There's something to be
said for a vision of water
endless soup and hey we
might as well be floating
for lack of depth.

We have all lost so much
Our precious homes, your precious touch
And it may seem like such a shame to never see the sun
Trapped here by earthen walls while
Mighty towers crumble, fall
But a small hope is all, illuminating ravaged minds

Cry out for reason
Why would this hell happen here? I
Can't shake this feeling
Caused by an onslaught of fear, and
As my memories fall to the ground
I wonder how

Looking back on the past
Beautiful things never last
We delude ourselves in believing this cannot be true
Concrete turned to rising dust by
Broken minds and broken trust
Billowing in dark destructive clouds
It eats away at you

Cry out for reason
Why would this hell happen here? I
Can't shake this feeling
Caused by an onslaught of fear, and
As my memories fall to the ground
I wonder how

Lackluster habit
this day envisioned in green
framed between pedals
expulsion, extrication, ex
trials and f
reedoms

explode, expulge
entrance

enter

Purple mountains purple
Circles purple eyelids
Purple wrist

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

you kept to yourself

and that makes everyone wonder, now
that you're gone

and I tried to explain that sometimes there's
nothing you can do to change
someone's mind, no sense
wondering whether a
simple good morning
would have kept
you around

hindsight is 20/20, but
nobody saw that coming

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!

for the first time
I can't wait
until the morning
comes around
to
pluck me
from my idleness

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.

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

Reality bites
       sinks long curved narrow pointed teeth into a daydream
  drags it to the ground, rips away
     flecks of joy flying in all directions
             generous splatters of hope on the wall

and it is done.

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.

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

Insufferable the
rage of a thousand
fires in eyes
embers of a day

if you cut me open
you would hear music

They've turned life into a numbers game
At least we agree there's no right answer
But joy cannot be found in forever counting up because
We start at zero and finish at zero and no matter
How large our numbers got, this fact does not
Make us any more "here" now, does it? No
Good old George rising from his casket on
Account of all the quality investments he made over
The years, that's silly

I count. down

From birth a finite number of seconds allotted to
Running risks by the hourglass like elders
Skydiving when the grains are so few who
Cares when we go but how

                           How is the question

And words will always
                               always trump numbers

My friend said she would turn into a cloud
         I told her that's physically impossible
She warned me her form was fading
         I was occupied elsewhere
She asked me if I wouldn't help her stay
         I didn't think anything of it

And when I turned around

                     She was gone.

I feel like a tree that has finally
     realized how deeply
   rooted two smiles shine, two
           smells persist under tickled eyelids, the very
                     way we exist individually but somehow
     live
          together, as if the world in all its
            wisdom has nudged in on the fact that I
                       cannot imagine my
                  life without you

So blind we cannot touch

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

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.

the stillness is never still
   and all the world is a
             door left ajar
        without you here

no jaywalkers here
                                on the edge
                      of the sky

just air
      and

              space

and
     new atmosphere

                               jump to the
                    beat beat beat of their
pounding fists,
                   shadow cry,
                                    wings
                      ­    falling apart and flailing

           pour me another shot of
           kerosene and gasoline, I'm
           feeling mean and all I've seen
           is a world without a care

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

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.

It is a slow, sad rain
that falls today

And I do not define
myself by the weather

Be brave enough to tell that
    girl she doesn't have to cry, no, it's
   alright these are dry-erase markers
and there are not enough tears in the ocean

Shot in the
    light of achieve-
         (meant all the world)

filibuster then, fill your heart until you've
     busted, down and rusted and
            caked with regret
  
  never stand between yourself and
        falling, or love will grow hot like
   shower-heads turned too far, like
       grainy distorted sight streaming out our
                  smiling ears, ceaseless cerulean

    (I'm dull gold, and you
       said you liked polishing)

This day is not complete until
           I've eaten watermelon
             danced in dizzy circles
                and napped with you
                      in the forest

             And the sun hurries us along but we
              make him wait for

                          just a moment

I need some help tying off
         knots in our

      l o o s e    ends

falling
  falling
        failing to remember
    amidst the joy of early mornings and
waking skies' company
                                             it's really good
    to have some freedom while
the world is sleeping except two
             who bring light with them
       and coax the sun from his downsized bed

let's do it again

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

There is a certain fragility to kindness, an
impatient expectation of a return on
your investment

every raincloud a challenge, a
puddly smile

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.

Enter night
  the first nights
        we wanted to die
    but we didn't and
  discovered ways to hold on

Enter night
  win grin night
          we rolled around and fell
    with purpose

Enter night
     crazed bonding night
  we ran from the cops
    and cried together

Enter night
   no reason night
      you left and I indulged
initially to cope

Enter night
  tonight
     I indulge
         for the sake of indulging
   and I'm reminded of us

My life
My words
My thoughts
My shadows

are not yours.

Who is here to hear?

The wind.

Time to start packing

Brilliant
Deluded, perhaps
But delusions are, by definition
Slightly confusing in nature

Yet there is no confusion here
In this corner of my mind
Where there are not walls
But faces

If you look quickly
You can see where they meet
The juncture
But look again

Is it there?
It is.
Where?
     There.
There?
     Here.
Care?
     Everywhere.
Now
?
Stop
?
Interrupting
?
Me
.

Gentlemen, treat the ladies with respect
         Ladies, return the favor

Let's meander down this
road
         flustered so wonderfully flustered by
you, taking the
time to pause and appreciate each little
intricacy along the way

so that some day, when we're older
we can breathe in and pop
evaporate, travel
only as vapor can, spread out and cover
(a part of us in everything and everything
apart from this)

say it louder and louder still, echoing
off your ribcage and shaking my throat
I believe in your words and
nothing slips away without so
much as a nod
that's not the given (not
even close)

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

Evenings of black rubber
       and silky piano with
                   four-part choir harmony

Evenings of
           flickering candles
      chicken parmigiana
                an introductory salad

Evenings of  
                         cello sighs
                        champagne lies
                                               sunsets

               fade slowly to morning
                     every time

Not so much vulnerability as
          wide-open hearts because
     ten years from now we'll look back at
                   where we are and note the
                                 change in what's around
                                                with a smile, if I have
                                                            ­     anything at all to
                                                                ­                 say about life

that's right.
                             We.

Do you know the bird?

Of course not. each
   updraft a soaring appreciation for
worldly things, textbook happiness
drowning distraction in a pond plump with water
lilies and tadpoles, sinking down to the
       dirt, belly raw on dizzy ground, feet
scrabbling for a safe touchdown, sure this day there
must be a rock or a tree trunk, some natural end to the in-
between where a bitter desperate aftertaste singes the mouth, certain
   nothing else will be known, that this sour tang is only to
remain on this tongue forever, no

asking you if you can relate is like expecting the sun to
rain down and openly weep itself out, quite
   impossible, come on - remember, you
must see clearly - here

comes the lift again, fondest flying above, fully
forgotten panic until winds falter once more

I know the bird.

I'm not like
  everyone else

but neither are you

we're explosive.

I had grown tall,                                                         distant
                                                                                       and lost

(Within a cacophony of voices, a spectrum of choices)

Now,

                an awakening

Silent roots—grown tired of relative safety—leap
into the foreground

And spill color across my
blank canvas

Pointed tongues rage
Liquid illustration
For an often
Misjudged combination
Wounded station
And lately

They've raced a new direction
Embraced the bleak reflection
Erased their true protection
To worship their children
Eyes in the fire

It's no surprise you
can read my eyes

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

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

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

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.