No matter how hard I try
I'll never destroy your rose garden
I have pulled them up from the root
Trampled them under my heavy boot
Hedge trimmers and fire
Hatchets, scissors, hammers, and ire
I'd throw a ******* grenade
...if I had one
Pump round after round into them
...from my gun
But my memories of you
Are like those rose bushes
No matter what I do
They always grow back
And I'm always stuck
...****** at the end of a thorn

speedreading
obituaries
to get to
the good stuff-

-seeking network
technicians
to fix
my spider web
of lies

good benefits,
great travel,
and a free
lollipop or two
...if you smile
for the dentist

flexible hours
that bend
all the rules

collar-up
your noose-knot
tie-
fancy fresh
and fancy-free
with a 13
stanza melody

overtime
is forbidden-
overdrive,
encouraged

put your name
on the dotted line-
time to revel
in constant
employment,
and inconsistent
memos...

...folded sharp,
like daggers
on your skin

Sometimes,
just sometimes,
I keep my head below the water;
smelling the rose petal scents

Sometimes,
but only sometimes,
I dream of a wave rocking waterbed
and pray for boots of cement

touched by the fist of God
we rise with paint cans
we take to the streets
instruments of change in our hands

i'll color your red with black and blue
hey orange headed ******, you need a new hairdo

i'll color your blue with a realistic earth tone
remind you of the cost of all of the gauntlets you've thrown

pastel pretty pinks for your weasely face
paint your town yellow to highlight your disgrace

stand up for the little guy!
stand up for your rights!
pen is mightier than sword
in this spray can respite

i'll color your sorrow in gold
i'll color your weakness in bold
vibrant spray paint clear coat
so we can see all the lies that you've told

touched by the fist of God
paint can revolution coming round
stop bystandering your way through life
and bring color and class to your town

each day
of dark clouds
and gray rain
darker tidings
and cold pain
as clouds drift
on high
through sleet
and snow
and darkened sky
I clasp my head
in my hands
with wintery sigh
and wonder
through thunder
Dear Lord,
...why?

If only it was sound you wanted
I would play you every chord
One after another in ascending scale
Left to right and right to left
As loud as I can make them
I never knew how to put them together
Into song...
I just wanted to make music for you
But like a child fresh to xylophone
I keep playing loud and hard
Left to right and right to left
Even after you've already
Left the concert hall

if you were an app,
I'd delete you
at the door?
I won't greet you
you're just a foreign invader-
and I will defeat you

Classrooms of emptiness
Remember her linen dress
Iron-on patched backpack
Math class with no slack

Crumbling walls
As we ghostwalk the halls
The place we had lunch
With our wild bunch

Trash littered parking lots
Weeds rule football plots
Wind whistled window frames
Dreams we'd achieve fame

A culture of bullying
With behind bleacher ***-beatings
They might all be gone
But scars are carried along

A tomb of lost memories
Waxed floors on our hands and knees
Now just empty dirt
The school may be gone
But never the hurt
Never the hurt

I am filled with rage and pain
I am filled with longing and loss
I am filled with the human condition
It is just as it was
I am filled with you
And all your weaknesses
And you are filled with mine
We are locked in static displays
Pointing fingers like kids at zoos
With little hope
For you to actually see
What's inside of me
I always found it hard
To see what's inside of you