ­                                                               oh
                       we're so far ahead of the group
                                                           ­                  [correction]
                       I am.

it's not often my thoughts stop
     whispering like hummingbird wings
     flitting in and around and out to you

only for a moment and I am once again reminded
             why you continue to impress me
              
         (it's the way you know so much
         and use that to learn more)

Echoes of dreams of the thinking that
lifted soft fingers from opening scenes

It's not very hard to see where you've been
Just follow your footsteps through every trash can
And pick up the dust and pack up the sins
And leave so I'll find my way home

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

I'm not like
  everyone else

but neither are you

we're explosive.

Sitting always with a pen tap tap tapping
To the direction of a long, tapered finger
Restless paper shuffles, eager to be filled
With medical jargon, words that have
No place in my heart and have never
Existed there, even now failing to mix the oily
Madness with pure liquid thought

Ask your questions of me then, and
I promise to do my best to answer
Watching my thoughts become trapped by
Your pen, locked into paper prisons between
Blue lines and then signed with a practiced
Flourish of fingers, sealing my fate as surely
And unwaveringly as countless others before
I disappear under your gaze, vanish amidst the
Oil pastels that line your office
Time stops here.

I wish I had that kind of control.

opened a fortune cookie in
September to find "something
good will happen on March
3rd" and here it is, a long time
coming and right around the corner

what's next?

and if I think about it will it
still find me?

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

off to the space where how
small we are becomes apparent, you
won't hear from me for a while but
I am alive and well, more-so than
previously, I assure you

off to the space where strings protest
the fallen angels we have allowed into
our homes, weathered giants aware of
each slice all the while supporting
greedy feet

we are the devil.
we are god.

anything but the in-between, that's
where things get lost

No one else loves purely for love

Pen to paper, pen to paper
Come on, flow. Work your magic.
Ah, there it is. A bit distant, but it's there.

I aspire to be something
Someone
Can't remember exactly what
Or who
But someone, I will be
Technicolor, bridges
Between
Always between the cities

Quite a pollution problem, they
Really should do something about
That.
Faded orange, red, gold sunset
Awaits me and whomever else
I happen to find near the edge

Falling slowly
Into a bench or a log or a
Cliff that grudgingly bears us for
A little while, then
Lets us go

You've gone and gotten a new
coat now, and why?

the old one was just fine.

with its patchwork holes and
zipped up stories (never would
tell) it might be

less exciting to wear out and
about perhaps, but far more
comfortable

My life
My words
My thoughts
My shadows

are not yours.

Who is here to hear?

The wind.

Time to start packing

a feast for your taste,
question for your heart,
ringing telephone

Prepare to feel better and worse than
                You've ever felt before
      It's not easy, at times you will seem
                                          Completely and
                                                       Utterly
                                                                                                                                                                 alone
                              But there are the other times, times
                                  a unique sense of belonging warms
                 you up from your very core because
                                                                                                     no two people share the same love, it
                                                                                                      is a creation they each pour
                                                                                                             their hearts into, and life
                                                                                                     is hard so love is too
                                                                                                                      and at times you won't
                                                                                                 know what to do but
                                                 in the end it's
                                                          alright
    


                                                                   In the end it's alright

Don't let them boss you around
       or let me try to influence your decisions
   thinkers don't play roles
                             others set out for us

  People like me make their own
            

             I will not settle, and,
        for a little while there,
                                        neither would you.

History may repeat itself
But tonight is a stake in the ground of time
Rooted in the day
Never to grow old

"We will never have tonight again"
Leave no thoughts unvoiced
Say whatever you are thinking
No regrets

After all, open forums are tough to come by
And here exists one
For a short while
So speak your mind

Invite all the elephants
Into the room
Indulge
"We will never have tonight again"

Find the words
You thought were impossible
But the world needs them
But I need them
But you need them

And there will be no more perfect timing
No second chances
There is only tonight
And the weight that needs not
Rest upon your shoulders

you can hold my heart and feel its rain
      and pretend my dreams don't scare
                                           sleep away, but

be found, be
   now where I need you if
                    anything at all builds
                           us up like a wall, keeps
                         me around, dusty brick

In the wake of the sleeping trees
        we shine like fire

Are not we all simply vessels of wood
Pulled by tactful strings
Eased every which way they desire?

Are not we powerless
Unable to overthrow the influence of every
Little shred of evidence as to why
This is wrong?

Are not we spoken for
In the gazes that say everything
In the eyes that meet you and tremble
In the hollow laughter

We are nothing but shells
Failures forgotten
To sink deep in the ocean of time
And disappear.

It will be strange to see you again
after so much time
has meddled with us both, it
Will be strange to sing with you
now that we're both in chorus
and know what we're doing
more-so than we did two years ago, it
will be strange but
We are not strangers, and
I look forward to the day

At the end of the day
all that's been is fire
and what ever was joins
hands in a cool drink against
distaste, kerosene
have you seen the fires
in my stomach? burning
in hope, drowning out the
silence of oppression, stuttered
freedom clears its throat

As if sunshine and rain got
together to play a trick on poor
cloud

The night is frantic
begging morning to
end its miserable existence
if only for a day

Hey, look
It's me there on the wall
Never thought I'd look so frightened
Never thought I'd seem so small

Isn't that all they ever tell you?
That we're just fighting for the cause
This time it is quite different
We're breaking our own laws

Flailing
Turning
Writhing
Burning
Fire's in my blood

Snacking on my hopes and dreams
Watching as I tumble

down.

Fumble mumble jumble
Words or are they thoughts
Or are they notes or are
They voices in my head in my thoughts

mind you I'm not mind you I am not
mind YOU I'm in no way
out of it
I'm in it am I I am I'm in on it
It all makes sense
And no need for cents or dollars
or nickels or the lot of it all

trade in happys in melancholys in smiles
in everything that matters not things
we assign false meaning to

If we had our way, hidden lives and loves would
                                 up out of the ashes in which we
                    g                                           ­                   live
                n  
             i
        r
    p
S

                                                     So build me a staircase that

     retches           your
   t             u     to        be
S                  p                 au
t                                       t
   r                                   i
     a                              f
       e                         u
         h                     l
           -                 -
             g            b
               n       e
                  i   a
                    t
                        
and leave the love bit
                                  wrapped up between the
           two
          of us
                           like a warm sock on chilly winter toes

It's a good feeling this
positive vibration of the spirit at
1 forty 8 in the dark
which
        dare I allow my fresh naive thought to venture out
              into our sleeping world
convinces me that
tomorrow is going to be
a great day

Lonely stars, glance up from your
pitted earth and marvel at the
humans of empty space

"how many are there?"

"trillions."

Sullen sprinkles rage across the
Little one's mind, coupled and
Doubled among fleeting glimpses
Of responsibility at times

But the train can never un-chug
Itself back on its tracks
And the life worth living is one
Of great achievement and
Humility at the top, always
A sense of the relative
Importance of the word

And careful attention to the
Few facts that present themselves
As offerings before an altar
But are taken as welcome
Friends, worn and tires, who seek only
A fire and a meal to purge the chill from
Their bones, but of course they
Know (perhaps not)
The sun always does
A better job

Your words
                    pressed flat against cobblestones
        What's that behind them?
                                 slinking about in the
                                                             shadows?
Catch it
    Catch it, almost got it this time but
                     it broke my net, shook off my
                            traps and fled my
                                                 mind's garden

                   better luck tomorrow.

[Doll]

I wish I could speak these
Lips will not move I am
At the mercy of all who know me

At least you will crumble I
Endure fur hundreds of years
Forgotten and alone with
My thoughts

I am locked in a porcelain mausoleum.

If there are so many people just like
me where you are

why am I here and why
do I feel as though we're not alone
when we are?

I love you, and I'm
serious

can you say
that?

can you say
torture tonight?

The unknown.
We pretend it doesn't exist, deny it through shaking hands
But at last we come to terms

Soon it will be time to venture forth into the unknown
It's time to move on.