chief tactician of my chest
the heart
and my head
this brain
a cargo depot
transient thoughts
like vagabonds
hopping on between stops
and a few old engines
never more to run

not much to be said
that of the dead
things only left
to keep the blood pumping
things that in slumber
moaned
cried, belted, and wept

that silence won

I cannot erase the past
at last,
it's clear,
even the blemishes add to its splendor

an alias
strange to think
it's the norm
with all this tech
it becks and moans
calling for a signature
beeps and drones
it's a figure
of how you'd like to be perceived
and a reflection of self perception
you churn out
for the world to see
and though the original
stated intent
has morphed beyond recognition,
beyond belief,
these days
it's just apart
of being

through the glades
staring back
she cranes her neck
and meets my stare
she is graceful, peacefully
we lay what we have to bare
though little burdens this doe
for what can she share
when life is death
and her existence
are the small moments
of tranquility
in these qauint clearings
to rest
from the endless hunt
and calm from the leering
she was of a notion;
laissez-faire

is there some sting
to these words of mine
is there time?
make sense of this
you work forty hours a week
and still can't meet
the standard your parents did
what gives?
put in the hours
but don't dream of ivory
can't you see
that's not for you or me
our ilk works, sweats, and bleeds
oh, you can dream
but that's all they can be
so don't waste your day
in a happy lull
with a head fixed
on material ****
move ahead
and let's fix this

play that
avant-garde, Archie
roll that stone,
HST
bust a nut, in a
case for the century
Woodward & Bernstein
convolut and confuse
and diffuse some of that tension rising
the crook with a room at Watergate
TRICKY ****
well known for the lying
you can infiltrate
and propagate hate
from here to Asia
but it's the folks at home
who will grab you by the *****
and castrate ya

something left out,
something left out,
someone I left
and let go
so far
not so long ago
and I don't know
I'm not so experienced
with this love thing
you said a lot
but what's to be said
when you too left

you might ***** and moan
but I brood
like a hen over dead eggs
the stress builds
and gnaws at me
incessantly

the beauty
of kindness
it's infinite surplus
the appreciation garnered
and it costs nothing,
priceless,
and more often than not
you're paid back,
even in just a smile

paces the hall
all amok with tracks
the stench of sweat
of fear, and progress
ill or fair?
the verdict still out,
best digress

cronies spit on meritocracy
hucksters love the aristocracy
and grifters don't care
so long as things go their way
another check, another day
if you got them greenbacks
you get a say
otherwise, zip your lips
and walk away

I got an angle
it's love, conditional
dig?
cause that's how we do it
keep your
brother-sister *******
sing a sad song
***** another wall
burn a new bridge
just promise me
it ain't takin' long
cause I'm not waiting around

en route
I'm telling you
I'm gonna be there soon
you keep hitting snooze
don't know what you have
but it's something you're gonna lose

God I'm a cynic
at times
I want the world to burn,
I want to die
look up in the sky
and think of the limitless possibilities
everyone out there
hurting
so many possibilities
and joy seems
so distant

these are geniuses
these titans of industry
using their wealth of knowledge
to pursue unimaginable avenues
of unadulterated greed
soar to heights
unable to be touched
cold, as the air is thin
up there
with no care
and no connection to anything human

you can make
morning midnight
but you brighten dark days too
and, on the whole,
I'm happy to say
I have you

somebody's ******
floating in my soft drink
I should have ordered hard

the ice is raw
lines still there
fresh from skating

and the atmosphere
in here
is something like a graveyard

the cat isn't out of the bag
they're beating on it
still covered in burlap
butterflies all havin' fun
gone, as spring
draws near its end
and if there are fumbles,
that's saying the least of it,
it's all we seem to be able
to muster these days

you are tired
and I am tired
of the status quo
of
the way things go,
it's not something we can say any longer,
with gaze casted down
and held tongues
we must be stronger

I wrote a draft
I'll circle back
when thoughts coalesce
instead of collapse
when I have
a better grasp
of what exactly I intend to mean

stoke the flame
buried within you
fan it
with hope
and if it has gone out?
spark it again

when the sun dwindles
I'm left with a hollow feeling
what's in healing
when I still hurt

into the cistern of your soul
casting petty judgements
not of a proper mind,
I think you're fine

more drivel
like autonomic
pouring from these flapping lips
am I comfortable with silence
or can't I stand my thoughts

this is
someone else's dream
pictures of a dead sea
corpses strewn about me
living an eternity
subsiding
in irrelevancy

being begets being
bringing suffering
surrendering
a tearing of the flesh
wailing

because the air is cold

this life
is never truly lived
we're all too focused
choking down *******
and those of us that aren't
are too concerned
creating trouble
for the rest of us

long-winded,
catch a breath friend
between words
the conversation needn't end
you speak, and you'll be heard

our misfortune
that democracy in our country
is broken,
with our public institutions
in the stranglehold
of an inept elite ruling class
and our money hoarded
*******, by those that don't understand
how to spend it
and refuse to profligate
that dollar they diefy

herring in a fishing net
left to die on deck

and housing's in decline
short on good jobs

needle in the vein
of a ****** on a street corner

and drug use is an epidemic
wealth divided like never before

something off about him
killing his classmates

mental health is disregarded
American morality; a farce

I'm not being sincere
rather facetious
aloof, far off
and unconcerned
with whatever troubles you
it's really quite atrocious, I know
but a shrug of the shoulders
is a remedy like *****
and I'm a million miles away again
singing
"life don't bother me none"

one man
but another in the mirror
speaking back
deception
a warning to the faint of heart
to avoid a hard earned lesson
keep the love you have
and hold it in recession
if your lover proves shy
in returning warm receptions
for you are like a beggar blind
when in denial
of a petty rejection

I sat adjacent
a roaring fire
rising into the night

I spoke incantations
and chanted wild
incongruously
without consternation

put me on my knees
you know what I need
extinguish the air,  take my breath
and never an answer to any plead
salty streams, and crimson bleed
what do they mean?
when the happiest I can seem to aspire for
that hapless sleep
forgone relief
called death

there is a cowardice
in the essence of lying
perhaps, it is the death
of the momentary innocence
a new conversation begins with
or the betrayal
brought on by that who had lied
betraying the converser, himself, and truth

falling far short of the marks
he erected for himself
the capital district continues to inflate their wealth
at the cost of the nation
for my compatriots' health
the future seems dire
in terms of rendering any help

you write of the gods
but i am here, on earth
my mind not in the clouds
with thoughts of saintly and good things
rather more comparable to the gutter
which isn't to say they do not linger
drifting through my mind
to see them brought to life although,
i should like to
and with you
it just isn't possible
not now

deepest affinities for you, my love
i am sorry i do not always say
always show it
and curse me if it leave you sore
for sore my world would be
without you

have i become complacent
content with the linear life i am leading
leading me nowhere, and fast
i can chase tomorrow, tonight
but how long will that last
young and spry, they fade
and the wind guard of youth
cracks
and you will feel
uneven, even shaded by leisure
to find kinks that will not give relief
in your day, in work and love, most painfully of all
despite your values and beliefs
the dream died

you can drown out the lies
but the hand still writes
the tongue still wags
like the tail
tucked between legs;
they'll all come to a head

in my chest
hums a grenade
violent turbulent days
himalayan skies
vast mountain peaks
dark valleys
that which wouldn't break;
in molting
still taking shape

king of his castle
but queen of her domain,
the unions of dominion life
are rarely one and the same
often times one sided
and sometimes distanced or restrained
the passions of real love
remain balanced,
but still wild, as to be untamed

and the light of god
like a flash bang
down dark hallways
men blind
flying
like moths toward a lamp

sometimes,
theses lines
amount to little more
than a colorful way to say
why?

you've nowhere to run
the thing you so hungrily sought
those lofty ideals that lead to this outcome
will be stabbed at
reverse engineered and understood
till they are gone

how does your judgement supercede your predecessors
do you profess to understand the pulleys
the intricate inner-workings
the mechanist and puller of the levers
better?

do you understand the precedent this sets
do you care
if it fractures the nation
and opens the door
to absolving older legislation
so short-sighted
it is thunder
singing lightning
a storm brewing
to shadow progress
and bring on devastation

a tale of lust
seduction, and ******
get cable!
and the programming
can pain your brain
rot away all the gray matter
leave you numb,
but there's so much
these days that desensitize
so chuck those harpoons, abraham
it's a white whale you're hunting
anyway

near the foothills
we breast the wind
in the heights
we waver, swinging
us loose limbs
that gilded age
far past fleeting
going backwards
to bring back
what has been in retreating
and yet
it is only the mistakes of the past
we are repeating

words fail
where i wish to convey
what it is, in this heart,
the fire,
that shrieks to hide
but blazes into the night
straining to beat
with a summation of all its might
that is brought to life
only with that unbridled ecstasy
from simple pleasures

she taught me
to use a socket wrench,
and i wondered,
how she could ever
fault in self-belief

he was much
like those before him
precarious of the future
loatheful of the present
and closing his eyes off to the past
but disconnection renders naught
and one might need to prime the mind
for deep and tender thought