I have a question for you.

We walk with such grace,
but choose to run full force.
Slow and steady wins the race,
running runs you off course.

Our greed and fear of failure,
lead us down broken path.
Rushed into choosing which way to go,
nobody knows who's who,
who knows.

Collectively collecting our own debt,
we run our savior out of town.
All bets are off, please make a bet,
and don't tell me I am the clown.

The smell of freedom, it smells like smog,
but I cannot see it over the horizon.
The bitter sweet taste of a pie in your face,
may make you wonder,
is this the right place?

I wish we would realize what we have done,
but we live and feed on denial.
Obese and dead, we live off his bread,
which can be found in any aisle.

Some people tell me, "It happened to the Romans.",
and to them I say, "*******."
I still have faith, I still believe,
so my question is,
do you?

the t.v.'s only on to drown out the silence,
and to give my ears some kind of noise.
this candle's only burning to hide your scent,
and provide light in this empty room.

the clear bottom of this empty Captain stares back at me,
bragging its victory.

life's trivial in the way it ebbs and flows,
moving in between your thighs,
flowing and rapidly thrusting upwards,
forcing you to regurgitate thoughts
which careen momentarily
in your mind
before being expelled from your mouth
after you've gasped for air

it's the carbon dioxide you release
that you allow to dance past your lips,
along your wrists & around fingertips
before its diluted,
sparing the conscience further shame,
robbing a moment of self-reflection.

after all, should you indulge
in the sweetness of life with
eyes too far open,
you will fall ill eventually
& you'll purge in one way or another
the pollution that was once masked
as pure mint-like oxygen

or a sweet serpentine tongue
trying to wrap it's way around the crevices
of your body, tempting you,
only to constrict moments later
and swallow you whole.
This is why i count as I exhale.

I’m not sure there are words for this
It is like suddenly finding out your heart is hard and hollow
Like a shell
And the heaviness in your chest goes without explanation

It is like these arms are revolving doors
For bodies that will not stay

It is like phantom limbing lips that aren’t yours
And maybe you kiss your own shoulder to remember the feeling

It is telling a chat-room ******* you love her
And almost meaning it
But you could never tell anyone else about the relationship
She says she loves you back
To everybody

There is the silence
In the spaces between sleep
When your thoughts take you places that are not calm

There is the mirror at the gym that you sometimes look into for too long

There is you without the words to be honest so you come on too strong

On the non-tattooed side of my chest
Are childhood surveys
Check if you like me
Check if you don’t
Please leave a 500 character minimum explaining
Your reaction to your most recent encounter
Thank you and remember
I only aim to please

There is this fancy worded poetry
With bits of her body tucked in between lines
So that when I speak them I might get to taste her

It is the broken record of your confidence
And no one has moved the needle

Sometimes you separate yourself from it
But you can’t even name it
It isn’t lonely
It is speechless
It just sits and feels
So you try to feed it
But it doesn’t eat

Sometimes you come close
But the words sit awkward in your mouth
Fall out like blocks

But they have no weight
So they don’t hit hard enough

All I know is that when I look at her
I feel the exact opposite

But there are no words for that either