You've stacked the deck in your favor,
but if even one card shifts
the entire house comes crashing down.

Hitting as the dealer holds
you've folded, revealing your hand.
What a Joker you've become!

The bluff has fallen on deaf ears.

Every day, these walks get longer.
Every hour, these hands, they tremble.
Every minute, these eyes get weary.
Every second, this existence is fading.

As light approaches this darkened room,
We are shrouded in to the fog of melancholy.
Devoured by misery, consumed by life,
Slowly and slowly we burn into nothingness.

These gaps exist with the soul of our hearts.
The void of joylessness approaches.
All these *** that emotions can’t afford,
Our tears are kept in a jar.

What sick, ****** contagious lives we have.
We are fools to the repetitious cycle of despair.
We continue to gaze at the fields of the condemned.

How about a cigarette for us to breathe?
But let us quench into the foolishness of life.

Let this be a wake up call for those who still have it,
For so many people take it for granted.

It's there for you every day.
It's there for you even when it's not.
It's a part of almost everything you eat and drink.
It's a part of almost everything you do and make.
It's in your pizza.
It's in your soda.
It's in your charity.
It's in your tears.
It's in your wars.
It's in your blood.
It feeds you.
It fuels you.
It heals you.
It cleans you.

It helps you get through the day.
Day after day.
Week after week.
Month after month.
Year after year.
Some people love it.
Some people like it.
Some people don't notice it.
But all people need it.

And yet many people squander it.
They pollute it.
They abuse it.
They waste it.
They destroy it.
They consume it without even realizing it.
They demand it be there for them all of the time.
They do all of this without ever thinking that one day,
They could reach for it and only find air.
Until that day has come.
Until their bread and water is gone.
And you're left scrambling,
Scared and desperate,
Wondering how long you can manage to survive,
Without your bread and water...

Cow dung waste:
churning together
grass with water
later passed through and left behind,
grow more grass!

Politicians words:
churning together
holy-hallow words,
grow more votes!

Poets words:
churning
on paper,
unread cautious wisdom words
grow more silver fish!

i went to the place we first met
to try and make amends with my ghost
not much has been the same since you came around
im missing you terribly
and sometimes i think i can make out the faint noise
of you screaming you love me into the wind
like you did seven months ago
in a field blooming with bugloss flowers
how puerile of me to not realize
that we were surrounded by the flower of lies
i hate anything that reminds me of you
so i guess i hate everything including myself
i see you in the passenger seats of cars on busy highways
and i see you in empty grocery store aisles
i see you in clouds and tv shows
and newspapers and sunlight
and everything else there is to imagine
because youre all i see now
i gave myself to you the first day we met
but you refused to take me
so now my soul is out wandering
these weakly lit streets
people ask why i see so distant
i turn to them and wonder
if they can see the image of you  
kissing me for the first time
in the reflection of my eyes
i also wonder if they can see
the image of me throwing up
and shrieking and sobbing the day you left
im begging someone to fix this absence we created
three months ago when you walked away
i went to the first place we met
to try and make amends with my ghost
but by the time i had arrived it had already moved on
just like you

-m.v.

I'm sorry for the email
My desperate-sounding contact
I didn't know you're in a relationship now
I didn't know
I wanted to believe my words might not be unwanted
I wanted to believe I was special to you
I always wanted to know that
I wanted to know it meant something to you
That I knew you better than anyone ever has
I wanted to know that you could see who I am
That you could see my heart
And that you loved it
That it's different from other hearts
That it pumps blood full of passion
For what's right
For feeling alive
For connecting with depth unheard of
And for you
I wanted you to love that I was into you
And to do it in your own way
Your own silent way
A casual understanding that this was the good life
That you'd made out by being loved this way
And that life is going to be good
I'm sorry for the email
I know now I'm not wanted