He
purposefully
misses
letters
of
words
that
resembles
us

to receive
my ethereal
kisses
that shall replace
the omitted sign
on his skin
.

He's a stone statue
on the old wire fence,
onyx eyes staring
as I sky-gaze..

Too white for rain,
too grey for snow.

I turn, tread noisily
and his heart's
a remembered flame
in the dying bush.

It’s funny, sort of
Every one of us here, at least most of us here, are alike in one way

We all share the same secret

Push your hair to the side, lean closer
I’ll whisper what you’ve refused to know in your ear

It isn’t good for us here

After all, catharsis works in both ways
We’re throwing our darkest soul corners out at these screens
Hour by wasted hour, the horror we relieve is refilled by haywire empathy

Why would we stay, you ask?
It’s an addiction, impossible to stay away

Imagine no rush of sharing, no reveling in thought,
No hiding in the words of others

We’re drawn back to these alphabet keys
The poetry of life haunting us all,
Chasing us through our deepest pain, herding us toward revelations we won’t understand
Controlling the world we see

We repress this whisper of truth, of course
We all know we’re not going to stop

But shhh! This is a
Secret
        Secrets are no fun unless you share with everyone.

eight legs ran around on your carpet
I heard the squeal through the wires
I imagine that you had stomped it
by the loud thump and absent of volume
you don't so much say what you think
but say what you are and in a blink
of a cataract eye I see
you are the painting that life
has created for me
to gaze with wild wonder
and the colors that have been spread apart
come together beautifully
covering my painted over heart

a faintly faded paranoia
slips from my head and drips down my spine
I begin to feel lighter
and I have a better understanding of life
our lives are mere circles of time
blending and bouncing around
and yours seem to have connected with mine

she doesn't do it for you
she doesn't wake up for you
she doesn't paint her lips for you
or add that sparkle to her eye for you
she is the sun
she is the moon
she is the Stars
and she does it all for herself

she sat across from me
inexpensive hole-in-the-wall
our first Chinese food date
the yellow wallpaper
the red lanterns
her smile lighted my heart
deftly wielding the chopsticks
I passed her the fortune cookie
twinkling blue eyes accepted
the sweet fair…
upon crumble the note fell
picking it up with nimble and delicate fingers
she read aloud,
“you and your spouse will be happy in your life”
we smiled at each other
and paid the tab –

this morning I looked at our picture
in front of mother’s Turner home
that cookie message
pressed beneath our lovers embrace
doesn’t seem real
that was 14 years ago –