letting loose old chains
you and your wry laughter
defeated by the day old machines
of life and their constant clogging

time's hands tear into spring
nail first, peeling off the light constricting canopy
twisting barbwire off delicate skin
strangling you on a couch from hell

wake up to the smell of bourbon
and dead roses - so pretty
your lashes creating the shadows
on your gaunt cheekbones, and your name is Soul

capitals irk me.
parentheses are comfortable, like my love embraces me, like i slide letters into envelopes, or don't, rather.
uneven lines and fragmented line endings feel more accurate,
real, everything that is not posed or
staged, everything that keeps you
hanging on to the last syllabic
exhale.

[doesn't every ugly thing
look good in cursive?]*

tattoo the image as a sleeve
like i'm too young to care
if you're taking care of yourself
vinylrecordshatteringvulnerableOHSO
it's not even summer yet
and i already know i ain't over a **** thing
love like your slender, lanky long body

large brown eyes and the smell of
smoke in your hair
hazel honey energy, making out on the balcony
promise land really is just a graveyard
of discarded lights like you and i
in the middle of a desert
and i can't think straight, not since your lips
first captured mine

i want to be a somebody to someone
to carry more than just a solitary wail
of a train across a train track north
in the view of a blazing, starry night
and the view of withered fields

i want to carry this torch boldly into
the sunset horizon, to love and to cast
caution to the wind with reckless abandon
that tigress that cannot be tamed
one who wins all the arm wrestles

travel six times around the globe
and see everything with my hands
not just my eyes

other times, i can just curl up
and realize the only thing i can do
is relinquish myself in the crevice
of your arm and shoulder quietly
equal passion there as much as the silence
of the unknowns out there