Sometimes writing is terrifying
Words come out like long legged spiders
Gross and impossible to work with

But you have to push to create
Face the fear of mediocrity
Allow fiction to sit with reality
Invite grammar for a cup of tea
Criticism arrives like a knight, blood of red ink
But the battle will be won

Love sits next to you
Like warm sun on summer swing
And I thank God for morning light
Next to your calm heart beat

"count the ceiling tiles" the nurse joked
I wanted to joke
say I'd rather die
but seeing as I had just attempted that
perhaps I'd better lie

illusions of grandeur
oh you're the master
wana get inside that mind
become entwined

just to see the gears
know your fears
do your synapses fire
as quickly as your comebacks?

And at some point
we begin to understand
as familiar hands
become soft with age
this is all we have-
and we are grateful.

If tar were medicine
It’d go down smoother
You try to clear the taste from your throat
But it lingers.

quarter til noon
maybe ive come too soon
and seems im waiting for Godot
just waiting for him to show
"on this ***** of an earth"
but for what it is worth

you made it tolerable.

Each day of our lives is but a page in the book, do not treat it as if it were the whole story.

It was an esoteric statement,
Perhaps one only a beast could understand

you're my signature tune
favorite phase of the moon
sweet tea in June
always gone too soon

The people we love the most, may wish nothing more than to hurt us so that they can feel a modicum of control and power in their own lives.
Like the black king, we must navigate the board with precision
We can choose to move with grace, or resentment
We can choose to set boundaries and demand self respect
Or we can allow them to continue to psychologically destroy and manipulate us out of fear
Fear that the relationship will disintegrate like a figment of the imagination
Fear of the thought of being alone, truly and unfathomably alone
And while we understand their traumas and their pain,
when we accept abuse,
we allow a scythe to cross our throats
because the substance itself is heroine
soon the pain and suffering, seeks out its kind
the kind of jaundice skin that clings to fragile bone
when we choose grace, we choose the lighter load
when we set boundaries and respect ourselves
we can begin to heal

Veins through leaves,
Through rivers,
Through wrists,
With so much complexity to life,
I find it hard to believe death is so simple.

Oh my dear, I am so glad you are here
With fingers so tiny, and duckling soft hair
What a privilege it is to hold you so near!

the bad guy
tell his crossword puzzle lie
it don't matter she cry
mama don't turna blind eye

Those that do not learn
Will simply sit stagnantly
Forced to watch you grow

You knew right from the start
That you'd tear me apart
And yet you drew me in close as could be

You had baited your traps
You couldn't wait to unwrap
The guileless fly that was me

read: 337am

Petrichor and metal
The grey sidewalk elucidates a small copper object
How lucky am I to have come across you…
“Drop that, it is nothing!” He clips.

Sleepless nights comfort wounded souls
And I ask God why you left a hole
Perhaps love is not ours to control
But ******* does it hurt.

hurt me
so i can say i told you so

I wish I could set her down.
For she weighs on me, and what could I be?
If I ignored the talk of the town.

I love you.
You are doing a good job.

I do not see red.
My heart races.
My throat tightens.
I see nothing.
I feel nothing.
I am nothing, but what I am in this moment.
Broken walls, fractured fists.
No, I do not see red.

You’re both a man of your word and a man who can command a room without one.
Your confidence merely serves to straighten your posture, I have never caught you looking down.

"You can't run from your problems".

Watch me.

As I am inspecting the tomatoes for bruises and scrapes, you walk by.
Your stance is as ***** as the collar of your dark blue dress shirt.
Your pace tells me that you have no time to waste on inspecting for bruises, or scrapes.
Perhaps your wife is expecting you home, or perhaps someone else?

As the essence of "Tabacco Oud" dissipates, I bite my bottom lip hard. I imagine yours taste of gin or brandy. A level of richness and depth I could only fathom to taste.

Pink beans to the light
you tretch like noodle
Bird passes, a call to action

Antique bookends holding it together
and pain holds me down
like skeletal shadows
only threatened by morning light

maybe i should drink the cool aid
play along in the masquerade
oh, you know the tools of the trade?

maybe *** doesn't solve our problems
but I sure feel at home here

she was a wild one
free as the sweet Alaskan air
heart of red poppy

thunder rolls
like the sleeves on your sweater
here I am hoping for better weather
I had a conversation with God
he told me he didn't know
and that just didn't seem right
but maybe if I hold on just a little longer
my future will look a little more bright

thought you were different.

I am corrosive
Like the sea, you see
I'll take what's left
If you come near me

your memory
hurts my heart
in slow motion.

shutter white canoe
on tropical spring waters
sways with two otters

Means falling apart.

All who wander are not lost
Some of us are simply curious
We create a new path as we move
Each step is unknown
Some tread softly
Others leap with haste

warm salty water crashes against sunned ankles
black shepherd gallops in wisps of water
as child toddles where the sea kisses white sand

Love doesn't die,
It rests like dust.

Draw a line, any line
Watch her cross it

Love her anyway

She will set your heart on fire
Be prepared to gather up the ashes

By God son,

She will paint your hometown red
But you will lust for her with every fiber of your being

when a wolf's hackles raise
nobody dare ****
for beast may bound upon thy neck
well sweet boy please understand
watch the ground upon your trek
for karma runs within the water
and when the river runs dry
lambs will face an unknown slaughter
blood on wool
you fool.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall
Will he catch me if I fall?
Will he even care at all?

Mirror, Mirror on the wall
Hit you like a cannon ball
Shattered glass and alcohol

Mirror, Mirror on the wall
Reflect my fate, the curtain call

Our private little rendezvous
Love me until I am black and blue
You can show me what you went through
Then I will hold you like you need me to

I know that the light dims,
and I need not your confirmation.

Talent is not a God given gaurentee.
It is earned through trial, error, and grit.

i wouldn't offer you water in hell;
oh baby, not from the nearest well.

Power will always
reside within the depths of
our own existence.

Rage will fill my limbs
Like spring Rapids through narrow bends