#workinprogress
A star in the city sky
Dull and all alone.
Sadness shining down he wonders
What he would find
if he turns out the lights.
A lone light on the corner
Shining just enough
But nobody comes this way.
His light doesn't bring anyone home.
Brick on brick and cobbled roads
Broken windows and boarded doors
The factory and homes lay empty.
No light shines from their windows.
The lighthouse on the shore
Is there anything on the horizon?
Sheets of waves like slate crash heavy.
He's the last port of call
If they even come at all.
Infinite stars in infinite skies
On every planet, moon, and eye
Yet a single star in the city sky
Wonders what he would find
if he turns out the lights.
Mar 9
Mar 9, 2026 at 11:25 PM UTC
I turned into an alley that had
No right to exist
The walls stretched at impossible
Angles while the graffiti
Writhed like snakes
Letters curling as they worked to Unspell themselves before
Reforming into shapes
That I couldn’t comprehend
Spray-painted faces snarled
Whispered
Laughed
Every corner I passed
Seemed to fold inward
Narrowing
Bending
Guiding me deeper into a labyrinth
That was neither city nor dream
Smoke from a joint
Or maybe the air itself
Curled around me
Forming letters
Warnings I could almost read
Shapes hovered like
Half-formed geometry
The theremin-like wail
From the previous night returned
Sharper
Higher
Twisted into an accusation that
I could feel behind my ribs
Sep 2, 2025
Sep 2, 2025 at 4:16 PM UTC
There's a movie playing in the background
While I scroll through the perfect words
Someone else has written.
Woven together on a string,
A necklace I wish I wore.
An anchor to hold me in place.
A weight that I've been carrying,
But couldn't see
Until someone showed me it was there.
The scenes in the movie echo my imaginings
For a love I don't own,
For a life I only have
In those moments just before I wake.
Sweet seconds when my eyes
Are closed tight.
Hot tears tumble down.
No longer floating on a daydream,
I crash back to a reality of jagged truths
That only draws more grief
From a place I begged my heart
To hide from me.
But I chose the movie
And I chose the words
To distract me and tether me
To anything but the thought of you.
And what I want.
And what I don't have.
And what I can't have.
Still here I am,
Drowning in my loneliness,
In a fantasy I should let go of
Before it drags me beneath the violent sea.
I'm searching for a way to love you
That honors how I should love myself.
Confronted with the distressing thought
That I would lift you above the waves
While I let myself sink deeper.
Some part of me screams,
"That's how it should be!"
So the salt dries on my cheeks.
And the movie keeps playing.
And I keep scrolling.
Pushing myself away,
Forgetting to take a breath.
Jan 30, 2025
Jan 30, 2025 at 5:05 AM UTC
I am getting back into writing
I thought this would be better than fighting
Fighting my feelings inside
So I write them down line by line
My time away has been a struggle
So I hope to find a way to juggle
And balance my emotions
Through the commotion
That is my life
Sep 25, 2024
Sep 25, 2024 at 10:41 PM UTC
It's a tiny life we've been living inside
these spaces that divide Skin from soul.
circles going round lest we're found by the sound
of that which behind these eyes resides
We put up front facades of painted sameness,
Against all those that we perceive as pastel zombie nameless
Living their shuffling lives
But the life I lived was lowlife baseless
All set to die
as just another faceless blameless
victim.
Instead I survived and married my villain.
And now I sit dis-po-ssessed
by the self professed oppressed bohemian minority
Who turnabout cast a majority
not in favour of I
But there's only one room
In this tomb of self doubt
And mediocrity
And now that I'm out
(and you're in, I'm so very sorry)
I can't shake the hypocrisy
of what looks to me
like trading passion for petroleum
Light up the night just to get lit
Talented trash bags
with hearts of cold gold
all that glistens listens
to that party line hold...
hold on a minute
And wait
you know where I'm going with this
don't you?
We're all supposed to be unique yet we're totally not, (etc etc)
Supposed to be punk rock
New romantics
Big disruption,
functionally dysfunctioned
We're supposed to save the world man....
But you can't save the world when you're high.
Don't ask me why.
///
The time for radicalism ends.
When the Left can afford to Eat Right
And stay safe at home all alright
Netflix and chilled, night by night
So what happened for We the Oppressed
to become the best dressed and well fed beatniks
of the high rent low yield metropolitan
inner west
what happened for the people and WE...
to become the people means ME
And our comrade communities only form around hashtagged
anxieties
"But we're baking cupcakes for Cavalcades" (what's that?)
"We're printing posters for protest"
"We're marching upvoting"
We've become our own ironic meme of unrest
While kids way out west are STILL starving
starving for art and starving for change
while we're gorging ourselves on gorgeous insta-facebook-drama and rage
The time for radicalism ends.
When the Left can afford to Eat Right
And stay safe at home all alright
Netflix and chilled, night by night
But we're shocked to the system when the system shocks you
Ignores our protests and our wasted marches
And all that sticky tacky wheat glue we use
So we go back to our therapies
Keep missing the mark on all those "me toos"
Because we keep refusing to choose
to Share joy or share time with anyone
not of our tribe
The time for radicalism ends.
When the Left can afford to Eat Right
And stay safe
at home all alright
Netflix and chilled, night by night
Netflix and chilled, night by night
We've put a black spot in philanthropy's blind eye
Traded parity for house parties
And the pursuit of being cute
before we die.
The time for radicalism ends.
Feb 20, 2022
Feb 20, 2022 at 3:41 PM UTC
Remember when we were kids,
you asked me
"boy, what you wanna do
with the rest of your life?"
I said "have a couple kids
with you as my wife."
Then you started laughing.
Said "that ain't never gonna happen." Ten years later,
now we both have rings.
Got the house and money
for baby things.
Getting ready to be parents
for the first time.
I say "I know right now,
things are going our way.
But baby, if I ever lose my way,
will you take me back
to my first broken heart.
Take me back to when I didn't know where to start.
Take me back to the country roads. Take me back to the town no one knows.
If I ever fall too far off track,
Baby, take me back.
Dec 14, 2020
Dec 14, 2020 at 9:22 PM UTC
We are more than
Our names
Our designations
Our reflections
We are more than
Our present
Our dreams
Our efforts
Breathing canvas
Of the fuel
And the fire
That’s what
Who, we are
You N’ Me
Apr 15, 2019
Apr 15, 2019 at 9:05 PM UTC
"...*timeless
like a heartbeat,
silence like
a calm beast*..."
Jan 25, 2019
Jan 25, 2019 at 6:07 AM UTC
[Hashtag]MeToo
Here it goes again,
trending on Insta and Facebook.
Where real awareness stems.
Mind the sarcasm,
social media’s a powerful tool
not knockin’ that.
I wonder though,
does the mind of the follower
understand the context of the hash?
Do they get it should be a call to action?
Not necessarily at the keyboard.
More like on the couch with their children,
Giving the conversation of consent.
Most people do not even understand it by definition .
The meaning of yes and no convoluted by scenario.
Bias boils over like milk and water over full flame.
The posts bubble out and stick to the side of the pan,
quickly drying; leaving their mark.
Until the soap and warm water flows over them,
and the steam evaporates the confessions.
Until they are again whispers we all hear and know.
It’s whispers from the alley ways,
and from married couples bedroom doors.
The woman is the property,
the man is the proprietor.
We refuse to address the real problems,
the failures of our up-bringers.
We point fingers and slay names
yet the statistics provide the truth.
One in four for females, one in sixteen for males.
We all have been violated, slandered, and forced to say
[Hashtag]MeToo
Not going to say I did not share it,
I know the touch of unwanted hands,
the invasive ***********
All for the sake of the insanity,
in repeating a useless gesture.
The only difference is
My hashtag went to my Senator.
Jul 6, 2018
Jul 6, 2018 at 9:25 AM UTC
I am a work in progress
a public draft
often edited
for the wrong reasons
by the wrong people
with the worse grammar
-Custodio
Jun 26, 2018
Jun 26, 2018 at 4:14 PM UTC
There are two things
I tell myself daily
Your happiness should never depend on others
There is someone for everyone
I’m working on believing it
Mar 19, 2018
Mar 19, 2018 at 10:13 PM UTC
It is dark and damp
in the alley under your window.
My dreaming is so quiet,
and my body so still,
that a man relieved himself,
unaware, on my paradise.
You may be sleeping,
or reading,
or gaming,
but my thoughts aren't on the you above.
I'm sometime else.
At this point, in this place,
we start and end journeys.
I see us
walking hand in hand
that first night
and all the nights.
I see me
bringing soup when you are sick,
scribbling love letters in the cold,
hiding gifts before you appear,
and yes...crying here too.
I see you
stopping and turning at your doorstep,
smiling and brushing your lips on my forehead,
and a thousand times I am whole.
Please don't come outside.
Don't put down your iPad
or walk downstairs.
I won't be able to explain my tears,
and
*I never want to make the memory
of your not wanting me here.*
Aug 25, 2016
Aug 25, 2016 at 8:52 AM UTC
Like an OCD psychologist,
I analyzed my behavior
breaking everything down
digging to the roots
the core emotions that I felt:
insecurity, fear of being hurt.
I laid out the physical and verbal
dialogue of my body and words,
highlighting those that reflected
that pain and turmoil inside.
If insecurity was blue and fear
of being hurt purple, well...
that hidden dialogue was striped
much like the Cheshire cat
invisible behind a nodding head,
wide grin and endless laughter.
If you studied your own actions
studying every move like a
hunter on the prowl, patient
what would be your true colors?
Dec 5, 2015
Dec 5, 2015 at 2:56 AM UTC
step one // live in denial for most of your life. tuck yourself into closets and cupboards and slow-cooking pots of rice until all you have left to offer her is your warming breath
step two // warm her hands with your breath. tell her she's worth more than that guy, than the number on the scale, than her grades, than anything in the world
step three // don't think about kissing her when her lips are bitten with worry. don't think about kissing her when you're tired and it's two a.m. and god, she looks so beautiful today. don't kiss her. don't kiss her
step four // let your breaths fill the closets again. you are eternal, you are infinite, you are alone, but you still have her
step five // write her a poem. metaphorize your heart of glass. verbally trace her hipbones. tell her she is a constellation.
step six // "accidentally" give her the poem. laugh it off when she says that poetry's not her thing, anyway.
step seven // only cry when you are alone.
step eight // bare your skeletons to her unflinching mouth. it's cold and dark where she comes from, too
step nine // when she tells you she loves you, let her. hold onto her tight enough to shatter your ribcage.
step ten // let her tear the breath from your lungs-it's all you had left, anyway.
May 5, 2015
May 5, 2015 at 10:21 AM UTC
"All in all is all we are."
Is the sum of the pieces
greater than the whole
or are we just our experiences
mixed with a little DNA
all of it piling up inside of us
like boxes from an abandoned home.
Genetics mixed with luck
some grand
Cosmic joke.
or even an accident
OOPS
of some selfish god.
Jan 5, 2015
Jan 5, 2015 at 6:54 PM UTC
When I was little; I found a silver pin inside a fallen crows nest. My mother told me that it was there because crows adore shiney things. That fall morning when I rode the bus to school I saw at least 30 crows bickering atop the wall. But then they spotted you. As you waltzed out of the door they snapped to attention and stared as you stepped.
You see crows like shiney things. They recognized what I did not and that was; You are a supernova. Your blinding incandescence was incomparable and i missed it. I did not realise until it was three years later and you sat next to me eating your lunch and working on your poems. The way your words flew across the page like the way the ocean ebbs and flows was more than one man with two hands could handle.
You made me realise how to let go of my words. How my syllabic soldiers could not succeed unless they were given freedom. Thank you. I'll remember you.
Sep 21, 2014
Sep 21, 2014 at 7:50 PM UTC
"Everyday Without You"
Everyday without you minus well be a day of hell
Wish you were here or I was there
thinking of all the time we had together every moment I was
Right by your side
All the sweet kisses you bring to me
Feeling me with joy and excitement
Oh how I miss those everyday with you
I swear to you I would be there if I could
Cause baby I love you and no one could ever change the way you makeme feel
Jul 24, 2014
Jul 24, 2014 at 1:04 AM UTC
"Love of my Life"
From the first kiss
To the first touch
It was you the one I adore
The one I love
I would do anything for you
and I **** to be with you
I would travel from the stars
to the moon
To see your happiness to you
With every second your not around I die a little thinking about the time I was with you
The good and the bad
It didn't matter as long as I was with you there was no bad only you
The one who I love is you
Jul 24, 2014
Jul 24, 2014 at 12:47 AM UTC