When one is forced to stop drinking, the first thing felt is shame. It is recognition that coerced abstinence was inevitable. The court told me No alcohol and I said Okay. An assessor of the state told me If you picture life past 30, you stop now: he might have added For the longevity of both you and your relationship(s), but it might be his own history stopped him. The morning I crashed my car was not cold like today. Suburbs are generally quiet at four-thirty; runaways choke-chain drooping eyes to a bedpost for a few more fickle hours, hoping (praying) body keeps pace with hunger. I was hungry, and we went to get food. My brow beats ripples into the airbag. In county my sheltered white life was a blanket doused in gasoline. The sheltered white mind may scream but the sheltered white body cowers under concrete. In class I was assured Alcoholism runs in the family. The gene plagues Hendrix men as a curse of choice. It's a gun in a knife case. Six months sober; it still itches. I'm still hungry. The state told me I was Lucky [I] didn't **** someone. I was selfish. I was selfish because I thought they meant me.

Lay back

ponder things

as times consumes

sentimentally speak through your mind

and let  your chaotic soul

dealt it with complexity

My cell phone lights up
Its my friend George:
Come back to the hospital Chris
You cannot afford to miss this

I stare at my withered face a little longer
in the mirror
My reflection has been torn asunder
I look tired, unfit to wear the uniform
thrown under my desk
Combing my hair, checking my teeth
I allow this present demon to dissipate
Amongst the broken tendrils
of haunting thoughts
And a horrible screaming cacophony

Meeting my gaze and preparing
for whatever the weather
has become outside
Pulled by a premise of the reprisal
to my fantasy
Perhaps the length of this silence
Is actually foreshadowing a miracle
I believe

I'm led by the shadows
of alternate realities
Harnessing the power to stifle this sequestering doubt
and all my fears
As I shut the door, I walk with footsteps
That imagine running to greet you
Holding you tight and holding back tears
As if it was the first time I'd meet you

I strengthen my resolve
It brings me pain to revolve
My strained thoughts
Around fairy tales
All the while Jacoby Shaddix is echoing
'She loves me not'
My third eye blind pushes me in
'The background'
And simultaneously, I tell myself
'Keep the soul, that's control'

I feel my heart pounding in my chest
Beads of sweat trace the lines of my palms
Because I know that if I had seen her today
I could leave everything else behind
It would all be beautifully different
Instead I receive the most disappointing news this week

Because I've learned that when the difference between
What you know and what you believe
Is rubbed in your nose and laid at your feet
Even that cupcake...
And everything else is bittersweet

the world may be your oyster,
...
but keep in mind that some of us are allergic to shellfish.

{d.f. | 12/07/17}

I have looped around this garden for days
Returning to thorny bushes that scrape my skin
Returning to soft sweet scented flowers
Untouchable but tempting
My legs grow tired
I am weak
And yet I walk this circle constantly
Unending
Never stopping
Ruthless cycles
I have become a slave to selfishness
Reaching for the softness, the beauty of the flowers
To touch their petals with careful hands
Hold them to my lips and feel all that I can
Unreachable but seeable and so I see
I walk to see
And see again
And as I start the next turn my heart only longs
To see more
I pass by the thorns
I am trailing blood
Just please let me touch
Let me come back to the flowers
So the walk does not stop
The loop is unending
I **** myself slowly
My weapon, is want

I spend all my days
Wanting and forgetting you
Leaving and breathing you

The absenent taste
Burns bitter
Like ashes
All around me
My teeth grin
With pain

My own absence
Ignores me
Then wakes
Me alive
Just to come
Back down

Why must I
Ever come down

When you are
My bed
Hurried dry dying
To become a
Strawberry stain
Rearranged