wings of time

of all the things lost in the sands of time, fallen to the bottom of the hourglass, buried by incremental entropy you were the hardest to lose on the black wings of the raven, high on thermals above, searching the world below for hidden morsels but you are nowhere to be found the hourglass is […]

(un)titled plea

my blood is on fire my love, it sets the oceans aflame as i let it fall into the water, an open vein sparks the inferno as i seek to summon you back for one more night of feverish need help me make it all go away or burn it to the ground around us […]

fool(ish) pursuits

i sought the most beautiful stone to place upon your finger nothing was ever good enough in my eyes not for you maybe a stone from the riverbed would have been enough smoothed by the ever flowing stream a symbol of my love for you a fallen star set in onyx to show how long […]

(missing)

i gave up your ghost so long ago but it still haunts me in the quiet times spent alone building this house of cards in a hurricane that tastes like your lips feels like your touch across my bare skin why did you have to encapsulate my desire my dream my yearning so goddamned right […]

a visitor

did you know you were in my dream last night after i had thought i was done being possessed by the spirit of your touch yet i closed my eyes and your soft footsteps entered my mind again do you recall how you initiated it you hoped for a night of pleasure but as i […]

so/me

some days are bad days this one is getting worse the butterflies in my stomach are monarchs with razor fangs, the bats in my belfry have gotten into the meth again rancid remains of ridicule the check is late i’m overdue i’m sinking down into the backed up sewers, sliding down into ruin, falling faster […]

lost time

i stood over him, he lay in a heap as the rain fell, his mouth gasped like a bass on the dock for a moment the rain appeared crimson as if the clouds were bleeding as lightning slashed everytime i screamed for help, thunder crashed, drowning out my voice in the booming i closed my […]

selling

selling myself to a world that didn’t want me when i tried to give myself away hide the profits in the marginal dismay of another failing quarter, drawn and quartered, playing quarters for shots of hope in hopelessness drunken anger it isn’t greed, being broke is fine when you have other things to fill the […]

statuesque meanderings

she was still, as if her cloven hoof was encased in amber slowly bubbling up from the ground beneath, topaz highlights in the low light of subterranean strip malls and nail salons glass bones wrapped in copper wire like ganglia, fine rubber hosing threaded carefully, fibrous roots bunched like monocotyledonous musculature covered with brown paper […]

clean

the sheets smell clean, like lilacs and lavender, but i would give anything, for them to smell like you again the milk has gone bad, yellowish fluid, curdled remnants floating in the tainted liquid of yesterday’s fond regrets took the remaining paints and poured them all together, it looked like a wet dream in circular […]

a trip

was thinking of taking a trip. looking around for what to pack when i realized all my baggage is emotional. futility. regret. depression. and a thick coat of compassionate vacancy. luckily i have gotten so good at pushing it down all i need is a carry on. just put on a fresh set of mental […]

ugly

love is an absence an abscess an access panel to nothing unfelt unrepentant unreal unacknowledged unaccepted unpronounced i saw it once oozing down the torn fishnet stocking of a prostitute with morning sickness behind a dumpster her left eye was swollen, when she smiled you could see the scars of life etched into her tattered […]

rot

rotten gourds in the roots of yggdrasil, seeping into all of the realms, split and blackened the aria sounds i stand alone on stage, the spotlight blinds me as i look out on the empty seats in front of me the rot swims, taints my mouth as i open it to sing, the words choke […]

siren

sparkling light calls out in the empty room, will o’wisps dance in the air softly singing voices, odes to love, of escape, lure in the unexpectant fool the sweet smell of flowers, pollen heavy on the breeze, impossible to deny follow us down, follow us down, away from care and worries, where dream is at […]

zen

the air was still, heavy with moisture not yet prepared to fall, tranquility before the storm ever looming all around she stand in pure night, no star nor moon above, nothing reflected off of her ivory skin, her black hair nigh invisible the gentle sound of the rake against the sand, tracing around stone pagodas, […]

my kingdom for a chance

i am the drowned king of a broken kingdom filled with empty gestures fevered dedications painstakingly recreated carved in marble epitaphs for those long dead but never ever forgotten hail hail the drowned king in his kingdom of darkness sitting atop a throne of mummified hearts supping upon the salty tears of lost hopes tossed […]

after

the leaves were the color of a freshly newborn child, that purplish red of a soon to be bruise. the sunlight filtered down and danced upon the ground. a slight breeze tried to blow from the north but sputtered before accomplishing much. i sat with my back against the tree, wondering how it all came […]

hydra

woke up in suddenly freezing abode after nearly eleven hours of fighting dreams, nearly mummified in twisted blankets my knuckles are sore, cracked and bleeding, my muscles are screaming, my voice has gone hoarse from screaming for you there is pomegranate juice spread across my chest, sticky and sweet smelling, the black grit of crawling […]

koi

orange and black koi dart across the shadow dappled pond feast and fuck no thought no sense i feel envious stress overthinking i wonder how… no it is serene in the yin yang pool the water flows gently over the dark black stones bamboo a dragonfly flits between the petals of the yunzhu flowers the […]

needs

i need a nap a warm body to lie next to someone to wake up with someone to love accepting applications email is in my contact yes the door is unlocked

yours

i cannot give you a portion of who i am as we set forth upon these turbulent waves there is no part of me sequestered away if you cannot handle everything good bad indifferent the spectre of forever plays heartily in every subtle movement like a catfish settled into the sediment of the river bottom […]

last new trick

i’ve given up on you on me on us this old dog learned one new trick how to bury a dream the world was once all colorful and bright now it is a black and white shit show fuck me for dreaming

turned to dust

he stared at his face in the pool of water under the bridge wondering where the young man that used to watch him back went to the one with hopes and dreams the one that searched tirelessly for his missing pieces he had settled into the broken found himself in the loss but he didn’t […]

one

she might not have been the One but she was the one my heart was set upon a simple stroke of the shift key maybe life would have turned out differently the ceiling looks lovely tonight nary a hope left in the darkness

i hope

i hope he made you feel special today, gave you a massage, told you how beautiful you look, made it clear to the world that perfection begins and ends with your smiling face i hope he kissed you until you couldn’t breathe, made your toes curl, made you cum twenty times until you could barely […]

fall in

i fell into my head today and ignored the world outside i fell into my head today because all i wanted was to fall into you i fell into my head today and screamed as the walls closed in i fell into my head because i fell in love knowing it wasn’t mine i fell […]

appleseed

i got a text from eris today the goddess of dischord she was checking in to see how i was doing i had asked for a sign from whichever pantheon was looking over me it makes sense chaos and dischord would be the ones her golden apple has always been special ever since reading robert […]

2/14 tanka

anxiety filled heart pounding against my ribs mind racing like mad cannot take another day lost in the depths of sorrow

(man)u(script)

i have spent hours reading my own words was asked for a manuscript filled with my writing for a book of poetry my goddess there is only so much of myself i can handle after a month and a half of insipid lines i may finally snap why do i continue after all of this […]

walking while contemplating how to build a better prison

took a long walk this morning headphones in music blaring echoing in my skull cars racing past i pondered my bricklaying ability did i build a high enough wall around the disappointment the lack of anything to keep the loneliness at bay these hands aren’t those of a craftsman no master not in matters of […]

nerv(ous)

she carved her initials across my brachial plexus so every movement screamed her name seventy millivolts firing her after image flashes i find myself flexing just to see her face

close the door

there was a trail of discarded clothing down the hallway torn and rapidly discarded like a hurricane had blown through a bra hung off the door knob boxers here lace lined panties there a button down shirt sans buttons following the trail of destruction led to an open door muffled moans in quiet night a […]

baron potato blues

it begins with the tinkling keys of a piano softly playing in a smoke filled room her heels clicking across the hardwood floors, the swish of her dress in time with the sway of her hips * he eyes the glass in front of him, runs his finger around the rim of it absently a […]

valentine

i don’t celebrate valentine’s day but i would if you were mine i would buy you a stuffed animal spray it with my cologne so when we are apart it is like i am there everyday would be valentine’s day i already write poems for you just imagine if i could make them come true […]

oaks

we, she and i, speak together like two oak trees, serene, sharing a root system that spreads across the land and time she tells me the truth, unveils the things hidden from my eyes, rattles off mysteries like the voice of delphi from the depths but she is built upon a bed of diamond, beautiful […]

picnic

she asked me to take her to the moon for a picnic i thought about it long and hard it wasn’t difficult to set up the shuttle ride i packed a blanket and some food we held hands as the rocket shuddered and shook earth fell away like a blue marble beneath us when we […]

asunder

twisted into a parody of hr geiger’s nightmare, sexual and dripping malice in scream inducing frozen moments of pleasure and pain my flesh crawls as the muscles in my legs cramp in time to the fight or flight gag reflex that consumes me in this overbearing silence veins stand against too thin skin like worms […]

shadows

the shadows play across the ceiling as i spend night whatever in a row unable to sleep even as my vision grows blurry this pounding in my skull is a nonrefundable debt to the universe for services not yet rendered have you ever felt like maybe it was the end of the world and that […]

as usual

the creak of the chair as the coffee pot spits hot water across the grounds cinnamon fills the air as the birds wake up in the bush right outside the window soon the little bastards will be singing some vapid ode to seed and berry and yarn and stick happily chirping as if the world […]

same room

fear knots my guts terror stricken cold sweat shaking knees * voices in the darkness * she tied a string around my finger a reminder of what is unclear * i remember dying agony convulsing bleeding out on the cold tile of the kitchen floor * there was no bright light no choir of angels […]

clueless

i am clueless when it comes to the opposite sex i don’t know how to play games i don’t assume so unless things are spelled out for me i don’t know what is happening this is why i will die alone

man of my (word)

i am a man of my word but that word is loneliness i built you a castle with my bare hands ignore the fact that it is made out of sand slowly falling apart in the rising tides my last home was a house of cards but without you it was a queen of hearts […]

hoarfrost

her touch was like sunlight through the blinds, after a month of rain the rains have passed, finally, the clouds have taken leave of their claustrophobic grasp upon the land, azure fills in this sudden absence of gray her absence is like hoarfrost on my heart, a coating of ice so pure and biting the […]

unrequited, a collaboration

he spun words into silk for her to drape across her body, he had nothing more to offer her, alas, the words would never be enough there was always someone better, more deft at weaving, more able at stringing turns of phrase into works of art she deserves so the fool did one last act […]

picture book

she has read my entire story, thumbed my pages while writing thoughts into the margins, trying to highlight the underdeveloped good points the spine is cracked on this tale of woe, it is a story old as time, boy is born, is beaten, is broken, is left to his own literary devices as he stumbles […]

analogous

swimming through an ocean of glass in search of the octopus garden darkness closes in, crushing me in the depths of frigid water, what lurks beneath the light line jellyfish bob listlessly tendrils float small silver streaks dart about pull me deeper, drown me in your embrace, free me from these feelings of inadequacy, i […]

translucent arrhythmia

she was the raven circling over my head, the shadow on my heart in the x-ray, the thought that kept sleep at bay, the racing in my pulse it isn’t the voltage that kills you it is the amperage, the arrhythmia translucent in her eyes how many nights did i long to hear her voice, […]

boom(erang)

i can feel the half moons of blood well up on my palms as my oversharp fingernails cut into them shaking fists and throbbing temples is it frustration or simple contemplation, a restoration, an emancipation, a declaration of love that will never be love is a broken boomerang i continue to throw hoping one day […]

VIII

dust devils along the gravel road the sunshine filters into raging grit demons inner and without lashing out into the pale wan light * surreptitious serendipity saline cognition mathematically misused tenderly torn in two x and y harbor hidden doubts that z is planely oblivious * rattling bones hung from the dipping branches of the […]

mess(age)

woke up to an alert got excited a new message hoping it was a dream but life prefers to spit out nightmares i know this deep down that hope is a chemical spray a deterrent a crux in which to hang oneself so when it was the face of a former flame staring at me […]

remain(s)

nothing that is here now was before and most likely won’t be in the future everything is temporary even my love for you will one day be dust and etchings on the ivory bones of my remains

sextet of regret

Balcones Fault i’ve left my heart and soul scattered along i-35 from dallas to del rio shattered like the tectonic shifts as my emotional stability was fracked in hopes of mining precious commodities * Fractured you opened things inside of me made me think there was a chance at something more but it was me […]

reading dickinson

i read dickinson for the first time today see i don’t really like poetry i don’t understand it the hidden messages the undercurrent the metaphors all beyond my feeble grasp see i am not looking for the secrets of the universe hidden in prose scribbled notes on where it all went wrong no that is […]

across the floor i glide alone

crystal chandeliers cast shadows of sparkling diamonds across the faded wood floor how our feet shuffled gracefully to the song that played when our hearts were one your hair like shimmering strands of spun gold as i twirled you in front of me your cheeks flushed as i dipped you ever so low and how […]

(no more)chasing

it has rained for two days straight it seems to have been enough to finally rinse your scent from my nose no more baying after you chasing after what doesn’t want to be caught the hunt is over might as well try and catch ghosts as pursue something that was never there except in dreams

m/a/z/e

there is a maze in my skull get lost with me mitochondria make my cells continue on continue on how long have i hugged the edges of the whirlpool seeking the center infinity at the center of her eye calm in a turbulent safe zone left left right the ball of yarn loosely spread out […]

calendar (complete)

(january) an ex was born this month, a mistake that led to two perfectly carved diamonds frozen broken huddled in a ball ripped and torn spikes of ice ragged wounds crimson ice (february) my father was born this month, flawed and brilliant, my hero despite my own actions shortness of breath wheezing spots in my […]

(un)requited IV

i won’t say the words that swell inside of me out loud not to have them fall upon deaf ears they have lost meaning i will try not to think them not to feel them grow inside of me until i feel i will burst if i could i would cut the part of myself […]

calendar pt III

(september) this is typically when the rains begin again, when the thirsty soil turns vibrant again, reborn to die confusion refusal self destruction with no understanding this life is a break between infinities (october) laughter fills the night, the crinkle of plastic costumes, faces painted like the visage of death burning leaves the icy chill […]

calendar pt II

(may) too many lost loves, one born and buried in the now muddy ground of these thirty one flavors of hell the green slowly takes the brown the allergies soon take over the ability to breathe beautiful to itchy eyes (june) the freedom of warm winds, of oiled bike chains, stolen kisses in the dead […]

(un)titled ache

sorrow etched his face much like hard work callused his hands it was a part of him a defining trait like hazel eyes or a receding hairline he owned it his smile never reached his eyes carried that tinge of bitterness sarcasm flavored his speech self doubt was his cologne of choice it wasn’t his […]

lightning

i was standing in a thunderstorm, watching the lightning play across the sky, the purple after images burned into my retinas rain running down my head and into my eyes, the crash of thunder palpable, my heart racing with every flash of voltage the smell of ozone burning mixed with that fresh rain scent, masking […]

on the river bank

let’s lie upon the river bank beneath the shady tree let’s watch the clouds meander slowly overhead your head next to mine my mouth eagerly awaiting the taste of wine stained lips the tall grass tickles as i absently stroke your skin a feather touch chills across your body or maybe instead we can just […]

calendar pt I

(january) an ex was born this month, a mistake that led to two perfectly carved diamonds frozen broken huddled in a ball ripped and torn spikes of ice ragged wounds crimson ice (february) my father was born this month, flawed and brilliant, my hero despite my own actions shortness of breath wheezing spots in my […]

deletion protocol

now attempting system override //cmd: run will to live protocol error: system incapable of processing request contact admin if issue persists now commencing shutdown of all non-essential functions love hope dream will happiness motor control initiate final solution hard drive deletion imminent commence cessation of all systems user profile erased from mainframe compete systemic failure […]

(un)titled loneliness

alone bloody knuckles from striking the wall this ache it tears at my insides like barb wire a need for more in a world that only knows how to take it is all too much to take to process to handle to make sense of alone with thoughts that no one should have this fire […]

turned to fell

i asked her did it hurt when you fell? and she gave me a grin replied from heaven? thinking she had heard this one before it was my turn to grin back no, from the pedestal i had placed you on, high above every other her face crumbled like the foundation of respect i had […]

on the planet

when i tell you that you are beautiful i don’t want you to misunderstand what i am trying to say it isn’t a line or me trying to be slick when i say you are the most beautiful woman i have ever seen i mean that because my feelings for you and that magnificence you […]

dance

i danced with a ghost tonight she had a famliar smile sad eyes that spoke volumes she stood awkwardly with a silent question on her face i stared back confused she nodded to my phone more, i guessed to the music it was playing hesitantly i turned it up she stared expectantly i bowed to […]

melted away

she came to me again last night i felt a chill travel down my spine when i looked out the window i saw her misty beautiful yet just out of focus staring back sadly at me a smile of infinite sorrow traced across her face i felt my heart break my vision blurred when i […]

my therapist

i am my own therapist i over charge over analyze over compensate for the things that are broken inside my therapist says i have unresolved issues from my childhood my therapist says i have not been the same since my dad died my therapist says a lot of things but i choose to ignore him […]

it’s cold and i’m tired of playing

i won’t beg unless that’s your thing i won’t say i can do things no one else ever has to you but you will be hard pressed to remember anyone that did it half as well you might beg a little it might be something i like you’ll know my hands better than your own […]

tw(i)ce

she was the first and only woman to break my heart twice to have two albums associated with agony to be allowed to walk barefoot across my arterial highway with that devilish grin as i begged for more she could strut cock her head make me follow i was a lemming willing to charge blind […]

clock

the face of the clock is a doorway while time only goes one way the hands reflect the past how much of the flow is wasted trying to swim against the tide

(list of)smiles

1) it started with a smile. that’s all. a simple smile across the crowded room. like a neutron bomb rippling across my consciousness. 2) it ended with a smile. that’s all. a simple smile across an empty room. like a shattering of glass that was my entire being. 3) how many smiles between? how many […]

cicada

this is not a love story not another desperate plea for acceptance not me opening my heart to another empty room the beat of the dessication in time with the ebbing silence unseen unheard uncaring this is my love turning into a cicada burying itself in the cold soil for seven years awakening to find […]

picture(on the fridge)

how many times did i stare at the faded photograph memorizing the faces trying to recall what it looked like the colors not washed out the scents the feel if i heard the voices today i wouldn’t recognize them i fear they would be as strangers to my ears that hurts a deep down pain […]

one final act of insignificance

use my bloated corpse as a boat to traverse these moss choked waterways let me do that much for you one last bold sacrifice in a long string of meaningless gestures god knows in life i did nothing worthy of your attention deficit just dug deeper into anonymity a burr inside your wet socks at […]

shelves

the shelves are lined with someone else’s odes to a her i have never seen not imagined in a way that brings her smile to life the twinkle of mirth in her eye the soft emotion in her voice the bookshelves in my mind are a different tale altogether they sing with her laughter exude […]

hushed

a flower blossoms in utter silence love dies much the same so i scream hoping to never fade away

stacked

it is too quiet too empty too lonely today this afternoon has been dreams of naps of need a lacking a failing a burning my soul aches love is a pyramid scheme the question is how to stack the blocks

insomniac

due to rampant insomnia your regularly scheduled onslaught of poetic nonsense has been discontinued the words have chosen to silence themselves the longing and depression however continue unabated as always just wrapped in a cocoon of indifference it has been days since sleep has tapped tapped upon the fool instead please enjoy the timeless classics […]

a lone cry in the haunted night

a hot house in the frozen land/moisture dripping down the window pane/interior/exterior/ice crystals blossom/tracing along expanding lumber/a lone cry in the haunted night/loss/pervasive/never knowing solace/fallen stars find shelter/drifting sullenly/ through shards of memory sparse vacant longing

respite(for n)

in the briefest respite between crashing night/breaking dawn far beneath the ever vapid holding her hand was like grasping the wind;ever swirling;tantalizing in effervescent whirls and whorls;her finger prints etched deep into the soul of the earth solar radiation in lapping waves in the briefest respite between setting sun/encroaching night

remaining time

we spent most of our lives apart so when we finally found each other we made every single second count we made up for lost time by loving each other as fully as possible for the remaining time we had her time just didn’t last as long as mine

impossible to get

she played me like a violin. but she had me on our third date. i played hard to get. or so i thought. on the second date i held my own. it was her smile on the third that told me i was done for. she could have had me on the second. my tough […]

(un)requited III

my cologne is eau de whiskey and percocet i tied the noose around my own throat but your whispered words were the rope i hear the ice clink in the glass of your abject disinterest so i wobble back and forth on the dotted yellow line playing chicken with truck drivers and blindfolded emotional investment […]

mea culpa

on the long walk back across uneven ground nary a sidewalk in sight i saw a field of clover with a wish that maybe my luck could do with some bolstering i gave in to superstition just a precursory glance maybe four leaves would save the day a glance turned into looking turned into searching […]

(un)titled (un)derstanding

i can stare across the chasm of where i am and where i wish i was the small blurry figure that represents all the wrong choices all the wrong obsessions the lies the tales told the drinks i drank the drugs consumed yet as i raise my hand to wave the figure does as well […]

pink

her lips were painted a shade of pink i couldn’t quite identify one of the crayons i never used maybe or a shade that didn’t exist then like coral or a dusty sunset across the red clay hills i longed to kiss them to see that pink smeared as she kissed my throat bit my […]

70°

seventy degrees on a tuesday at the beginning of february seems like a waste of a beautiful day early february is meant for cocoa and cuddles and a crackling fire maybe that is the midwesterner in me maybe i just crave human contact

polka dotted daydreams

he carved little dragonflies into his thigh with rusty fishhooks while the wind sang in coffee cans by the rocky shore she danced on one foot while vipers hissed and struck at her when the swelling got too bad she switched feet they sell drugs out of metal lunchboxes to the men with no eyes […]

onetwothree(bang)

he had a grin on his face a gun in his hand pointed right at my chest unodostres i felt the bite before i heard the bark yet i stood there lacking any comprehension undeuxtrois again and again we played this game he’d count to three i would spring new leaks njëdytre i wondered aloud […]

blood(sugar)

the ever expanding waistlines in the bible belt more a hangman’s noose around the throat of science evolving into a circular argument against what is plainly seen and plainly planted in scenic desperation add more corn syrup super size the daily regimen of anemic fact based reporting insulin prices are up corn futures are up […]

just not (me)

i’m just not me anymore not the same guy i used to be not becoming one i want to be less full of hope now just full of shit the happy go lucky guy died a couple miles back i just want a cabin in the middle of nowhere with a barrel of whiskey a […]

fourteenth of something

i see these reminders of valentine’s day fast approaching of chocolate hearts declarations of undying devotion already dying flowers in a cheap vase maybe i always did it wrong perhaps that is why this is yet another in a long string of hallmark holidays spent wondering what it is exactly that i so fundamentally lack […]

black and lilac

it was a dream i know it was a dream the kind of dream you don’t want to tell people about the kind that stays with you the kind that fades and fades all day but there is a sliver that eats at the back of your head that grinds down on you it was […]

(un)titled thought LXII

her words shot from her tongue like comets across the early morning sky her eyes flashed in anger meteors fell obscuring the normally crystal clear iris for all that she is paradise she is destruction when the mood falls badly