On drooping branch
sugar swelled beneath my flesh,
iron (III) oxide coat shined
under caresses of springtime rain.
You bit through my skin,
teeth grazing tender core,
juice seeping through relentless jaw
and my coat shined
under caresses of internal rain.

I’m not sure how to build
new walls with splintered hands;
debris blocks the blood flow,
capillaries dwindle and are reborn
away from the disaster zone.
Dust settles before I can set the first brick
and the ground is too slick with
moisture for cement to dry.

To coffee
For all the work
It has done
For you all those
Mornings when
You had to get
Up and drive
To that job you
Know you hate
And it kept you
Awake and
Not dead so you
Should tell it
"Coffee, Thank you."

Your skin laid out
in shades of blue and teal,
the brilliant white streaks
of wind tossed hair.
Your backdrop, a sky
painted in a noontime orange
as dark wisps of cloud
paint the fluorescent atmosphere.
With everything in
perfect opposites
I wonder
if that is why you seem
so happy.

Before I could connect the dots
They became like stars
And sat on your cheeks
Painting the universe with scars.
Taking me to a place
Where rain drops elate
And sun dries the fields
Where the great trees yield
Seeds of yesterday's blessings.
Do you know knuckles tighten
Tears swell and bloom,
And vessels seem to cringe
When your name,
Like a knife
Is thrown across the room.
I hate the sour taste of resent on my tongue,
And the emptiness of words
Like the songs never sung.
You, like a cloud, hang too low
Like last night when they pried
So I swallowed the tears to let it go,
Heavy with regret.
Each one of my bones has your initials etched
And probably my forehead too
Because everyone seems to draw a line between me and you
Thicker then it ever grew on your side of the fence.
The truth behind us is as simple as flames,
One always burns faster, and nothing's to blame
But it's 5 pm and my hands have moved on
To someone else's back
And you may hold her hair back for a moment on your bed
But she will never understand the
Mountains in your mind
Or try to climb to sunrise and understand the lies
Like I did one Sunday morning.
I hope she never loves you
Because you deserve nothing more then the sting of the sea you refuse to walk along with me.

It was cigarettes
And ****** up nights
You know you should regret.