The rain drapes the windshield in sheets
and the radio doesn't reach any stations

cold integrity darkens the interior
of Alex's rusty crimson Camaro

it's never this quiet on the highway
sliding between light and lightning

laid bare by a flash across the sky
naked at the sound of thunder

what use is running away
if all you can do is drive.

Everyday in the heat
Sweat beads down
Drips into my eyes
Stings on
Every stride
One foot in front of the other
The knee
Aches
No stopping now
So far from home
How the sun
Bakes
Surrounded by nature
And speeding cars
Inches from hitting
Inches from ascending to the stars
Roads must be explored
Pain must wait
For the freedom of moment
And the speed of life
Is what fulfills
This traveling heart
each beat
Puts one
Foot in front
Of the other
I will
Go so far

A dark shadow glides across the burning asphalt
    and stops while I fly past
    one foot in front of the other

A spider, I thought
     no, couldn't be
     too long to be one, and slow

Scorpion was the next thought
      no, couldn't be
      they do not call this area home

I had to stop my stride and turn
      sneak to where that dark blur rested

A long blue streaked tail
               fading into lightning strikes

A baby, or perhaps a toddler

All I know is that it's
  tiny
  and fast.
  like me.

It made the grueling heat on these back streets
   worth the suffering.

Is it suffering if it is what I crave?

have i run out of words?
because

i

cant
..seem

t o



          fi n d


                                  t
                           h
                                  
                                                    e

                      m

When I run, I run with speed
In which becomes a gentle breeze
Soaring though the asphalt heat
Opposing wind blanketing
Speeding down a blistering street      
While                                                           ­   Y                                          
          My      ­                                                      L
         ­       Prudent                                              E
   ­                           Mind                                  ­E
                                        Wanders             R
                                                               ­ F

A sweltering run through the pastoral streets
Past the chemical plant and decrepit machinery
A couple miles trekked for nature's delicious treats
Incardine specks and black dots poke through thick greenery

Step over the ditch into the smokey mud
Stick your hand in carefully, the cost just a little blood

A blackberry picked from the protective thorn
is sweeter than one picked from the grocery store

I should have tied them tighter,
he thought to himself.
No point in focusing on what I did wrong,
or rather what I didn't do right.
He got up off the pavement
and without thinking
dusted off his knees.
The right one stung.
He looked down and took notice that
he'd shed skin.
He watched reluctantly
as a single drop of blood
fell off the **** of his knee
and landed on the loose knot of his shoelace.

Wash it off!
The marks of a past as dim as a solar eclipse cast on your gaze.
Useless, it is already written in the depths of your face,
As black as ink, there lingers a truth within it, hidden behind feelings.
The endless pain is brushing with the wind through your hair,
Oh life what is the reason for you to always lead towards an inenvitable death, leaving what you once were proud of, behind ?
Since you seem not to understand it fully, I want to teach it to you in the realm of the dead, in the loitering darkness one day when it is already far too late to turn your back to the fate you are running from,
So please seek the answers now, don't ever turn away!
Even if you should continue this lonesome path wretchedly,
As long as you are living, you can still shine and illuminate anothers spirit, just like the moon does in the darkest of all nights,
Even still if your past has left your tortured, frightened soul...
As black as ink.

~ Umi

Death knocks on the door with flowers
She does not answer

He knocks again
She blocks the door

He shouts her name
She buys a new houses

He comes again
And she builds a Panic Room

He shouts once more
And she locks the Panic door

He breaks into the house
And she blockades the hallway

He rattles the handle
She puts in ear plugs

He kicks and he screams
And she goes to sleep

Alone
In her chamber of solitude
With nothing
And no one
Left
Dreaming peacefully
As he breaks down the door