So they march us down the street keeping time to a broken beat
And the morals that we worship will be gone
Spite the blisters on our feet, we will all make a mass retreat
to a world where what we need will carry on

It’s spiraling out of hand, and we’re polling the crowd again
Nobody told me us life was not free
So I say to me
“Put up those halfway houses and pray the storm recedes.”
We act so vicious out of greed
As if there’s a victory among us, none such

So we’re taking our friends and we’re puttin’ ‘em out
like there ain’t no love to go around
Pulling no punches, only teeth
Then we’re taking the ends and we’re finding it out
It pulls you up to push them down
And this is not where I wanna be, either, picky eater

Now I think we’ve lost the plot, so we make ourselves a new lot
by putting two of our friends inside a room
We’ll be popping our candy corn in a protest anti-****
while strapping ourselves inside the viewing booth
And staying so clean
Taking our Adderall, and going for the guttural
Laying all our incensers next to us
They’re blaming us for the mess so we’ve gotta totally digress
and turn against the only ones we trust
Next time I feel mean

I’ll try openly
Cut out my heart and tape it on my sleeve
Can we have their shame redeemed for a handful of thee
in tickets (quit this)

I’ve got a certain feeling you’ll be beat around it when the bush is in bloom
Again, I’ve got a secret 7th sense about it…you’ll dance like a foot if I shoot
Though - my mind is resolute: I don’t play with my food.

So we’re taking our friends and we’re puttin’ ‘em out
like there ain’t no love to go around
Pulling no punches, only teeth
Then we’re taking the ends and we’re finding it out
It pulls you up to push them down
and this is not where I want to be, either, picky eater

For a moment I thought
it was a butterfly,
the yellow and orange leaf
that took flight from the swishing poplar tree
across my balcony.

It swayed and fluttered in excitement –
here and there, up and down,
undecided if right or left,
to the ground or up to the sky –
Should I stay or should I go?

What to make of perceived options
when you lose your wings to know
that gravity always wins?
And ultimately to the ground
with or without wings.

With my head rested
against the shoulder
that sits between each breath
between each little heart beat

With my head rested
against the wind
that flows between
the inhales and exhales
of this little life

worn-down paws
stepping forward
many consonants
create jagged ground
whose icy surface
cuts into paws

The mountain calls to me, demands my presence, I meet its gaze.

Me: What do you want from me?

Mountain: I want you to climb to the peak

Me: I can’t bring anyone else with me

Mountain: I do not ask of you to bring anyone else, in fact, you should leave them behind, now climb me

Me: No, I can’t just do that

Mountain: Whether you listen to them or listen to me, makes no difference but I know you, and you want to climb, with no safe pathway down, no net to hold you, you want to see from this height and this height alone

Me: What if I want off?

Mountain: Then jump, but know the ground awaits you, you are never free

I stand in its shadow.