I don't think you quite understand
temptation
until you've broken out in a cold sweat
trying to ignore the call of
that which makes you forget.
until you've gouged your palms
with sharp nails
resisting your stomach aching for something;
anything.
you don't understand what temptation can really do
until you're standing on the edge
waiting for that final breath.

She tries hard to meet their gaze,
keep up the pace and improve each day

Wake each morning a different way

Where is the center?
Is this the middle?

equilibrium
equilibrium
equilibrium

help her find the center
help them find the middle

help me find equilibrium

I want to run my hand down your back
And feel your smoothness across the ridges of my fingertips
Once more

The smell of your hair lingers in the spaces between my fingers
The ends of each strand brushing my skin still haunts my forearms

My hips feel like your thighs are still there,
My spine still feels your ankles interlocked,
My tongue still remembers how yours tasted,
My teeth still feel your bottom lip in between

In your voice, I heard the angels of heaven sing;
And in your eyes, I saw its shining gates;
And in your eyes, I saw burning passion;
And in your eyes, I saw true love

Walking with the nosebleeds
everyone screams the same thing,
"I don't know what we should do"

Pack your bags, to stay at home
Come outside, it's cool
Flesh talks at the freeway
Pickup games of basketball
"I don't care where we go"

Striped sun burns pale skin
Bugs flit into windowshields
Great gods, the violent ones
Dogs growl on the sidewalk
No one can say anything,
least of all, me and you
"I'm not sure where we go from here"

Don't know how to get there,
cracks line all the parkways
Diving off from upside down
Summer stroked and back logged
Gaining weight with my mouth shut
Early morning break downs
Ohms and outs on the low down
Curly hair wearing glasses
Cut out and bob toothed
"*******," is what she said

Thanks for that, gray green girl
"Impossible," that's what I say

She looks like a bike worn down
I guess that's what it's there for
More days to hit somewhere
Gut punch in the tree house

Fractured bone in my iced tea
A song looped in the land line
Sleepy headed conspiracies

Nodding out to the melodies
Lucid dreams beget nightmares

Buzzing around town
Nothing to say
But talking

California air pushes me
around state street
The shops all look the same
Cold sea and cool breezes

A heated pool on the mountain side
My daughter laughing in it
Laughing along with her

She can't swim so I hold her
Or she's sixteen and smoking **** with her friends
Or She's older than I am right now
living anywhere but Florida
I hope I see her,
Whenever


Wet Florida air
forcing its way
down my throat
coating me inside
wrapping around
to make me smaller

She lives in it too
and I hope it doesn't cause any lasting damage

Emma,
Go north till you realize how pretty it is
then stand upside down
and purge your lungs of this
****** place

My nightmare follows me as I wake up
A ghost and a mechanical spider
Bleed from my head
And spill into my bedroom
I breathe them back into me
Like cigarette smoke

A cracked skull
Perfect for self pity
A phantom limb
For shooting up morphine
Or feigned humility

Liar
Why shouldn't I lie?
What would he think?
Why should I be sober?
Okay

Okay, yeah

Sometimes
Some relationship
Doesn’t workout ,
          Simply
Because
           Sometimes
We are giving things
In our lives
Way before we are
           Ready
To receive them
         And
Sometimes they
         Just
    not for you
       To keep.