Starbucks for the beach sleeper,
cigarettes for the cruise ship worker,
around the world a further three times more
with a six-a-day job, one on shore.
She smiled with Gatsby glare.
She smiled with  fair, tied back hair.
She smiled.
And how her love for Poe and Wilde
found its way to my ear a mere three year veer
around time itself.
Turkish delight is not a food nor a sweet
but a lady who gives a discreet smile to those she meets.
My cafe in my street has you across from me
and the books I read have you printed in an uppercase key,
black on the white and bound by the spine
for you are the cruise ship lady, the lover of mine.

My hands are raw and cracked like wind and wood,
My arms, they sway and dance all day in my boat,
My neck is sore from watching you, above me play,
You, great mountains of tree and stone, give me hope.

I am dead.

My legs are broken
And my mind has betrayed me.

I
Cant
Move.

I hear the screaming.
Loud
Horrible
Torment.

I try to make it stop
But still

I
Cant
Move.

I rip my eyes open,
The air is acid.
Time is rushing through
My disoriented state
Wasting,
Wasting away like
I am.

My lead arm strains
And my lips groan
As I reach
Reach
To stop the torment.

Quiet.

The stomach rises and falls.
The fingers move,
The shoulders roll.

My left knee bends as it
Battles over the precipice.
The right grudgingly follows

My dead body spasms
I scream,
I expand,
I unfold,
I get out of bed.

I would liken you
To a night without stars
Were it not for your eyes.
I would liken you
To a sleep without dreams
Were it not for your songs.

The thunder spoke
to the lightning
but the lightning couldn’t hear.

So the lightning shone
to guide the way,
but the thunder couldn’t see.

So they wandered endlessly
toward each other,
but away

Rain beats down upon
unlit sidewalks
the black world of
whispers unseen

my fingers grip each other
wringing, unsure of themselves
eyes closed against the darkness
finding it only deeper within

it’s as if I have a shotgun in my mouth
and I like the taste of the gunmetal
a pure metallic sharpness
that leaves all else to rot and decay
in the wilderness of my dismay

where do I turn when everything has left?
all directions look the same
when staying here is no different
from shifting there

the only movement is from
the drums resounding inside
pounding the rhythm of truth

someone once told me
that we are all connected
strings tying hearts
careful knots in all of us

at times we feel cut
severed and alone
nothing touches us
no hands held out to save

but beneath the surface
feeling around in the black
we find these strings
infinite in number and strength

unbroken

There is a river
That flows through me
Tearing at me
As i stand upon the banks
Trying to resist the strength of it

Drowning
Gasping
No air
No breath
No life

The world
blinks
In and out
Out and in
As the waters rage

Then...
I let go...
Let my body...
Fall...

And under the current
There is life
And under the life
There is wonder

I realize
I am swimming
When I'm not fighting
And the rainbow of colors
Inside myself is blinding

The river is not the villain
It is only the path toward destiny

And the beauty below:
The glistening of sunlight
Underneath the waves
Is pure
and free