Take one breath at a time
Adorn each piece with a chime
Let hearts beat in sync
As feathers in air must sink!

Take one step at a time
Bless a beggar with a dime
For so do hearts entwine
Like broken glasses of wine!

Take one day at a time
Grace each line with a rhyme
For so do poems ferment
When pens and papers cement!*


© Raphael Uzor

i love roller coasters
but i'm starting to get sick

In sorrow, or in joy
We walk this darkness side by side
Though the vastness of the void
Can make us feel we are alone at times
But the voices that ring out
And the messages they carry
Cut sublimely through the emptiness
A hand to help us rise above
A friend to drive us onward
A comfort from one lost soul to another
As well as to ourselves
As we all continue to find our way
Through this weary, yet beautiful world
In each other, we find ourselves
And in ourselves, as in each other
We find our way through the darkness
For we are the light that shines
And together, we can chase away the night
So, to all of the poets who raise their voices
For others to hear, as to hear for themselves
It is truly an honor to fight by your side
As we battle the shadows that lust for control
And we each find our own understanding
Making the world a little more beautiful
One poem at a time
You are part of the beauty of the world to me
I thank you all

Just what do you think you're doing?
Tell me, who do you think I am?
Where is this anger coming from?
I just don't understand
How expressing my opinions
Sounds as if I critisize
If it differs from the vision
You may see through your own eyes
I don't mean to sound opposing
I don't mean you disrespect
For I honor your opinions
It is you who dared reject
For opinions sometimes differ
We will not always agree
But condemning me for mine
Is something you won't see from me
For it isn't your opinions
But your actions that offend
If you can't take what you're giving
Tell me, whose the better man?
I won't deny the differences
That make us who we are
I will deny the poisons
That your words would leave as scars
Your judgements do not injure me
They are your own addiction
Differences should set us free
Not deepen the affliction

Beyond the exoskeleton of labels and cliches
Resides a room without a door in the fabric of decay
Within the ragged corridors of self-loathing and fear
Where the person that we never want to be is drawing near
With every lie we tell ourselves and every step we fake
With every time we sell ourselves for less than what's at stake
Each time we find our future is the past we left behind
Each time we find a minute's peace has cost us peace of mind
The times the living disease becomes the disase of the living
The times we find that taking becomes easier than giving
When we find that serving self becomes the same as serving time
When we ****** someone's trust and truly cannot see the crime
Each time we find our highs can be the lowest points of all
Each time we're not quite home without our backs against the wall
When smiling and laughter are the maddest times of all
When the calm before the storm becomes the walk before the crawl
The person that we never want to be begins to dwell
In the room without a door in our mental labrynth cell
Dragging ragged fingernails across the coffin walls
Slowly breaking free from deep within the one who falls
The battle thus ensues between what is and what's to be
The tortured and the ******, both demanding to be free
Both manipulating and invading at each turn
Such hell as now both sanity and soul begin to burn
And from the silent corner, watching all without a word
Chaotically and sweetly biding time, there comes a third
Eagerly awaiting as each tears the other down
Clutching for the purchase which will cause the soul to drown
Dominating all the rotting conscious have become
The destroyer, come to permenantly bleed out beyond numb
To the victor go the spoils of the spoiled, weary heart
In this dance of such a red, chaotic schizophrenic art
To honor, shame, or tragedy...where will your last breath lead
It all depends upon which dying fire you choose to feed

All the things that I've never had
Are all of the things that have had at me
My wishes of the things I love
Become phantasmic memory
As this new feeling burns inside
Close akin to travesty
My mind returns to seize the day
When heaven came to bury me
I watch tomorrow's yesterday
Slipping slyly through the glass
Contaminating leagues of failures
Bringing such new pain to pass
And each new day now slips away
Becoming weeks and months and years
And storms begin to brew and rage
Behind this veil of bitter tears
There I find myself outside
Peering into my dark mind
Wasted days now tapestries
Binding, dragging me behind
I realize this fiendish hourglass
Has become my true existence
Happiness slips into sorrow
Finds not one grain of resistance
How is it I've come to be
The epitome of wasted days
Buried beneath happiness
Reigning in this clouded haze
If I could only flip the glass
And watch my sorrows drain away
Becoming joy instead of pain
Creating brighter yesterdays
Maybe storms would cease to rage
And time would cease to have its way
And I could rise from my demise
Instead of just slipping away

I forgot your name, in the
process of trying to remember.
It danced and spun on the tip of my tongue, then
fell to the floor, shattering into fragments of blue,
guilt stained glass. You, with
wide eyes and a firm frown, watched and cringed
at the sight of this, and I was left attempting
to remember the name of the girl of my dreams while
she stormed out of my life in those pretty six inch
heels. It wasn’t until you were gone that I remembered
everything, except how to forget you.

There are days when I wish I could rewind and start over again
There are days where I wish I could fast forward just to make it through
There are other days when I get to spend with you, on those days I wish I could press pause or freeze frame to make the moment last longer
Those times make life worthwhile and cause me to smile,
You cheer me up with your unique style