#collateral
I knew a man once.
A salesman.
A traveler.
A soldier.
At war with himself,
in battles he refused to name.
Demons disguised as almost-could-have-beens,
missions chasing ghosts of what used to be.
That’s the thing about war, I guess,
by the time you realize
the weight you’re carrying is a weapon,
it’s already been fired.
There was fire all around him
broken promises,
white lies,
and me.
Not the reason.
Not the cause.
Just there.
Within range.
Something absorbable.
Something expendable.
Collateral.
Mar 24
Mar 24, 2026 at 6:28 AM UTC
those knuckles push deep—
silent or grinning.
eyes open, still blind
in streets,
in buses,
in crowds that don’t look.
*seeking to testify so they can claim:
"i was there. i was with her."*
*the detective asks what she wore—
as if fabric were consent,
as if memory could be cross-examined
into innocence.*
**** those hands—
before they touch others.
or don’t.
file the forms,
bury the complaints.
fewer bodies on the rolls,
fewer reports in the files.
that’s how the system prefers it:
quiet, manageable, gone.
they archive her face,
then twist the record
until her wounds resemble consent.
women dying while still breathing—
that’s what they call collateral.
“someone has to die for order,”
they say.
“why not you.”
Oct 23, 2025
Oct 23, 2025 at 2:45 AM UTC
The battle's done
the coast is clear
gone now are those we once stood near
we walk alone
and so to say
some that once slept now lie awake
and only memories fill their home.
So grit the teeth and dance in pain
and find a light,
so you may never lose their names.
Mar 17, 2025
Mar 17, 2025 at 7:41 AM UTC
In this unholy battle,
We're acceptable collateral?
Why is this accepted?
It's not even ethical
Distract, create a spectacle
Like, oh I don't know,
A traveling circus
Call it a big tent revival
Keep your intellectual
To an abysmal level
View who believe you
To truly be the cesspool
From car to front door, time to mingle
A hive mind kicks in, single file
Resembling a slaughterhouse line
Cosplaying as unaware cattle
Only the needy need the label to be biblical
Instantly non consequential
Tell me, who's more feared,
A specific god or his devil?
Is it possible be honest though?
Any chance of pausing the show?
And collectively admit
The only truth is...we don't know
©2024
Mar 15, 2024
Mar 15, 2024 at 4:20 AM UTC
The first step is
Radical honesty
With ourselves
We don't intervene
We invade
That's not
"Collateral damage"
Those are
The corpses
Of children
And their parents
Ours is not defense
Ours is war
Dec 1, 2021
Dec 1, 2021 at 8:55 PM UTC
Heaven rains down.
Hell rises up.
At dawn, they begin
Their search for dusk.
We mind.
We matter.
We run.
We scatter.
In the war between
All the higher powers,
All we are is,
Collateral damage.
Sep 26, 2019
Sep 26, 2019 at 10:45 AM UTC
Wonder how they came up ahead of me… she’d been leaking information to the enemy. A double agent. She loves me but it can’t be helped. It is her nature. Well don’t you know, my seductive charming spy mistress, that the fuse is lit. Your behavior, a recipe for calamity. We might be the epicenter, ground zero, but no one shall be spared. Everyone involved will be affected. A 360 degree firestorm of shrapnel. Just because. You needed more… to feel more beautiful, more wanted, more seductive, by more parties. Never enough. More.
Love lies spilling guts, from the mess up still partially beautiful. Face almost calm, not contorted. Pain is numbed as she disintegrates like vapour. But we’ve become a desert and it will not rain back for centuries.
Jul 10, 2017
Jul 10, 2017 at 2:13 AM UTC
Flickering fate
An end
Love has deemed me worthy of itself.
Hence, I must embrace all that may comes with it.
This is only the boasting my eyes and smile speak of
Another crown bestowed without a knack
A start
What a wondrous sight.
May 2, 2017
May 2, 2017 at 1:07 PM UTC
Perhaps it's my memory
which troubles me
when I carry it around
like a chip on my shoulder,
waiting to have it carved
into a marble bust of Justice
in the hope that
something good would come of it.
Although in our time
the only thing it becomes
is its own caricature and nothing more.
Perhaps it's my memory
which doggedly trails me wherever I go
even when I wish to lose it in the hills.
I carry it
like a credit card
without an expiration date,
with a limitless line of available credit
extending back through the centuries,
to be summoned
at a moments notice to pay off any debt
no matter how ancient
for a pound of flesh can no longer
be considered good collateral for any loan.
Flesh has become cheap
as has life
and the interest rate is never
high enough to sustain
the sanctity of either anymore.
Sep 7, 2016
Sep 7, 2016 at 6:41 PM UTC
They are the kind of raindrops that hang around for awhile
The ones that laugh at your coat
Get your shirt wet anyway
The kind that if it weren't so **** cold outside
You'd really like to stand under them for a while
The kind they make those slow-motion-water-drop-hitting-water videos out of
Those
And all I'm doing with them is watching
Watching them fall on windows
Watching them tear apart the littered receipts on the sidewalk
I'm watching them tear leaves from cherry trees
And wondering if they listen to Beethoven or Slipknot on their way down
Portland is always so far away until it rains
Then even here in this farm town
Everyone finds their North Face
And these raindrops remind me of something
Not our first kiss though
Or the tears
Or the leaky faucet
Or the day we did nothing but watch the Discovery Channel
It just makes me think of you
And how I never knew if you were there to water me
Or tear me apart
How I never knew if it was a Rascal Flatts day
Or an Evanescence day
How I never knew if my hand on your cheek would be a turn on
Or a trigger
How bad days had ringtones
And good days were just waiting for the call
These raindrops remind me how close I am
To the only city I've ever loved in
How far I am from ever getting over you
And how incredibly jealous I am
That moving on seems to be easy for someone who does it so often
I can't let go of the damage you've done
Even though it's clear now watching the rain
That you were just falling
And I was just in your way
Mar 18, 2015
Mar 18, 2015 at 4:22 PM UTC