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...

A Lover's Prayer

There's a quiet place inside me
I don't know where it is,
but I think I found her years ago
and I love her and I'll never stop
I said I love her and I'll never stop

Stupidity of youth
Oh! How you've cheated me,
but I've cheated myself you know.
I still smell your love and your lust
I've found you again
under the most strangest of circumstances
Under the weight of sorrow's sickness
I bare the weight
I break the restraints
and run to you with mending heart
and open arms
to accept you with all your glory

Forever
And ever
Amen

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...

Not a day goes by
that I don't think about you
Maybe a second
A minute
A couple hours
Those times when
I'm in the shower,
but not a whole day

And when you told me
Not to worry when you
didn't respond right away,
I said okay
Then you didn't talk to me
hardly all day

That's okay
Hey
I'll just back away
Hold tight to what's mine
and if it's not you
well that's okay too

God knows I need some me time
Some get back into my routine time
Some put the phone down,
stop obsessing about someone else's
problems and bring
the focus back to mine time.

This traveler's tripped out
stripped out
on his last loose *****.
The last thing he needs to worry about
Is YOU!
Are you sure that's okay, boo?

That's what's up then.
I really don't have any room in my life
to worry about another hen

I guess I should thank you really
We **** heads anyway.
Willful duo better at opposite ends of the bar
Like bookends hold things together
better
from afar

We'll be okay
I think
someday.
If not, then we'll always have the mountains, eh?

No worries man
Foggy bottoms are
best left a mystery,
since you can't see where you'll land...

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...

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….

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

Gas lit grassroots
**** so thick
gotta wear muck boots
to walk in your America
We suffer your hysteria

Every time a poll opens
amber waves whitewash wavering
opinions on old, dusty musty issues
with presorted used tissues
and a brown paper bag
to make the rotten fruit taste that much sweeter

And you rob us
You bend us over with a power tie
and some brand new pant suit
but the flag on your lapel is a lie
and you couldn't cough up
a first of the month bill toss up
If somebody kicked your kid's ***
out of private school for low fundage

And yet
Here
You
Are
Again
on your stump with your hand out
looking for another term
to fill your bank account
as you scoff at a grand
in my hand
like it was just dust
in the wind from your lungs
Hot air
Rotten
Rancid
It's disgusting the way you whisper acid
into our ears
every two to four years

You've still got your hands in our pockets
but nobody ever gets a happy ending
do they, Mr congressman?
Do they, Mrs congresswoman?
You split us down the middle
Perfectly parted partisan propaganda
Party lines
Party lies
You're all the same vampires
You're all the same tar pit trap
with a worm at the bottom hungry
for favorable public opinion

about how it's acceptable to **** us
over and over again

Please sir, may I have another?
Excuse me Mrs, may I please
cut the grass at the border?
Can we watch
willingly or not
for an example of how to accomplish nothing
and get paid for it?
Uncle and aunt touchy need their hands chopped off
and I need an endless flow of cold beer
to drink the pain away year after year

Just a hypothetical
but wouldn't it be beneficial
if the government were suffocated by pillows
in our sleep?

Gray clouds with a cold wind
Your eyes are dark
but your skin is soft and warm
and I could lose myself in you
with a smile and a song
in my once broken heart
but now on the mend

Your taste
Your touch
Your smell
You're like a drug to me
and I'll be left here to chase you
like an old man with a fading memory

You're the one that got a way once
and I hate myself a little
for not getting away with you
There's electricity in lightning
and it shocks me every time
eye see you or hear you talk or laugh

I'm a sucker with a sob story
and you've got the best
ears on the planet
I've known your heart
and I've seen your soul
and it shakes me to my core

I want to capture your tears
I want to quell your fears
and hold you
like a comfy bed in winter's cold
I want to make you smile away
all the bad times and fill you with
the love I kept close to my heart
all these years

I've seen your soul, old friend
It's a little tattered and bruised
around the edges but I don't care
I love you just the same
no matter what...
no matter where

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

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!

I've done it again!
But for the last time!
Frittered and fretted my soul
to its end
I've homed in and fired upon most of my friends
Awakened with bitterness, hands full of frayed ends

But I'll put it back up on its side
I'll fire the light back into my mind
Replacing the missing stars from my skies
Lowering the rudder back into rough seas
Resetting this course to the discovery of me!

Right all the wrongs on my side of the street
Bite on the bit to bare all of life's lashes
Wipe off the tears
Crush all the fears
Turn it around  before it all crashes!
because this is a fight against time
This is a fight against worry and mine
eyes are the vessels of all that can be
and I'll focus on the future that
I WANT TO SEE!

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!

My tongue is a pitchfork,
but my words wait wantonly
for your eyes to process them.
They wait patiently on the page for you to ponder them.

Like little deadly daggers dipped in poison,
or honey,
or lust to drive you to touch yourself,
or someone else.

Maybe you want to touch me.
Maybe you want to caress my leg.
Maybe you want to punch me or hurt me instead.
Perhaps my words make you
want to make me
dead
for something that I said.

Maybe not though.

Maybe you just brush by briskly,
ignoring me and my words,
but how long can you ignore the devil?
Remember children.
The devil gets his due...
he always gets his due!

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

Never knew a sky so bright
Hands high in praise
The silver lining to a million mornings
Til the power went off anyway
Then it was dark again in your own mind

***** dusty ***** soiled dreams
wet with your spit and froth
And you would touch their secrets
without a care or a kind permission given
Without a smile
Just a *****, angry mouth
and a sinister stare

How many hundreds of flowers did you ****?
Stolen sweet scent of beauty
and serenity crushed
with the cascading cocophany
of protesting lips
The quiver and shiver of unsteady vocal chords
When she said no
you locked the doors
put her on all fours
and tainted her petals
with your
salty
oily
filth

And here you are now
with nothing to show but stems
bare and broken in a jagged fashion
You're sorry now with dead petals under your feet
and a foundation that has crumbled at its base
as you slip into a black sea with nothing to show for it
but an angry mob chasing you
to the cold, sobering waters of reality
at the bottom of the cliff
you've been perched on for so long
Your glass shattered by your own boulders

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

Three dogs and another one on her way
Two kids and a house and in-laws
Two brothers and their kids too

I'm the bomb
I'm the grenade
I'm the explosion
leaving nothing but death and destruction behind me

I sit in my sack cloth and ashes
with shards of a heart
still smoldering
Pathetic pity party over stayed its welcome.

Grief is a funny thing,
but nothing to laugh at really
Just something to trudge through
with muddied boots

Doing my best
not to drown anyone else
in my wake
I was the destroyer this time
Next time, someone else
can operate the detonator,
Because I'm done with it.
Next adventure!

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

I've got a bad habit
of tripping over my own clunky feet
I'm not used to it
I used to be so precise
so mechanical and
under control

But the wires
have all been severed
and the servos can't
read
the feed
back
and while I can feel my
windows are cracked
I can't feel the rain
in my heart
even though
I know
that it's now beating again

The rain...wet on my face
as it follows the furrows
and frown lines
feels so good on new skin

Looking over the wreckage
at my feet
feeling the lump in my throat...
There's a lump in my throat!
What a joyous feeling...to feel

Cans once riveted to
my hands now cleanish
And the work is piling up,
but I can manage
The lack of fire in my head
is a big advantage

The doors to inviting rooms
swing wide open
One day, my clunky feet will fall in step
and I'll win the prize of an honest
man's death
The metallic clank will disappear
from my stride
and I will become whole again;
well deserved of my Father's pride.
One day….

If I could save time in a bottle,
I'd pour it all out for my homies
and head back to the store
for some Ben and Jerry's!

Life is full of lemons,
so keep your ******* cherries!
Just hand me the sugar bowl
and spoon me out change for the ferry

Life is pretty scary if you stop
and think about it for awhile
It's filled with emptiness
and fanatics with minds running wild

All I got is a pocket full of loose change,
broken dreams and empty promises
a broken heart and a mix tape
that's full of songs for ostriches

My head is buried in the sand
and...and I can't quite say when I started to care
Has it always been buried here,
or did the tears and fears take away all my air?

I'm just as big of a mess as you are
and I always have been, see?
If you're gonna eavesdrop, better listen and take notes,
else you make all the same mistakes as me.

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

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!

Bad
Good
Bad
Good
Bad
Good
I stabbed the ****** in its throat
And wrote
My own version of good!

Tick tock
went the clock
on the wall
Eat a fat ****,
father time!
You ain't no
father of mine!

God gave you a book?
Well, he gave me my mind,
And it constantly reminds me
to take another look!

Oh!  Here's your clock back homie.
I don't need it anymore.
Smash the things that bind you....

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

We're a nation of claws and one liners
Armchair quarterbacks,
pundits,
and unnecessary viciousness

We don't communicate
We spit venom with
thick black forked tongues
coiled in corners of the internet
like little electronic vipers

We're over opinionated
reactionary haters
and unhappy children
who didn't get what they wanted
from mom at the store

We lash out every chance we get
and cut each other up
on a daily like it was nothing
hiding behind a six inch
box full of plastic, glass, and metal parts

We're our own little versions of
our own personal prison's guards
and everyone around us
is an inmate whipping boy
What a wonderful world, eh?

The winds were quiet and peaceful
The streams cool and
running slowly through the reeds
and the lily pads frogless for the time being

Yet with all of the still waters
something stirs
Something whirs and wriggles
inside of this tin man
something shakes and shivers

Once cold, calculating
red slits
are now twinkling with amber
like the comet filled sky
throwing celestial fits

Grinding gears grabbing steel
and wire mesh
have lost the robot to
the sound of His timing
and blood's liquidy swish

At first, we were at a loss
and our worldly metallic friend
questioned his feelings
and thought this was surely the end

Until one day when
he shed his first tear
and the rust on his face plate
began to disappear

It was a miracle we decided
beyond a shadow of a doubt
This once mechanical being
With joy in its eyes began to shout.

We welcomed him to the world
with his sharp robotic eyes
as they softened to a glow,
His now heart-filled chest
full of love instead of lies

The metal scale began to drift away
and this machine was now man
who now looked at every new day
With brighter eyes
and a new love for which to stand.

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.

The devil is in your hands
Nickel cadmium to lithium ion
Twenty volts in a flat screen
Charge faster than a kid scream

**** the corn man
Pass the ****!
Live cam news feed
Fox kills the little sheep
while all of tv land
finger ***** little bo peep!

But it's her fault right?
She wanted that money
so her glitz was wide open to glam
Big fats old gold fingers
tantalize the youth with fame
Fantasize
Materialise
Realize the drugs
push past their big dumb
Cattle eyes
and turn a pack of wolves
into a flock of little sheep
All stuck in a little glowing six by six box
Hollywood
D.C.
Different cities
same fox!

Is anybody out there?
I'm alone and scared
and all the lights are out
I reached out and everything
I touched was cold
I turned around twice
and realized that I had become old
and all the terrible things
I'd done to my loves
had turned on me ten fold

I found out that all the words
I cursed out loud were for nothing
and
something inside me was dying
The only sound I could make now
was sighing,
but I mustered up a shout
which came out
more like a shriek
or a screech

All the leaves
on the trees were turning,
but not like in Fall
My chickens were coming to roost
as I reached, but to no hand at all

I had given and fought for nothing
and nothing is what I had reaped
The blood that lay
in the ground at my feet
was not even mine

I am the wraith with rusty blades
and I sweep
and stalk my prey
While they lay in their sleep

I lurk in cobwebbed corners dimly lit
for chance to pay pipers back
and fill my soul the heart of sadness
I so selfishly spent my time to split.

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!

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

I forgot flowers, so I laid down my guns
as a peace offering.
I walked to your side
shrouded in black
Dismal
Destitute
Dismantled
Disheveled

I shoveled the dirt to the side myself
After all,
I was the murderer
I was the maniacal mastermind
Always pacing
Mind always racing
Thumbs always flitting

Some of mine is mine to keep
but I'm really bad at that
so I decided to keep it all
inside myself

Beside myself with loneliness
for quite some time
I decided to dig you up again
Nothing changed
Your opinions still flared
Your pictures still dared
my eyes to glimpse

I found myself void of expression
with the exception of a curled upper lip
Suspended in disbelief
Saturated in thoughtlessness again
Not again
Never again I promised

So I scratched and clawed the surface
Handful
after
handful of earth flung feverishly
behind me until I needed a ladder to climb out

I pushed you back into your hole
The whole of you lie there together
The hole in me didn't close
but your body would rot soon
and all I had to do was keep walking
and leave the corpse behind
as I spent the next few weeks
Clearing my mind
Alone
Secret
Broken
Woken by reality

I never stopped thinking though
I can't
I won't
But I will bury you forever,
and I will grow
and maybe you'll all grow with me.

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

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?

"Not another one!"
Whispering in unison
the worshipers of heroes
gasped
grasping at the unbelievable
truth that behind closed closet doors,
the filth spilled out from underneath the rug
it was swept under

Heard tale that she did terrible things
for a man to be worshipped
Heard tail that she gave him wasn't his first
Heard tale of tails sold for eyes and a silver screen

Technicolor
DTS
Dolby Digital **** kits
passed out
To passed out kids
and women suffered the brunt of it
for low wages and red carpet
for a bit part and a chance
to walk across a stage and thank
all the monsters for ****** her twice

Once in a closet behind closed doors
Once at the bank-backed bounced check

next to a leading man
who stole all of her fame

But alas, my dearest friends
Your heroes aren't dead
They're all begging you
to take the kryptonite
off of them and put them
back into the sunlight
Sometimes
even superheroes need help from regular folk

Bury Hollywood in old console coffins
Use the media as fill dirt
and turn drive-ins into cemeteries
HASHTAGMETOO

Controller roller coaster
off the rails
down some off-beaten
path in a forest full of broken trails

****** nails bent and broken
down a splintered cross
just to find out we're wrong
and that we can't be our own boss

We'll cut our losses and plug back in
But what does it matter then?
If all that was me is so deeply flawed,
Then what is this ground worth that I've clawed?
They say to throw my hands up
and give it all to God

I'll be the machine man made
of flesh and guilty bones
ruled by brightly burning images
from screens in comfy homes

Charcoal grills and girls on fire for *******
and a head full of guilty pleasures
Life in a loveless void of
meaningless madness
sadness
and half measures

But I am the machine
man made for fleshy,
guilty pleasures
and something else entirely
sleeps at the wheel…
phoning in direction
and they run me.
Im automatic….

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...

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!

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

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

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...

I can go for days at a time,
sometimes even weeks,
feeling great or even just okay.  

But then,
outta nowhere and for no good reason at all,
I just want to pull the trigger.  
And it comes and it goes just like that
(that being snapping fingers).  

I wonder if that's what happened
with that girl who shot herself
in traffic in Chesapeake yesterday?  
Was it one of those moments of weakness,
a millionteenth traffic ticket
on top of an end of a relationship cake,
dipped in confusion about her
newly discovered ****** preference
that she'd covered up all of her life?  
Was she in a program?  

Sometimes...
even if it's just for a split second...
I know her.  

Sometimes...
I am her and she is me
and all either of us really need
is a hug,
a kiss on the top of the head or on a cheek,
and a breathy whisper in our ear from
someone
anyone
who would tell us
"It's gonna be okay, child...
Everything is gonna be alright...."

It's so easy
to go right out
turn my back
walk away
My soul’s been sold
a million times
What's one more
stupid dime?

Walked this way
for so long
One foot out
to trip myself
Eat concrete
Head all hurt
Another drink
Forget about all of you!

I'm the rebel in black and blue!
A rebel who burned his clue!
Stairs with a broken step!
If I don't get up, I'll drink myself to death!

Cat's away
Time to play
**** my friends
Don't need amends
Serve myself
Die alone
in my home
or in the street

I'll get online
show my behind
Wake up hurt
It's all fine
Delete last night
no big deal
I'll forget about how I feel!

I was the rebel in black and blue!
Drunken fighter without a clue!
Waking up to fix this step!
I won't drink myself to death!

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

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

Barstool outside of Barstow
Desperado
Lonely grotto
Broken soul
What a chip on your shoulder though!

How are you not a hunchback?
You got lonely by the *******!
No debate
There's no arguing that!

Closet full of little boxes
Highly political
I'm full of spikes though
I'm punctual
I stab and cut red tape

I hate
So full of debate I can't stand myself
I'll die all alone
Satisfied
Unbroken
Unchained
Unrelenting
But not uncaring

I'll hold this center line...

There's a field so fertile
that the grass grows green
in the driest of days,
and if anyone saw it,
they would stare
With mouth agape
and eyes full of gaze.

But no one will see it,
even if it's out in plane sight.
No one thought
to stop
and stare
or care
how the green grass would
grow
so
TALL.
Not one person
No one at all.

Nonetheless, I'd cut it every week
And
in return,
it would thank me
in such
subtle ways.
I'd see, and
smile
satisfactory
in my labor.
Happy in my secret service.

No one stopped and stared
No one even cared
But I did
Yes…
I did.

I wear it on my sleeve
Blacked out
Cracked out
****** ******* mess

I reach out for help
but I miss my mark
and stab a hole in your chest
Grabbing
Ripping
Tearing through the sack

I've got a knack
for crushing chest wounds
I walk worlds withering with decay
Writhing with dismay
Manic with panic and scandal
and death's grip like a handle
Love's laborious little vandal

Your heart isn't on your sleeve
You're a liar and a fake
A dandelion in a garden full of dying flowers
in desperate need of a hard rake