Release and Recover
by Steven L Herring

Winds whisper words and disappear
Rain and tears
are maternal in the face of a tempest
Hot is the anger in your eyes
Tickling the tips of your ears red

Pain is addictive
Holding on to the reins
like you were the one in control
I read your face
and it tells tales of fears and resentments

Consequences buried
A helping hand should be very temporary
One that lingers hides a shovel
and soil to hide the body
You dug the grave for yourself!

Stand and fight
Turn the tears into resolve
Turn the fears
to One whose Hand
was made to take them
and wash the blood from yours

Let loose control
You never had it anyway
You never will
We're all just a couple
of bumps on a timeline
To let go is Divine!

Drive
By Steven L Herring

Sometimes, I just want to go
You know?
Pack a bag
Grab the keys
Grip the wheel
and ******* peel

Who needs a rearview
when you got a bright
night sky
an empty road
and a clear view
with a soundtrack
for an escape?

Everybody just wants your money
and your time
but I'd spend every dime
I had on a little peace of mind
climbing up a mountain line
with a stick in my right hand
feathering a clutch and a go pedal

Left
Shift
Right
Go
and down the other side
I'd float
and I wouldn't ever stop again
until both my eyes closed

I could live on gas and oil
Eat the asphalt for dinner
and see
and feel
and hear it all!

But the truth is
I'm so plugged in
that when I got too far away,
the cord would break
and my will would frey
and all the insulation
would melt away

It's the fear
that keeps me here
chained to the ground all alone
like a bait dog
with an old bone
Broken
Tattered
and all the things
that shouldn't matter
cling to me like blood spatter

Am I a victim of circumstance
or a prime suspect
who blew a chance?
Only time will tell I guess
So I'll keep driving
til I'm out of gas...

Simmer
By Steven L Herring

What's better?
A flash in a pan
or a slow sun rising?
The sweat
and the threat
of a stranger's embrace
and a release
that leads
to emptiness
and a mountain built on lies
or the warmth of
summer's sun
complementing cold nights?

A cure comes crashing
A cascade of cleansing
water
Washing away the guilt
with reckless love
A purity perfectly imperfect

The smell of you

The taste of you

I just let go
and drift into
the thrill of you

The flash in the pan
is searingly painful
but the slow burn
of your rising sun
chases my demons
back into the darkness
they cling to

I'm a legend
of hearsay and circumstance
and you're an angel…
You light my days
and keep the soft glow
of a tank light
to brighten my path
in the dark of night.

If this is what dreams are made of,
then let's stay asleep…
at least until
the sun rises again in the east...

Tension
By Steven L Herring

Quiet moments…
when it's you and your thought
and the struggle in your head
with the battle of wills
between you and God
that you've always fought

Who is right?
Are you wrong for who you are
and what you are?
Were men who wrote a book
thousands of years ago really
inspired by divinity
or were they scared
of their own humanity?

Can I really be me?
Can I stand tall and confident
without ridicule,
accusations
gossip
snickers
whispers
and judgements?

Sometimes the door is closed
but I heard
there's an open window somewhere
and I'm hoping it's for me
because I can't help
but have faith that God is bigger
than ****** preference and gender bias
from old dead hands,
tattered paper,
and fearful prophets.

God's grace is all I've got.
Faith that he's bigger than we can imagine
keeps me breathing
and loving
hoping…
always hoping...

Cracked
By Steven L Herring

Cracked
Not wide open
or closed tight
Just open a smidge

Always a craning neck
Always a curious cat
But it's the ones who push
that get inside
and the ones who
point and wag fingers
never ever stay long

Push back
but never close the door
Bite the fingers off
but always give them back
and leave the door cracked!

Antidote
By Steven L Herring

Words wither
wavering in winter
and fall to the ground as dust
Burning desires
Upset with obsession
and a particular
set of skills separates
the wheat from the chaff
but the rod and the staff
are the same snakes
and I am the charmer
Buried in bottles of oil for sale
Sweating and pensive
Swearing that snakes won't bite
The gathering crowd won't lie
It's human to watch people
with slit wrists try
to cover cut throats
Bring the pressure
or watch them bleed out
Supine and sweating
as the poison flows fastly
to my heart
As I lay dying here
with her soft supple hands
caressing my face
realizing that this is not the end
This is the beginning
and all the snakes
are dying in the grass
as she soothes my savage heart
I can't stop smiling

Felt
By Steven L Herring

Sometimes I forget the fire
inside me
Lungs lumped with coal
Every exhale
a chance to burn it all down

Through clenched teeth
disaster awaits unrelenting release
Furiously curious
with the question of the day
Why can't I control chaos?

My soft hands remember the
calluses like it was yesterday
Where have you gone old friend?
Have you gone off the deep end
or are you teetering
on the edge of the board?

But that pool holds no water
and your heart was meant for more
Cracks in the concrete crumble
over time and time again
is nobody's friend past the clock

Be still my heart
as it beats out of my chest
for the chance to love again
and rest on the arrest of feelings
Rushing
Pushing
Finding their way out from burial
long forgotten and left for dead

I'm a quieter fighter than most
but the sun shines on me now
and I'll take every stray ray
I can get and every smile I can wear
I'll just keep driving...