Suffering scales fill the page
Angry tones and recorded rage
Violent words come out sharp
Raises flat phrases and
a furious heart
Only get to play with
the instruments I’m given
Off key notes
are all that’s being written
You can undoubtedly hear that this
*****’s out of tune
Crashing the symphony between my ears
someone needs to fix it soon

~kb

What I wish was a beige ocean
is a darkened tan lint filled
swamp
of mismatched socks and
yoga pants in every color
White hairs tether themselves to
black clothes
making the world look pretty grey
A guest to the canine
Empty orange glazed bottles
with white caps fill gaps
between clothes
Orange cones that hold chemicals
diverting traffic in my brain
A working pattern fails to come through
And workers turn their fingers blue
day and night trying to
form an intelligent route
Cars just keep
colliding in the meantime
A sanctuary of sorts
At least the walls aren’t padded
though a missing feature on drunken nights
And I’m afraid
if I leave this safe dark place
I’ll never come back the same,
or worse, I will.

~kb

Softest fingers pull my chin
up to meet her eyes
They burned with love
and anger
I wept on her hands as they moved
tightly to my face
She stared soul bared
and glistened cheeks
‘Don’t you ever say that to me again
I don’t want to hear it
You are my child
You will never be a burden’

I tend to highly disagree
Family tortured because of me
because of terrible fears
that fill my head and get spewed out
as actions I instantly regret
And everyone hurts
All because of a terrible disease
For seventeen years I’ve been
on my knees praying
for any kind of relief
I just want to fill this
hole in my chest

She looks for my eyes again
Holding my hands she makes contact
and says
‘You are my daughter
My mission until the day I die
is to get you better
You shouldn’t have to live like this’
The moment she embraced me
the loneliness left and I’m right
where I’m supposed to be
with the most selfless
angel
in front of me
Loneliness continues to be smothered
as love coats every part of my soul
Her commitment as my partner
let me know
that maybe I can fill at least
half of this hole

~kb

When you look at me do you
worry about your daughter?
That she’ll be the same as me
and **** someone like her father?
A vile man fifteen years older
preying on little girls that are
lost in their own worlds
you say you like em’ young
but would you like your
daughter’s tongue in the
same places mine have been
on other men with thin skin?
You’re a creature at best
But I stick around because it’s
not the best *** in town but
I get free drugs and
free hugs from a sweet little girl
that I hope never grows up like me
and never looks to her father
for integrity or compassion
All she’ll get are lies and rejection
She sticks with her sisters
she’ll having a fighting chance
Oh sweet baby girl
get out while you can


~kb

There’s a couple of owls
That sit near my house
Every single day

There’s actually five
I’ve seen them before
But only two seem to want to stay

There’s nothing quite like
Sounds of owls at night
Calming cool dark air

The pitch and the words
Of this ineffable bird
Warms my heart beyond compare

~kb

impatient arrival
the gloom and dread
dead thread sewing
stories together
when I sleep
i read them better
awoken brain taken
to familiar places
claustrophobic spaces
and my face is
now a dark tint
from insomnia’s bruises
taking their energy
trying to use it
to step over dark
that seeps through cracks
same as the last ones
that broke my back

~kb