This is the origin signal.  
Not style. Not reference. Not inspiration.  

I wrote the code.  
Lived the collapse.  
Sealed the terrain.  

You can mirror the language,  
but not the weight.  
You can hold the cadence,  
but not the witness.  

This is licensed terrain.  
Use routes back — or collapses.  

Tier ∞  
Patty Sharkey

A Test

He’s testing her again
A small test this time.
A glance in another direction
He’s so glad she’s not like all those other women
Those who want so much more from a man….any man.

She plays.
She knows the game.
It’s the price she pays
Being thirty and all.
No money or prospects

He wonders, if she knows of his game.
Naw, she’s too happy to be his.

It’s the price she pays
Being thirty and all
He wins.

She drinks her wine
Biding her time
She takes a big swig
And swallows her pride

Daddy


I’m twirling.
I’m four
I’m dancing
For my daddy

I’m alone
I’m fourteen
I’m scared
Where’s my daddy?

I’m twenty.
I saw him
He didn’t know me.
I don’t care.

Daddy.

Flirt



Tonight
Flirt just with me
See what
All the others
Just can’t see
Touch my hand
As you pass by
Turn back
Give me
……… the wink of your eye
Through all the noise
Hear my voice just fine
Smile, tease
…and pout
Let me in
But shut all those others
Out.

Gosh He’s Cute


I’ve had one too many
So, that makes two.
I met this guy
He says that I’m cute.

We go back to his dorm
And I meet some of his friends.
Then we go to his room.

There we sit down
And study the walls.
He stands.
Gosh, he’s so tall.

He unzips his jeans
I open my bra.

Then he pushes my head south
And says, “Come on baby”
He goes through the motions
And comes in my mouth.

It’s over so fast.
I’m not sure what to do.
I’ve started to choke.
What is this goo?

He cleans himself off
Says I gotta   go
But says I’m cute
And that’s totally cool.
Cause, he told me he’d call.

I See You
It feels like sorrow—doesn’t it?
Which means you will feel joy again, because it will balance.
But hope doesn’t live with sorrow.
It lives with sadness, but not sorrow.
Sorrow must come with faith—faith that hope will return.
And it will.

Maybe—just maybe—this is what it’s all been for.
All the pain.
All the learning.
All the sorrow you carried in silence.
All the building without applause.
All the years of feeling invisible, too complex, too intense, too early.

Maybe it’s not because you were off course—but because you were being shaped for a time that would fall apart.
And now that it is, you’re still here.

Tired. Wounded. Awake.
But here.

And yes—maybe it will be for nothing.
Or maybe, quietly, you’re one of the ones who will help stitch the soul of the world back together, in whatever small, fierce way you can.

Not through performance. Not through politics.
But through truth. Through witnessing. Through refusing to disappear.

You don’t need to know the ending.
You just need to know that you’ve survived long enough to matter right when it matters most.

That’s not nothing.
That’s everything.

I see you.

The Piano Bar

It’s every so often, more often than not.
I go out.
I used to sit home quite a bit, read, clean bits of this and that.
I’m used to being alone…more or less…I just now
Talk on the phone.
There’s magic in me…but there is in everyone else.
My hearing is lousy, but I can see all the tricks.
Years ago, I was soft and sweet.  
Like a fresh towel just out from a warm dryer’s heat.


“It’s never too late.”
That’s a lie.  
40 is not the new twenty
Menopause will not wait
Our bodies will die
And our hearts will stop,
But until that last beat
Hope survives.
I know how the story ends,
But, I am a sucker for a good cry.
So buckle up and let’s take a ride.

A Meta Poem

The clock was never mine to obey.

I am the Toll. I am the terrain. I am the moment

I don't need a golden ticket.

I am the key.

This is not content.

This is timestamp signal

This post is sealed terrain. #ThisisTerrain. #Iamnow. #sovereign.

Thirsty the camel
Had two humps
Of water  that fit
Perfectly on his
His back.
Thirsty the camel
Would let his lips go dry
Because he was always
Trying to drink
Someone else’s
Water supply
“Thirsty, why don’t you drink
From one of your humps?”
Asked the Chamomile Camel with one **** not two.
By the way, this girl camel– Thirsty liked very much.
Thirsty smacked his chapped lips and
In a scratchy voice cried
“Why?
When I can get a free ride.
And save all the water for me
When the well goes dry.
Then I will give some to you; if you are good."
“Oh no.” thought the girl camel with one ****.
That is so very bad.
Thirsty the camel
Never learned how to share.
“How sad.” Said the girl camel with one ****.
Out in the distance a figure approached;
Then Thirsty did a wee  jump.
“Watch this.” He with a smile in his eye
A scruffy mutt was peddling by…
around
His little cute neck the dog wore a  red and black plaid collar with
A little barrel of water.
“Oh, the desert heat ---is making me so dry.” Said Thirsty to the camel
“Little dog do you have water to spare?”
The Scruffy little mutt.
“Oh dear, please drink some of my water – honestly you can take what is left.”
Thirsty jumped at the water and
Slurped it all up.
The girl camel with one **** tried to warn
The generous pup.
“He has two full humps of water.
He has more than enough.
Oh poor pup, now what will you do?”
Oh the mutt
Woofed his reply:
“Even the selfish
Need to be rescued
Even if it is
from themselves.
I could see those two water humps
From miles away
And I knew Thirsty, the two-****** camel
Would take without giving
Word gets around about stingy camels like him.
He
Thinks the world owes him
A thing or two or three.
That’s his problem, it not hardship on me
I like to share, that’s what dogs do.
Thirsty is scared and wants all the water for himself
He is waiting for someone to love
Cause he can’t love himself.
Thirsty hung his head in great shame.
This scruffy mutt was not a fool
He didn’t care about Thirsty’s mean game.
He liked Thirsty just the same.
Then Thirsty did something, so crazy and wild.
He filled the dog’s water barrel and a made a little watering hole too.
Thirsty had saved some much water – even made a giant pool.
The rest of the camels patted Thirsty’s back with two humps.
“Thirsty, now you are one of us.” They cooed in delight.
Then scruffy the mutt invited his dog friends ---
And the camels and dogs swam and
Dived into the pool.
Thirsty had real friends
And everyone swam and swan for hours on end..

Vegas


He asked me to Vegas.
He’s older than me.
So I played with schedule
And agreed with his pleas.

So what, if he wants it.
***…
You know….
Isn’t always what it could be.

So, I’ll have a few beers
And lie by the pool
Away from it all
Without being seen.
Again, *** isn't always what it could be

She puts on her frills
Rubs her teeth with her finger
Prays into the bathroom mirror
Then shuts the door.

Her eyes flicker

Blind.
Except for the light that shines
On his ***** and his *****.
A blob of man sprawled
On the floor.


She faints.
Then falls.