We were born with wings
But they are tattered like old photographs with blurred faces
And faded like curtains that brave the fierce sun.
But our eyes are still alive
And we never know the sun.
You say we whisper
But if we were brighter you'd say we shout.
You say we are ugly
Then wonder why we flock to the light.
You are the same as us but worse
You choose to become the things you fear
You chase after a light that only you can see
And it takes so much longer to **** you
So much longer for you to realize that you burn.

I woke up this morning
to find my wallet torn apart
I knew I didn't do it
I thought of you right from the start

You said I must have dropped it
You picked it up from where it lay
I knew I didn't do it
I don't believe the things you say

You're only lying when you're talking
OK,  you lie some when you sleep
I know you're lying when your thinking
The truth is gone and buried deep
I can't believe the things you tell me
Behind a smile, forced and fake
You're only lying when you're talking
You lie just for lyings sake

You hide your cell phone,
clear the calls made
You tell me it's to conserve space
But, I  don't believe it when you tell me
I can not look into your face

You're hiding things and do not tell me
You live a life that I'm not in
You lie to me when I come and ask you
In fact your lies are getting thin

You're only lying when you're talking
OK you lie some when you sleep
I know you're lying when your thinking
The truth is gone and buried deep
I can't believe the things you tell me
Behind a smile, forced and fake
You're only lying when you're talking
You lie just  for lyings sake

You always shower before you see me
I know it's just to wash him off
And when I ask how you got *****
You cannot say, and hide a cough

I smell him when I walk beside you
I do not smoke and nor do you
but I can smell it in your clothing
It's in your hair, all through and through

You're only lying when you're talking
OK you lie some when you sleep
I know you're lying when your thinking
The truth is gone and buried deep
I can't believe the things you tell me
Behind a smile, forced and fake
You're only lying when you're talking
You lie just for lyings sake

I cannot tell you you're a liar
It's not worth my time to start a fight
You're in a lose lose situation
You've tied your noose, and it's **** tight

You're not worth my time and effort
I used to love you, but no more
I can't believe you when you tell me
I love you...so here's the door

You're only lying when you're talking
OK you lie some when you sleep
I know you're lying when your thinking
The truth is gone and buried deep
I can't believe the things you tell me
Behind a smile, forced and fake
You're only lying when you're talking
and that's the truth, it hurts to take

beauty is seeing
a ladybug on the ground
picking it up to save it
from reckless falling feet
and realizing
it has already died.

beauty is crying
with all your might,
so hard you can't
even make a sound.
but it works out because
your friends are in the next room.

beauty is staring
at the person you love
who stares at
the person they love
who stares at you.
all looking, none seeing.

beauty is scratching
the skin off your hands
and clenching your palms
so tightly it hurts
in the only way your body
can express your mind.

beauty is laughing
so loudly people notice
and stopping and wishing
nothing had ever been so
funny because it wasn't
worth the embarrassment.

clover honey hair
iris pools of sea spray

soft moon skin
sunrise hands

bittersweet smile
faerie laugh

Andromeda shines
behind black pupils

a glance covers me
with morning dew

neck of dusk
and back of noon

silk chocolate fingers
red wine wrists

almond eyes closed
by snowflake lashes

a heart of sunset
and soul of crashing waves

If my skin were a curtain
I'd pull back the drapes
at the corner of my clavicle.
the breathing, feeling organs
of my torso would reveal
what you never see.

the clenches in my stomach
when I catch your fleeting glance

the double-thump of my heart
relishing your bare shoulder

my lungs frozen--suffocating
under your cold, soft touch

shrinking with the biggest sigh
as I watch you walk away.

But I always wear my skin
two layers too thick
and hide my delightful shame
of delighting in shaming you.

She asked, he gave, they smoked the night away.
They shared the fire they'd held between their eyes,
until the smoke gave way to light of day.

How long had she felt burning in this way?
Not longer than he'd held her in his eyes.
She asked, he gave, they smoked the night away.

He'd watched her every move and every sway,
and hid his aching pain from all the guys,
until the smoke gave way to light of day.

They told her of his longing, burning way,
and she denied her own with see-through lies.
She asked, he gave, they smoked the night away.

I saw the smoldering within his gaze,
and told her, but she called them brother guys,
until the smoke gave way to light of day.

She lied about the time she spent all day,
with him, he was a lover in disguise.
She asked, he gave, they smoked the night away,
until the smoke gave way to light of day.

(C)2008, Christos Rigakos

She called me




She called me
a little *****

in which five knuckles
and four spaces
were the only faces
that ever turned a light on for me.
Or off, as a matter of fact.

Write it on a flier, or
tie her up in the back of a limousine,
ask her to give you some sugar
and send you to sleep.

Just don't be weird about it.
And seriously,

pay attention,

you just might


burn something.

I think my voice is changing.

I press four fingers into my forehead
and smoke a cigarette like that one writer
I was too cool to ever read. You know,
they treat you like a ******* drug?
A ******* drug!

Past lovers,
and their coat hangars,
I don't wanna talk to 'em,
I don't wanna touch 'em.

But I do;
it's easy to cut into
those veins once you've
found 'em.


*I'm sorry,
so prone
to wasting time,
I love when my head
spins on an axis
all of its own.