I want to be a butterfly in a hurricane
The winds will surround my fragile body
Every raindrop will be as a bullet, ripping through my silken flesh
The hurricane and I will become one and I will feel its power course through me
We shall rip the Earth into a new shape befitting our anger and love
Every uprooted tree, every split open house will be our songs to the world
Our songs will echo through the ages and I will show them all, that a butterfly can make a change
If only with the help of a hurricane

It's okay, Dr. Jekyll
We all are slightly strange
Some of us are stranger than the rest
I'm sure you've seen the strangest kind
While dressed as Mr. Hyde
I tell you, that man is bad company
Don't keep him around
Value your innocence and smile
Smile, Dr. Jekyll
At the commonplace items
Like candles and spoons
Let the world smile back
And share in your peace

You slapped me today
In the face
On the jaw
And I need to tell you
That you slap like a girl

I'm sorry, my sweet
But the dolphins don't swim anymore
They just float on the surface
Of the cruel, tempting ocean
And wait for the waves to move them

Oh, no! They aren't dead!
Don't be absurd
They're just lethargic
Atrophied
And gathering ocean dust
Since Ahab drowned

I just called to say hello
(My original phrase was 'I love you')
I hear you're doing great
You went on a date
With a guy I know
So I think that's dandy
And I'm saying so
(We both know I don't mean it)
You're moving on
(I can barely rise in the morning)
And that's just exactly what you should do
(You should come back to me)
Maybe I'm going out too
(You are my only love)
And maybe I'm moving on
But nobody told you
Because they all got together
And decided not to
(I need you)

It was a night like this, ten years ago
That your mother and I were snowed in
There was no way for us to get out of that cabin
I looked at her
Her eyes were filled with terror
I took her hand
She kissed me
And we conceived you on the kitchen floor.

I asked someone to marry me
And though I'd never say who
I don't even know what she does for a living
Or the exact shade of her eyes
'Twas part jest, and part stupidity
But it was funny at the time
I asked her, and who's to know what she thinks?
Dialing the police... "Officer I have a cyber-stalker"
This was a fairly bad idea
Maybe next time, I'll meet her first
And then propose

And it's not because I don't communicate
But that's a starting point
It's not because I don't hear you
I can see what you post on facebook
Is it about me?
Is it about another man?
Who knows?
I wish you'd reply back once in a while
And maybe give me the courtesy of half a thought
Or just pick up the phone and give me a minute of your time
I've given you hours of mine
Let's talk sometime soon, okay?
Because we don't do that anymore

Thoughts are thoughts and shall remain
Until the mind cannot contain
And then the thoughts will be words
Free and flying just as birds

Think in terms of poetry
Not in terms of you nor me
Want to be a lyric ****?
Think in terms of all that is

Little Florence, nightingale,
Spread your wings and let me see
How you float above the sea
On your handcrafted, flight-sustaining
Self-containing
Instruments
Of self-inflicted repression.
Let me see you fly above,
Wounding all you think you love
With self-obsessed dependency
The need to be
Protector with your poisoned shield
Of selfish "good intentions."
Little Florence, little bird,
Though you think my words absurd,
Spread your wings and show to me
All you wished and hoped I'd be
When you shattered both my legs

Let it be, said I in whisper
Pulling back as though I'd kissed her
Let it be, I said again
Oh, how I longed for a "more than" friend
I wanted her to love me too
And in a tiny flash, I thought of you
How you had made me fall in love
I had trusted you; you were my dove
You didn't let me down at once
But in the end, I was the dunce
The incompatible? That was me
And so I whispered, Let it be

Room 3327 had a 'Do not Disturb'
But that didn't stop the maid
She walked with her shoes lightly scuffed from the curb
To clean up the room and get paid

Room 3327 reeked foul
And the maid reached to cover her nose
The coth that she grabbed was no cotton towel
But rather a dead man's own clothes

The lights had turned off when the old man died
And the town seemed to wonder the cause
They said power failure but all knew they lied
It was just that the time was on pause

The old man had locked all his files away
And though through his belongings they searched
They still cannot find, not even today
The things that in his mind were perched

The old man was magic, or maybe a god
Whatever he was, he was dead
The coroner came and wrapped up the old ***
Without knowing the gold in his head

The man never slept, and the irony shouted
To all those who knew him awake
The perpetual slumber that they had all doubted
Was now taking place as they spake

He had turned the lights on
And let the town live
But now that he's gone
He's nothing to give

I bet you thought that no one saw
But I did
And I made a note
Now here you come with an innocent smirk
And your stupid hair
Acting like it never happened
But it did
And I saw it

Did you think I wouldn't see?
That you were invisible?
I'm the one who's invisible
She doesn't see me with you around
She doesn't see me
But I saw you kiss her
And I made a note to throw out these flowers

She lay there sleeping like a stone
Might sleep, were she just left alone
Attempts at peaceful slumber were
Foiled. And a cat would purr
To see her shoes left unattended
The Dreamland she was in was mended
When a lick delivered lightly
To her forehead woke her slightly
And with frustrated gesture
For her friends had all but messed her
From repose that she had wanted
All their actions left her daunted
She only wasnted for a snooze
Not a hamburger and *****
Just a rest for weary eyes
In the end, the bell ended her tries
It signalled end to tiresome day
So she got up and went on her way

The woman in red touched my elbow and said,
"What do you want from this life?"
I looked in her eyes and said with surprise,
"I haven't the slightest idea."
She smiled with a wink and it got me to think
That maybe she knew all along
I smiled at her too because that's what you do
When a woman in red takes your hand

Pitter-patter on my roof
Called for rain, and here's my proof:
That someone's got my number listed
To give me rain so I get misted

I am a leaf gently floating, gently falling
Down to the earth where my brethren lie
Upon the dried corpses of our kin
Long since passed, like seasons they go
And yet we mourn them all silently
Without ceremony or processions
Of remembrance

I am a leaf gone to join my fallen brothers
On the battle field that is our life
Yet I do not weep for myself at all
This fall is the greatest thrill of my life
It seems to last forever and a day
Soon I, too, will be another corpse on the ground
Swept away gently by the breath of nature

It's not that today doesn't mean anything
And tomorrow seems empty
Because that's how it always is
How it's always been since that day
The day we changed
And I doubted it all and everything

It's not that I can't taste the colors
I can't hear the hues
Because I never could
Not without you holding the mike
And a speaker beside my ear
Leading your voice to my soul

It's not that the sky is empty
Without the presence of your fabled creatures
They wouldn't fly without you
Or even give me a second glance
When I begged their return

It's just that I'm lost without you
Without us I've no sense what to do
The world is a tattered, gray, lifeless stone
Cast from the heaving pit of Hades' stomach
As a penance to the sun
And it is no consolation to know

I'm looking out the window, just to try to see you
Pass me by
What are you thinking
When you look away?
I thought I might hold tight to the
Memories of our past
But the wounds must be shut
I'm sewing them shut
Where are we now?
We're alone and apart
A form of living death
You stole the life from my heart
The breath from my lungs
And the pain multiplies
When you pretend
Not to see me

Second Best is hard to be
Second Best is lame
Second Best has come to be
My other middle name

The man watered the roses, so the roses would look fine
The man tended his grapevines so he could make his wine
He watched his little children so they’d grow up alright
Then he went out kicking at the stool because he gave up the fight
His wife picked out a silky suit to let all the viewers see
That this man, her husband, had the taste well-known to royalty
She didn’t realize that no one cared what suit he wore
He was dead and to him suits meant nothing anymore
They put him in a vase and she put him on a shelf
She hurried to the bathroom to splash some water on herself
She hadn’t seen this coming, but it had been there all the while
Just waiting on the horizon until it composed the ashen pile

Here I sit across the way
The lines of men will wait
They cannot move and so they stay
Useless in this state

Contrasting squares of white and black
The marble stained with gore
They cannot push the forces back
Across the checkered floor

These men I see, they stand so tall
And ready, now they'll start
In truth, they almost all will fall
But none will lose their heart

The king, he lifts his sword to fight
His chalice fills with blood
He takes the hits with all his might
A dam to stop the flood

The queen stands tall beside her king
Her power fueled by rage
She won't accept nor stand the thing:
Her double, center stage

King's knights, the twins, evoke attack
Both dance here and there
They add their kills to the traitor stack
Beside the castle's stair

A pawn moves forth to gain a crown
The act causes alarm
A traitor bishop cuts him down
But slices hip to arm

A cannon aims from castle strong
To shoot the bishop dead
Its accuracy, never wrong
Removes the bishop's head

A sudden change in fortune finds
Our king in dire need
The queen steps forth and closes blinds
And embraces arrows speed

The king cries out, the terror real
His double enters fast
King sees the knife, but cannot feel
His reign now of the past

The new king stands upon the throne
And lifts his trophy high
His thirst for war has largely grown:
All other kings must die

Walking the fine line of the guillotine
With the life and the blood seeping through
These victims of speech simply say what they mean
Because history can never stay true

Holding the fibers of the hanging noose
Where crowds and the black hoods abound
Watching the weighted knots coming loose
Stretching feet never touch frozen ground

Lying down next to the firing squad
As the men with their rifles take aim
Seeing the general make silent nod
The end in this chapter's the same

I'm keeping my soul in a little red book
The cover is torn up, it's true
Some pages fall out when the poor thing gets shook
But I'm keeping myself here for you

It's that sort of day when you sit alone and cold
Just thinking about everything and nothing at all.
It's that sort of day when you zone out
Because it's better to hear the emptiness in your brain than the crowd outside.
It's a day when you exclude everyone
So you can appreciate being with them.
When there's nothing you want more
Than to sit and drink coffee at an outdoor cafe.
It's a day for you to be you, with no one else around
Because these days are reserved for you to revel in
The nothingness
The completeness
The fractured whole
The minuteness
The magnitude
That is your heart and soul.

The glass felt cool against her cheek
And she wondered when the day would end
The train was moving, racing away
But she was not gone
No, she was not gone

She closed her eyes, shut out the world
They pushed back in with vengeance
And she could not leave them behind
They stayed on her like an overcoat
And they dragged her to her knees

Crying now, she tries to think of
Happy thoughts. None will come
Her red balloon has popped
She hated the thing
She hated the world

They gave her problems and pain
More than she wanted
More than she needed
They assaulted and drugged her
With their words and sights and sounds

She opened her eyes
The world was still there
She blinked and tried to disappear
But she was not gone
No, she was not gone

I was drowning in an ice-cold feeling
Trying to think; my mind was reeling
What was happening? I didn't know
I was pulled through with the flow
I heard nothing but my own heartbeat
Keeping time with my trudging feet
Where was I going? Time would tell
As I headed toward the dull, tolling bell
The time was night, the hour late
What end in store? What was my fate?
I didn't know, nor did I care
The wind cut through me, tossed my hair
Nothing made sense, but nothing really tried
It seemed as though meaning had fallen and died
I was peering through the world's facade
Seeing patterns like a god
And suddenly, it all made sense!
I was Past through Future: every tense!
Nothing more could be defined, nothing more to reason
And now that I was one with all, I settled in my favorite season

Santa's on the corner, ringing the brass bell
Roast is in the oven and a family starts to yell
Snow is lightly falling, like sugar-dusting for a cake
People wrapping and re-gifting someone's small mistake
Counting hours, filling glasses, mirth is overflowing
Fixing up the house's lights, now it's really snowing!
Adding up expenses and then checking inventory
Reading as the children watch their favorite Christmas story
Snuggled up or stretching out, reclaiming lost couch space
Sliding under mistletoe, caressing lover's face
Living in this moment, drinking it all in
Trying to remember just what a year it's been

A scrap of paper, photographs
Bills and letters torn in half
Busts and trophies, dust encrusted
History to the yearbooks trusted
Books and writings left unfinished
Home in which the life's diminished
Slight wood carvings, half a speech
Tales of hiking, latched on leech
Kids and wife left in tears
Remembering well my too-short years

Hey Mr. Wall! It's your ******* up friend!
I've cut her wide open; will she ever mend?
She came to me, tears streaming, but did I wish her well?
No, instead I freaked out and she said, "Go to hell"
So it's been quite some time since I talked to her last
And I know what she speaks of, that event in the past
When I said, "I've no right to hear all of your tales
You've med all that clear; but just tell me what ails!
You're closing the doors, all the walls are air tight
You said you'd say something, well, how about tonight?"
No response did she give, so I started to worry
So I texted her, back-pedalling this time with hurry
It was next afternoon when I got the reply
Another came later: "I was bit by a guy"
I replied with an "oh" and "How'd that go down?"
She said "After, he kissed me." And I started a frown
Then the frown turned to tears and I said "Well, that's neat"
She said "Yeah" and " 'night" 'cause I guess she was beat
Well, it went on like that: nights of tears, days of silence
Day after day I had thoughts of self-violence
The White Room* was no help, and venting no good
I was sure she had a new guy like I figured she would
I just wanted a clue for me to grasp tight
With no contact from her, I hugged my pillow at night
I would openly cry, and that bugged me to hell
Because it wasn't about me; was she doing well?
I felt like a ******* and so **** needy
I wanted to hear her and that made me greedy
But **** it I loved her and wanted to know
How'd I ***** up and make her hate me so
I wouldn't find out for a week and a half
From 11 to 23 and maybe you'd laugh,
But that time was torture and helplessness thrived
Into pools of depression, I stepped forth and dived
Because I missed her so much, even before all this started
And now I had opened my mouth and we parted
My shoes were the same my own sign of depression
Then she called to say goodnight; relationship regression?
I didn't know yet, but I asked her that later
I didn't force an answer like a high school debator
She didn't want to talk, nor was that up for discussion
But at least she responded and my heart did percussion
I wanted to clear this; what did I do?
How can I fix things so we were ok, us two?
I was starting to think, maybe I'd end it
Make a noose with a chain, hoped my body didn't bend it
String me up, say goodbye, leave her better without me
Then there'd be no more reason to trust, hate, or doubt me
But I knew that'd solve nothing, So I stopped all that thinking
Because I knew she wasn't well; like myself, she was sinking
Maybe she just didn't want me anymore
Maybe dealing with stupidity was too big of a chore
I talked to my father when he caught me crying
He said, "Send her a note. Let her know that you're dying
To hear her at least, but you've got the wrong cat.
I was a no one in school. So I'm not hip to all that.
But maybe if you drop a little 'How do you do?'
She'll reply in the like and start talking to you.
I don't know her too good, so I can't gaurantee
But that's what I'd do; I mean, if you were me."
I thanked him for the talk but it didn't really aid
Me in my mission, I felt like Doug Quaid
I wasn't sure what I'd done to get this girl ******
But unlike Doug and Melina, we had never kissed
I was so afraid we'd ended, that she was moving on
While I awaited her return, she was already gone
But this wasn't the case, as I found Sunday night
When she caught me off-guard and ended the fight
"You said something upsetting." She told me right then
"I'm not sure what it was, why you said it, or when
But I know it upset me and kinda made me mad
And what's worse is you said it when I was already sad
I couldn't speak for a moment; I felt like the devil
This new info took my stupidity to the next level
I whispered, "I'm sorry" and I've never meant it more
I hated that I caused her to be so **** sore
"I don't want to be mad anymore" is what she said
"And why I was mad has just slipped from my head
We talked for some minutes; about 32, I guess
I asked, "Can I call in the morning?" and she said yes
So I'm hopeful that maybe quite soon we'll be fine
And maybe there's still a chance that she'll be mine.

Tissues for your issues
Wipe your tears away
Though today is dark and dreary
It's tomorrow's yesterday

Mr. Steele bit my hand, but Mr. Steele knows
Where the poison lies (inside), though it never shows
Mr. Steele showed the way, to cope with things unfair
From anything to everything, like hate, hurt, or despair
Mr. Steele is my friend, he's wicked and he's cruel
Can't he be? Or mustn't he? Is that not the rule?
Mr. Steele makes me be, a smiling, caring soul
Regardless of my mental state, regardless of the toll

"Ouch!" said the boy as the red started flowing
From the tip of his finger that through glove was showing
His finger found mouth, which ****** out the blood
Wrapping 'round digit and cloth and cold mud
He glanced side to side to see if they saw
But the people, like streets, would come out with the thaw
The redness still flowed and it dripped in the snow
The boy didn't care; he knew just where to go
He tugged at his pants and fixed his torn hat
His jacket surrounded like skin on stray cat
The footsteps he took were with strength and conviction
Like the master of dungeons in his favorite fiction
He went toward the beacon: The trashcan on fire
His savior would be there by bright, burning, pyre
He looked 'round the checkpoint, but failed to find
The man who would always give peace to the mind
Others were there; they were kin of his kin
The men with hair matted and open-scabbed skin
But the man who would help him, the man who had cared
His father, was absent, and the boy was now scared
His finger, still bleeding, was numb with the cold
The boy looked around for the man who would hold
A man saw the boy, and gave a half-hearted shout
Boy eagerly waited for man to come out
The little crowd parted, and his father appeared
He looked a bit different, maybe it was the beard?
Before it was long, like an overgrown lawn
Today he had **** whacked, and the face-rug was gone
The man looked at boy, at finger with red
He tutted and clasped a bare hand to his head
Man reached into pocket and pulled out a band-aid
Boy peeled his glove back to receive the hand-aid
The man covered cut and pulled the boy close
This hug was his medicine; the desired dose
The man took boy's hand and led him away
From the fire in trashcan; he said they couldn't stay
The man told the boy, "Guess what I've got?
I've got us a room! And we've both got a cot!"
Son looked to Father; he'd really come through
And they walked off in the light of the love beaming true

You scored my heart with your fire and flames
They lapped at the muscle inscribing their names:
Beauty and Intellect, so **** and smart
Warping my mind like contemporary art
You know all the words that make me clench fists
You tease and you promise and handcuff my wrists
I smile when I see you and frown when you leave
And you leave me wanting so much to believe
That I'm not just a fling, just another guy
A portable shoulder for tears when you cry
I've been there before, and it's happening still
If you want me to do that, then I certainly will
But when you whisper so sweetly those things in the night
Sighing my name, saying, "This is so right"
I can't help but think that it means so much more
Than a shoulder to help your eyes even the score

She swayed in the breeze
Beneath those wide willow trees
Like a fragile, fallen angel in white
But though I had started
Her lips remained parted
And I knew then that she was all right

She called to me lightly
Cooing, and, brightly,
I closed several inches of space
I stood as though touching
This miracle clutching
My arm and the side of my face

She pulled me in, then
And I did not know when
The earth had stopped twirling about
But when locked lip-in-lip
And when tongues inward slip
There's no want to find ways to get out

He wanted to become something, but he did not want that something to define him. He wanted to be a part of the picture, but not to be titled or signed. He wanted to belong, but he did not want his belonging to override the fact that it was in fact he, who had come to belong, not a nameless member of the group. He wanted to be found in a dictionary for those who sought him, but undefined like the ***** of a line. He wanted to be stationary and mobile consecutively. In short, he wanted the impossible, but then, didn't he just want something worthwhile? And isn't it true that nothing is impossible?

It was the hardest thing she did
She worked on it for weeks
She put her heart and soul in
The Painting

She made the image mild
With a underlying meaning
It was a captured falling star
The Painting

There were lovely blues and grays
Greens and orange hued with pink
The spectrum was to view in
The Painting

She put the final stroke and signed
The work was done; she took it up
She went to show her parents
The Painting

The smiled and patted her head
She frowned and showed and yet
They could not see their little girl in
The Painting

A tear broke loose and hurtled down
She turned away and ran like mad
The alcohol would help to burn
The Painting

The rains came swift, no chance had I
To guard myself from cold
Yet whether water came from sky
Or earthen veins like gold,
A pulsing flow, a chilling stream
Denied me warmth to spite
And so I drifted into dream
Where at last I spent the night

Wish I were a satellite
To send my cares away
Spot them as I’m coming down
And vanish with the day

Wish I were a lightning storm
With color, light, and cloud
Silently define the night
Or shout my presence loud

Wish I were a butterfly
Caught in a hurricane
Ripped apart with regal force
Accentuating pain

Wish I were a grain of sand
By ocean, lake, or bay
Caught within a gentle wave
And slowly float away