It must’ve been the blackest of obsidian
The bleakest of tragedies
That fastened your bones together
And tainted what could’ve been yellow

And Misery must’ve held a millennium thirst
When she drank from the Styx
And spit you onto the world
To poison the ones who taste of it

Because even the flesh of the cold blooded
Will glaciate into an iron snow  
Will freeze over like rotted autumn roots
At the reticence of your touch

Yes, there must have been some devilish prophecy
Spoken on the day that you ascended from the embers
The day the stars were misaligned
Off kilter and yearning to return to virtue

I’m sure that it must’ve taken a mountain of karmic cycles
Each more sinister, more corroded than the last
To shape the quiet vessel
That carries your deafening poison

Unequivocally—
Certainly—
Truthfully—

Threaded into the fabric of you was a venomous wound
And it bleeds and it bleeds and it bleeds
And you thrash and curse and wail into the nothingness
And we both know that even the nothingness pities you now

But I swear, hopeless one—
I swear I swear I swear
If not for fate
And the wickedness of your heart
I think that I would pity you too

I lit a joint by the river,
the old one,
the one that’s seen everything
and forgives most of it.
Godavari hummed beside me,
low and patient.
The stars above—
clear like secrets
no one bothered to bury.
I looked up
and thought of the first humans,
barefoot and unsure,
naming gods into the sky
because they hadn’t invented
loneliness yet.
Their stars were louder.
Brighter.
Uninterrupted.
No city glare.
No satellite scars.
Just raw fire scattered across a black veil.
I wondered what we’ve traded
for that silence.
Our children might see nothing at all—
just haze
and history books
saying “there were stars once.”
Or maybe
they’ll live on some distant rock,
with a new sky above them,
new myths to whisper into space.
Maybe they'll name constellations
after things we lost—
like truth.
Like forests.
Like unsupervised dreaming.
And what if we’re not alone?
What if somewhere out there,
another creature lights a ritual
and looks up,
wondering
if they’re the only ones
who feel like a question
that never ends?
I exhaled into the dark.
Watched my smoke dissolve into starlight.
Didn’t say a word.
Didn’t need to.
The river kept flowing.
The sky kept listening.

And for a moment,
I was just
a soft animal
under a vast forever
trying to feel small
the right way.

Sitting on a branch
High upon a tree
I am wondering
Upon my own
Sexuality.
Am I going to
Be pigeon holed
Why can’t I
Just be me.
Problem is not me
It’s ******* society.

Lawrence Hall
[email protected]
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                                               I Miss Kosher Sam’s

Wish I could remember what street it was on
It’s been so long ago, when Kosher Sam’s
Was my coffee shop, and I was young
One day I also ordered a slice of cake

The cheerful waitress asked me how it tasted
I suggested that maybe it was a little bit dry
She grabbed it up and rushed it to the kitchen
She and another waitress and The Sam Himself

They took clean forks and tasted and talked about it
They took more forks and tasted and talked again
And appeared to come to a mishpat at last
Sam brought to me what was left of the cake

“There’s nothing wrong with this,” he firmly ruled
I took and ate (tho’ it really was a little dry)
On an evil day I left San Diego
I wish I’d stopped to say goodbye to Kosher Sam’s

my best friend is my dog.  goes every where with me
everywhere i go he will always be
loves it on  the beach on a sunny day
like to chase his ball he will play all day

best friend in the world there could ever be
always by my side to keep me company
he means the world to me he is my best friend
with friendship that is real and will never end

With spirit ablaze,
To tread, where everyone conspire
My truth, a flame held higher,
Yet branded still a liar.
This path, where doubts transpire,
To reach what hearts desire.
As in ages of old time's fire,
Worth on the pyre, a maiden's trial dire.
The heart's own fire, just water to the pyre,
Yet the world deems us of less significance,
Not much of a crier if you keep your distance,
We've never needed rescue, if the problem wasn't you.