clouds are so very much like people
coming in all colours, shapes and sizes
arriving, departing, passing by
sometimes clouds are full of light
and sometimes they just need to cry

what of the dreamer
who dreams no more
can he simply recycle
buy more at the store

the bold pirate prince
with the blushing bride
sailed away long ago
on a pale moonlit tide

the old white knight
tears burned to dust
fear replaced chivalry
his sword turned to rust

the surfer boy as well
is he now gone too
they’ve left everyone
the dream died with you

desperate young guns and wannabe nuns
clever, cunning, running for their very lives
ever wracked with doubt, there’s no way out
no one wins and in the end no one survives

little lambs lost, prophets sleep with profiteers
to our unknown unseen gods we blindly pray
it’s time to choose, when you snooze you lose
can we not find a more sublime game to play

society’s tools, writing rules followed by fools
criticize and cry, our sighs but a silent scream
beneath empty skies, all fall down for little lies  
please play if you must, but i choose to dream

she splatters verse
like paint into her poetry
and i am hypnotized by
the ebb and flow of
her imagination
swinging in and out
of rhyme or reason
each line a brush
stroke of her mind

and i swear that she is
built entirely of words
stretched across
her bones, her skin
an ink stained canvas
and that if i listen close
i can even hear
as they slowly spill out
with each sigh and
each exhale, bound together
as a completed document
and i watch in awe as they
dance behind her in
the cool night air and
follow her back home

and i am slowly learning
the vocabulary of her body
of the hidden stories
delicately tucked
like random notes
between her
flesh and bones
and i am slowly learning
that her heart is
an ancient epitaph
that holds more value
than even she could know
and once i heard
the lilt of her laughter
nothing else ever mattered
and i knew that between
her creased pages lies her soul

and that, that is the only
place i have ever wanted to go

i want to exchange this keyboard for you
instead of hitting keys and making spaces
my hands should hit all right places
instead of looking at letters across the screen
stare at your eyes and read you like a poem
instead of sending messages across miles of cables
my words would slip of the tongue and soak into yours

i want you here next to me
so i can stop writing prose through my fingertips
and use them to caress your face
so i can stop wrapping words in poetry
and wrap your body in kisses
so i can stop thinking of sexetry
and use my mind in ways that bring you ecstasy

i'm sick of writing poetry for you
so come here and let’s drop the words
line breaks and punctuation
let’s stop writing for each other
and let ourselves carry the message

let's stop writing poetry
and live it instead

homeless beggar orphan child
belonging nowhere and to no one
damaged goods bent and broken
hidden scars too dark to see
and yet their pain is all i feel
almost made it once or twice
first runner up a thousand times
remaining a ****** bridesmaid still
beaten bloodied and long retired
my heart heavy but not quite numb
seeking a light within the darkness
questioning only if and when
this lonely dream will ever end

god,

if you’re up there out there anywhere
if you’re somewhere listening to me
if you’re compassionate, if you care
the children need you, can’t you see

will no one sooth their fearful tears
childhood should be a magical time
yet for many it delivers only sorrow
is innocence now somehow a crime

god please forgive this foolish man
i know there’s much we cannot know
but still one thought disturbs my soul  
why must the little children suffer so

it seems cruel to have the little ones
endure hunger, neglect and disease
i’ve asked for little, but this i request
take care of the little children please

endlessly, again & again.
overflowing, a fountain
of heartache, desire.
words erupt like lava
from lips, soft as petals:

these words are beautiful.
simply said, elegantly whispered,
unassuming as snow.

they are as paper before ink.

it is only once we think
that they start to sting:
spider bites, bee stings,
a mosquito ******* blood
as a lover may suckle on your *******.

i do not need to be filled with warm coffee,
with soups, salads & sustenance,
with your tongue & your fingers.
i do not need to be fulfilled by anything
save your gaze:

a moonbeam that shatters my freckled skin.

i simply crave your words of adoration,
and your sleepy, contented smile.

what are you doing to me?
these marble figures
crashing at my feet
like chips of flint
begging to catch
fire, to catch a
breath of air
but my god,
my lungs
heaving,
I ask
you

what are you doing to me?
permeating stone and
teaching me what it
is to bend, when I
once stood my
ground and
said, you
cannot
move
me

and what are you doing to me?
your feet are padding around
in the dark tunnels of my
temporal lobe, hanging
lanterns where lights
went out in storms
of crazed chaos,
and don’t you
know that I
am often
a ghost,
( don’t
you? )

what are you doing to me?
I feel the sun’s light as
it shines into my rib
cage, and I find I
am drunk from
this warmth,
and I ask,

what are you
doing to
me?

what if there’s no light at the end of the tunnel?
   then i should call it the world and build my nest
what if you wake one day to find that God doesn’t love you?
   then we should part, like the sea, only to meet again
what if everything you’ve built up doesn’t make a home?
   then i shall find the voice that settles me
what if you’re caught not knowing the difference between blood and bone?
   then i will live, never again being afraid of the pain
what if you wanted to believe, to believe you could be happy?
   then i know that if i search, i will find it
what if you wanted to be free, free from these earthly trappings?
   then there will be no binds that define me
what if you just keep swimming upstream?
   then i will find my way back home to her
what if you’re just living a dream?
   then i'll dare to dream bigger, and raise the curve
what if her ebb knew your flow?
   then synchronicity would taste so sweet.
what if there weren’t any inches left to grow?
   then define me by my grip, not what i cannot reach
i've spent all winter waiting for this spring
   i say, gather your strength and bathe in the rain
i've kept every river from spilling out of these veins
   i say, open your floodgates all the same
i've been waiting for years for what you’ve come to bring
   i've been shedding my skin and dreading this day
this ebb and flow won’t be the same
   let the stars forever guide us
no, it won’t be the same…
   let our words stand head above silence
no, no, it can’t be the same…
   let our failures teach lessons, timeless
your ebb and my flow won’t be the same
   let us divide these lands, poetic manifest

in fear we fail
we fall down
skin our knees
and cry alone
hurting ourselves
and others
needlessly
such frightened children
we’ve become

yet

who can say
what we truly are
children of something
so much more
puzzle pieces
perfectly placed
in some eternal
grand design
who can say
what we might become
who can stop us
if we dare dream

i had a dream we were holding hands in a blockbuster video store.

everything was made of wood.

i had a dream we drove across country
and stopped at a bridge to stare at the sky.

your hair was brown. your hair was draped over the passenger seat.

you held my hand again like you meant it.

i was a window for your fingers.

i was something else while you pointed at an airplane
and stretched your body to it.

you thought you’d never get so far.

i hung out in a mall parking lot while you became the stars.

when i woke up the longing still wasn’t gone.

today i've no need for anything
you're everything that i desire
you returned my missing smile
of you my heart could never tire

a life that's better than a dream
i never believed that i could find
someone so lovely falling for me
i guess it’s true that love is blind

i love you more each passing day
forever a doubter now i'm believing
you're everything and so much more
my heart is home it’s never leaving