I'll write a poem about you
and when I'm through,
I'll crumble it up,
round file it,
and set the whole thing on fire
way before anyone sees it

I hate you because you shame me
Every time I think about you
My stomach churns
Every time I scribble out a few sentences
I'm embarrassed about those written words

I'm such a liar anyway
and all I ever do with poetry
is betray myself with that truth
All I ever do with stanzas
is demonstrate my
complete lack of couth

My meaningless mouth mixing metaphors
with grit and grime
and words that
send serious shivers down the filthiest sailor’s spine

Even when I try to behave myself
I **** it up somehow
and write you wrong
I mean I'm so ******* clever man
Really
Sometimes I say **** that
makes me want to slap myself silly
And for what?
A couple of likes and kudos
from friends and strangers
that get fished in for friendship
that may or may not be real

You feeling me?
I'm glad somebody is
because I'm not
I'm glad you're here, because I'm lost
I'm hooked on some fleeting feeling
I'm hooked by some frail fallacy
of who I'm supposed to be
Vs
who I really am

I gotta be honest though
I really just don't know
My hands are in stick up mode
I surrender
Please don't shoot

At the end of it,
I guess I'm just me
so that's who I'll be
Don't pull the curtains just yet *****
I'll figure this mystery out soon enough
...you'll see

Absence makes the heart grow cold
It strips the bark from the tree
leaving the wood underneath
to slowly die naked and exposed

Absence makes the leaves wilt and wither
crumbling in, no longer able to open
for light from the sun
leaving the soul to shake and shiver

Roots rotten from all the tears falling
A hollowed out base
Nothing left inside this place
but a whistling wind and an eerie silence calling

Bitter bark scattered all around laughing
make for a terrible audience of onlookers
who heard too much from a babbling brook
drinking it all in while self pity lay writhing

Not much is known
about a tree alone
in the woods
but when it falls in solitude
the news spreads quickly enough
and it's read from the tree's
own stripped skin
spread far and wide for all to see...

If I could love
the limping
ugly
afraid
part of me
That I drag through the mud
and thorns

If I could let
the transparent
clawing
screaming
silhouette speak
Instead of kicking it
into the basement

If I could put
my deepest human essence
onto paper
for everyone to see

Then.
Then, I could be free.

Here is this voice
it is just a whisper
would you turn your head
to lean in closer?

Imagination says
there is a space
where I am not a chore,
and a place
where I am not cold anymore

Reality says
there is an abyss,
where I am a water glass
that can't feel a kiss
as you turn your head
what did you miss?

I'm sorry for what I said when it was winter
The frosty freeze of snow
hardened my heart
and made the ground splinter

I didn't mean for my words
to make you shiver
I didn't mean for my words
to be a reason for you to pickle your liver
but it's spring now,
so thaw out for me dear
The birds are singing all around
just for you to hear

I can see your sullen face starting to crack
with the warm air surrounding you
and the sun at your back
Grass turning to green
and the trees starting to bud
I can't say for certain
but I think I heard your heart make a thud

So while I'm still sorry for the
things that I said when it was winter
I'm hoping you forgive me and let
my absolution come that much quicker
and let the ties that bound us together
become that much thicker

Where are the heavens?
Above
Below
Some place where the winds don't blow?
Some place where heartbeats glow
and fires never die
and enchantment never tells a lie?

It's cold and dark the higher we go
and inside the earth
a fire always glows
The molten magma magnet
that holds us here to ground
At least that's what we were told
between trips to the merry-go-round

So who do we believe then?
The man in the robe
woos us with wonder and song
The woman at the podium
marks us high to get along

Where are the heavens then
my friend?
I think we may never know
til the end
Until then, I'll leave them between the sheets
or in dark corners where lovers meet
or in the hustle and bustle of the city street
or in a quiet cornfield where winds do rustle husk
and space envelopes her Sun at dusk

That moment when you're laying in bed
and the song cascades from an exploding star
to a calm,
quietly quenching
cerebral smile

Crunchy to clean
Fading out into a starry summer night
in a field filled with just as many points of light
in the sky as ears of corn in the soil around you
Grounding you
Planting you firmly on the earth
while reminding you that you're not alone in the universe

The corners of your mouth rise up
to high points on your cheeks
and there's a warmth
in your stomach similar to a liquor feeling
but you’re totally sober

Music makes my life worth living