cake

we got dressed up in turquoise
and you got a little high
in the church yard
hiding behind the evening
light
that disappears like white
paper beneath black ink
the July crickets sang
their legs dancing
musical windmills
we loved the picture
we were living
staying up to outlast
those night stars
every one of them
good loving takes time
and we'd watch them go
to bed
in their milky abstinence
our love aching to
burn like the sun

in December we'll make
a wedding cake from snow

candle

the moment passes
and we crave yesterday
all we missed
the torn edges
of the books we
meant to read
we were living them
flatlining from life tests
and failing from cold
storms of our own 
creation
lying on couches
window to the world
open
guilty of dreaming
being frozen to the now
classically sad, elegant voices
slip into our lives and
pretty lips are homesick
for those gone and those 
leaving
the moment passes
and the candle we crave
no longer dances

paper thin

blue veins
blood like glue
voice is rusty
separating the one
we were 
back into two
laughter a memory
I think I can't think 
anymore
my heart works so hard
just to beat
love encased inside this
explosion 
lost on thin paper
in loveless ink
I don't want to build
an empire
I just want to 
breathe

resist

night lights resist
faulty
and on rainy nights when
ghosts walk
they turn off
you need a reason to leave
your thoughts
you need to buy a magic rug
that you know must exist somewhere
to take you to anywhere but where you're at
you spent your money for food on books
and went to bed with garden dirt on your face
the window is stuck, you're stuck
feels like the whole damn world is stuck
no use to admit it out loud
silence might mean it isn't real
you felt too deep, cried too much
your money jar is empty
your mailbox is mad
the message you want will never arrive
it was downed like a paper airplane in a hailstorm
you can fly, you just don't want to
you're waiting and if you wait too long
you'll become someone weaker
and you're done being that
you wrote prose and skipped your prayers
they wouldn't miss you
you'll remember today but not the way
things happened
but the way you wanted it to be

wasting in white noise

while waiting on sleep to visit I glued some elephants together
I took pictures of lightning and shrunk the sky to fit the lens of an iPhone camera
my cold breath became the color of white prayer and was orchestrated  into a winter sunset 
I buried your name in a bottle and marked a grave for it
then I got homesick for the way light used to glow beneath our door
I was drenched in memory by the way we slept on Sunday's when it rained
Now I miss getting lost in the sound of your breathing, my white noise lullaby
I said farewell to the mail you left on the counter, spoke the word hello into a phone that never even rang
I set an extra place at the table for pain and wrote a hymn for those adorning stars 
I turned my mind and the moon upside down, listened to Delilah on the radio dial and lost myself in the confusion of lost loves and the delusional take me back theme of the night
I wondered what it was like to be in love with a man named Bogart
and counted the names of those who don't love me anymore
As my muse slipped and tripped out of the bottle to the back door I finally closed my eyes and said goodbye to all the old monsters and 
familiar ghosts
Love is a hyphen, now just a glimmer of a forgotten, secret unused password 

she misses him

she misses the candy cane lazy days
of freedom
now is a portal to the grass blades
she mindlessly slips through her lips
and the taste of blood reminds her
she didn't learn the last time
therefore repeat

she misses the lace that used
to thread through her dark hair
the wind catching and sailing
it on moonlit walks
her feet bare on magic summer
earth
she misses him

she misses roads so close
to heaven it looked like 
God himself
forgot he put them there
she misses books read beneath
a hundred year old oak
that had grown so tired
of sheltering
that even it had drawn a
weary breath and split

she misses her love
the one who never knew
she ever missed him

moving on again

we can choose what we let change us

and the beauty of timing is we don't see it in full color

the mistakes we choose

we don't always know the ending or even see the beginning of whatever's coming

the night brings out what the day won't let the shadows speak

we dream or don't dream on pillows beside those who don't or can't love us

we wrap up war,  excuse it in love and fight for things in ten years time won't matter or be remembered

our feet will grow tired on journey's that were set in motion by kindness or ignorance, sometimes fear

romance dies and we look the other way

don't want to be alone

small victories earned that no one knows about 

losses and failures add up but no one knows about that pain we tell ourselves

belonging

must I blush
to prove to you
I am real

can you see me
from behind the
dirty lens
will you believe
the distortion
and choose to try
to break what about me
you don't understand

do you want to
spit on me
polish me
claim the tidbits
of me that you
appreciate
maybe take credit
for a moment of
weakness in a night
of dark forlorn, then
write a check for all
you leave broken

take the smear that
my lipstick left
on your greedy mouth

is my heart heavy
enough to weigh you
down
to the bottom of 
where you know
you don't belong

turn the lights off

he shrugs off every word she says
says I must live before I'm dead
don't paint on me an angel's wings
cause I can't sing that song you sing
you see what you want to see 
are you sure it's me you see
these walls are closing in on me
I'm disappearing as we speak
turn the lights off when you leave

she said you think you know
where I belong
you make the rules I play along
you don't ask you just plan
but I can't walk this line you've planned
how can I make you understand

a shouting match that no one wins
leaves them doubting everything
she walks away with one less friend
from his verbal list of who loves who
cause after all she can't blame you

if love has a blueprint then we don't fit
too many rules so counterfeit 
wordless she just walks away
after all he's had his say

he says take it all
but turn the lights off on your way

 

 
 

blink

everything beautiful
fades
does that mean
it finds escape
if you close your
eyes
the moment's gone
sweet chariot arrives
too late
and the story escapes
the pretty flow
because you blinked

rain shoes

Kissed me in Autumn
my shadow seemed a
little smaller
my lips a little
redder
the sun slowly
disappeared behind us into
a fuzzy oval orange glow
and raincoats were what I
was thinking of
while I was barefoot
in crimson leaves
I forgot where I left
my shoes

games

talk of the night falls apart
tastes like gas
we bow like minions
for plastic kings
look at us, raising our glass

normal's insane
tracing stars out the window
a night game
and some moments
are a burn
and we
take another left turn

our parachutes become
luminaries 
worn and see through
will not carry us home
defense is broken

forget what we want to be
that and now will 
never intersect
wearing red for the party
will cover your beautiful
bitter injustice and 
will never let them see
your next step

secret battles in courtyards
ice on kisses in backyards
and the lavender color 
of the sky will be a color
you will never see again

it's all just a game
 

midnight musing

I am not
afraid of the light
or of the fact
my shadow disappears
at midnight
my eyes know more
than my lips will
ever tell 

Lilah

Lilah likes the rain and pretty boys
she'll ride in his old truck but she's not
fooling him 
he knows where she wants to go

his hands are warm
her heart is cold
she's in his eyes
but her lover don't know
that she never looks at him
this way

Lilah likes to play
keeps her kisses out of reach
wants to feel forever seventeen
because she'll never feel this way
again

Lilah likes to walk away
her questions are a chiseled
icy wind
eyes like Christmas in July
Lilah goes to church
but never prays

she's in his blood
he don't stand a chance
time is a ransomed midnight
stolen dance
she'll drink from his cup
but it's never full enough
cause Lilah likes to play with love

Stuck

 I am stuck
on you
all the lines
the places I can't 
touch
I am in love
with the words
that form on
your lips
before you
set them free
I am in awe of
your silence that
wraps us together
and folds the day
 in perforated perfection
I am amused 
at your elegant hands
that love and command 
what they want
I love that you 
know what you
want 
and love what you
have
and how you 
make me yours without
a word
I trust your capability
and that my heart
is safe with you
I am high from
the magic light
in your eyes
I am stuck 
on the way you
make morning coffee
and I love the time
you spend in
my mind
I am stuck on you
that you don't 
give a damn to
be caught in 
the rain
I don't mind that I
fall a little behind
so you may lead
I am stuck on the 
slow dance 
of our life 
and I can never say
too much or be
too quiet
I am in love with 
your foot fall
next to mine
I am stuck 
in the place
I always plan to be
and happy that your 
heart is beating
existing
in this life
that's anything
but stuck
next to me

more than ghosts

we shredded their doubt
and left their thought bruised
we shattered their bone of contention 
and left their crookedness 
in their own selfish lungs
the burning house smudged
the light of the smallest firefly
but we are more than ghosts
our spine is sacred
our walk is perfect
our paths deserved 
hands are seasoned well from prayer
we are not afraid of shadows
or the sound of our own voice

where were we

I have misplaced the dot
 above the i
my fingers tingle
reaching and reaching
my blood flows faster
and I can't understand
the chaos
nothing's happening 
and yet I am dizzy

I am swimming in darkness
and the sun that just passed
my universe hours ago
is still burning my skin
my mind, my very existence

I can't remember our last kiss
did it taste like a peach
did I lean into you
or you me
were my hands inky from 
poems that steal my time 

were we at the bottom
of what was left of us
or was it just time 
to change clothes

linger

I lingered in the thrift store, my hands deep in vinyl
our past was releasing through my head
lyrical
thoughts and memories were whispering in my
mind like broken eggs slip through fingers
years lay behind, I was falling backward
into emerald green eyes of my first love and 
the feel and fit of summer sun on our skin
intoxicated by the lingering sweet innocence
reservations melted, left and right dissolved
but we never felt lost
we were living a dream, loving reality
with runaway hearts and sky blue dreams
the days were too slow and too fast as our
heartbeat could have fueled a train
perfect magic 
once you love this way the taste of love will
never be the same
summer slipped away into a crimson colored 
atmosphere
as you slipped into the future without me
autumn leaves sparkled and decorated the brilliantly
staged goodbye
and I was left wondering how much of me did I
leave in your eyes
because you still linger
in mine

choosing sides

wedding of words die in the water
swallowed whole by pretty summer lights
fingers are pointing
ravens are circling
we're choosing sides


rain is romantic for kisses on fire
the moon carved from honey
dreams dangle from a fictious
high wire


well running's for runners
bridges for walking away
sometimes sorry is sorry
and don't mean a thing


false love is a rebound
a passing flame
and to the one that holds you
you're a faceless kind of fling


leaves you fighting with shadows
craving summers that don't fade
ruining perfection, changing your game
familiar is over
don't let hate beome leftovers


those who love you will get you there
as you leave your soul
in trails on paper
like pretty summer fireflies

Quiet Boy

he has a slow Sunday kind of smile
she'll fall in love with the sunset 
in his eyes
he's a poet, pen for a weapon
quiet boy
purposely getting lost
but then
he's killing midnight
getting dirty for a dream
he's eating moonlight
dying from the poisons
of youth
know it all's tread on him 
lucky to be graced by his presence
one more day
he ponders the moment
wonders what Bob Dylan might say 
too many illusions getting 
in his way
fragile heart's antiqued on concrete
end meets end
middle incomplete
but he's easy to love
disappears too easily
he knows she loves him
so he'll leave quietly
the only place he'll be captured
is in her smile
as she's sleeping

and this will be us

I will make spaghetti dinners and serve them outdoors on the patio
starlight will always fall on our bed and we'll have a ballroom for dancing
we will never drink to forget, only to celebrate
our ribs will ache but only from laughter
loving won't be just physical but spiritual as well
summer will always feel like home
we'll catch fireflies at twilight
the grass between our toes will make us feel alive
our hands will always entertain life
we'll live poetry, write movies and eat the words of others to show our appreciation
good music will make us drunk
and I will hold you like the one I would miss most and let you go knowing I won't have to
we won't be in love with the past because now is too good
we'll carry one another in our hearts because that's the perfect cage
always we'll lift a glass to the future because we know what we have
our mouths will be happy, full of beautiful words as love wraps around us in scarlet moonlight
we'll share soul stories beneath a canopy of starlit libraries
the wind will be fair on our face
and the fire in our lungs will not be exterminated because we'll be lovers of rain
our lives will be somersaults and art, pretty musical graffitti 
couches and moonlight and miracles of snow at midnight

waiting room photos

we're all waiting
for numbness to be
measured out
averted eyes
treading silence
forgetting the color
of black
afraid of sinking
into the void of
absence
we're dreaming of 
sunshine
staring at floors
and walls full of
perfect family
waiting room photos
and if we stare long
enough
we'll be pretty and 
good and rich
and we'll place ourselves
in those photos
we still wouldn't belong
but no one will know 
we thought we possibly
could 

cancelled

you have grown beneath
the cells of my skin
I have learned to be invulnerable
and bottle us up like a
vintage wine

it is taking too long to
imagine
we are not real
but my cheek remembers
how your goodbye was
whispered into my skin

and I dreamed you were
with me
but now that memory
is erased
cancelled
lost so delicately

Temporary Skylines

temporary positions
temporary elation
temporary skies
that choose to cry

temporary happy
selling stories
who will buy
these tortured souls
on pretty paper
shallow alibies

temporary sensitivity
nurse another aching
lie
cause being sober is
an addiction too you say
being averse to being high

temporary angels
temporary lives
temporary suffering
excusing wrong
can't dignify
our temporary skylines

 

Dusty Roads

I once lived in a house of wood and stone 
the walls were paper and I was in the middle
being alone
Fenced in by words and the what might happen
fear was a guest and came over often
Winter was a whistle and a wonder of 
beautiful frozen freedom
It always looks different when you're on
the inside freezing
Words were a game, secrets were hidden
I was young 
Guardians weren't looking
I fell and the fall was so loud, damage
unmistakeable
But angels were too busy with their
chaos at their own boardroom table
I slipped through the intangible net
living by just breathing and that's 
what happened when no one paid attention
Summer was a haunted scent full of roses
that begged to be taken but their thorns
were too sharp and left my hands bleeding
and shaking
Forsaken in sunlight, just another wild rebel child
with a hungry heart still beating
Small like a whisper and simply
disappearing
I just wanted you to see me but those
dusty roads left us wanting
left you choking 
Seven walking the same foot carved path
Divine intervention would separate them

Goth

her lips the color of a bruise
she takes imaginary sky walks 
has roadside conversations with 
strangers about the things we lock
inside ourselves for too long
like how cemeteries are far more
sad in December and you hold 
your breath a little deeper 
when you walk by

but pain is a good thing
she says
reminds you of who you were
who you never want to be
again
and the roses are dying

she believes in every sky
she's ever inhaled
every dream she ever dreamed
every prayer she took time to
pray
she's not running away

she can tell you 
how to end up lonely
but she wouldn't advise it

I give you rain

go on fold the night
but
leave the light on in your eyes
the season of questions are upon us
is it love
the stay or the go
the restless,  jealous
the impossible summer
snow
the careless drift desired
intricate as breath
open doors that wait
to be acknowledged
instead of a rose
I give you rain

wide awake

It's 2:38 in the morning and I'm wide awake dreaming on your pillow
the lamp light is soft but I prefer the light in your eyes
but you're not here so I'll improvise
and tell myself you're somewhere wide awake dreaming of me too

everything we said we'd be has turned into a shadow 
I think we've forgot that time alters all that isn't gold
I'm wide awake sleeping in your sweater
hell, love I'm not even cold

I still know how to make you smile
you still have me in your pretty words
I'm not going anywhere at all

I just want to dream awake for awhile and remember the nights we held each other through
and I recall
the scent of our days like a bottled burgundy Autumn in a bottom drawer somewhere

night talk

on a lilac  scented summer night as
a pink sickle moon sailed overhead we traded
sunlight for Johnnie Walker and star drift
as we drank  you said you were going to
bury your pain, I would be witness

you talked of your brother, how you
loved him, hated him and would hold
grudges for life that only love would 
destroy- brothers for life but deeper
you sighed like you were tired and you 
were too young to carry the world
couldn't carry one more thing
you were your own brand of rebellion

your freedom was built in your driveway
a metal dream, a sky blue '66 Chevrolet Camaro
a radio for company as you sang Summer
Breeze like you were already on the road
far away from this small town and all its 
causes that would only try in vain to rob
you of your youth, your vitality, slow your
pace , drain your soul of any would be dreams

you took the guard rails down that held your
heart together and your mouth shut
you said you thrived on darkness for too long
but only because it was safer and the wind seemed 
softer on your skin at night
you took down your pretense that night
and let me see the real and the raw

ashes rose into the sky as you emptied out
your suitcase full of letters and let their
ransomed, poisoned words burn and fly like night 
kites
we danced around the fire without music or reason

you said you didn't know if you believed in a
heaven, asked if I believed
looking at the most profound, beautiful man I
had ever known
I whispered that yes I did

color of forever

saltines for breakfast
and a gulp of air

sunrise stains her eyes
never touching the core
of her heart
window sweat breaks
and makes a delicate run
for it and
she wonders if forever knows
it doesn't exist on invisible
streets
that are pounded into life 
by the imagination and the
gyration of her poetic pen
she decides that opaque hope
is the color of a forever that
doesn't know it doesn't exist

gray

he says December has him by the throat
the wrinkle in his memory hasn't made her less
it made him slow
the chain of love was broken and his heart
has gotten used to the tint of winter
without her warmth
night jumps his thin skin and he shivers
in his old gray coat
her sewing still tattoo's the cuffs
his heart sinks into a sky of marshmallow
and blue
as he climbs into a time machine 
with a ghost from thirty years ago

pearl

wash  away that dirty game kind
of love dirt away
there's a million ways to love
someone
a million ways to walk away
but sometimes love is just too
good to be
a forever kind of thing

we hold dreams too close
we learn to dance with ghosts
and never know when to let them go
we eat the floor to prove
we are wrong

concrete stings
and everyone's gone home
as we lie in shame in our bed
cause we can't face another
fork in the road

and there are the days 
we just pray
for the rain to wash away
all the disastered bits of
yesterday

there are days 
we stalk the night
and the moon is a pearl
in the middle of the day

a son's farewell

moonlight and grief
tears on his sleeve
just needs a friend to walk along
and understand that heroes die
and force a boy to be a man

dress up shoes
a son's farewell
one last ride and only so far
cause he can't go to Heaven or to
hell or return a father from his war

simple words describe a life
they're spinning stories now
of all he's left,  memories out loud
shovels a pit,  proud in green
sky in pieces 
who stole the light from it

marking time with places
memorizing faces
and the night wind whispers 
outside his window
like an old friend

disappearing in dark spaces
in the middle of daylight
no one can save him from that
there's a picture and a box
all these years have passed
no one can change this

his fathers slips away a hero
no one knew
cause he did it his way
and the rain will hide his son's tears
twenty years of service never made
him weaker

there's a garden and a flag
silence to swallow all he 
can't say
another see off
another goodbye today

a son's farewell
one shovel of dirt 
at a time

myth

no more crimson night shows for us 
the night is a dark yawn and my eyes 
don't know how to shut
the sweetness of their closing,  denied
all those honeysuckle summers haunt me
all those drunken summer dreams were a
passionate seige
we were a little piece of Heaven in a hurricane
our revival of romance was a myth

now all our friends whisper 
they think they know what killed
our heartbeat
put the perpetual pause on you and me
we thought we were building love
but we can't go back to April violets 
and sleeping by the hotel window
with the ocean for our backdrop lullaby
or holding onto one another in a special
midnight embrace
whispering
is this us ?
 
there's no escape
so when glorious sleep does arrive
we will smile as the moon twists
her knife of memory
we must be satisfied we were a poem 
in another's hand for a little while
 
 

like silver

the streets were ribbons,  we had nowhere to go
they were shining like the lights of a broadway show
I was loving the way light was liking you,  on page tomorrow before today was through
someone had to be first to break my heart, it seemed so easy for your elegant hands
but you smelled like rain beneath that twilight sun
those memories are ashes now they're never gonna burn
let them blow away on this summer wind
all these cracked mirrors with a cutting edge,  rewinding
reminding me again
bold confessions of your fickle love
but we're never gonna dance in the rain
the moon will rock the sky to sleep and that's no shame 
but my love for you dissolved
I never found a way to make you feel a thing...

now I'm a stranger in a cracked up mirror
and moonlight spills on my hair like silver

rebel in me

going against the grain
gonna change my family name
too far gone I won't look back
there's wine in the water
of that hand made shack

now you're in every church
I'll ever pray
cruel November brutal May
sleep on my loves sleep on
you won't hear me anyway

he was army green
she was model thin
he was a dark and handsome
poetic man
I feel them all beneath my skin

now it's hard to breathe 
and I rarely sleep
my body misses its bed
my dreams miss their sleep
this will never change 
the rebel in me

it all belongs to me
my pain
stored are all things lost
in castles of rain
but the rebel in me
is more than a name

earth is weary heaven is blue
when I stop breathing
I'll stop missing you
when I stop breathing 
I'll stop missing you

rib

the radiance of the night sky flared like a symphony of light and grew like a painting from a child's marker
one destroyed rib to create more of a perfected dream
eyes closed and fingers gestured North into the receipt of days spent in the month of May
lovers lay dreaming beneath magnolia scented sheets
the navel of his goddess was a goblet and their love was a feast on a fast track of desire
 

tree

summer days too will die 
and you won't feel me anymore 
so take the door knob off
your door
it was the portal to our world

mark the place beneath the oak
to bury your bottle of tears
as the moon chases the sky
say goodbye to our forever
ever after here

winter too will arrive 
in his cold white breath
and you won't feel me anymore
six feet deep i sleep in death

pin my picture to the tree
the sun and wind will fade
the girl you used to see

time won't grieve for us
for moments of a lifetime missed
I'm  ever after deep

Immortal seventeen
 

small town high

life bruised her eyes
not someone's fist
he turns his small town beauty
into a goddess drinking by the
kool-aid colored lights

and she loves that rebel boy
the color of her sin is loyalty
walking with him she feels 
prettier than she will most likely
ever feel again

bus stop goodbye
three days of loving in 
their eyes
he'll drink till he's sober
she's the wine too wild to bottle
and the world will be too loud without her
in the crimson nights he'll find safe harbor

he's on a small town high
falling in love for life
road ready and restless
running from passions sweet
messes
they'll never forget this

Rivers and Mirrors

it's not easy to remain quiet when all you want to do is scream
it's a nightmare when all you want to do is sleep but the red hot creeping memories refuse to lie down and you tear at your own skin
the drama is a slow kill and you're not amused anymore
your heart is weary and you're tired as the comfort zone has been stretched too far for your body to know of its existence
pretty girls in fancy clothes on classy streets have songs for memories but
when was life ever clean for you girl
it's not easy when you think too much, a film always running its frames in the back of your mind and your heartbeat is irregular
the answers are too heavy to carry
sometimes
afternoons used to smell like strawberry jam and homemade biscuits and you were safely tucked into the hymns she sang so reverently
but that river don't run anymore
your heart cries like a child for a blanket and begs for amnesia 
your mind just wants a break and your thirst clamors for more than chemicals to drink
you're starved for beauty but years of un- justice do you no service
heaven is a room filled with scented flowers
but you haven't any
you're sure your hands are empty but they're always busy
you're scared but don't know why, the rain makes you smile, the sun makes you cry
you'd die for your dream but your bones are aching and where's the alchemy
your wallets empty, truth is cremating and the dust of her dirty presence is just too plenty
and you walk in mazes in the home you carry in your dreams just to prove you still can
too many bullets and cold cases , nothing will ease your aching head but they tell you time heals everything but its all just a scar waiting for the wrong moment to ripen and rip it free so it has power to keep you on your knees
hungry for your mother's hands that haven't touched you in years
you miss your father but his dreams drowned in a river
just too much heartache for that girl you see in the mirror
 

one night

you were flesh in his hands
nothing more
you were hidden sin
behind closed doors
you were a body moving
in the direction of desire
a few suspended moments of
a lifetime
not meant to be forever
you were working hard to be
a woman in love
but moments like this in a mans life
isn't likely love he's thinking of

you were just his wild seed
he must sow to be great
a beautiful,  sensual misdeed
yes,  his hands were gentle
a prayer on your skin that received
and blessed his every word
you were his goddess,  his moonlight
you were stardust on his tongue
for one night
his one and only one

you were being recorded on the blackboard
hall of fame in his mind
queen for a night
held in hands that worshipped you like holy art
one night of
valentine's and ruby wines
quick silver and a glimmer of lust
in his eyes
just a passionate on by

dreams and dragons

if you turn the kaleidoscope into a slate
and watch the angle as all the darlings
fall in love with the moments want to be
and the floor you're dancing on in a small
town bar is the future highlight of your life

watch the sparks fly as they hide in the glint
of their lovers eyes, youth was a compromise
forget what must die to keep that love perfectly
alive
and the beauty that we make just prays for sleep
on sunless days
and pretty words grow roots and strangle
all that silence won't erase

we'll have conversations in future living rooms
we'll build our dreams from lights of promise
and we will never go
to where we can't see the light of glory
in the eyes of a dream that lived

we'll take steps of grace
but we will never concede
we'll believe because we breathe
and we'll fight through the pain
because we're alive

everything on the line
misdirection is unimagined and
our whitewashed dreams turn into dragons

fuchsia nights

fuchsia lights on soft young skin
every lonely man's dream
stare of a strangers desire
softened by the before drink
dressing like a dreamgirl
candy smiles for rooms of alcohol angels
with haloes of stale smoke
beauty arrives then disappears
like a ghost

she's new at this dance
the swivel, the sway
that was created for men's pleasure
her accomplishment is to make them
feel special
she wants to be liked
but the bills on the table at home
won't wait

her old friends vanished
with the means to reach for
the educated kind of glory
while her dreams are earned
on a small space budget of a slim string

she checks out
to a summer long ago
forgotten by the love who left
her behind
and now her body sings in rhythm
as heated eyes lust for the girl
beneath fuchsia lights

she smiles
she's theirs for a thought

summer romance

fire caught the words in my throat
as I rested in your arms my angel man
we drifted in suspense
our hearts loud like thunder
yet we were cocooned in comforters
of bliss
and words were an unwelcome diversion
in our own heaven
I was lost in the scent, the feel of you
my eden,  happy oblivion
contour of your hand in mine
your lips were divine
summer air wafted as roses boiled
in the summer sun

no repeat

you spilled your records on the floor
and I spilt my hair on your shoulder
we sat like children
with music and memories
at home in the light of your
living room
belonging to that time
that space
we fell asleep on the floor
the turn table on repeat

paces

I will linger with you in your darkness
let the light from the stars bless us
and if you will pour out your soul
I will not judge
I will close my eyes and I will not
hear your imperfections and
All will be well if you choose silence
I will share my hands
entwine them to hold you safe
I won't scream, run or hate
I will not leave no matter what you say
It's up to you to share your scars
I will pace your paces
I'll walk with you until
the ugly turns to graces
until freedom erases all your
fear, all your cages
I'll stay with you , no excuses
I'll be the brick you say I am,  love
not for breaking you but
for building us

 
 

Thursday was Broken

seems we never know what lonely is 
until the sun sets on one alone
loved your freedom so much
no one could touch it
Thursday was broken

the very thing that breaks us
is all we want to hold
the very one we hoped for
leaves us standing on our own

nights carved in gray
our patience will decay
our hands will grow numb
and we'll write letters 
the world will read
but never that one certain one

we'll dive from the sky
to prove we're alive
we'll live alone to prove
we are strong
we're always too young
to admit we are wrong

bridges are gone
and heart's have moved on
but we won't know lonely till
we sit in the sunset alone

sink

your heart was just a beat
under my jealous long sleeve
and I was looking back
but you'd already moved
past me

I'm sleeping with your memory
talking to God in cold bedrooms
there was no cure for the walls you built
you will never admit you're wrong
will you

so thanks for all the nights
I can't fall asleep
and all your indecision
you blame on me
thanks for all the pills
that numb my mind
help me to breathe
and the key you left in the back door

I found some stones for throwing
but I'll keep them as I sink
I found your courage in a cup
and your words I had to drink

I don't think you'll come back
you don't care what I think
I don't need you to know
you're the reason I'm gonna sink

just a +lyrical composition of mine

Careful

careful
like the voice in your daydream
steady now
like the cry of a black violin
no mercy to thought
the little,  forgotten won't forgive
the ageless betrayal
be careful

careful
her beauty will sway you
and drift with you places
you never imagined
no one can save you
she's strong in  her
convictions
careful,  you won't change
her love is your heart's only
danger
don't play here

careful
he loves you
and you move him to
total
distraction
no back tracking
you are his chosen

familiar days

old shoes for muddy days
where the normal seems like
glass
and breaks

old jeans
torn from memories
but they know me

coats that smell like his 
cologne
photographs with borders
black and white
summer fireflies for
bedroom nightlights

summer scented
daisy chains
and old barn roofs singing 
rainy magical things

my happy truth

musing

what if all the substantial imaginings

we perceive ourselves to be turn gray

draining dreams, and the fragile soul uproots

the golden softer lights on all the

scenes we chose so well to play

Is it all just petty white noise on the street

and in our living rooms

while we are starving for something more

than what lies under pretty wrappers

tiredness starts the countdown

and we won't see the residual burden

that drains our day and leaves us

with phones in our hands

and nothing left to say

Lost and Found

I found a castle
it was made of paper
names of old lovers
inscribed in folds
deaths of dreams floated
in black ink


I found a promise
a silver one
buried beneath a Willow tree
disappointment left it
forsaken by its owner
now lying in a ceramic dish
on the dresser


I found a life
an older one
on a bench by the
waters edge


His eyes are clouded
by old Chevrolets
and a love he called Grace
but the truth is the only
grace he has now is memory


We put things in places
someone else comes along
and finds
even if we don't want them to

Rumour

we were their rumour
our own lyrical story
dawn was a silvered outstretch
underlined like a glimmering snake skin
the morning star
pointing us homeward
as the sky emptied her web of night life
passage of time sagged
love was persistent and nostalgic
like vigilant  vines growing on old
grimy wooden benches
moonlight overthrown with sunrise
restrained by the remnants of our past
I knew you were what evanesce must taste like

notes

your thought grew threadbare
and my heart wore holes learning how
to listen
I tried to reach you
touch you
but your shadow grew thinner
the exasperation grew hotter
until there was no more me in
you

so
I wrote you notes
from feathers
that pillowed your dreams

treasure

who am i without this pain
that leaves a bruise that
you can't see
who am i that waits too long
until
the force inside my lungs says
breathe
who am i behind these lines
of your continuity
when sometimes all i want is
to escape the skin that makes
up me

who am i,  just
the girl you kiss
beneath the Maple tree
that wraps her hands in
your hair
and holds you like a treasure
from the sea 

that's just me

if only

if only i could touch you
like the vibration
of your voice
touches my soul

if only i could put sunshine
on a platter
you could eat
with your fingers

if only you could hear
the words i lift you
up to the sky with

and know your breathing
is my safe lullaby
in this world

if you could only know
the light and fire in
my eyes are alive
because of you beside me

erasable

write me in erasable
pretty colors
draw a line, a smile
my face
make me a riddle
i won't know
cause like the chalk
you use
i am erasable
swoops and swirls
sky and stars
neglect the decline
write our names
draw a heart
with an arrow
he crucified his love
my valentine in
red
circle round and 
back
roll back time
so i can see all
these pretty things
you know
draw two hands
that won't let
go
draw a kiss
an archer's bow
i am just a tattered
bit
a once ago
a yesterday
sweet lines that
always rhyme
until line of time
fades me away
dark will fall
rain will 
shine
i am erasable
erase me gently
a little 
at a 
time
 

margin

all her dreams are in a bag
on the sidewalk
spilling stars
she never doubted
she was careful

but he was just a playdate
with her heart
she was a flyer
her eyes the color of desire
blue winter fire

nothing below to catch her
this time
her eyes on a turquoise
universe
beautiful,  but he was never
hers

she'll lie to herself
it doesn't matter
she'll dream in his t- shirt
about a lilac rain

she'll be running backwards
only herself to blame
zip up the darkness
cause she will be 
no man's margin

he's hollywood

he's a walking boy
he's a laughing boy
losing his shadow he says
to feel lighter
he loves beer
but downs chardonnay 
it makes him feel good
even better
when he's in hollywood

he's a lonely boy
is a loving boy
a much loved boy
with his guard up
he'd like to disappear
from this madness
so he sleeps too much

don't wanna be out there
so just a little distance please
he says he's not afraid of darkness
fame is his disease
dangling his feet from his roof
says he's kind to those the world
forgets to be kind to

but he's got a cool girl
and they roll way back
he's taken by the little things
carolina boy with laughter
in his blood
'round here
we call him hollywood

A poem I wrote about Zach Galifianakis . I live about thirty five minutes from his farm in NC. This is my creative effort for someone who always makes me laugh. This man is deeper than we know and such a talent.

girl without her love

i was dreaming on saturday morning
lying alone in my bed
i was trying to go back
but the present was pushing out
every golden word you ever said

i was hungry for kisses
thirsty for your touch
but i saw a picture of you
on broadway
with your new lover
and i swear you are a curse

the stars don't shine bright
enough for you
the city has more of a shine
but i thought you were a diamond boy
when you were by my side

can't turn my feelings off
i'm a little bit deeper than that
i won't disappear without you
but dreaming about you 
my world's a little bluer than black

i'm standing on the sidelines
in just a memory
every song on my radio
for the reckless,  born to be free
i just wanted to love you boy
but we're never gonna be

i am just a girl without her love