#observing
1
A dark day looms over me here.
Summer haze blazes
to my chiaroscuro eye.
Half possessed
by my own dissonance,
I open to a sunrise
and make my way
in broken music
or I will die.
2
Give me no surprise,
no small, close lies.
Make me, lords above,
into one last simple thing
time cannot overcome.
A dream I dreamed:
a blood red flower blooming.
In the dark,
I rose
unintended.
3
I see the light in my eyes
and the darkling dream
in the tree beyond the plain.
I glimpse it
and it vanishes
into dusklight,
into a night
held by remembrance.
4
I waver above a new fire,
counting will-o'-wisp flickers:
how light grows,
dies,
wavers,
flickers.
It dances on the wall
where I wait.
I bid my being well.
In the air I see
how slowly dark encroaches,
how light
waits
in silence.
Feb 22
Feb 22, 2026 at 9:33 AM UTC
as i sit at the station
hearing the second delay
next to the elevated tracks
i see a huge tree
swaying back and forth
the sun bounces of the leaves
making them shine
like diamond on a lovers neck
it sways and shines
ruminating the rustling leaves
i thank my short sighted eyes
without which
i would just see a tree
Jan 4
Jan 4, 2026 at 1:50 PM UTC
As a child, I could have walked to
the other side, the ice was thick enough
but I belonged here
on this bank
I still watch the geese
and in summer the paddle-
boarders and the bombs
of screaming children
I know the boy with green eyes
the others who drink beers
at the tree, urinate in the canal
get pizza and kiss
with chewing gum girls who
have come on scooters
to be entertained
and admired by them
Sometimes a thick barge sails by
with thick cushions, happy people
and white balloons, and sometimes
I look with a long neck
over the convex pavement
of the bridge and, in mind
I walk over them
to the other side
Oct 28, 2025
Oct 28, 2025 at 4:55 AM UTC
i shut up
shut ******* trap just like that
and after a period
of strained endurance
i let the jaw muscle lax
opened the ear let it all in wet
flooded let in the glistening din
i listened in
on the world with appetite
and (with a little cost of time)
learned a great happy nothing
i heard water force through pipes
we’d buried under the ground
i heard the electric we remodel
our landscaping surround
i heard crowds become languages
become tongue throat and gum
and then the words turned to moods
and mood moved with crowd
and petalled into nature
once i'd made contact
i learned a great happy nothing
Oct 17, 2025
Oct 17, 2025 at 1:17 PM UTC
Sometimes I walk on water.
Not high above it all-
Just right there at surface level.
Not deep enough to drown.
Not deep enough to swim.
Not high enough to fear falling in.
Sometimes I walk on water
And watch schools of fish
Playfully chase one another,
Not noticing me.
I feel curious sharks graze my feet,
Confused as to why they can’t reach their meal.
Some follow for hours,
Waiting for a taste
They won’t get-
Because right now,
I’m walking on water.
Aug 2, 2025
Aug 2, 2025 at 12:40 PM UTC
Sometimes I like to watch people and try to see
Who is happy
Who is free
Who wails at night
And each morning basks in sunlight
Who has a home with a little garden
And who is still trying to make a bargain
Who could find light amidst sorrows dark
Who is healing a broken heart
And I always wonder who could be
As lonely as me
Oct 14, 2024
Oct 14, 2024 at 11:51 AM UTC
Lick Not Bite
Where is the sale?
Hiding in the sky
Quick reach up
Get the sale now!
Poor agents no sale
Time for a meeting
Then coaching session
And call monitoring
Are they following?
Teach them then
Spoon feed them
So they get more sales
Aren’t outlying agents
With 0 or just 1 sale
With 7 or 8 or more
Poor little reps
Always stressed on calls
Pushed to extremes
Sales account joy!
Aug 19, 2024
Aug 19, 2024 at 9:23 AM UTC
Do you remember when tunneling ravines would flow through our stomachs before we spoke out into the open?
And how vigorously tapping our feet felt like the only way to shake the mountains, daring to bury us alive...
or how when cold shoulders felt like judgment harmonized
and yet the dissonance euphonized in our ears as we swept our heads back into the open arms of the universe,
engulfed by inescapable laughter
Now things are different; you wear your heart on your sleeve, washing the shores of people and things that scare you with your perpetual confidence,
and I proudly observe in wonder and admiration...
Distantly tapping my feet, fighting ravines, and laughing alone.
May 5, 2022
May 5, 2022 at 11:16 PM UTC
I saw a little car today
zooming past my window
It was so small
yet it moved so quickly; unafraid
a bigger car approached it
swerving just before the crash
but there it stood resilient
waiting for its turn to go
and all I could think was:
how do I be more like that?
Nov 16, 2021
Nov 16, 2021 at 3:47 PM UTC
I’ve seen
life **** the
marrow and steam,
from the hearts
that screams
waking to nightmares
from other bad dreams.
I’ve seen sorrow
spin and spill
the bottle
that makes
them feel ill.
I’ve seen chunks
come up
as fools pay the
the steep price
for late night
gotta get a life
fun time
gone wrong.
I’ve seen the road
that consumes
a broken body,
a choking
toking
player
spending his last chip
just to spit nasty bits
and end it.
I’ve seen horror,
but being blessed,
I got to wake up
less depressed then when
I fell asleep crying.
I lived while
others were dying.
I got knack for surviving.
despite all the crap I have seen.
Oct 29, 2020
Oct 29, 2020 at 9:12 AM UTC
Greatness isn't for those,
Who gets satisfied merely by seeing their old work
And think 'This is it!'
But instead for those who observe their own work,
And think 'I wonder how I can top this'.
Oct 18, 2020
Oct 18, 2020 at 4:37 AM UTC
In an aesthetic coffee shop,
Scribbling away with glee.
Drinking to my imagination,
Is it only me?
In this aesthetic coffee shop,
Where lovers often meet.
I hear fragments
of what their life has been.
Talking over coffee,
They think they are strangers to me.
I observe,I know,
I share their happiness, a witness to their vows.
Sadness and pain,
Sometimes the outcome may be.
But they still come to this coffee shop,
Unknowingly drinking with me.
I am not the only one,
Voila,it's not just me!
There are other artists in this coffee shop,
Observing and scribbling like me.
Aug 13, 2020
Aug 13, 2020 at 2:51 AM UTC
We bonded over
being broken
Watching other missing
puzzle pieces drink
their weekend away
We belonged perfectly,
sitting at the bar
Words became pictures,
the commotion our score
Glasses drained
Tipped
We were out
the door
Feb 8, 2020
Feb 8, 2020 at 2:32 PM UTC
I watched a person
fall and roll down
a snowbank
today
I could not stay
home any longer
The paint is peeling
The roof is leaking
I drove myself
to the beach
Parked the car
and sat
Slowly realizing,
that the person
who fell was
me
Feb 3, 2020
Feb 3, 2020 at 3:04 AM UTC
He walked in
frozen on the battle
field of addiction
and escapism
All he wanted
was the nostalgia
of his youth
“Have lemonade?”
10-4-19
Feb 2, 2020
Feb 2, 2020 at 1:23 AM UTC
She walked alone
Wearing a winter
jacket in fall
Poorly dyed red hair
and old makeup
All she wanted
was to be loved
Feb 1, 2020
Feb 1, 2020 at 4:20 PM UTC
This cosmic canister carries the world’s disarray-
Our destinations different, our feelings the same.
Though we have regular meetings we remain strangers;
Heads down, uncomfortable.
A pattern forms in our lives which none exits, our sacred routine which if changed is wrong.
Empathetic eyes glazed with weariness.
At each departure, a new inhalation of caffeine and smoke,
A new wave of bodies,
A new mass.
We all contribute to the mass, but the mass never goes,
Only waxes and wanes with the seasons.
We travel as one, carried by destinations, riddled with enigmas.
The hour reaches 6:00 and the mass bulges; the kettle is at its boiling point.
We move as agitated atoms riling against one another.
The world’s day draws to a close, as our microenvironment wakes.
A man exhales stale disappointment- no promotion due.
The coarse skin of his fingers caresses
The constant happiness in his life;
Helping him live, hastening his death.
Unable to inhale satisfaction, his suit clad leg
Writhes underneath the table,
Distracting him, but alerting others of the craving.
Although his tie is straight and his briefcase orderly,
A lose thread and weary eyes give him away-
He’s tired; tired of life, tired of the necessary endless routine
Which holds him and his livelihood captive.
It weakens and sustains him simultaneously.
His secrets define him.
A girl sighs, her cheeks wet,
Tears heavy with hurt.
A bruise has settled itself on her forearm;
A warning for the next time she comes home late.
Her skin has become a canvas and everyday more paint is added.
Her permanent ink hides the painful marks
Yet the latter seems to leave the most lasting impression.
Her face is scarcely discernible;
Metal studs line the place where her smile should be-
They are so many that her humanity becomes robotic.
Her secrets define her.
The tube we sit in holds heavy hearts, new smiles,
Old friends.
The mass becomes one as each day our routine returns,
Unchanged.
We get to know our fellow travellers
Without really getting to know them at all.
Their influence on our existence seems insignificant,
Yet they contribute to the steadfast mass that so grips our little lives,
Whilst we hold on to sanity by a single thread.
Our secrets define us.
Jan 24, 2019
Jan 24, 2019 at 1:26 PM UTC
•}☆{•
•
•☆•Gently •☆•
☆
•☆• Observing •☆•
☆
•☆•The•☆•
☆
•☆•HOPELESS•☆•
•
•}☆{•
Jan 17, 2019
Jan 17, 2019 at 12:07 AM UTC
The struggles and vices of another.
Are no less genuine to them, than you are to your own.
For we all have scars, and struggles, and little selfish lies.
The kind of thoughts that say that THIS or THAT or HE or SHE...will satisfy.
When they will not. And you know it.
Nov 18, 2018
Nov 18, 2018 at 10:33 PM UTC
It’s all a lie. I work the words, speaking spastically in humorous verbs, and **** jokes. Strangers smile, and tender sweet laughter, which I love. So, I keep pushing the boundaries, working weird thoughts. They laugh more, which is what I work for.
Later when they are not looking, I look at them. I try to keep it less creepy than the other stalker type men, but I am studying them; Learning the limits of my understanding, sussing out the rhythms in which they speak and think. I try to devour their truths but hope they don’t see me struggling to see them.
I observe the hallway world. There is a man a foot shorter than me with a very wide waist, slightly longer white hair that gently curls at each end with small bald spot in the back, and the face of a cherub. Hands in his pocket he barely looks up but gives me a slight grin when I acknowledge him. Then his eyes return to the ground three steps ahead. He speaks softly and walks slowly. I know he is hiding something deep, but I do not try to see too far behind the surface, to the grander mind because people don’t appreciate that kind of trespassing. I wonder if his shyness is a product of years of rejection, abuse, or merely a reflection of a truly introverted disposition.
I am in a hurry, dropping off books at an out of town library, and picking up some poetry to devour later. She must be new, because she moves slowly. Then attempts to engage me in social pleasantries. I am trying not to pay any attention, and she is not super desperate, but she wants to speak and be heard. So, I really look at her.
Lengthy strands of brown thinning hair fall down her long skinny face, slightly obscuring a small growth under the left side of her cheek. Thin rim glasses look at me, as she talks about what she likes to read. Then shifts the discussion to the walking dead. She is passionate and despite my previous urge to escape, I am now sincerely engaged.
The gym is loud with ****** music and clinking equipment. She is stunning; Long wavy hair released after a hard workout. She is tanned, and thin but muscular, with a soft and generous voice. I ask her about her boys, and old man. She always appreciates that. We keep the chit chat short, so we can workout and get on with the day.
I stare back at a familiar but silent face, there is a building rage ready erupt, something deep and dark that is waiting to self-destruct. I do not like this person much. Dark hazel eyes pressure me, to seek something deep, short dark brown hair recedes but at a barely perceptibly rate. Teeth seem to be shrinking extremely slowly, except for the lost and already rotting ones. His body is losing fat. He is improving, but **** that. He should work harder.
I have little patience and compassion for this dumb doppelganger, but I still observe seeking something deeper, the darker unheard truths. I stare at him and snarl.
“I like them much more then you.”
Oct 25, 2018
Oct 25, 2018 at 5:04 PM UTC
sometimes when i am in public
i get spacey
and observe everyone
and their actions
these people around me
i'm not like them
or maybe they're not like me
they seem so careless and
i seem so uptight
then i just try to relax
my shoulders
because they are all the way up to
my ears
letting this anxiety get the best of me is one of my biggest fears
Sep 21, 2018
Sep 21, 2018 at 1:08 AM UTC