Destroyers
By Steven L Herring

From foreign shores
came the dragons fire
Hordes of killers and devourers
Wake
******
****
Strip
Take everything
Never sleep
Carriers of plague
Brimming with contempt

Their hearts hard and burnt
like the land around them
Subjugated
Subdued
Subclass
They would burn their own kind
Children's screams to pay no mind
Day in
Day out
With or without
a stare of indifference

A dragon's breath
makes his words worthless
Paper mache fire
Wearing a wire
in the precinct
Burning question after question
Minds on fire want to know though
:
Who's the dragons?

Press Pause on Monday
By Steven L Herring

Deep and dark
Spark the candle
Light the fire
and grab a handle
Turn the crank crush the hold
of the weekday doldrum mold

Grab a boat
Grab a paddle
Pull the water
and drop the worry
on the saddle
Glad ol' lad showed me
Life's better off the ladder
Life's cloudy, but not
on a weekend
**** work!
See you on Tuesday my friend!

The Getaway
By
Steven L Herring

Some silhouette of a sad song
Quick as it came
just as quickly it was gone
The monster in the sky 
breathed its fires
put some glass in that hole
Peel tires

Chasing that blue sky 
til it gets away to space
The stars collide with the mountains,
only here to make their case
for quiet
for peace be still, child!
Feel that mountain air
or the hot sand on your toes
Taste the salty overspray
Smell the sun-screened skin
basking in the moment
Awaken the sleeper within

Put em down and feel the wind 
dancing in your hair
Tussled and tangled
Smile on your face without a care
Ever wanna pack up the car 
and go somewhere?
Anywhere really
Not to run
but just to get away from here
and go there

Fireflies Light the Way
By Steven L Herring

Saturdays…
Listless
Effortlessly floating away
in an acoustic haze
A man breathes
into a microphone
with the greatest of ease
slipping softly
into melancholy

Blue sky and warm
sun sing songs that
make the heart beat slower
and in the distance
you can see it
start to sink a little lower

People hustle and bustle
but the shoreline calls
the wounded to her
The mountains and the rivers
heal the heart's decaying beat
and beckon like a worried mother

If you listen closely
you can almost hear them say
Just hold on for one more day
As heads hang low
hearts skip beats
as summer's massage
tells them it's on the way

Rockwell's Burden
By Steven L Herring

Skinned knees
Peel the scab
Over
and over
and over again
Nothing ever heals
Broadcast
for the world to see

Never forget
Never forgive
Peel the scab
Peel the scab
Hold the pain
Comfort in anger
Peel the scab
and flash the message

Still life on a magazine
Cover up the dirt
with a moldy shirt
It's a flag print
How American!
Sand in the ointment
Rub it in
flashing colors
Broken power button
Who gets up
to shut it down?

Peel the scab
Don't go fast
Make it last
Perpetual pain
like an evening post
on a Saturday
Paper cuts work best
when the media is fresh

year in prison
piece of cake
**** show for entertainment
United we still stand
Live bait
for the piranha tank

What's on television
****** death neglect
and two rich guys
ripe with disrespect
and a silent killer
in the air
and for a second there
I didn't care
Mind full of disbelief
I couldn't help
but to stop and stare

Death by cop
means the fascists
get a city block
let's break brick and glass
I got a couple rocks
storm the capitol
and lie on the internet

In retrospect
vocal chords are obsolete
Safe space
to save face virtually
nothing is a secret anymore
Left
      Right
Split down the middle
Haven't seen each other
in a whole year
Mutual digital choke holds
Private lives no longer strongholds
and our minds no longer match
and everyone…
Everyone…
Take a few steps back…
We need time to breathe...
We're all too far away
but we're united…
right?
Psst
I want to remember
what you sound like

Missing America deeply...

Blinded by Regrets
By Steven L Herring

You ain't woke
You're a joke!
Walkin' around with
one eye closed
and a stick in the other

You're supposed to be my brother
but you mope around
like everything's wrong
and cut the tongue
out of the mouth
of your own mother

You're a cancer
fighting against a cure
Cutting down Osimandius
with a blow torch
refusing to recognize
his death as final
The sand was all that was left
but you dredge it up
while hiding your
true intentions all the while

What's the harm?
You ask me to fall in line
I got a little bit of chalk left,
so I draw my own
to avoid your land mines

Your a disaster
and I'm a commotion
that stirs it up better
than the roughest of oceans
Cancel me not already
doctored up by censors
Keep the truth steady
and the history for mentors

I only got one question
before the judge calls for recess
When will you let go of the past?
At this rate, America will never last!

Social Recliner
By Steven L Herring

Powder puff power trip
Words are weapons
and my two cents
won't cost you a dime

It's time
Let's climb to the top
of the digital podium
and break this soapbox
over the heads of anyone
who would listen
to the nickelodeon

A quiet man lives a quiet life
and I love him for it too
Too many traps yammering
and stuttering Stanley's clamoring
Keep walking and you'll
get **** on your shoe!

Trust me
I work for the government
I'm just here to help you
Grab a pen and pad
and gather round
the broken brick establishment

We are the embodiment
of eye stabbed with stick
in Novembers
and bitter winter cold
in December's ice slick

Sick and saddened summer's loss
Incarcerated in a Bradburian
*******
in an endless
loop like who licked
the back of this toad with my tongue, because I am TRIP PING!

Every day's dawn drowns dreams
and nothing hardly ends up
being what it seems
But in the end none if it really matters
Right, but we're still stuck wiping
blood and mud on our jeans

So yeah.
Say all the things!
I'm just gonna head out
because I spent the last
couple of years trying to untangle
but in the end I had to
cut all my strings

Plague of Hearts and Minds
By Steven L Herring

Alone
I've always felt it
Crowded rooms
Human-filled hallways
Bars brimming with patrons

Everywhere empty inside
I could look right through
solid mass and see nothing
but emptiness and black

But now that we're altogether separate,
Trapped in our rooms
concealed
Carrying our will to live gracefully
like a burden in our hands
I now relish in the fact
that we're all here together
All of us willingly weeping
Shrouded
Crowded under the same
black
cloud

Ominous in danger
Dangerous together
I see you
slyly smiling from
across the room
and our eyes light up
while our mouths,
masked with paper and cloth
crack a secret smile

And all of a sudden
we're not alone
We suffer together
under the same black cloud

Empty the Armories or Empty the Arteries
By Steven L Herring

The gun in my hand
is warm and bright
Rectangular box filled with evil
to light up the dark night

Mourning in glory
My ansible
to reach across the stars
telling even strangers my troubles
through the dim light of parked cars

I'm all thumbs on the trigger
but the cartridges are cocked and locked
Hovering over a pseudo-nuclear option
and the guilt gives way;
brain blocked

Come, clarity!
Soothe the savage beast in me
I don't level playing fields
I'm the creator of craters,
Blowing holes where love used to be

Carpenter of caverns
Lying just beneath the surface
Empty
The best thing
that ever happened was when I
dropped the magazine to the street
and made the chamber safe
Easy!

And now for my next trick,....

Year at a Glance
By Steven L Herring

I see a sea of violence
riding a wave of hate
set to crush
set to destroy
Pistol-lined pockets
The nuclear option tastes
like metal in the mouths
of the innocent
as we take to the streets

I don't know about y'all
but the excitement is scarce in me
I'm not to keen
on getting blood on my sneaks
Media wars by media ******
cut the path
to peace in pieces
and all I hear is a vacuum
******* sanity out of the air
Rusty razors
tainted with nair

Breakout!
Skin crawls with virus
Hot pokers pierce the iris
TV
Feeds me
My eyes rolled out
of their sockets
to that tune
by love and rockets
I'm alive, but for how long?
Gotta feed a firing squad
fifty copper jackets
harvested from the hearts
of the ghosts of innocents past

Outcast
Stressed out
Stretched out
for all the world to see
Disfigured and on display
We screamed,
but masks muffled our airway
Patient's color grey for days
Streets worn and black
Center lines jagged
Petulantly painted
by a basket case wonder
This lonely road rages on
Let it spill into the sea
LET IT SPILL INTO THE SEA!

Power From the People Y'all
By Steven L Herring

Born a battery
Watch me work
Take my cash
Never
Not
Once
but every time!

You're a bottomless pit
and I'm the ****** you created
Fed visually
Programmed for greenbacks,
but then robbed
It's a stick up
No one makes it out alive!
Shoot the ones sans masks first!

You push drugs!
Amphetamines are for kids
Sell me a house that I can't afford
PLEASE!  
Make me serve under your iron fist!
Puppet or pawn?
Depends….
Who won the election again?

Burned Out
By Steven L Herring

I wish I felt
something other
than backwards right now...
Like when you put your
hoodie on wrong…
Staring at the back of it
like ******!

But you can take
the hoodie off…
This feels permanent
kinda sorta…
The world is on fire,
and I'm watching it burn
from the comfort of my recliner

And I'm so numb to it
I want all action or all quiet
And I don't even really want to
hear about your riot!
Burn it down
or shut the **** up man!
I don't believe in words anymore
Feed the sloth
until he pops
or put the pigs on a diet!

The Conqueror
By Steven L Herring

There's a darkness
in the city lights
Heaviness sprays
like a firefight
Products
marketed and sold
boldly undercover of night
cast a shadow under lamp

Watch them scurry
Back into the shadows!
Back into the dark!
Fools will suffer fools
Makers make marks
As sure as the sun will rise,
the Son will set wrong to right,
and we will get our due.

A spider spinning down
On his face a frown
but when he landed on my arm,
through war's teeth sickly said:
I was cold, you gave me warmth
I groan with hunger
I will eat you
Crush the spider
Under palm and wear
his guts to dinner!

**** the life
right out of me
It tears 
the life
right out
of me


Happy
I'm happy
I swear 
I'm just
so ******* happy


Tear it down
We'll build anew
but all my parts
are broke in two


You never listen 
anyway
But I don't have
a lot to say
You never listen 
anyway


Your mouth,
it lives on
interrupt!
Your tongue
and lips
they flap away


But I don't 
have a lot to say
and I know
your answers 
anyway
so i don't have
a thing 
to say!


Not to you!
Turn your back
it's okay
I'm most at home
when you walk away


And I don't have 
a lot to say
No, I don't have 
a lot to say
All I have 
is hate to spray
so I don't have 
a lot to say
Trust me
It's better that way….

Locked
cocked
and itching to rock 
Ready for an attack
of modern made wack-ness 
I already waged war once 
when I ripped my heart 
out of the blackness


Destruction!
I'm a killer son!
Y'all didn't know
Laser-focused aim
with words waiting to go!


Bullets don't fly slow
and they'll land true
like planes on a glide *****
While you stutter and stagger
I'll be in the breeze
because your words don't matter
begging on your knees


You can censor me
but I know my enemy
and I see you as a frenemy
it's plain to see
and easy like 1, 2, 3


I don't need to leap tall buildings
I got tnt!
I'll burn it down like a village
in a DMZ!
Take a break
for some cake
Yeah! 
Y'all know me!


Both barrels loaded!

There are dry spots in mourning
Terrible moments when 
the tears stop flowing
and the nose 
stops
running
And all you feel 
is numb nothingness 
mixed in with a blank stare
and an emptiness that almost
consumes you


It's not that you don't care
After a wave crashes to the shore
and before the next one rolls in describes it well
A lull
A break before being picked up
and pushed under again
to fight for air


There's a dry spot this morning
as the rain falls to ground
I hope I don't stay here long
I'd rather ride one wave in 
and be done with it all at once,
but that's not how it goes
No, my friend 
So keep fighting
We will press on till the end

There's a power in presence…

I've heard that said before

And some of mine is mine to keep

But if I give some to you

When you're at your lowest,

Then my smile will light up

The darkest of nights

As I watch you climbing


There's a power in presence

And so I'll be there when you're

Near the end and I'll motion 

You to me because we all know

That it's not how you start a race

It's all about how you finish it

And you will finish it my friend

We'll see this through together

Because there's a power in presence

And I will be there to the end

My sweetest friend!

By Steven L Herring

If I were a poet,
I'd be damaged goods
and all the world would whisper
as I sought beauty in the woods

If I were a poet,
a peculiar one I'd be
Robust in every single way
morning, noon, and end of day
all I am is me

If I were a poet,
an oddity in fact,
I'd start my days with gasoline
and the brightness of a match

If I were a poet,
I'd bleed on every page
Silence,
sadness,
laughter,
love;
crescendoing in rage

I am a poet!
A wordsmith if you will
But even if you won't,
a poet I am still!

Perfeck
By Steven L Herring

Psst!
Wanna know a secret?
I got pimples on my chest
and a hairy back, too
Believe it!

My lungs are scarred
from all the cigarettes I smoked
and sometimes I can't sleep
since I'm always anxious

I'm a human,
so I've done a lot of terrible things
but my life is ******* perfeck
Just look at all the likes
my Facebook brings

All the bad stuff might
have hit the cutting room floor
but the negatives stuck to my feet
and you can see them stuck
from where my smelly ten and a half's
kicked open your front door

I've gone a million miles
and I got a million more to go
but I might die tomorrow
so I really don't know

Imma get there though
Even if it's just in spirit
And your little perfect life
is full of rust like a dull spear tip

I'm not trying to read it
Your feed is a wasteland
and all your silly little highlights
are worse than two broke hands

I'm not a fan
Give me ***** because that's real life
Keep your ego in your back pocket
and be a little more honest about your fight

Step into the light
Nobody's perfeck!

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...

Move Along There's Nothing to See Here
By Steven L Herring

Couples.
I hate watching couples.
I hate watching videos about couples
and marriage.
There's a finality flitting about them.
You can see the grave markers
shackled to their feet
like cheap price tags at a thrift store
dragging behind them
through the murk and the mud.

I was married once
It was filled with
damage and demand
and amusement park arguments
and broken promises
coming from all directions.
It was like running through the woods
looking backwards but bouncing
off of trees.
A soarly sour payment
for living life on my knees
and practicing idolatry.

Partners…
more like panthers in the dark.
Sharp teeth to tear skin from bones.
One steps out
while one slams the door
to anything near the word agreement.
Thanks for the reminder.
I'll pay more attention to my dog.

Out of My Mind
By Steven L Herring

And if I have to tell you twice
you weren't listening the first time
The wind was quiet
The trees were still
and you refused to hear
Your eyes are daggers to my soul
and your words are empty
like your heart
and black like your thoughts

You couldn't hit the door fast enough
but I opened it for you
and sent you away
with a parting gift
A boot for your backside
as I crushed you in my mind
Your memory faded
like smoke
from an extinguished candle
yet you still fill the room
with your stench

An open window wafts
and whisks away
the foul last breath
from your worthless words
full of hate
And I raise my glass to celebrate
the exodus of a dying thought

Take it away
The descriptors
The labels
Oriented sexually moot
Identity is an argument
best left in the closet
behind old winter coats
and underneath the carpet

Outliners of new think
A shapely figure shall
remain without words
And all compliments from now on
will remain unheard

We are a new breed
A silent society saying nothing
without a signature of compliance
because anything less
would be an act of defiance

No men
No women
Only people live here
Animals at best
Simians sizing up semantics
through troubled waters wading
all the while waiting
for the fan to spread
the feces
to the species

I can't help but wonder
about a face-palmed deity
with his son at his shoulder
God through gritted grill
all but spitting the words
“Soon, my son!  This will all be over!”
And Jesus laughed

Scars Are Beauty Marks
By Steven L Herring

Hush and be still
It's a quiet fight
On a cloudy day
or in the dark of night

Dust from a moon boot
Cunningly clean
close up
to a motor boat
or bleeding bright red blood
from a fresh cut throat

Roses

Bunched on a bed
with sanded sheets
hand in hand
on a distant beach
I tasted the salt on her lips
contemplating the possibility
of my fingertips
discreetly brushing her hips

Ever so lightly
Slightly sliding through belt loops
Never let me go

I let her go
She told me to go
she
told
me
to
go

I cut the deepest
with the rustiest
of razors
She put the brakes on
with the freshest
of erasers
and when I think of her
she's faceless
But the saltiness is all gone
and I'm tasteless
but my scars aren't
baseless

Bandaged up
Boots on
Get back in the game
We got guys on bases
and you're up to bat son

Good Books Have Frayed Pages
By Steven L Herring

There's a little dirt
under the carpet
The coffee coasters
cling to well worn rings,
chipped at the edges
like laugh lines
on a face mostly spent
filled with content
or contempt

A ***** door ****
with a sticky striker
and a bent frame tells a story
of tough times trudged,
and fingerprints smudged
corroborate the abuse

But none of that matters much
The sun still shines,
and the heart is still beating inside
and the cells continue to divide
so the chance to turn it around
is still alive

The past has passed
The future has only been lined
There is still time to pick out
the colors
to plot the scheme
and make a dark cloud cottony
To make a flower
grow out of a tragedy

Bury the dead
in a long winter's sleep,
but scour the hills
for the lost little sheep

The ones you let go of
from when we were kids
The ones that God gave you
as life's greatest gifts

Alive in your heart
they certainly must be
Buried between all the “I's”
and the “me's”
If you look hard enough
you surely will see
that innocence He gave you
was not lost in rough seas

Through whispers of time
and hands reaching out
With eyes full of tears,
there arose such a shout
that even those lost
could never ignore
Not even in slumber
or work
or at war

We've wandered a desert
alone and afraid
Yet somehow we've stumbled
back into God's grace
and arms that are loving
and out to embrace
all who would enter,
so for that we give thanks

You walk around with
your finger on the trigger
Dominant eye half way
between front sight and scope
The conversations are loaded
like magazines
with one in the chamber

What's it like to live on edge like that?
What's it like to live one sentence from
a preloaded resentment
and a heart-shaped
bullet hole in your sleeve?
What's it like to
stand in a crowd so alone?

But alas…
I reproach you rhetorically
because I know already,
my sweet grey cloud!
You're a fog
just waiting for the Son to melt you
just waiting for someone to help you
all you have to do
is rest your flailing hands
and take the ones that reach for you

You don't have to rock so tough
because I got you
I get you
I'll turn my cheek a thousand times
but I can only take so many slaps

Recycler
By Steven L Herring

Picked it up
Took it down
Let it go
And it ripped right out of me
Every time
Leaving me empty inside
Just barely alive
And oh so numb
I don't even know
How many times
I probably almost died
Shoulda
Woulda
Could
But couldn't hide
To myself
And everyone else
I lied
And lied
And lied
So ******* numb inside!
And drowning myself in sorrow
Stuck in a rutted rage
And a lame *** digital cage
Project defeat self and isolate
Eyes dilated
Thoughts mutated
Into something unknown
Trudging on and on and on
Into infinite finality
And death was my only future reality
My King a bottle
Hurtling full throttle into a
friendless
Bottomless
And endless void

I was the long face
I was the dead end…
and I'm glad I got the ******* that train
Deuces!

Wet palms
The sweat
beaded up on clavicles
and dripped out from
under arms

Nothing quite like the feel of skin
the way the soft supple tissue falls away
underneath running crimson nails
hunting moans and wails
making you scream out from within

Whether weather is cold or balmy
those lips
those lightly colored fingertips
started a war inside me
and I can't think of one single place
to run and hide me

Your breath upon my neck binds me to you
and I breath you in like Summer's
warmest mountain breeze
Then I smile and put you away
I'll be back to you someday
Til then, I'll have to revel in just the thought of you.

Face up against the window
Eyes full of road, plains grass,
and a far away mountain pass
The sweet smell of summer
creeping through a window
that's slightly cracked
in a beat up old Volkswagen
with a broken 8 track

Mom's sleeping in the front seat
and dad's got some country music
singing sweet serenades softly
through twitchy speakers in a broken
door panel while we work our way
across God's country from
sea to shining sea

There's something magical
about a road trip
black asphalt
and the sight of a farmer's sprinklers
at sixty and five miles an hour
two in the afternoon
on a hot and dusty strip
of road between hotels and night's
long starry pauses
and sun's yawning rises

Nobody loves it more than
little boys and girls in a backseat
with a blanket
a pillow
and some snacks to watch
America come to life on a
window-cranked movie screen.

Budding flower
of happy hour
struck in a dorm room daze
just to wake with
somebody's junk in your face

Drug out dead animal
trailing across plasma
with more hits
than a pizza commercial
and all I got is Michael Jackson
eating popcorn
as we all take in
full frontal media ****

We got he said
We got she said
Hot and fresh right to your seats!
Roe v. Wade
delectably dancing in our tongue and cheeks

Is that all that matters?
Meanwhile the mud splatters
and reputations shatter
And decency scatters

Guy gets his ego elected
and there's a rise in his pants
like one day I'm a do it again
and the bar is lowered for men
and the victim is the villain
Again
and again
and again!

I think I felt a raindrop
as Jesus wept
and a scowl across God's face swept.

It's okay to be a blackout drunk in college
with your future on lock.
I wonder how many children learned this on the living room God box?

Dark all the time
Let a little light in
from the sunshine
but I wear shades
like all the time
so the light is always dim
anyway

When it's cold outside
it's cold in here too
and you can scream as loud
as you want
but I still won't hear you
not over the knives in the drum
not over the teeth grinding
and the branches winding
around them
like little children
clinging to their mother's dress hem

The throttle is all the way up
Five for a ride
and the tank is on full
There's no rest here
No call for a break to hear
but if the machine breaks…
A girl can pray, dear

But nobody calls
and nobody writes
and these branches
just hang
lower
and
lower
the ground reaching up
to grip with all his might
to bury me
marry me
and hold my bones tight
like sand when water runs
back into the sea
and I'm all alone again tonight

That's okay
I'll lie here in spite
despite myself
I'll fight myself
and make a feeble attempt
to turn all my wrongs to…
Yeah…
right….

Lookin' up to the sky at God like
"Gimme gimme!",
and I almost lost it all
but he shook his head
and dropped
a net under me
cuz Jesus laughed and said
"That's why they call him your boy!"

Pretty sure God laughed
a little when I bounced
Pretty sure he laughs
a little every time we bounce
He knows we'll be back...

Rings
These little things
bind you
Change you
Take you out of town
and turn your entire life
Up
               side
down

It starts with car rides
to dinners with strangers
Miniature screens in the headrests
and fights over broken headsets
ENOUGH
Screams and fights over what's best

Nobody listens
and the dew
on the stalemate glistens
like the sweat on a can
and you'll do anything
to put ten down
and lighten the load in your hand

Heartbeats are mechanical
and feelings are enveloped
in aluminum now
Not a salute
Not one bow
Nothing but a glass tipped to tv
Nothing but a closed box
with someone trapped inside
screaming
“Listen to me!
Why didn't you just listen to me?!”

Silly!
You didn't listen to her
from the start
It was all set in stone from the word go
but you led out with your heart
when all you had to do
was walk away right then
Instead of automating
for the next five to ten

But no worries friend
I saw your shell fall away
miles ago
and
I really do feel that you'll
win in the end
And even though I still see a spark in you,
it's a flame from elsewhere
stoked by a Master's hand who knew
better than to put
you out of the race too soon...

It's alright to be a little sad once in awhile
Little sad
Little while
Little faded smile
Little sweaty eyes
Little bit of dirt in life's aisle

Take it and run with it
See what it can be
Maybe it'll foster a smile later
Maybe....
We'll wait and see

A foaming, frothy sea
Between you and me
The rainy day
Making it less salty
Than it would be
Usually

No real tears
Just a little glum
Maybe it's the empty room
Maybe it's because the tv's not on
Maybe the sky's been gray for too long
Maybe we just need to change the song
Or play any song

It's okay to be a little sad
It's better than being overly mad
Always better than feeling really bad
Probably wake up and feel a little glad
But

For now

It's okay to be a little sad

Should I stay or should I go
clashed the words on walls
that minds make and turn us to voodoo dolls

Pins
Pride
Egos take a wide stride to avoid potholes
like a life less ordinary
with resentments on the side
Who wants refreshments on this ride?
I'll take two
One for me
One for you

I'm a kite that somebody flies
on Sundays whose
reverence
references those of a different time
but the same space
They read a book and act a certain way
just to save face

An old shoe lace
is the only thing
holding this world in place
while everything seems in a race
to trace it's way back into God's good grace

It's funny when you think about it
Right hand punched left hand
Left hand punched right
Nobody steps into the light in luxury
Only in desperate times
Only in foxholes
and next to bombs bursting with burglary

All the good shepherd can do
is sing sweet, soft lullabies
and keep us all from telling each other
little white lies
about how things used to be

I'm old
My father is older
His father is dead
yet we wage on and on
in a new day with all the same problems

When will it all end?
When will we put down
our weapons and call each other friend?
I can't wait,
because to that my sturdy branches will bend

I'll write poetry til my hands fall off and the only thought in my brain is horse broom *** trigger.

I'll write poetry whether it's read, ignored, or set on fire for blasphemy.

I'll write poetry whether it makes you roll your eyes and scoff a little or die right inside your head.

I'll write poetry because if I don't, the thoughts inside my head will send us all to an early grave without dinner.

I'll write poetry over sleeping, because it brings me rest.

I'll write poetry because sometimes it's not appropriate to walk around with my ******* up for all the world to see.

I'll write poetry because if I didn't, you'd never read it otherwise.

Are any of these movements real,
or are they made up
by people with too much time
on their hands and sold
to other people
with similarly idle minds?  
Trump.  

Antifa.  

Unite the Right.  

Fox News.  

CNN.  

Social media platforms.  

Slogans.  

Peer groups and all
their graphic tees, pins, and hats.  

Support this.  

Down with that.  

What ever happened
to plaid flannel shirts,
blue jeans,
and cords?  

Whatever happened
to waving to someone,
asking them how their day was going,
and talking about the weather?  

Everything leads to
controversy,
gossip,
and politics now.  

Nothing is a secret anymore.  
Nothing is personal.
Nothing is shocking.  
Nothing is sacred.  

Everyone is on a side
and the middle is cracking
and on the edge of breaking.

Bring me my wretched
Bring me my people
and I will shower them in love
and hold them in my heart beat

I will lift them up by their arms
to their feet
and clean the dirt
from their cheek
with my own tears

For I am my Father's son
and I am here to love
the unlovable
and free the oppressed

I am here to crush
the doomsayer so take heart
and hear if you've ears to do so!
Let go
of those chains
and walk like men do

Come up from your knees
and stand tall
You no longer have to fall
I've got your back
and I'm here for you after all!

I'd tell you about me
but then you would stare
like I grew a second head

Then I’d feel ashamed
and draw back inside
or tear out your eyes!

You wouldn't see
You couldn't see
that it was still me

You'd club me with your book
give me ***** looks
and hate me for what I am!

I'd suffer tears in pain
deep inside my brain
and every day it would rain!

So I'll stay inside myself
living on this shelf
Leaving my feet
in this water
chumming for sharks!

You're all just probably sharks

Teeth

Meat grinders of people
and my feet…

My feet are
made of concrete
and I'll kick in your teeth
when they grit on me…

Run to the brick wall and crash
through an ocean of sheet glass
I'm a juggernaut
Whether I have a jug or not
Whether my brain is tied in knots
Weather reigning in my thoughts
or raining out like **** in a parking lot

All the wars I fought
inside my head
Should've left me for dead
Should've put me in a box for bread
or pine
Chalk outline
Powerful powdery fingertips
All the drugs so I could rest better
medicine for higher
Idiot for hire
This is your brain,
but mine looks better when it's on fire
Kinda like a used tire
Stuck in the mire

Oh…
how I love thee so
and all I've got to show for it
is this mystery ride
from hell
to home
dead phone
keep calling
and calling
and crawling
and clawing
my way out of this pine box
only to find myself in another one
til I put down this city
til I stay right here
I'll keep listening til I can finally hear
and all of the werds become clear
to steer me back home again

To the stars…
Take me back home again, Usil

The air is crisp
and on the cusp of contrast
with our breath.
Leaves tell tales of sleep and dreams
and a temporary sort of death

Your hair and your eyes
and the way your hands
rest upon your thighs
make the corners of my mouth rise

You're quiet, calm collectedness
soothes me,
and when I can't see you
or hear your voice,
I panic and drop things

Basket case…
I know
Afraid to let these
feelings go

But it's down to the wire...
and I've wasted
so much precious time
quenching a fire
that could've made the sun look cold.
Should've never let love grow old

But if it's too late,
I'll sleep here
in this bed of my mistakes,
I'm getting old
and I'm running quickly out of slack to let
I'll happily hold on
to what you let me keep
and I'll take what I can get….