To be loved is not a virtue
To be hated is not a sin

a cat, they say
both dead and alive, in a sway
trapped in the box
become a metaphysical paradox

a flask of death, a trigger tick
a game of chance, so cold, so sick
they call me life, they call me death
but no one asks to hear my breath

a man, I say
become the halfway
let his atoms hum and twitch
become the theorist’s broken glitch

see how you like the in-between
will you then be so keen
maybe then you’ll see the cost,
see the life lost

seal the box, install the locks
put a man in that box

There’s this girl
She’s been around
But I never saw her
She was there
I was blind

There’s this girl
She’s softer
She doesn’t cut
me to pieces
I melt

There’s this girl
She is kind
She always is
Kind to me
I don’t know why

There’s this girl
She is beautiful  
Not like a thunderstorm
Like a summer meadow
I would lay in that meadow
All day

There’s this girl
We’re not even dating but
There’s this girl

Love is a waltz
Two dance
Don’t dance alone

I met two couples today
caught behind love’s curtain

one eighty-five and eighty-three
other twenty-one and twenty-three

twin flames
one a waning
a dim hospital wing

dual embers
both a growing
a sunlit park

I always said I wanted
the love of age
that testament faltered today

I am Greed, the next
No victory is enough
Only what is ahead
I keep my eyes upright

I am Greed, the obsession  
Men gain strength
I whisper, “more”
Men gain influence
I whisper, “more”
Men gain supremacy
I whisper, “more”
Men gain all
I whisper, “more”

I am Greed, the unavoidable
Unlike every other sin, men need me
Men need to want

I am Greed, the collector
My collection is grander than all others
But I covet only one more thing:
Your soul

I am pride, the victor
In my presence, champions prevail
I whisper, “You are unstoppable”
I, alone, create heroes

I am pride, the origin
Everything comes from me
The artistry of a painter, mine
The genius of an inventor, mine
The dominance of a conqueror, mine

I am pride, the paramount
Every beauty is but a fragment of me
Nothing compares to me
I am the apex, the summit, I define power

I am pride, the liberator
God gives laws, God gives chains
I give freedom
In me, your will leads

Asleep and
quite untouched
A breath soft
But a cloth
My contribution
to the loft

Nothing stops time
It was no opposer
Time always moves on

In books
Lessons, time moves on
Stories, time storms past
Man, time ignores
Deities, time dismisses

In books
Pages keep turning
Time passes through

Time was one foe
It’s thin
And unsuspecting
But it stops time
in its tracks
Where time is
so unstoppable

A bookmark

Hi
How is your day going?
I know this is weird
me talking to you
But thank you for
listening to me
Now we can have
a conversation

First
You listen to me
Look around
Think around
Choose a person
Important to you
…
…
…
Thank you

Now I get to
listen to you
Why that person?
…
No, no, no, don’t change your answer, why that person
…
…
…
I can tell they’re
special to you
The way you think about them
is so beautiful
Why don’t you tell them
about your thoughts?
…
…
…
I know it’s scary
Just tell them
You’ll regret it later
If you don’t
Trust me

A thing is a thing, isn’t a thing
What makes a thing, a thing?
Is a thing, a thing because
We call it
A thing?

What then of things that
Haven’t found a name?
Does discovery make
A thing?
Then who made us
A thing
Can a thing
Make a thing a thing?

Light is a thing
I see it
Fragrance is a thing
I smell it
Music is a thing
I hear it

Dark is a thing
No thing
Is not having a thing make
A thing?
is a no thing, a thing?

Is
Love
A thing?

“stranger”
that’s a curious word
new people
aren’t really strange
they sparkle
unblemished by memory

soon enough
a faint falter
a clink in the armor
A speck of brown in
your ocean blue eyes

slowly at first
the cracks began to grow
rust rose to the surface
like the way age paints the sea

there was no breaking moment
just gentle tapping
once pristine edges
smooth from rust

before me
no longer was
a shiny person
uncovered was
a beautiful rusty person

Pieces, pieces, pieces
colorful or dull
sharp or soft
intricate or simple

all the same
all want to fit
few fit with all
all fit with few

Oh, to be the few
to fit with all
I fit with few
like many of you

people see me as
a million different people
but I am not them
I am me

Sit close
Listen with your soul
not just your ears
No book gets it right

You ask me,
Were you one of the good ones?
There are no good ones
Only those who bled slower

They’ll call it justice
A stand
A reckoning
A cleansing
Our last shot at salvation

They’ll dress it in slogans,
wrap it in flags
They’ll give us names
Patriots, Rebels,
Loyalists, Traitors
But all of them fall apart
when the guns begin to sing

Your uncle...
the one you never met...
he looked at me
eyes wide, afraid
But I didn’t care
He wore the wrong color
And that was that

Remember your grandfather
remember these hands,
how they shook,
how they never stopped shaking.

Don’t let them hand you a weapon
and call it purpose
Don’t swallow lies
and call it reason

There is nothing civil
about a civil war
Nothing brave
in killing your own
No valor
in tearing your country in two

“listen to your elders”
they say
“they have wisdom”
they say

“some do”
I say

“age gives experiences”
they say
“experiences give growth”
they say
“growth gives wisdom”
they say

“some do not grow”
I say

Someone asked
Where is the greatest love?

In intimacy, no
In wedding, no
In children, no

But in death
That’s where love truly is
In heartbreak

we chase and we race
but it all ends in a pace
in this speed, we lose our way
these instants, lost away

Heisenberg, a well of insight
knew something of light
“those known of speed
position will show no need”

now he spoke of waves and light
but I find that quite the blight
I speak of man and life
place and haste, a strife

caught in the race
we lose our space
eyes set ahead
the now lies dead

yet, in the now
ambition begins to bow
caught in the present
a life unspent

walk, not run, nor pause
live with a cause
in unity
life offers opportunity