That's when I felt it.
I grabbed the grocery bag.
I looked down because I felt it.
I felt it on my ring finger.
I felt the thick banded symbol.
I felt it on my ring finger,
Even if it was only a second.
It was a second that lasted long.
Longer than the last time I looked into your eyes.
That was all I could see,
Those blue eyes staring back at me.
The same ones that have been washed away.
Away with all of our memories.
I felt them all right there,
At that moment,
I felt everything you'd ever meant to me.
Then the bag moved,
The plastic slipped away,
Just like we have into new worlds.

Beyond the yellow and black clouds
And into the red sky.
Silver archangels guide and guard me on through.
Its sort of like my dreams mixed in with my thoughts of reality.
Does not seem real at all.
But I cannot tell you how much beauty there is as I am looking and flying by these archangels.
Their wings have every color that exist.
Beyond the red skies and into the blue, there is a floating island with a clear pool of water.
As I stand before the pond I see in the reflection of the water that I am also one of these archangels.
The others all kneel and have a drink of the water.
I do the same.
I look like them and they look like me.
They then go toward the edge of the island and stand and wait.

It could be a million people.
It could be my demons.
It could be the problems I'm not dealing with.
It could be the people I'm trying not to think about.
It could be the thing I need to hear most.
It's almost definitely not you.
But, heaven help me, it is.

Because you are my demons.
You're a problem I'm avoiding.
You're the person I try not to think about.
And you have become the voice I need to hear most.
So on the other end of this phone,
screaming at me like an angel,
it almost definitely is you.

And, heaven help me, I'm picking up.

I know what love tastes like

sort of like the warm berries on your lips
mixed with chlorine and
       cheap pink perfume from a plastic spray bottle
              like lukewarm coffee that was carried on a bike by a underage boy  
  it tastes like jealousy on the roof of my mouth
at the success and intelligence that sweats from him
    like
pride that overwhelms me--a wave of warm sunshine
like a cold metal ring in my mouth (biting it nervously--the raw disruptive taste of metal waking my senses)
as I say goodbye for the day
(or week)

We are connected
Linked to one another
In more ways than one.
Sometimes it was almost like a trap
And it seemed we were stuck
Blocked by some obstacle
That we never could completely identify.

They say that problems will find a way of solving themselves
Yet there was no solution.
I was on the verge of giving up
But an intangible presence urged me to press on.

Fate had other plans.

Our problems seemed to have solved themselves when we separated.
There was no connection
No bond with which to struggle.
For a time, it felt as though it were complete.
Solved.
But, as time passed, and I looked more closely
It became apparent.

We are meant to be together.

And so I pursued, putting the pieces
Back where they belong.
Easier said than done.
It was almost as if I had to climb over mountains
And trudge through valleys
But I could not give up
Because now I saw the completed puzzle
And it was too beautiful not to include you.

There were many bumps
But in the end, you reconnected.

Many were, and still are perplexed by us.
They don't understand why we didn't give up.
But when we are together, the answer is clear.

And when we are apart,
Rings
Remind of our journey, our promise.
Our love.

Smoke rings around the rosie,
a pocket full of posies,
ashes to ashes,
Ashley fell ashen.

© Matthew Harlovic

Whispers and rings
you promise to bring,
that is what our love is made of.
Whips and wails
and back scratching nails,
that is what our lust is made of.

sitting in my room all day long
thinking about him, how he treats me wrong
there is tons of other boys
only one special i love his smile his person his voice

he might be a little older
but i can always cry on his shoulder
he might be far away
but i'll get there and finally kiss him someday

he makes me smile
even when i havent in a while
when im sad he can feel it
when im broken he can always heal it

we like the same things
and i hope that some day we'll prove it with rings
i never thought we'd get this close
but it's clear as air now this love is my daily dose

i love you so much XOXO
your babygirl
your my vinyl scratch, my saviour!