He had never realised
that everything was moving
until it stopped

One pill
and the joyous ramshackle journey
dug claws into the soil
and froze

and turned

The things he had known as trees
began to bend
to curl towards him
gnarled eyes glaring,
tendrils groping

The dog, his faithful companion
rose painfully on two legs
grew shoulders, arms
bared fangs and snarled

Rocks rose from snoring mountains
to grind their ancient jaws at him
and the sea folded in on itself
in disgust

Paralysed he stared
as the sky climbed down
defeated
and the sun pulled back
its shining mask
to show the grinning, vengeful skull beneath

Nothing could touch him
but all could see him
exposed, brutal, foolish, ridiculous
and desperate, desperate

for death.

Death was a word
   I thought of when my first dog
   died. It was a thing I held when young
   and dumb, smashing grasshoppers
   with a bottle in the yard.
   It rested in coffins I never saw,
   grew an atmosphere around the weathered.

I touched it once.

But now I know
   it lives in a midnight phone call
   under pouring rain in a parking lot
   where a man paces with the thought
of never being able to love a voice he hears.

The scent of lime
Do you smell it?
I wipe her blood off my hands
"Hold the tissue and lean back"
So painfully close
Linoleum floors
Our feet scuff
"Logan, I call *******"
Watch your language!
Like I care
So painfully, painfully close
You resonate heat like a fire
Blow the smoke out of my eyes
A bite in my sandwich
As large as Africa
Each tooth perfectly formed
In the wheat bread
Break a chocolate bar into "fourths"
And shove it in your mouth
"Robyn, we're best friends now"
That's great Logan
You just keep thinking that
Staring contests
And oven burns
We all have to admit
That highschool hurts

It's clawing up my stomach
What did I do to myself?
It's in my chest, with a hammer and a drum
What have I done?
It's in my throat, with a cork and a bottle
What am I going to do?
It speaks foul words
Sitting on my tounge and spitting them at you

I wish I hadn't justified
Justfied
My actions
I wish I hadn't justified
I wish I'd stood my ground

It was a highway that brought me here
Stuffed into a expensive car with four adults and good music
We drove for what seemed hours
Arriving on the slick, black streets of the Emerald City
Down a rabbit hole of old cars and termite ridden stairs
Past an old couch and a stray cat
Into a cold room with heaters stacked and jumbled
Full of pianos and good and beer
People I've known for twelve years
And people I've met only once
People I don't know
Different skins, of their own, of animals
Frizzy and cropped hair, wine and mason jar glasses
Walls painted silver, gleaming under forty year old lamps
Mismatched furniture and occupants alike
Sirens singing in the background
Children running through the foreground
Old friends and a blind man with a big dog
Visual artists and IRS agents
Musicians and carpenters
Mechanical engineers
Cobbled together around and old fireplace and a rosewood piano
Sharing stories and songs, sons and daughters
Tales from the road, and wedding pictures
I sat on an orange pleather couch in the makeshift kitchen
Watching theses people's children play with bionicles and dolls
Reading books and drawing on walls
Playing drums and answering calls
Fighting for bathroom stall
These are my people
I know them all

The trees reach up too high today,

they tear at the hem of a cloud


A bridal train in tatters

ribbons of a heavenly shroud.


The waves reach not so high today

as to cover up the shore


They leave me room for walking

and I find I’m wanting more...


...more space more room more mind more prayer,

more heart more soul more vision


A growing space inside of me

crying out for a decision



Today I feel the emptiness

where once he stood with me


The Stone whose name is Weariness

forever there will be.



I found it today; the Stone called Weary;

nestled as it was in the sand.


I wept as I carried it, this Stone called Weary;

it marks where I used to stand.

Land of sidewalk ends
Old house hides in the brush
New house hides behind old
Where the Empire has stalled, and now recedes
No more boundaries to push
No more shocking words…they’ve all been tamed
No more sacred words, “Jesus is so Zen”.
No where left to go
Dreams unrealized
Plans, never agreed to.