Beneath these grey skies
Our thundering heartbeats find their rhythm
A tender contradiction
to the chaos above
This tune
Novel but familiar
Finds its way from my heart
to my hands
My love, place your heart to mine
And your hand the same
So that
The syncopations of our existence
May beat together

An emptiness sits
Between us
A heavy handed silence
Commands the space
With a tyrant's fist
Lackeys for its whim
We await instructions

I crave
some new mistake
so you can see
i still need you
because
it seems we’re not through
if you think
you can fix
this
we can repent
but we know our sins
just please
please remind me
because
i thought
the caged bird sings

Line after line
Word after word
I feebly
and desperately
utter these simple combinations
like prayers
or mantras
hoping to infuse
them with some divine
healing power
wishing
completion for myself
and these poems
but neither of us
is ever finished
nor
will we ever be finished
because pain is a marathon runner
and I
can guarantee you
he is better conditioned
for the trek
than you
or I

I'm too far away
from those summer nights
when we would just sit
and listen
to each other
breathe
i don't remember
i think you tried
to change me
but
i know
i tried to change
you
if I remember
you said I wasn't
there for you
but the face you put on
is turning old and gray
and my sympathies are withering
maybe one day
you'll see
i was the shoulder you said you need

No matter what happens
It's always life
And life is best lived
With eyes open

I awoke this morning
Face in the sand
Choking on the grains and
incapable of mustering enough
Something
to vanquish the apathy
that keeps me there
and now
i sit here
alone in my room
thinking horribly false
unsupported thoughts
that rattle my heart
until it shakes my bones
I don’t know
from where
these thoughts come
but I know where they go

I shall learn her language then
And walk among her lands as an equal
I will educate myself
In the subtle longings of her body
The requests of her heart
She is a field of poppies
And
I'm growing tired
Of this wanderlust

Familiar failure
Is the comfort zone
Of addiction

When you breath out
I breath in your fumes
Intoxicated by your exhalations
And even though
I know
My attraction to you is
Nothing
More than increased levels of
oxytocin
dopamine
and endorphins
Simple brain chemistry
And reinforcement centers
When I'm with you
My materialism dissipates
Unsustainable
When placed under the
Microscope of your gaze
Sinking in your
Quicksand eyes
Suddenly, you are
The "one"
"My soul's counterpoint"
And all that cheesy
Fairy tale
*******
And
I couldn't be happier

There is something
Attractive about the life
Of hermits
Whether it's the
Courage or
The cowardice
I can’t decide

Your pretend interest
does not go unnoticed
I feel your hesitation as we speak
I know you're simply agreeing
Just nodding your head
Half in acknowledgement
And half as an urging to move on
It bothers me at times
I feel like we aren't engaging
But then I realize
I do the same when you talk
About that "***** in class"
And you're really in the wrong
Or some new clothes you want
Truly
I love nothing more than when we talk
with each other
But sometimes we're going to talk
At each other
And I think that's ok
Feigned interest can be
as much an act of love
As it is an act of dismissal
And we're both still here, listening
So I'll choose to believe
It is the former

You ever think about
the vast nothingness
of space
or
the emptiness
between planets
and galaxies
I wonder
if the universe writes poetry

What is this love
That rises
From such fleeting encounters
And
Don't you dare
For a second
Say that it's infatuation
It was not
The shape of your body
But the sanctuary of your gaze
That causes me to lament
What we could be
Our paths bend
Touching at the elbows
Then parting sharply
What form of matter
conjured by your stare
Is capable of affecting me so?

Insert appropriate metaphor here
some flourishing
elegant
representation of
whatever the **** is going on
inside me
because
god knows
if there is one
that I don’t even know
how to talk about
this
whatever
“this” is
maybe if I just put
another brilliant
and articulate
simile here
or maybe an allusion or quote
that perfectly captures
and labels this pain
and fear
yes
that’s it
I feel
better already
isn’t poetry great?

I keep thinking about you
Fear overrides my patience
I wish life were lived on
The surface, sometimes
I wonder if everyone
Else feels
The same
Or maybe the subtle
Communication
And
Bravery of relationships
Is some form of currency
For a country I
Haven't heard of