Every Broken Piece Together Again

I.
a stare that burns

through false fronts

rips out the carpet

finds the hardwood


II.
a night that does not need you

does not hear you

does not need thing anything from you


III.
There was the one who had a boyfriend
in europe. She said it was ok

it was an open relationship. It was fun
but it got boring.

There was the one you loved

She loved you

once

So what?


IV.
Night-

just this

surrounding me

closing in

close to me

close

touching my skin


V.
ideas bleed slowly
ooze across a non
existent page
pool and dry
on no floor
but the one
you imagine
to be real

flickering light

eyes whose radiance cannot

be fully ascertained-

whose faint light flickers

behind shadowed irises

Enlightenment

ENLIGHTENMENT IS

A STATE OF

CONSTANT RENEWAL.

The Great Failed Experiment

This life only poisons

the beautiful things

it breeds.

What sea

is there left

to see?

Important Details

We do not decide
the length of the journey
or even its destination,

only how we see it,
how we change with it.

This Friendship

He's such a bore now that he doesn't drink. It was fine
at first but now all he wants to do is stay home and read.
We used to go out all the time and get drunk at the bar
by his house. Michelle would buy us a round if she was
bar-tending. He used to have the biggest crush on her,
everyone still does. I'm not sure why he decided to stop,
we always had a good time together. We were inseparable.
I heard he got a promotion at work. He used to complain
about how much he hated going in each morning, but I guess
he got over that. It's not the same when I go in now. Michelle
asks me how he's doing and all I can say is 'good'. It's just not
the same anymore. I just don't get why he stopped. He could
always handle his buzz even when I couldn't. Maybe I should
call him and see about dropping by his house.

Mary

Mary, I have changed
and I worry that you won't
recognize me.

Keep your amber memories
locked away. I keep mine
hidden beneath the bed

in a box wrapped in tape.
If I ever need them
I know they are safe

from passing times.
Mary, why do I worry
about this? Mary,

I know it's just a common
concern of the aging
and aged. I'm not ready

to give them up. Have you
ever held amber up
to the sunlight?

Many Lives

I will sleep
and forget you.

I will sleep
and forget myself.

I will sleep
and live another life.

I will sleep
and wander.

I will sleep
and emerge fully

formed from 
this chrysalis.

I will sleep
and wake 

far too soon
for my liking.

I will sleep
only to fall

asleep once
more here.

As God

I do not like this idea.
Because of its unfortunate shortcomings
I will cease to write it down.
It was promising at first
until the inspiration ran as dry
as the cracked skin of the desert.
It does not whimper, does not 
beg for another chance,
it simply accepts its fate
in the dustbin-
to languish with all the rest.
They do not die
but they do not live.
They wait
hoping for redemption,
hoping for salvation.
Both are possible
though unlikely.
On occasion 
my hand will reach down
and bestow a blessing,
restoring life
to the luckiest of the damned.

All Travels

How many

more miles

to go?

Many,

many,

more miles.

Then-

No Alternative

You awake into consciousness-

how else would you start

the day?
              

sound echoes

what it is to listen

to a voice once silenced


memory engrained

like grooves on wax


each play wears it

a little further


sometimes the record

breaks and it doesn't


matter how well kept

it may have been

Dividing Light

Can you divide light?

If you could,

would you?

There is not light

enough to go

'round some days-

we must do our best

to shine it 

in all the places

shaded into frigid

being. 

The Importance of Action

Inspiration 

without action

is useless.

For Beauty Queens Everywhere

what will 

you Do

when Your

beauty Fades?

What Cannot [ ] [ ]

Reminds me too much of [        ].

Why?

It just does.

In the face,

it's all in the face,

or at least it

[   ].

The [   ] grows

wider

and longs to be [filled]

[     ].

Some [      ] will never

be [      ].

[          ] [  ]

gone.

Raptors

The birds are fighting

but about what?

Wait-

they've stopped.

Now what?

No Help Here

I found his notebook a few months after he had passed away.
It was in his bedroom between the mattress and the box-spring.
There weren't very many people that came around after he passed,
so I just left his things as they had been. I sat on the bed and began
to flip through the pages, reading bits and pieces here and there.
We weren't as close as we had once been by the end, we still
cared about each other but it as different. There were times where
it was hard to read his writing, not so much because of what he had
written but because his penmanship was like mine, atrocious. What
I could read wasn't surprising. He struggled to get clean but refused
to let anyone help him. I tried, I really tried to help out but he just
wouldn't have it. He wrote about how lonely the struggle to get
clean was. He didn't have to go about it that way but what more
can you do when someone refuses your help? What can you do
when someone refuses to ask for help? When I was done I set
the notebook on the bed and looked out his window. It faced
the brick wall of the alley. Below, I could hear the garbage truck
gorging itself on the cast off remains of so many lives.

Alice

They met shortly after the war. She had never been in love
with anyone else before. They eloped and married in Tijuana,
Mexico. He was 19, she was 18. If you heard about a young
couple doing that now you would think them exceedingly
foolish. It was different then, you could meet someone and
know that you were meant to be together. They remained
married for decades until his death. She loved him so. They
had a home filled with children, animals, and the stories of
travels they took. Together, they explored as much of the
world as they could. Most people never get the chance to be
themselves as they did together. They would go to the local
comedy club as often as they could and made friends with
the staff. After his passing she would still go and sit at the
same table she used to sit at with her husband. She would
bring her daughter on occasion, or a lot of times bring a
friend to share the evening with. At age 84 she was still
as beautiful as any human being could hope to be.

Morning Notebook

Do you realize there was a point in time when people
almost rioted during a classical music performance?
It's hard to imagine that ever being the case but we
should understand that things were quite different
in the early 20th century. It is easy for us to imagine
a riot for almost any reason but classical music. That
could be our bias against the form.

Don't leave without saying goodbye, it's rude. To this
day I do my best to say goodbye before I leave any
social gathering. It doesn't always work out but I try.

It's always early.

I don't want to be a bore but it's hard to leave the house
sometimes and deal with all the other voices screaming
at you, vying for your attention.

As much as I like you it will almost certainly not work
out. This seems to be a recurring theme.

Groggy, cold, and hungry. Morning is a cruel time.

She is still in bed. I don't want to wake her but I know
she has things to do.

I remember a time when I remembered how much I
miss you.

All this emptiness could fill a canyon.

Run all day, walk all night. The end will come around
and catch you from behind.

I am trying to voice these thoughts in a cogent manner.
For the time being
this will have to do. Feed
this loneliness it's lunch,
It grows hungry again and again.

Whose voice is it I hear? I have always heard it
echo through these curved walls.
Is it me?

Would we be any better or worse off if there had never been
a first or second World War?

All love is War.

Can these eyes see further?

Q and A

Stop. Do It.

... 

Waste time? NO, DON'T.

Forget? Try not to.

Learn? That would be ideal.

Work? If you are the many,

YES. If you are not, optional.

Create? Sure.

Clarity?  Pick some up.

It's hard to get by without it.

Family? They help make it easier

most of the time.

Friends? Yes. Also, see above.

Laugh? As often as possible.

Cry? As needed.

Belief? If you feel the need-

Absolutely. Don't worry about 

those of others. They'll be

just fine. 

Dance? Anywhere at any

time is always appropriate.

Take a walk? The sun looks 

beautiful today. 

Go outside.

living with shadows

Stop being so easily distracted.

You can barely manage to read

five minutes worth of text before

your eyes begin to fidget and flutter,

looking for something else to affix

themselves to. You used to be able

to read for endless hours without

looking up from the page. You were

a different you back then. This new

you is older and scarcely any wiser.

There are more gray hairs to be found

now, but those have always been

expected. Your mind wanders

to thoughts of a beautiful woman

you saw last night. Soon enough,

even she becomes a shadow wandering

through, until at last, the sun is at noon.

soil erosion

We fear loss so deeply that we say

and do whatever we can to prevent it

as long as we can.

We fear the loss of love once we have

tasted it.

              Twisting words

re:                                   arranging

exist ence into so

meth in g un

re                  cog

   niz                    able

to hold on

                 just

a little longer

before…

                 the canteen

is empty

as we thirst

                     in the desert

and watch visions

of another kind

     

       o f e r o s I o n

wait for no one

Don't spend too much time waiting

for others to call,

to visit,

to do anything at all.

We waste

too much of a dwindling

commodity

to make the wait

worth the effort.

Don't be mean spirited

about your impatience to those

that make you wait,

just make sure to let them know

you may not be around

once they finally are.

The great sin

of the Information Age

is that we are allowed to carry 

informed opinions

on trivial matters

while being ill-informed on 

matters of consequence.

The Art you cannot own.

When The Light Goes Out

The parents died in a car crash in New York. They were
both so young, only twenty-one years old each. She was
pregnant with their first child. The driver and passenger
of the car that hit them both fled the scene on foot. How
stupid a thing to do these days. It is only a matter of time
before they are caught and rightfully vilified by the press
and public. The husband and wife were taken to separate
hospitals were they died apart from one another. They
managed to save the unborn child from the womb of its
dead mother. They said the child was in critical condition
yesterday. The headline of the news this morning said
the baby had died. How many more today? Most will be
unknown. Most will be unmourned by the world. One life,
one-hundred lives, the extinguishing of a flame too soon,
but when is ever the right time for us?