If you're not the fighting type
Don't put our hearts in the line

I don't believe in it
Tears from the balcony
These children are a curse
In the belly of the universe

I'm not afraid
Even if they laugh through their teeth
Back to the black cloud
You know where

Read the words
They dissolve in the aquarium
You best shut yo' mouth
Louis Ortgies is dead

Never played the fool
Bone-Bobby sunglasses
Lorenz shining in the West
Once he turned into a flicker

Terraces burned down
The stray dogs just watched
Uninvolved and alert
And so something vanished

In the belly of the universe
Born of children's curses
From the balcony of tears
That’s what I believe in

Up in the attic
With my paints
And my rage
I was the canvas
Filled with color

Splats of red
I needed to
How else could I symbolize you?

Blue and orange
And purple and green
All trying you make sense of me

Little hints of yellow
For even then
When I could forget
I could experience momentary joy

I was that canvas
Because yes,
My head is overwhelming
And crazy
And angry
But it can also be beautiful

I was that canvas,
Abstract
And messy
Which some say isn't even art
And some say is wonderful

I was was that canvas

But wait
...
Wasn't I also the painter?

You call me your dog,
your *****, your fool,
hurling words like stones
to shatter my heart.

I wag my tail anyway,
smiling through trembling lips,
fetching scraps of kindness
from the shadow of your hands.

You call me useless,
a beast beyond learning,
but I only want to please you—
to sit, to stay, to love.

Even as you turn away,
your voice cracking the whip,
I crawl through every wound,
bearing the weight of your name
like a leash around my soul.

For to be your dog
is still to be near you,
and I, the fool,
would bleed to feel you call me mine.

Rivers and Oceans
Are filled with wonderful beings
we are left awestruck
Lawless trawlers and haulers
wallets plastic and dollars.

Even when
The world seems down
Your dog
Will always jump up
To greet you at the door
Happy to see see you
And loving you unconditionally

And currently
That is the biggest comfort
In the world