Stephen Dunn is dead at 82.
He captured life on the page
in lines I felt when I was 42
heart's know nothing of age.

Valentine in his shirt pocket
suffered from Love's black kiss
used to be its favorite neglect.
It's always been a hit or miss.

I'm tap dancing as fast as I can the
    sparks jumping off the sidewalk like
    demon flares half insane in the dark!
    I'd bend over backwards to please you.

    I don't know what rule I've broken but
    I'm sorry. Your brutal silence breaks
    my back. I'm stillborn in a quiet place.
    My dead dreams are mute and fakes.

I used to look for tomorrows
        now I just lament the sorrows.
        There's emptiness I never fill,
        always been a troubled thrill.
        It's a steep price for a ticket
        to a ride that lasts a minute.
        The line is long but moves fast.
        Nothings ever meant to last.
        We never drown in the shallows.
        We always dance in the gallows.

I read the news today.
The great reset is here
all hands on deck
hold your loves near.
Wine and Xanax keep
me brave each night
dreaming of a magic
stupendous flight.

Life is real
we lie
we steal
we cry
girl killed me
robbed her womb
too small to see
tiny attic room
we would've
had a ton of fun
you could've
loved your son.

Life is real
we lie
we steal
we cry
girl killed me
robbed her womb
too small to see
tiny attic room
we would've
had a ton of fun
you could've
known your son.

*** of tea and bottle of Absinthe, onions and the letter.
   Theo, my dear brother, I'm happy for you marriage to Jo.
   I expect to fade into pastels and soon light grey mists
   when you have children and Vincent is not affordable.
   I hope to sell my own paintings, children to live on.
   Kind girls help me. Don't worry. Be well, Dear Theo.

We all have bunches of stories that
define us. We tell them in our cups
when truth comes easy forgotten in
morning. I stand naked for a moment.

I start looking for night at noon
   in dark bars waiting on bar stools.
   I couldn't sleep in a raging sea of a
   thousand clowns and useless fools.
   I live in asylums' promises of hope.
   The storm is coming for us all again.
   Find a home find a harbor an anchor
   find a wife who will forgive that sin.

I start looking for night at noon
   in dark bars searching on bar stools.
   I couldn't sleep in a raging sea of a
   thousand clowns and useless fools.
   I live in asylums' promises of hope.
   The storm is coming for us all again.
   Find a home find a harbor an anchor
   find a God who will forgive that sin.

I start looking for night at noon
   in dark bars searching on bar stools.
   I couldn't sleep in a raging sea of a
   thousand clowns and useless fools.
   I live in asylums' promises of hope.
   The storm is coming for us all again.
   Find a home find a harbor an anchor
   find a God who will forgive that sin.

Quiet my baby screams
rub ***** on my gums
such tiny taste it seems
hand me loaded guns.

I wrap my arms around my tears
raining upon my misery. I'm in no
position to make demands. I beg
you to unfold me upon me until
they see the real me as you do. You
knew me with Virginity before you
took it from me and left me to bleed
from the wound that never goes away.
It never shows mercy and kills us.
It leaves the smell of blood perfume.

I wrap my arms around my tears
raining upon my misery. I'm in no
position to make demands. I beg for
you to unfold me upon myself until
they see the real me as you do. You
knew me with Virginity before you
took it from me and left me to bleed
from the wound that will never heal.
It never shows mercy and kills us.
I wrap my arms around my tears
raining upon my misery. I'm in no
position to make demands. I beg
you to unfold me upon me until
they see the real me as you do. You
knew me with Virginity before you
took it from me and left me to bleed
from the wound that never goes away.
It never shows mercy and kills us.
It leaves the smell of blood perfume.

Let me speak in holy tongues.
  Let me live in streets of rage.
  Let me eat cancer in my lungs.
  Let me turn another blank page.
  Let me fill it with my poetry
  read in baritone from the stage
  notable for the drunk cruelty
  kept at bay in a prison cage.

On southern trees
pecans on knees
beg for hope
from the rope
dogs are howling
Klansmen growling
not denied their fun
raisins in their sun.

I stand naked in a strange light
in my bathroom in the mirror
looking 35 but I'm 79 so what
magic does a young lover cast?
She thinks I'm moon and sun.
At death's door I've just begun.
I just want to keep skin intact
so I'm not a circus freak show.

I have become inured
  the never ending drama
  too much I've endured
  **** the magic karma.

  Too much to process
  the beheading queen
  I've much to confess
  I'm not who I seem.

I'm a familiar stranger
abandonment father
your forgotten danger
my estranged daughter.
You buried me already
I haven't quite yet died
the hate remains steady
I never really tried.

Tonight I visited an old Charleston girl.
   90 and sick to death of blacks and browns
   on the TV day in and day out. "******" will
   be buried with her along with angry frowns.
   This princess is from the old south royalty
   the riffraff and angry boys stole her crowns.

I'll tell you things
I never tell 'cept
stranger in a bar
slam my fist into
the night time for
stranger in a bar
Forget the priest
forget confession
I'll tell my sins
to a stranger in a bar
nothing left but my
forgiveness and a
dime a dance and
sleeping in the arms
of a stranger in a bar.

I'll tell you things
I never tell 'cept
stranger in a bar
slam my fist into
fierce night for
stranger in a bar
Forget the priest
forget confession
I'll tell my sins
to a stranger in a bar
nothing left but my
forgiveness and a
dime a dance and
sleeping in the arms
of a stranger in a bar.

I was conceived and 9 months later
was dragged from the womb to an
alien world of light and masked goons
in white gowns and tools and grinning
fools. Put me back in the world I know.
I grow up a stranger in a strange land.

Fantasy sets fire to my fierce heart
throbbing for a stranger on the bus
who makes me wet in diesel dreams
I finger our Eden for both of us.

Everyone's a stranger to everyone.
We always desire the forbidden fruit.
Hidden lives we never talk about and
hope we don't upset the apple cart.
I kiss you bye each morning but kiss
a lover hiding in my heart nearby.
I creep to bed late hoping you won't
smell her on my tongue and more.
I always love you first and most.
You're my station wagon family car.
Sometimes I wish I had a 57 Chevy
with The Beach Boys on the radio.

We're all strangers to everyone.
Married are both in bed strangers.
My mind is mine alone locked away
from every soul floats from dangers.
Fantasy sets fire to my fierce heart
throbbing for a stranger on the bus
who makes me hard in diesel dreams
I finger your Eden for the two of us.

We're all strangers to everyone.
Married are both in bed strangers.
My mind is mine alone locked away
from every soul floats from dangers.
Fantasy sets fire to my fierce heart
throbbing for a stranger on the bus
who makes me hard in diesel dreams
I enter your Eden for both of us.

Another stranger in my bed
all the others left once fed
leaving echoes inside my head
Shrink's pills here instead
mourning her beauty's dead
marriage completely bled.

Everyone's a stranger to everyone.
We always desire the forbidden fruit.
Hidden lives we never talk about and
hope we don't upset the apple cart.
I kiss you bye each morning but kiss
a lover hiding in my heart nearby.
I creep to bed late hoping you won't
smell her on my tongue and more.
I always love you first and most.
You're my station wagon family car.
Sometimes I wish I had a 57 Chevy
with The Beach Boys on the radio.

I hate when people I know die.
The rest of humanity is a lump of clay.
I see my friends souls fly
strangers just die another day

If we were strangers in bars
   I'd tell you things about me.
   Secrets nobody knows. Desires
   of confusion I don't understand.
   Women created in beauty's shadow
   like diamonds in a winter's sky,
   sparkle and shine like peacocks
   in my mind. If we were strangers.

We act our lives out
upon a strange stage
read from a script of
a bleeding ugly age
hating our creator's
sleight of hand trick
bring us to life our
clock has a final tick.

I'm baseless
and faceless
and graceless
a scarecrow
waiting to be
brought to life

Saturday night and drunk again.
Stanley screams for Stella from
sidewalk to let her know he's
full of desire's kiss and ***.

Blanche thankful for strangers'
kindness saves her from guilt
wanting her sister's husband
but her roses will always wilt.

Misery of corpses living on the street
pushing baskets with their lives inside.
They see truths with their dead eyes
while yearning for a crust of bread
or kind word or smile or proper grave.
They too were children playing among
fields of gold with mothers tucking
them in at night singing lullabies.

I work the streets at night
dressed for business in cars.
I do my best to look pretty.
Makeup hides my scars.
They always pay in cash.
They hate perfume's scent.
We never kiss goodnight.
It's what I do for rent.

Missing me as I miss you
our fibers coming undone
I stare into the black mirror
an eternity a smoking gun
we both magically appear.

See Hear Speak nothing.
Let me ****** and drink
and watch comedy videos
and take Ambien to sleep
and Xanax to live a life
and die on time forgotten.
Leave the bleached bones
of freedom in our graves.

Lightning flashed that night
frequent like a strobe light
an old time silent movie
we loved quiet and free.

I'll ******* 'til there's pain.
Be like we dancing in the rain.
Thunder keeps our screams quiet.
My hearts beating a prison riot.

Stubborn lover on my knees
eating 'til I hear you scream
Oh, my ******* god, please!
Interrupt your primal dream
I enter you our final tease
fill you with love's stream.

We're Subjugated Sycophants.
**** ourselves in innocence.
Fear the King's omniscience.
We set fire to our conscience.

Submit your poem
  doubt ***** bone
  none is all right
  lose before a fight
  let it go tonight
  morning is bright
  who cares who cares?
  Be the one who dares!

She chain smoked Lucky Strikes with
  a voice to prove it. Rough and ****.
  She lived her life in motels and bars.
  She wore lamp shade hats and danced on
  tables showed her ****, ****** in cars.

  Maybe trying too hard to wring every
  ounce from life takes a toll. Living
  too intense is a burden few can endure.
  Leave a Lucky in the ashtray and slit
  reborn blood on a floor finally pure.

She chain smoked Lucky Strikes with
  a voice to prove it. Rough and ****.
  She lived her life in motels and bars.
  She wore lamp shade hats and danced on
  tables showed her ****, ****** in cars.

  Maybe trying too hard to wring every
  ounce from life takes a toll. Living
  too intense is a burden few can endure.
  Leave a Lucky in the ashtray and slit
  reborn blood on a floor finally pure.

I think I understand our subtle hatred
  for each the other. How long can we live
  in each other's shadow before you disappear?
  I had your children bloated while you took
  a lover. I ached for suicide but went nuthouse.
  Shrinks and pills and shocks convinced me to
  put my head in our gas oven and let it go.
  I always thought of our children 'til the end.

Was it the anger
or complete insane
exciting stranger
or the birthing pain
our ****** mistake
the devils handshake
stubborn weight gain
never any answers just
put a bullet in your brain
leave the red goodbye stain.

Is it a foolish triviality,
an unnecessary finality?
Hold your breath 'til you die,
make the whole **** bunch cry.
You knew me from the start
how fragile  my boy's heart.

I exploded
then floated
mist above
fierce love
killed Jews
in the news.

The joy of life gone
  I answered to the gun
  held it to my ear
  without any fear
  this is my suicide note
  final everlasting quote.