when madness folds into madness
the entropy of thoughts too random and fleeting
to tether anyone to anything
the tideless oceans inside
waits
desiccated by a sun
that draws the spirit
from the day

somewhere between Winnett and Jordan
I realized my mind was as random
as the sage scattered across that prairie
how long had it been
since any thought had settled in reflection
exhausted from the battle
of the incessant capitulation
of I
I drove on

in the fields
the wheat whispered softly
I sat clutching the dirt in my hands
it was cool and comforting
looking across the golden grain
to an infinite horizon....
planted there in the hills
I watched a Meadowlark dance in the air
with a long deep sigh
I let fall the struggle....

This jungle is more dessert like these days
it is merely waiting
for the rains to wash these days away
the dust rises each morn
although it never sleeps
and fills these spaces between our breaths
the roads are choked with the scurrying
of a frightening pace
what color are the dreams made of money
for out there the war rages
the have and have not
whom god loves
and whom she does not

the days approach me
from my simple perch
surfer green walls and railings
June liked the color
but it’s been over four years since
I found her dead on the floor
it is a poorly done painting now
the surfer green hue
spread across a canvas of my wanderings
and the pulsing language of the conqueror
(it screams at me in the night)
I cannot wait as the jungle does
too much flesh and blood
we outcasts used to be left alone here
but the money is calling us out
we are dissolving
waiting for the rain to wash this all away

If the raging wind
calls a name
tossing aside a crumpled
weathered version of a child
then the bonds that meet heart
with its insufferable dreams
and the reach of the piercing stars
pretend a life
we lay bare and unbelievable

love torn from the arms of the heart
by the vicious rule of the ******
ripping voice from voice
ripping heart from heart
and set against the cruelest numbers
of ancient standards
touch becomes dust
and love lays choking in ash
pretending a life
we lay bare and unbelievable

watching the attrition
the insatiable hunger of life
that consumes
the beautiful ones you planted in your heart
the angels worn down by
loving too much
by being too much
and the ones taken
by split the second timing of fate
casting reason into a tattered realm
of emptiness
we pretend at life
that lays bare and unbelievable

and so
cutting deep into the soul
bleeding out the sum of yourself
grasping that cold cutting jagged edge of existence
lays something to rest
movement anywhere across the compass
is knowing a love for the pain
for it is the entirety
of
you