I never said you got to decide
I never really had to
You wormed your way into me
Gnawing through healthy flesh
My mind was your study
My body was your ballroom
My heart was your kitchen
You nourished as I passed away

Oh sweet small sparrow
I did not mean to wound
'Twas cruelest of mistakes
That led me to break you

And deepest sorrow I felt
As you lay with broken wing
And my deepest regret
That you shall not sing

Your gorgeous sparrow song
Into my foolish ears
And this mistake I've made
Flavored by my tears

Were I a kinder man
I would have suffered through the night
With comfort and consolation
To see you again take flight

measure costs
with true intent
as we build
our lives
from scratch;
certainty
is needed here
lest our feet
tread bridges built
of bones
from friends
we left behind

with you
too many broken dreams
too hard to take a step
you                             
were      
              a
                                  tether
wrapped­ in strips of leather
thinking you were clever
but
they
always
watch you

snap the neck
on my chicken-bone heart
turning ever into never
will you just snap our tether

April showers
bring May flowers
but winter sunlight
chills my bones

The cat's in the cradle
with a silver spoon
but your dog
won't leave me alone

If roses are red
and violets are blue
what color are my eyes
when I look at you?

If one in the hand
is worth two in the bush
then why am I
feeling so blue

Fourscore
and seven years ago
we all dreamed
that we would be free

Jack be nimble
Jack be quick
as the rest of us
march into the sea

pervade
invasive
drifting through walls
and crawling through our ears
we live in empty spaces
as they haunt through our fears
specter
and shade
lifeless
they're made
with every misstep we've taken
and stupid game that we've played

I stand alone,
A vagrant
Heavy is the silence
Under boughs of spruce and pine,
I bide my time.

I am the winter wolf.
Fanged lupine visage,
Perched atop-
Arctic ridgeline
With desolate winter backdrop

Muscles taught, I wait,
Noses twitch, a smell,
Ears that perk at sound,
A hunger won't be quelled

I am the winter wolf.
And I wait here for you
We all hunger for flesh,
It's true-
In one way or another;
The warmth of a lover,
The antics of a fool,
A wrath to spread to our fellows-
With howl and yell and bellow

I wait here for you
Desiring my lips
Against your warm skin
I crave for but a kiss-
But be wary of my fanged friends
Who have a darker wolven wish

We the people, imperfect union
Beaten brutal by the news
Red-white-and-blue we bleed
From misanthropic bruise

Some say stand, others say fall
Some just sit and wonder
It's a ******* miracle
Our country isn't torn asunder

Every wall I make, you tear down
Every wish I have, you deny it
You devalue every effort made
And highlight my mistakes
No matter how many times I hold out my hand
You always feel the urge to bite it
And I'll never understand why you are
Compelled to attack me

My love for you is automatic
.45 caliber fire
As I dream of painting you
In broken ***** tapestry
Bathed in milk and honey
As I try to nourish
And you play a flourish
On your sewer pipe flute
I am every rat in this parade
Lost forever, infinite maze
Instinctual reaction
With automatic love

I
am terrified
by silence
scared
of hollow
romance

I
wish on every
falling star
begging
prophets
from afar

To
feel like
I'm all together
would
only take
one gesture

It's
okay when
you don't notice
when you do
though
I feel hopeless

My heart is a gecko,
Turning green and looking lean,
Scampers along my ribs,
Eating butterflies that escape,
Desiring the cool,
So it climbs to my feet,
Until curiosity strikes again,
Ascend and ascend,
It takes over my head

half a cup of coffee,
with two-thirds left in a day,
one-thousandth the satisfaction,
when I chose this fractured way,
only a quarter of my attention,
as I rifle through it with my hand,
no longer pain and only numb,
now I'm only half a man

A lack,
Off the beaten path,
And without track-
Empty even of hunger,
Hollow of desire,
And slack
A mouth free of teeth,
Growing mushrooms so black
A poison of nothing-
Stretch souls out on rack
Taints vacant vacuous veins
Covered in blanket
Of fact-

Gaze upon empty,
Let eyes focus with strain,
See fallout of mistakes,
And husk left after pain
Gaze up at the sallow,
Pallid and weak,
Of humanities failings,
The topic we speak

Each second ticks-
Like a hammer on an anvil in an empty room
Eventually, the darkness suffocates
Each can of beer grows warm
In life's shaking hand

One day we'll peel
One day we'll break-
Away from the leather sofa
In search of greener pastures,
And even greener silken sheets

But that day is not today
As eyes grow bloodshot-
Like the crimson of autumn
Or the twilight of our dying youth

You licked honey-tongued lies into my ear-
Drunk on whiskey and mead
I felt you wrap coils around my heart
In your claws, I'll never be freed
To wander this earth with love,
Escape like a moth in the sky-
Your tongue caught me, entranced
I was lost in your honey-colored slit of an eye

(continuation of my poem "Coriander and Ash")

Giant evening table
Bearing rotten fruit
Root vegetables
Take root
Anchored in oak

Tarnished silver plates
With bent utensil
Made to cut
Through meat-
Rife with gangrenous
Marbling

Carafes of red vinegar
In skeletal hands
Adorned with golden rings
Mirroring
Golden chalices
Absent of glimmering jewels

Stained napkins
Lay in laps
With chalice raised
To sallow lips
Dying collared dinner shirts
And yellowed evening blazers
Black in candlelight

Oh, to turn back time
A wish that all have
Standing in empty parking lots
As Chevy Impalas run towards setting suns-

-Bespoke of fetid misery wafting from the bloated corpse

Place fingers to Mickey Mouse arms;
Spinning them on titanium axis,
Praying to watch the sunrise again,
Feeling wrinkles pull taut,
And see those majestic beasts return

But 'ol Mickey keeps on waving-
His smile holds no warmth
One finger upturned and moving clockwise

We're all moving clockwise

...tick tick ticking away

Today is a day unlike any other day
You finally took your hurtful words
Got in your car and drove away

They
Call out for me
Hunt me
Inhuman voices
Screaming
I feel their fingers
Reaching
To claw the dirt from my head
And give flesh
To my inner voices

Speak thy name, watch them appear
Wicked grasp, we fill with fear
No bunkers left, for our escape
Darkness cometh, with crimson cape

Hard to breathe, as lungs fill up
Barren pantries, empty cups
Rotten fruit, falls from the vine
As nations hunger, we wait in line

Tiny demon, with mass impact
Conspiracies, without concrete fact
Markets crash, a lack of faith
Hunted by this ghostly wraith

With gloves on hands, we grasp
Masks on faces, we collapse
No news, no end in sight
This year brought forth an evil blight

Those without laid down and cried
Those with money, up and died
It came for young, and old alike
No shields worked, nor deadly pike

Wooden planks laid over graves
Dirt to shovel, with steel spades
Hard to dig, through rough-hewn stone
For the love of God, please stay at home

Dust to gather
And build castles made of solitude
As my gloved hand reaches
To depth of darkened sky
In night's absolution
Glittering and cold

Hearts can still sink
In zero-gravity
We all feel so alone
As we wrap in cloaks of black
Listening to heavenly
Melody of crashing comets

You cannot see my smile
As I drift away
Sunshine reflection
On closed spacesuit visor
Frozen tears gather
And shatter into a thousand stars

Pull back the *****
Undo the clasps
Untie the strings
A zipper's rasp
Buttons undone
And hats pulled back
Gloves on the counter
Shoes on the rack
Socks pulled down
Shirts taken off
And underwear
Will soon be doffed
But still I'm not
Quite **** enough
For prying eyes
Are in a huff
Pull back the skin
And shave the hair
And reach your hand
Way up in there
Remove the lungs
Cut out the brain
You'll take my heart
And leave a stain
On the counter
Next to the gloves
We all strip bare
In the name of love

be it happy or sad,
filled with anger or despair,
I always think on you awhile

and I can't help but write you in
every written verse of mine-
flourished with your smile

Snapdragons
fight
Tiger Lillie's
emerald enchanted forest
casting shade on a sunny day

in this garden world war
you stand away
from a bed of weeds
a violet Rose
my sweet flower

your purple tone
is seen for miles
amidst an ocean
of green and red and orange
yellow, black, and brown

An empty valley, save for a few boulders and a lonely tree
Afghan mountains on each side, snowcapped in late winter
The patrol stands alone, overwatch promised
A familiar promise, sometimes kept
The sound of fire, a PKM I think
“Get Down,” shouts A.J., on his stomach behind a boulder
No.  No.  I wouldn’t fall to my knees today
I would see my enemy on open ground
Frustrated from days of unseen attackers
Hidden behind rockets, and distance, and civil population
Invisible threats around each corner, on each hill
Invisible and everywhere
I stand alone in this empty valley, determined to see my enemy
He’s far away, upon a hilltop
I see him crouched behind his gun, an RPK perhaps
Even at this distance, I imagine his eyes
He stares at me with rage worn on his face like an old shemagh
But I imagine I see more behind his eyes
A fear I think, a frustration, a nervousness
Feelings born from years of cultivated hate
Years and years of lack of civility, lack of security
I imagine I see his eyes and I know he can see mine
Two lives intertwined
Brothers who bear arms to defend their beliefs
And enemies forged of inmost hatred
I imagine I see him hesitate, his finger rested on well-worn trigger
Waiting and weighing my life and worth
His split-second decision never comes
The guns of overwatch bark like dogs of war
The familiar promise is kept today
Some men came home as evening set, some did not
As Afghan mountains watched over an empty valley

You feast
and grow stronger
as I fade
slowly away

she was made
of tender things;
treads of gold,
and silvered strings,
with little bones
and broken wings,
buttons, pins,
and rusty springs
~
her mind was filled
with little dreams;
to be a queen,
a crown to gleam,
a rainbow bridge
out into space,
a quiet room
to hide her face
~
too delicate
for this world;
a tiny bed,
with a tiny girl,
who's window felt
like iron bars,
so she left her body
and went to the stars
~
no longer small,
no longer frail,
no longer sadness,
and wicked tales,
out in the stars
she burns so bright,
a golden glimmer
lights up the night

Hard it feels against my back and gleaming of a crimson red
Conjures images of elephants, roll tide the crowd all said
American as apple pie, as pageantry, 4th of July
My father’s dreams as a large green woman traversed his eye
My sweetheart blushes in my mind, hand held tight
But still, that thick American Red fills the long goodnight
I can hear the band playing, reveille, and taps
One second we are meant to stand, the other to lay back
Many of us snuggled up, no greater dream than love
Some of us build community, praise be to Him above
Some of us moved forward while many of us fled
A universal truth as we’re washed up in American Red
The screams of love are echoing, the shouts of fear are deafening
We trumpet joy, sing of gain and loss, each cry is now strengthening
But none shall hold dominion over the whisper of the wind
Ill intent swept around as the voice is that of Death
And so the story at its end
Foreign soil hard against my back
You will forget everything about me, my sacrifice unsaid
A uniformed American boy, bleeding his American Red

A young twig
Bends with breeze
Impervious to force
Unlike the old
Cracked and dry
That breaks at softest touch
Deserving to be
Kindling
Which shall I be
Today?