I found a pack of Newports on the sidewalk
Before my doctor's visit Wednesday after work
I smoked two just to see whether I remembered
The taste of ash, mint and tobacco leaf
The stuff of life and death, the bitter and the sweet
Hurrying across the busy street
I looked up to see Mother Mary there
With dark eyes, olive skin, and wind-tossed hair
She seemed tired and a little sad
But her face was kind and she had God on the line
And ash on her brow, which reminded me of the day
I repented and gave the rest of the cigarettes away

sometimes i sit and text women messages free
of any ****** connotations.
other times i come across a chopped & *******,
slowed + reverbed out version of a neoSoul song that i love.
she’s blonde and has a dumb thicc *** and
she’s a woman of few words and she was born
under  a constellation of fire.

like i was.

her eyes are nearly unblinking
and they say less than her mouth
but i know
there is a sea
of symbol-sets
beneath those televised eyes.

how am i supposed to weave or write
when the joy is coming for my neck.
time is the measure of energy in motion

so i turn the dial wayyy down.

God is not a time-piece.
God is a flour mill -
shaped like an inside-out hourglass
in the background of XI Jinping’s latest video on
Tik Tok.
“Violent anarchists held a ‘Night of Rage’”
“Violent anarchists graffitied the Hatfield Courthouse.”
“Violent anarchists continue to attack law enforcement with lasers.”

gravity is ******* the feet and
hills are ******* the walking.
graveyards are a hard one for the memory
(if you believe your family is another pile of bones).
at least we have our three deaths to draw on and die.
1st when our last breath leaves us
2nd the last time someone speaks our name
3rd when Zuccman the Reptilian deletes our postumus, memorialized FB account.


where lies the heart of the enlightened without a mirror?
or when the three deaths are drawn and
it hangs suspended in purgatory like a
pack of Newports in the freezer?
or like a stylized hospital mask produced under
contentious labor practices and
shipped to America via air freight
passing over the Xinjiang province where crimes against humanity
are being committed on an industrial scale ----
The Uighurs NEED OUR HELP THEY SUFFERING A GENOCIDE
THEY ARE BEING ETHNICALLY CLEANSED!!
https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang

Paul Masson.
Hot sauce.
Colgate - old and stale
as puke.
Grease.
Newports.
Former head.
Recovery.
Country dirt.
Pecans.
Cotton.
A black fist held high.
Hope that one day
he'll be able to fit his ex-wives
into a nice,
cordial sentence.
Love.
Real love.
Man love.
Type love that kicks *** when it has to.
Sears cologne,
OG ****.
Some Christianity,
but not a lot,
not nauseating
and obnoxious,
more like
quiet
and
almost not there.
More Masson.
More Newports.
Gold fillings;
the Midas Touch
on his tongue;
the ability
to blind you
in the glow of his breath.
Rotten *****.
Real rotten.
Rotted to viral nostalgia
because it tastes
like ****
and makes him lick the roof
of his mouth
to get that smell
out,
just to make
room
for it
again.
Chitlins.
Obama's saliva.
Collard greens
with all the vinegar
and red pepper
in Satan's *******.
Herman Cain's armpits.
Fear
for
me.
Love
for
me.
Power.
Former riverboat
porter.
The smell of rich white men
that talked about
*******
while he stood
stoically.
Strength
like
you've never
smelled before.
Human.

This is not a ******* love story, but I was sure that I loved him.

I was mad at you for such a long time. That sounds so **** stupid and obvious. It's like, "Well no ****, I was angry." I wish I could be more poetic about us. I wanted to turn this ******* into something beautiful, but it just wasn't. It was ugly, brutal *******. But still, you swear we were perfect.

I honestly thought we were some June and Johnny Cash ****. You'd kiss my shoulders and ask to hear my poetry. I would read you something, and you'd just sigh, looking at me with those oceans. I wanted to swim in you, I didn't give a **** if the waves were choppy or the tide was coming in. I just wanted to be with you.

The night we drove up into the Hollywood Hills and just stopped the car. I'd seen that view before. It wasn't new, just some lights. A city. But the proximity of our bodies sent my head spinning. You leaned against the fence and told me about your family. I wanted to just kiss you and look at all those stupid, beautiful lights with you. I thought wow I bet no one has ever seen a view this beautiful before. But I wasn't talking about the city.

But, we were not June and Johnny. We were the movie version. You were some method actor and i was the poor girl you were running lines with. Only, I was unaware. You see, I thought we were falling in love.

You projected your love for another onto me, and when you realized I wasn't the girl you dreamed of, you let go. Put me out and stepped on me just like your ****** Newports. You pulled out the smoke and mirrors (yet again) and did your famous disappearing act, one i knew all too well. Our fingertips unlocked and you pranced away like it was nothing. Like I was nothing.

And i believed, falsely, that  I was nothing.

Maybe that is why you shut the door to my apartment and walked straight into her arms. I was not enough, or she was just more. I wasn't your June. I was a body and hands. A mouth. God, how you loved my mouth. Someone to hold all you skeletons in my closet, to stroke your back and ego when you needed love. That is all that i ever was. But she was more, and i fell to the ******* floor when i heard your footsteps stomping down my staircase.

I stayed there on the floor, looking up at the ceiling and making note of each crack and imperfection. I am so ******* stupid, I keep telling myself. I couldnt get up from that stupid floor. Everything was stupid. I hated myself. I hated you guys together. I hated that just a week before, you came to my hometown and ****** me in my childhood home. You ****** me in the house my dad died in. I ******* hated it all.

I was in some shell-shocked denial, the kind that took a hold of my legs and gave me some weird paralysis. I did not want to believe you were that kind of man. Or maybe, that i was that kind of woman. The kind of woman who could be destroyed by someone walking away. I had lost my dad. I had lost more important relationships. You shouldn't have meant that much.

I didn't want to admit how much I had invested in you. I didn't want to hear your words like surround sound. Your ******* ******* words. "I haven't felt like this in such a long time. Maybe ever." Stop. "Its ****** ******* insatiable, Kacie, I cant get enough of you." No. I couldnt use my legs to get back up.

A week later, i went home. I was so sick with everything that had happened. I was so terrified I'd run into you o camous, or worse, run into  you with her. I knew my legs would give out if that ever happened. I'd just be strolling along, headed to my screenwriting class, and there I would see you both.

Happy. Cute. Blonde. Together.

And i'd ******* want to die and my body would stop working. My legs would stop. I would fall over. I'd be on the floor in front of everyone saying, "No, I am fine! don't worry!" she she would look at me with some disgusting sympathy. Like, "Ohhh, you poor thing! I'm sorry! We didn't mean for this to happen!"

I just couldn't deal with it. I needed to go home.

I got home while my mom was still at work. I opened my door and dramatically flung my near-lifeless body on the couch. I was just so done. I wanted to hibernate for the next five months. And then, when i started to silently cry, a furry angel jumped up and joined me. Bo, the dog my dad adopted only a month before he left, nestled his giant head into the crook of my neck. I cried and he kissed me. I buried my head into his neck and just sobbed into this beautiful, loving creature.

He loved me in a way you never did, or could. And the sad truth? I'm not sure you know how to love anything deeply the way a dog loves.

But I do. And now I am twenty years old, giving all of myself to a man who saw what you did years too late.

Cigarette smoke lingering in the air
A full bottle of whiskey next to the bed
Uneasy feelings of my past life
Unsettling memories of you in my head

Reasons for infidelity never discussed
*** performed; alas, no love displayed
Late night intrusions by ****** intruders
Roles of husband and wife horribly played

Children we once planned on having
Simply a simple fornicated ideal
A shell of my former robust being
Attached to emotions unreal

Habitual rituals no longer practiced
Alcohol and drugs relinquish my lust
Notes of times past crumbled in the trash
Suddenly, the rush from your touch is a must

Hallucinations impair my rational thinking
My inner demons come to life
It’s only 8 p.m.
This is going to be a pretty long night…

this night was different;
there were more moments spent looking back then forward,
panic always pulsating in the crook of our throat
like some giant, out of breath beast
waiting in the hollow sweat, and gnarled tree branches
reflecting black against the slightly purple sky.

it was too quiet to mask our
echoing footsteps;
boot on pavement
no rain to soften the blow.

we made it in thirty minutes to the gas station,
where we unzipped our jackets
and let the lace show out of our drooping shirts
blinking like a warning sign
to the drugged up cashier,
words mumbling over his body,
strings mixed up.

men entered and i saw that look
that i always see
in men who look at me;
its hungry, a type of lusting mouth with no
feeling,
**** trusted more than his heart.

the kind of look that says,
“i want you feeling my biceps in the back of
my truck,
and i want to feel your tightness all over me,”
the only problem is i play along,
pretending to be seductive
and then leaving with an agonizingly frozen stare, and
a quickened pace
just to show them who's actually in control.

a pack of Newports exchanged over the counter,
another lighter;
this time with a green and red flower on it;
dahlias of the night.
exoskeletons of black jackets and tights
like some shadow riding vagabonds,
inside guts made out of
swallowed cigarette smoke
and bravery.

we smoked and walked,
watching as headlights flickered toward our slim frames,
and men leaned out from trucks
with salivating mouths like dogs,
inviting us to their burning desire
in the cold, shrinking night.

under the layer of skin
that tells the girl beside me that it would be stupid
to heed to their invitations,
i admit to myself
that all i want is for a stranger to wrap around me
and kiss my smoke stained lips
with a different fury,
so i can whisper a fake name in the depths of their ears,
and show them that i will kiss
better than all the women that have
wrapped themselves in
their limp bedsheets,
and leave them wanting more as i disappear into the night,
leaving nothing but a longing burn
on the tips of their tongues.

but i don't give into my fierce desires,
and we simply turn around,
smoke five more cigarettes,
and climb up the fence
to **** her hand,
and run across the raging freeway
like the Klamath itself.

theyre writing songs about me
but i cant give them what they want
i know how to stay solo now
stop thinking about me
because everytime you do, i feel it
"how is it being god?"
please dont ask, dont make me answer
at the same time my pen dies
i lose 2 friends, a ride-or-die, and my mind
you could have kissed me over and over
but you screamed and turned away
and now your echoes are inside me
and i wonder why you couldnt be perfect
and why no one else was either
thats why theres just me
i cant be sad, only accepting
so please do the same
and lets meet up and smoke a cigarette
its on me, newport 100s

it's strange how certain smells can trigger a very distinct memory. or how at one time, you enjoyed the smell of something, but now it reminds you of someone and it makes your stomach turn. was what sweet is now rotten. but then there are things that, to most, smell rotten, but no. not to me. cigarette smoke, for example, reminds me of my mom. living far apart from her, i miss the scent of camel blue 99s in my hair. oftentimes, i'm tempted to buy a pack just for the reminder, but she'd **** me faster than any cancer could. and anyway, i prefer newports.

finally you came back to me;
for good we thought.

we'd walk out in the dark, and sprawling streets in
the empty mornings
and smoke packs of our favorite kinds, we had thought.

and there was one glorious weekend when we wore
long skirts and smoked
rollies on
the white painted balcony.
we stole six bottles of wine from
an unlocked cellar,
fully clothed in our
indian dresses,
underneath were our lacy bras
and silky underwear.

we walked the path barefoot
to the Nest, and we tattooed the dead and dying branches
with the sharp art of our burn marks,
and under the bridge where we
jumped into the frigid creek,
and let the sun shine through our hair while
a blond boy played his guitar.

we stayed up late,
jumping on the soft pink carpet of my room,
making small earthquakes in the quiet town,
screaming the songs
that beat to our own heart.

we crawled onto the red shingled roof
and inhaled the
thorn filled
atmosphere of
November,
smoking newports and marlboros faster than
Olympic champions.

we were naked but for our limp hair, hanging at our sides and
shivering skin,
“smoke me like a cigarette”
we softly sang, with the light of my room
slowly slinking into the night.

we took a drunken shower afterwards,
a bottle of chardonnay
reflecting the red light overhead,
the water rolling off our bodies,
ash falling from our hair.

we woke up in the light of one another's
morning eyes,
with splitting heads and cracked grins,
we had more plans.

we laughed on the secret
flower hotel porch,
bringing out more of our wine bottles,
playing our music loudly,
unfiltered spirits
was slowly writing their tragedy on our
wilting lungs.

that night we stuffed our beds
and created sleeping bodies out of ***** clothing and
small pillows.
we ran into the fresh night,
trouble as a steel edge on our
summer filled laughter.

we danced to the music that filled our
murky brain,
stumbled into a smoke filled room and burned
our throats
*****.

we walked in the deserted hours
of four in the morning,
and stamped on the counters,
of some boys house,
voice hoarse from
singing Neutral Milk Hotel at the top of our
brimming lungs
and banging on guitars.

we broke ashtrays,
and hearts,
and we snuck back in
with orange-chai hookah fresh on our
dry lips,
when the sun was threatening to
rise.

we wandered around the sunken down
town
the next day,
unfilters again.

we smoked three packs in two days.
sixty cigarettes,
for the sixty days we've been apart.

my mother told me later that she could smell it on me
riding on my breath,
she could tell by our dry eyes
and bed made hair,
we were hungover.
we smelled like ashtrays,

Hydrocodone is no excuse for you to be
torn so violently apart from me,
everything is falling out of
place.

One of these days, I'll move out of this place.
The Greyness making saving throws at my shadow, but my resolve concrete, and my vision clear, each step away being a decision. 
The television will dim, and the sun'll get hotter. 
And my skin will be tanner. 
And I'll smoke more of everything. 

One day we'll be sitting in my backyard, laughing at ourselves, for ever thinking we were "far away from this." 
We'll marvel at the greenness of the grass and the blueness of the sky and the anger of the heat and the deception of the trees. 
We'll argue about whether thirty can be as big as five can be small. 
We'll mix gin with our Newports and ash cigars into Dunkin Brand Styrofoam. 
The memories will blur, but the lessons stand steadfast. 

One day is often quite a few days away. 
Quite a few rounds of poker, about a thousand movies, a couple billion YouTube clips, and at least three unfinished projects. 
The slime gets thicker every day, and we're never given the assurance that our boots can take the inevitable torment. 
But once in a while, I can think of the future. 
I get stuck on tracing the outline you'll have two years from now, coloring it in with shades of pink and red paint, and writing your name over it in grease and alcohol. 
Hoping to make the image as permanent as the ringing of someone perpetually calling out for you, reappropriating all the muted spaces in my head.
And hearing it shouted, again and again, and seeing it written in places unseen, can somehow make one day seem more like tomorrow.

I dropped my purse
while searching for a lighter.
Bandaids, two packs of Newports, tissues, and a mirror
cascaded to the ground.

In a sea of people,
nobody offered
help

"This town is dead," he said. We sat on the old stone bridge, with our feet dangling over the steady creek. "Where's Kacey?" I asked, hitting my cigarette, then passing it to see if he wanted some. He took a puff and looked off into the distance. "Probably still back at the house. Ya know, it sure is some *******, man. We fight, and she takes his ******* side." He hands me the cigarette. I gesture to him to keep it. "Thanks," he sighs in a slight relief. He seems stressed enough. I can always buy a new pack.
I take out my current one and pop a new cancer stick in my mouth. I shuffle around in my pocket to find a lighter, and spark it up. The nicotine on a cold, grey winter day like this has the perfect bite. I inhale, lick my chapped lips, and exhale. "Dude, it's just because he is younger. Remember how annoying we were when we were seventeen?" I pull his beanie over his face, hoping to at least get a smile. He lets a slight grin escape his aggravated demeanor, and slaps my hand away. "Yeah, you're still that **** annoying." We laugh for a brief moment, then the calm settles in again.
I look to my left: brown grass, dead trees, and playground that has been neglected for months. Then, to my right: Eric, flicking the cigarette, the old auto parts plant, more dead grass, and the road. Everything has a grey and pale blue tint. This is what winter brings. Eric scoots back and stands up. He brushes gravel off his pants, "I gotta head out. Ally has to go to work, she needs me to drive her. You want to come?" "Sure, I don't have **** to do anyways."
We hop in the car and drive off. I lean out and look at the stores in the town square as we cruise through: Barber, antiques, diner after diner. He's right: this place is dead. "Hey," Eric slaps my chest. Impact is reduced thanks to my puffy jacket, "Do you think Ally is just slutty enough to settle for a guy like me?" He smiles and looks in the mirror. Peeling off his beanie, he exposes his blonde, messy hair. To be honest, he wasn't that bad looking when he tried. Maybe if he would just shave that creepy soul patch. "You know her better than I do, man," I say, "I mean, she asked you for a ride to work. I wouldn't look too far into it."
The thing is, I don't want him to get his hopes up. This past summer, she and I slept together a few times. Instead of cuddling afterwards, she'd roll over, do a line of coke, then say she has to go somewhere. Easy to say, we were just **** buddies. The part that is ******* though: anyone I know who has messed around with Ally, gets trapped in this abyss of feelings. She makes you fall in love with her. But it's so hard to love her, too, because she's so strung out and scattered. These days you can't even tell if she's high or not. It has just become her.
We finally get to her apartment and wait outside. I see her starting to come down from the third floor. Black and white Converse High-Tops with black stockings. They have a few runs and holes in them from our wild nights. She wore them the night we first had ***. Then a pair of frayed, high waisted, black shorts. She always knew exactly what to wear to show off her thin body. And finally, a simple black tank top. Her hair was in a messy, blue bun. Tattoos disbanded all over her body. Small simple ones, because she could never save up enough money to buy an actual normal one.
"Hey, *******!" She says as she crawls into the backseat, pushing empty cigarette packs and fast food bags to the other side. "What's up Ally?" Eric says, looking her up and down with a giant grin on his face. "Oh, ya know," she sighs as she digs through her purse. "Do you mind running by the gas station before you take me to Moonie's? I need some aspirin and a pack of Marlboros." "Moonie's? I thought I was taking you to work, not the bar! God ******, Ally, if you want to drink I'll just buy us a bottle. It's much cheaper, and you can get as ****** as you want." Eric had no subtlety to the fact he wanted to get her wasted. "No, **** face. I work there."
Eric and I just look at one another.
"When the hell were you going to tell me you work there?" He says, overjoyed. "I didn't want you dragging a sweetheart like Syd down there to be a little pervert," she says jokingly. It's not like I haven't seen it all anyways. "Besides, I'm not on the stage....yet. I'm just bartending"
  We made it to the gas station. Ally starts scrambling through her purse, pulling together wadded up bills. The sound of medicine bottles fills the car. Midol, migraine medication, and various other pills (and, honestly, I wouldnt be surprised if they weren't originally hers) "Okay," she said with a deep breath of relief,"I'll be right back." She hops out of the car and dances a small, hungover sway, one foot over the other. Eric and I watch as she heads in. I observe her tendencies, motions, and body language. Such a broken soul intrigues me. How is she okay with this? I feel protective of her, but desire a release. How does one care for such a soulless being? She finds her peace in stranger's arms. I was a stranger when we got together. Once we got close, she started at it again with the mystery men. Eric, he doesnt watch her, really. He stares. The guy might as well be drooling, standing on all fours like a dog. He doesnt observe her, notice the little things. He lusts for her body, much like all the others. She has that air about her. She could make the Pope sin, for God's sake. It's almost pure evil in that skin, but I know there is something fighting. She couldn't have always been like this.
I must have spaced out, we're already pulling away from the parking lot. "Here," she says in a spunky and proud tone, as she tosses a pack of Newports up to Eric. "God bless!!" He shouts, closing his eyes in rejoice, "I've been out all day, bumming off of Syd, here, the past couple hours." He reaches over and pats me on the cheek. I shoo him away and turn up the radio. Arctic Monkeys, a black and white dream flows into my head. Saving her, but nothing could. I could grab her head and push it up against the wall, hold the needles, pipes, and pills infront of her, beg her to stop, and all I'd get is a smirk. I know it. No ***** given.
We arrive at Moonie's. Blacked out windows, purple and red paint, black velvet door. It's the only ******* for miles around and tends to stay busy. Who would think I's spend my days here as a young adult, when I went to church right up the road when I was kid.
We walk in and sit at the bar. The only place i can drink at besides friend's houses. Moonie's son runs the joint now. His dad opened the place forever ago, long before any of us were even considered, or unwanted for a select few. Moonie, apparently, was like a small town Hugh Hefner, had his pick of the ladies. Messed around with his top dancer and had this *******, Todd. "How's it hangin'?" Todd asks Eric and I as I reach for the ashtray. It's ******* weird, no doubt. Todd looks like a middle school teacher who would spend his time writing in a coffee shop, not running a ******* or holding an impressive amount of assault charges. Curly brown hair, like Corey Matthews from Boy Meets World, skinny and tall. Button down flannel, fitted blue jeans, and the beard to top it off. Looks like a young dad, acts like it too. He looks after the "troubled youth" in this place. He provides love, ***, and drugs for those without. I've crashed a few times on his couch. He's charming, which would make sense to him being Ally's current weakness. I catch the glances they share as Todd awaits for either Eric or I to finish a drag on our cigarettes to answer. Now I understand how she got the job.
"Uh," I say, exhaling smoke, "It's good man. Eric here shut down into "Little *****" mode with his mom again." Todd and I laugh as Eric slumps down. His eyes fidget for a moment, as he searches for a comeback. "Dude," he says, as he places his hand down calmly on the bar. He closes his eyes, and slowly whispers,"I swear to God, **** her." Eric sounds breathy and comedic, yet you can hear the truth in it. He and his mother never got along. He always idolized his dad, who left a long time ago. He says a lot that he wishes his dad took him along, and got him out of this town. He really hates it here. "I've seen your mom," Todd smiles and shakes his head as he breaks out three shot glasses, "and I would most definitely **** her. You can call me 'Daddy *******'." "Absolutely not, you **** head," Eric says, choked from trying not to laugh, "Touch my mother, and you die. Last thing I want is another little ******* sibling, let alone, one related to you." he says, now laughing at his own joke. I must have no sense of humor, because none of this is funny. My parents raised me to respect women. I've seen Eric and Todd, both lay hands on Ally. She would get too drunk and start yelling and *******. Granted, she antagonized them, but they know her. She's too ******* little to REALLY fight. Luckily, it's never gotten past a few slaps and slams.

5 am driving through the hood fearlessly
Because sitting in my passenger is a huge black man up to no good
Newports in my hair
Graffitti around these parts looks better
Than Wynwood
As the sun rises
Hitting all the homeless in the face
Sleeping on the sidewalks
I see a man stretching his arms,
As he unravels his cuccoon
Ready to fly through another day
Newport man points at a woman walking past,
Her grey baggy pants sloping
Her legs crisscrossing like shes cutting something up as she walks
But really she's just on crack
He told me that he knew her when she was fat
She looks towards a man down the road
And waves a flirty hand
He follows her home
Earlier in the night i see a skinny white girl
Walking around the club
I thought she was brave
For being down here alone
A couple of hours later i see her again
Waving an SUV down
They drove past and i saw her face crumple
The way gravel does
The car stops at a light
on the way towards her money
Newport man flags her down
She begs for a cigarette
But all she got was distraction
"Where are you from?"
Boston.
Her sweatshirt said so
I have a customer waiting for me,
I have to go
Newport man asks "what are you selling?"
She turns away and goes.
Another crackhead rolls up next to
The club parking
With a bike he stole from south beach
I know this because Newport man knows
Shirtless underneath a neon flimsy vest
That he stole from a valet stand
Smiling through gums at the drunk *****
Rolling past
Attempting to pretend
That he is the parking pass
Anything for some spare change
Anything for crack
And last but not least but not first is me
I just wanted some ****
Newport man said if i gave him a lap
Dance he would buy me some green
Instead the ***** gets skimped for a ten piece
When he paid twenty
And because my lap dance
Didnt have enough grinding
He didnt give it to me
And this is the general tone
Of Overtown.....
Addictions arent selective
by race, religion, creed.
All those people i met are just like me.

I was wearing that dumb sweatshirt
you bought me last Februray,
it smells like the Newports you smoke
and feels brand new,
even though I stuffed in my closet for a year

I played your favorite song on repeat
pretending you're here
laughing, smiling,
and kissing me on my neck to make me groan
like you do

It felt like ice cubes coming from my eyes
and I couldn't stop shaking
and I couldn't stop crying
and I kept praying
(even though I don't believe in God)
that you would wake up
in that stupid hospital bed

Do you wanna be friends with me
  do you wanna be friends
  with a punk like me
My iron cross tattoo and a
  middle school concept of
    anarchy
  we can
  go to shows and smoke Newports
  bring down the establishment with
    empty cans of PBR and spraypaint

So you wanna be friends with me
  So you wanna be friends
  With a wretch like me
My dog eared copy of Slaughterhouse-5
And my irrational distaste for
   Humanity
We can
Smoke *** in your backyard and
Scream about ****** babies
   While burning bible pages
As if we were making a statement about the inherent theocracy plaguing
Our government

Do you wanna be friends with me
Do you wanna be ****** like me

There ain’t nothing like livin’ on love
Smoking Newports in the sunshine
Waiting for the time to pass
Under crystalline blue skies

People in the circle
The faces come and go
But we’re still all here together
We are originals fo’ sho’

He just ran out of squallies
But there’s no need to go and cry
‘Cause we’re the kind of friends
That help each other to get by
Ain’t nothing like livin’ on love

So I thank the stars above
Because I’m happy with lifestyle
And that hasn’t always been the case
There’s no one else in this whole world
Who can cure the lonely days

No one else could show me
All these new and peaceful ways
Of loving what’s around me
Accepting bad and great
Ain’t nothing like livin’ on love

When you were coming back
From your first date with Lucy
We saw those diamonds in the sky
So relieved you let her try
To change your views and cope with stress
‘Cause she was only wishing you the best
Ain’t nothing like livin’ on love

Good vibes come from all around
Never ceasing to astound
The fellow with the thickest walls
Even gets knocked down

But we all come and gravitate
Showin how easy one can change
My pride comes from teaching
Others these irie ways
Ain’t nothing like livin on love

The fall will come, and people leave
Our sweet humble abode
With unspoken words, we know
It’s time to walk our separate roads

But these bonds have tied us deep at heart
We’re always here in spirit
When college comes
And you’re scared to start
Remember how I’m here cheerin’
Ain’t nothing like livin’ on love

snow drift,
ride the busy street.
many windows,
and far too many wonders.
i put boots on,
ready to take off,
and in that instant
a knot in my heel.
is this a sign to slow
down? stay put  
in my old town?
but the old town
brings back old
stories, truth,
and fables.
to start fresh,
I guess so.
so travel west-
as west as Chicago
gets.
to see my Katherine smile,
it's warms my soul,
it brings me back home-
even when I'm far
from home.
To hear the blunder
from outside,
it's great.
Things I'd miss most
are shooting stars
and constellations
near the moon.
But who am I kidding,
you can't see shooting
star in New Jersey anyway.
To throw the Newports in
the freezer, to replace them
with fudge-pops could be a
start.
Starting fresh could mean
starting over.
I cannot help but
hurt from wanting
what the heart
wants.
And who knows,
a year or two later
my heart could be
closer to the Sun and
the Moon-
floating in Space,
or dead on the floor.
I can not help but follow
what the heart wants
right now.
to sip tea and coffee,
not knowing what I really
prefer, not hearing from
my Mother, knowing that
she really does not
approve- how can
I not just want
anything more
than just some
personal space?
to sit on the couch
and read every book
or magazine that comes
my way?
how can I tell the people
that I love that I had
a breakdown? I lost
control of myself?
I screamed, I kicked,
I spit, I swore?
To throw it all away.
how many times
will I wash my mouth out
and learn to watch
what I say, when this
breath down my
neck has never
been more cold?

rite aid was out of maverick red 100s;
they only had shorts.
i had to buy a pack of newports
and the thought of shedding you
made me tremble as i slid my card.
yes, i switched from your menthols
back to my reds and yes, i kept your brand.

the other day i walked into my room
and the scent of cigarettes took me back,
back to the times of us sharing cigarette
after cigarette and i began to cry.
i called my therapist but she didn’t pick up.

the thought of quitting smoking crosses my mind
on at least a weekly basis, but i refuse to let you
ruin an agent of death i held in my hand
even before you came along.
i will not stop and i will continue to shed
the strongest tears for you.

Newports
My body feigns for the nicotine,
that 30 seconds of ecstasy.  
This psychological need,
the false hope that the stress I feel
would disappear in the smoke I release that's been trapped in my chest
pressing for a way out.
But when its over its over.
Too bad life isn't like a cig.

"whitman's for the white men" I laughed
marauding through the green squares
AL and I cursing the wind for
our bad lighters and
she laughed again too.
"don't you mean the whole Ivy League"

"yeah **** ****, curse the Caucasian
Patriarchy dude"
she spit drool on the grass by
Dillon

"yeah man I don't know, I'm a bit
nervous you know."
she looked like a pummeled cartoon ghost and I wondered why

then behind me I heard a Hi and
I said to her "uh... Remember the American Spirits" (she ended up getting me  newports)

I turned around and oh uh hey
back in his room explained to him what Imbroglio meant somewhat

hurriedly and then I knighted it the
Whitman imbroglio looking at the door map

This poem wasn't titled the way he suggested I should
But I think it's ok

Tonight
Is the first time I find myself feeling homesick
Feeling maybe I am not meant to be here
In this stretched out city that I have not yet learned to navigate
Feeling maybe these bright lights are too much to bare
Maybe it's the way the car I sat passenger in
Smelled of mommy's menthol
Maybe it's the way I have never missed the scent of newports until today
I am not one to turn back
After all i hated the cold
Hated the way the sky never seemed to come out from grey
And sun became such a commodity
That we'd sell ourselves just for the chance to see it
But a part of me misses rain
Misses the thunderstorms and lightning that would soothe me to sleep
Maybe I'm just weird in that way
Most wouldn't crave disaster like that
But I'm accustomed to ****** weather
I was raised on snow storms and below zero temperatures
Maybe this sunshine
And warm sand
Blue ocean
Is too good for my cold bred soul
I have always said that this is where i belonged
Where I am meant to be
What if we're not meant to be anywhere
That maybe we just are
Maybe we're just here because theres nowhere else to go
California
I have spent years writing love letters to you
Awaiting the day when we would be reunited indefinitely
I have always been one to romanticize
But maybe I built you up too high to be able to reach you
I hope we can be on the same level someday
I hope you can welcome me as much my heart welcomed you
Praised your beaches and mountains
Wanted nothing more than to learn every part of you
California
You have always been the center of my earth
Maybe always will be
I do not know you enough yet to say for sure
Have only tasted certain parts
Most of which were sweet
I am devoted to trying it all
I might never know
Where my place is
But California
It is an honor
To get to know you.

I don't believe in perfection or something being perfectly flawed.
And I guess you could say that it means that I don't believe in happiness,
mostly the kind that comes from loving someone else.
And I guess I could tell you I don't believe in things I've never experienced.
But then I could tell you how I had left a half eaten English muffin covered in ketchup on my counter for weeks because reminded me of her,
the eccentricities that I didn't want to forget, that she wouldn't let me keep.
Or maybe how I didn't clean for weeks because the Newports strewn among the furniture also reminded me of the half dazed smile she would give me before we kissed.
And I don't believe love is quite right to describe what I felt.
I think it was much more, it was an instant connection.
She was so complicated and I'm nothing but simple.
And I feel like that might be a lie.
But I could tell you I was being honest and in time I was telling the truth.
I don't believe I was in love with her,
and I guess that means you could say that I don't believe in her,
mostly that she could have ever been mine.
Mostly, because she wasn't.

between the crevices of my lips,
there is orange soda no longer carbonated, hibernating
until i wipe it off with my sleeve.
sometimes i like myself, when the caffeine dissipates
and my anxiety subsides.
are you loving yourself? are you taking care of yourself?
i didn't shave in the right places,
i didn't comb my hair this morning.
i've grown fond of my ***** roots or at
least that's what i've been told.

i touched myself this evening. i caressed every fold
and counted the lightning bolts to help me sleep.
masculinity is torturing. the bed springs attach to
my spine, embracing my face. there are no second chances
in heaven; in purgatory we have no one. cuts under my eyelid
tell me i'm ageing, but this is what happens
at the edge of history.

i can no longer pretend or hide. the newports grapple
my esophagus and i have been pinned.
why this and not that?
tomorrow is our spring awakening, and whether i'm up or down
or left or right - my sense of direction is permanently broken.
tonight.
i know one thing is certain. there is no love, no harmony.
i touch myself.
for a chance at true intimacy.

i wonder if it will take 100 times to get tired of me
200, 400 times of
love-making or
rough *** or
"give me your dirtiest version"
"i want you so badly i wish i could teleport hundreds of miles to you tonight."
i don't know why i think sitting passenger in my car smoking newports will eventually get boring to you but baby stay a while and i'll do it just how you like
let this last and i'll touch my tongue to your sweet spot

The CD in the tray
and the sun on my skin
hot vinyl beneath me
and an unstoppable wind.

This is one of the few days
I try to remember.

I cling to it like the Newports
between your fingers,
ashes settling on the dashboard.

But after all that happened
with the roof off
the memory is hard to hold.
Yet, I wrap myself up in it.

Tie myself inside
the days when I felt your
hair hit me in the face and
I’d see the ocean stretch
on one side,
past the endless median
on the other

When I knew
that love rolled on wheels.

I COMPOSE THESE LONG DRAWN OUT LETTERS IN AN EFFORT TO WIN YOU BACK. I WANT TO WIN YOU LIKE AN ARCADE GAME. ARCADE FIRE IS YOUR FAVORITE BAND. YOU THINK THEIR BEST SONG IS CROWN OF LOVE. I STILL WEAR THE CROWN OF FLOWERS YOU MADE ME. THEYRE ALL DEAD NOW, BUT DONT WORRY I STILL ADMIRE IT. I THINK IM DEAD BUT NOT IN THE WAY WHERE MY BODY SMELLS OF CHEMICALS AND BLOOD NO LONGER COURSES THROUGH MY VEINS. TRUST ME, I CAN STILL STILL FEEL IT POUNDING THROUGH MY HEART WHENEVER I HEAR YOUR NAME. YOUR NAME TASTED SO GOOD IN MY MOUTH BUT NOW I RARELY SAY IT IN FEAR IT WONT BRING YOU BACK BUT BRING BACK ALL THE MEMORIES. THOSE MEMORIES ARE HARD TO ERASE NO MATTER HOW MUCH ALCOHOL I CONSUME. YOU CONSUMED ME. I AM TYPING ALL THESE THINGS DOWN EVEN THOUGH IT HURTS EVERY TIME I PRESS A KEY. YOU DONT HAVE THE KEY TO MY HEART. YOU THREW IT AWAY WITH 3 EMPTY BOXES OF NEWPORTS AND A PAMPHLET ABOUT HOW TO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR. IS THAT HOW YOU CALCULATE MY WORTH? A BAD HABIT AND A RELIGION YOU DONT BELIEVE IN? I AM BAD NOW, I AM EXPIRED LIKE THE MILK YOU BOUGHT BUT NEVER DRANK. BUY A SHEET OF GLASS AND BREAK IT INTO 2 PIECES. DRIVE ONE INTO MY HEART AND ONE INTO MY HEAD SO YOU CAN PROUDLY SAY YOU CAUSED ME AS MUCH PHYSICAL PAIN AS MENTAL.

I was born in December on the Nebraska plains, Box Butte County.
Moved out of there when I was six months old.
Life bled into a hard odyssey of trail dust and drugs and second chances.
This one time I couldn’t stop doing ******
walkin all night through the Ironbound over to court street project, Newark, NJ.
Came this close to getting swallowed up by the green monster
like Jonah and the whale.
so it came to pass that I had to join the United States Navy, to save my own life.  
Frozen cats and 12 dollar packs of newports and 7 dollar wax stamped bags
and I tried joining out of East Orange
but HQ said no - mix up with the paperwork
so I tried my luck in Atlantic City.
Jack ***.
Drunk for six months straight, almost top of my class, submarine school, Groton, CT.
My life was a lost identity; I’d be sleepin inside of a Matryoshka Doll,
i developed a taste for
Tequila and salt.
I won a coin toss and they shipped me off to Guam, top of the Marianas Trench,
just like that.
Some time after all the ***** houses and buy-me-a-drinky bars and
pokin around old japanese pill boxes and setting all my friendships on fire and
one month spent circling the waters at an unknown depth beneath the Pacific Ocean
sleeping alongside a 40 foot torpedo in the torpedo room
scrubbin CO2 from the air we breathed
and the dust off  from all the valves -
It came to pass that too much 1800 and bud lite,
boxed wine and late nights,
case of the sad sickness and a broken nervous system bought me
A nullified contract and a plane ticket to Big Sky Country,  USA
free room and board at my Aunt and Uncle’s house
in Sheridan, Wyoming, Powder River Country, shadow of the Big Horn mountains.
They’re the same age, with the same exact birthday.
We used to drive out over the horizon, shootin clay pigeons out the sky.
They gave me about as much a chance as anyone ever did.
It came to pass that after after my 2nd DUI I was invited to leave that room and board
and so I landed a roommate on the edge of town.
Second generation mexican, David Rodriguez,
born and raised in that that very same county on the Nebraska plains
wherein I came raging,
full power
Into the void.
What are the chances of that?
Alliance, NE, County seat.
I bear no living memory the town
But I saw it from an airplane once.
There was a radial pattern of railroad tracks trailing out in all directions, like giant cracks on the side
of a prairie blonde asteroid.

No sun out makes the cold even colder
No heat keeps this studio freezing
Four of us in a double bed
Pops coming home drunk at 3 am
Throwing water to wake up momma
So my baby brother ****** his self again
Sheets still stink from the night before
Bacon covers the smell of newports
But we know better
Lay hungry hoping he leaves something
Remember being so confused
I love him cause he's my father
But I hate my dad
Wish my mom would've married a better man
Wondering why God won't help us out of here

Time kept ticking
We kept growing
Mom got new jobs
And him
He stayed the same
No friends allowed over
No tv so no cartoons
At thirteen I went from getting smacked to getting his smack
Doing runs while other kids went to school
Knocked twice... wait ....then once more
Lay the twenty in the hand that reaches out
Loke a magician he turns money into dope
Remember thinking about all the food we could have
New shoes with no holes
Many times I thought about selling that bag
But I knew he would **** me over that bag
Sit back down and stare at the empty tv cabinet
He tighten the belt as mom got it ready
I covered my brothers eyes as my dad shot up again
Never asked for him to die but I never wanted  him to be here
Small drop of blood falls to the floor
Taking a little more hope that we would ever get out of here

I'm grown now
I have a job now
Saved up and moved on
Just my brothers and me now
I begged but mom stayed
She addicted to the abuse as much as he is to the drugs
I love her but I got tired of asking what about us
A cheap rundown apartment that's a mansion to us
Two bedrooms
Three separate beds
A couch and a reclining chair
A t.v cabinet sits in the corner
It holds a colored television
Dinner every night
And my brother hasn't ****** the bed yet
Laughter replaced crying
We talk without yelling
Wake up to no violence
Every night I make sure to thank the Lord for helping us get here
It feels good to live life without fear