Forget Portland and Austin and Santa Cruz.
Those famously strange places,
where the tourists gawk at local weirdos.
Here is not there.

Here is the place of advice such as:
“When life gives you meatballs put a wig on a dog.”
—True story.

Here is the place where:
“With all good things in life you just have to wipe the bird **** off.”  

The place where steel and marble Confederate ghosts,
watch the wealthy renovate their westward homes along a cobblestone road.

Where paintings are propped to rot up in alleys,
and buzzing twenty-somethings on their way back from a show,
shake it and tilt it and carry it home.
—Gilded frame and all.

This is the place of painted concrete where walls are canvases,
and red bricks pop out of the ground,
the tree roots poking through to trip you.

Here’s where the People’s Beer comes from Milwaukee,
but we replaced the R in ribbon with here,
and sell it by the caseload when it rains and when it’s Tuesday.

Where young people go to find themselves getting lost becoming someone else,
remixing history to not admit naivety,
before they’ve been sandpapered through experience.
        —To a core.

This is an ink-stained but not splattered place.
Where lines are careful, permanent and abundant,
and on Fridays can cost 13 bucks.

Here is the place where people roam like that restaurant rabbit:
listless and nomadic and stuck.

Where there’s a wild streak in its heart that follows the tracks,
and cuts the city in half.

This is the place that Carvers itself out into cultures,
and you can be from the Bottom,
or proud to be a Rat.  

Here is where you night-drive over the bridge,
see the skyline and feel restlessly content.

Here is home.
—For now.

Raw thoughts, yeah?
Nah, not today, man
Too bad, I was expecting them
You'll get them, just shut up
It's just noise
They all want me and my noise
But it's all just noise
It scratches
It creaks
It beeps
It boops
It bleeps
It beams
It beckons
It goes on for oh so, so, so, so, so, so, so long
Why do you want it, you disgusting *****?
shhhhh
khhhh
tshhhhh
krrrrr
bhhhhh
ssssss
trrrrr
But it doesn't make sense
None of it does
It's me
It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on
Why do you want it, tell me that
Who are you to ask my why I want it if I do
I'm tired of this can I just make peace with me
Yes you can
No you can't
Yes you can't
No you can
Yes you are
No we aren't
No I can't can
.......
.......
.......
-------
-------
-------
ooooooo
Who are you?

Isn’t it funny how odd we can be?
As humans, we want to close our souls
like curtains on a window.
Only to show our true selves
in the hollows of the night
enclosed in our safety net.

Isn’t it funny how people will walk away?
Because they say you are too much
and you believe them.
You build this brick wall of defense
trying not to crack a smile
Because you rather someone love you
Than not at all.

You are a beautiful star
glowing in the ever-infinite galaxy.
Let your light shine, my sweet girl
because how dare someone love you
For only the normal parts.

You are a unique snowflake
Dance in the afterglow.

i hate when people judge other people on the way they dance. like “*** *** is she doing, she can’t dance” she may not be able to dance but i bet she is having more fun than you, hater.

and to me she looks more beautiful than anyone in here cause she is free

we messed this up.
years of knowing you
and we've never really talked.
we're practically strangers
that see each other so often.

we messed this up.
we could have been something
more than this.
but I'm leaving soon
and this game will end.

we really messed this up.

I'm lost
In a crowd and busy city
Even after trying very harder.
Thousands of people around me,
But, I know nobody.
They don't pause, they don't smile-
Every moment is for today's or tomorrow's money.
Hundreds of buses around me
But, none takes me to home.
They are to pollute, they are for noise
I can't expect nothing more than that.
I'm lost
In a busy city world
Even after trying very harder.

freshly squeezed from the fruit, your nectar so tasty.
one cup I have drank, and then another, and another.
perfect amount of sweetness, and not the sugar thats man-made,
yet, unlike raw apple, your flavour is so fine.
should I put you back in the fridge now, my beloved?
or keep you with me, in case I thirst later,
walking to the freezer is troublesome work, I do not want
to leave the chair I cherish so much.
ah, ***** it, I'll finish you off, who cares if it's one big bottle?
you make me dry lips moist, my heart beats, and my dopamine release.
if I can go back a million years, only bringin one modern tech with me,
it would be you, my dear apple juice, as you are mankinds best invention.
I love you, marry me, I'll always be loyal to you.
who needs a girlfriend, or ntr? as long as you are with me.