Snail Mail Blues

I loved you before I knew you.
Reading the words you have written.
Tickled by verse, my want grew.
Covert, I'm well-hidden, smitten.

Too many letters cast aside.
Billet-doux, never delivered;
Sealing a note, narrowed my hide.
Not able to breathe, I quivered.

Postage, always due, never paid.
The carrier has gone postal.
Distance too far, apart we've laid.
My messages too close to stall.

Now, with a telegraph, I cast
Into the atmosphere, so vast.

My, oh my myopia
In my natal state,
My scope strained
To differentiate
Colours and shapes

As I grew up
In my household confines,
The television pane
Presented my window to the world.
Conceptualized by cliche
I was in a masturbatory bliss
Before I knew of such a thing.
Stimulated visually
By the appliance that babysat me.

Shapes defined as letters,
Symbols, and words;
The pages of a book
Came to frame
My outlook.
A sordid affair took place
Under my sheets, sneaking
Moments with the texts,
That I kept pressed
against my chest,
And graciously
I received.
Ideas inseminated
My feral young mind.

My first, true
Love, cast aside
For flashing lights,
Instantaneous results,
And a plethora of
Other vices.
Draining my sight,
In my addiction.
I realized I want
Something more.

It's amazing,
The difference
Two pieces of glass
Can make.
It can:
Refocus my world,
Show me to lost loves,
Allow my eyes to see
Everything blissfully.

We throw what holds our feet into air
Knotted together
Aiming to never grip the ground again
Strings crossed with our tongues tied
Wired souls strung up in the sky
Showing where the good stuff is

Fourteeners: Howl, Honey, Howl

There's no way I could forsake the hair that grows on my face.
In weather like this I hold nature, firm in my embrace.
Always, I tend to get tangled in all that is wild.
Serious fervor overtakes me, beauty beguiled.

Beckoned by her warmth she lures me into a state of dream.
Nightmares imminently arise; her cold, not shown, now seen.
Bursts of cold air quickly forgotten with a cool smile.
Sun-soaked cheeks reveal starry teeth, with a moon-fueled style.

Night and day differences to which, you cannot set a clock.
Such polarity, such dedication, observers mock.
Always in the present, jovial, our life is a gas.
Not looking forward or back, never heeding what has passed.

It is our nature, eternally, it is our being.
Bittersweet it tastes, complacent dumb love, there's no fleeing.

Rub hand sanitizer on that stigmata.
Smile through the sting and bear it;
Shake hands and wave to the world.
The mephitic scent of Mephistopheles
Wards off the contamination of hundreds.
Words intoxicate more than any high or drunk;
Detox denied minds have no hope for a dredge.
One helluva whale, you high, holy roller
Drowning us with all sorts of spirits.
Keeping us at your table, on your chairs,
Above all, in your pocket.

You make me defy my axis
Invert this little world I have made
My globe spins, blurring borders
Nothing is definite

This body quakes
Its fluids impure
Hot air and smoke
Pour from pores and cavities
The body politic is in anarchy

Suddenly,
The chaos is declared over.
Ominously, you leave.
The shattered pieces are mended.
Sated with what you came for,
Order is restored---temporarily.

Again and again these forces
Invade and subjugate
Raise hell and exit
Eventually, hopelessly,
The world will remain upside down
Awaiting your entrance
To rectify your past.

Organic Souls

So concerned with what's natural
We all want to eat the god-food.
Gain energy from what we take
Unaltered from the earth.
Human intervention is sacrilege;
Foods blaspheme in the fridge.
The devout touch nothing,
That can cry.
That can fry.




No oils anoint,
Eat your god raw.

Mementos scattered,
Noticed in passing.
The haze of your charm
Distracts and lures
With such a sweet scent.
It's when you step away
That my eyes refocus.

A fleeting glimpse hidden,
Indicative of my past presence.
A late-night note left sitting.
Crumpled, torn, and smeared;
Weathered by the elements
Of your element.
Pictures taken and forgotten
Reemerge after reconciliation
Framed by low-light,
Dwarfed by waxy monoliths,
It stands obscured.
As is the nature of your way.

Choke Down What's On Your Plate

These fingers tap 

Nervously.

The words,

They stammer

On to the page.
Tip
Tip-tip
Involuntary reflexes
Of the wracked nerves
Write out a stutter.
Who has ever heard of a tongue-tied typist?

Those who should be considered
Are often overlooked.
Overshadowed by those who
Have all the hooks,
Steal all the looks,
Dazzle,
Having read all the books.
Master trappers who snare
With smiles.
Their hips hypnotize,
Showing such a swagger.
Boring into my skin,
Ignoring its thickness,
Like any bug pupates,
Naturally, strategically
Overwhelming my being
In a fit of passion,
A product of my addled mind,
An homonym is uttered;
Indicating my action
And breathing my desire.

We are all secret spy super heroes
Artifacts of past conquests line the walls
Of our lairs,
Our bases,
Our Fortresses of Family
We let our guard down
And show was behind the mask
Weaknesses shown behind
The weary eyes
That have seen much
Sleighing the credit score
Neighbor nemesises

Still,
In our holds,
We tremble to face reality.
Our masks cover much more than our flesh.
Foes we can't share with our comrades;
Insecurities that we cannot be saved from.
Our weaknesses, too strong to be fought.
Sometimes,
Our comrades empower what renders us powerless.
Fiends masked as friends.

Our enclave possesses powers
--The power of amplification.
Words echo and encourage
hushed alliances.
Subterfuge and intrigue murmured,
Defying the noisy walls.
What grips us,
Expels us from cover.
Naked and vulnerable,
We hide our actions in the dark.
In the cold we take to the streets.
Like the children we are,
we hide under blankets of fog.
Evading monsters, we nervously inhale;
We tremble as we exhale smog.
These blankets make shitty capes.

Heroes and criminals.
Who never gets paid?

Telegrams Are Now Obsolete

We romance like our ancestors at war.
Connections made briefly,
Courting infrequently,
Messages sent from a distance,
We put the bellow to flames.

Apart, we fight our battles.
Clench those teeth
And bear through it.
Reminders bare clenched teeth
With raised cheeks;
Grin, and bear the bare.

Gestation of love lasts
Months, years, lifetimes.

People Dream

Our chains chew the white pine.
Always, we move as one.
Our coffles single-file
Life into one category.
Apart we are less than human,
Bound we are worth more ,
Together we are more
Than those who keep us.
We move forward to seize
What is rightfully ours.
In unison, our song
Announces our march.
Should any be shot down,
Our binds and our will
Opposes any anchor;
We our stronger than our weakest link

Blowing Smoke

Cigarette,
A wand in hand.
Casting shapes in smoke
With the flick of a wrist.
Sending mixed signals
In your plumes.
Words cast in smog,
Their meaning obscured.
When your lips part
And your teeth naked,
Magic slips through the cracks.

Chirp Chirp

Down of green blankets the sky,
Insulating arboretums and aviaries,
Emerald obscuring the scene from prying eyes.
Defoliate adornment
And take note.
Note how life is fueled:
See! Oh two
Birds locked in love,
Engaged
In the chemistry of life.
Oh two,
You two.

Things in the Dark

This hoofed, cast iron titan is the vanguard of terror.

Gloaming long since passed, 

darkened horns engender 

a state in which

what exists and what is
perceived  remain apart.

Cower and all dignity is forfeit.

Neck bowed to break,

I fear such a fate.

Scratch and Win Hopes and Dreams

Sister custodian sittin' on the stairs,
Scratchin' at a lotto ticket,
Dreamin' of dollars.
Oh! The joy,
That a dollar
And a penny presents.
Only when nothing matches,
Nothing equals the sum
That you dread the dime dropped
On the product
Of worthless paper and filings.
The small moments bring you back;
Five won times one more.

Untitled Word Play

Sinful syntax,
Playing with our parts of speech
Pleasure punctuated by penetration
Of the scaple,
Peeling apart the matter.
Implicit incisions
Dissecting our words,
Eviscerating the entrails
To see what it entails.