20-20

I. There was a woman Who I loved with all my heart. It’s the only way I know how to love. The problem I have With falling in love Is that I just keep falling And falling on through. It’s a perpetual autumn; Storming leaves of memories, Possibilities, Skeletal trees. And turning my collar up [...]

Nesting

One time I found That I loved the warmth Excavated by nesting: Burrowing so far Into a pile of pillows, A weight of blankets, The I left the world behind. These were the laps Of my imaginary mothers; They were the arms Of my dream-lovers. Safe and tight Inside a womb of covers, Tented fabric [...]

Rioting Raindrops

The rain came down Like cartoon anvils, Spending itself on the cement In an assault on the town. The parachute-less troops Gathered in the low-lying spots And took over the streets In order to regroup. Rioting raindrops, Seething and churning, Swallowing curbs and sidewalks And the floors of a few shops. En masse, they moved [...]

And How

And how does the world bludgeon me daily. Sanctuary with my door locked and my heater blaring. The smell of burnt dust clings to my jackets on the coat rack. I hear my exteriority shatter with the tumble of the deadbolt. Ignoring the intrusion of phone bill, electric bill, auto insurance bill, CD club bill [...]

For Galstephus the Mage

You dream like a king on a throne; you are not like the serfs and servants of this existence. This world doesn’t want kings and heroes; rather, normalcy is enshrined and page homage to with certificates of merit. You are a nobleman and your heritage is not acknowledged – there is no room for the [...]

I Can’t Breathe

why can’t I just be another guy? but I’m a person with a snake-sharp tongue and I’m a ripped flannel… I shoot my mouth like a shotgun. riddles and rhyming and rhythm, not taken seriously enough to stay honest just another number in the GTE phone list. I lie and I lie and I lie [...]

A Letter

Dear Mom, I was so stoned the other night that I was at awe with the world like when I was a child light and airy, care-free and drug-free. It’s just the weight of responsibility that turns me to substance, matter rather than mind – a little more of the Kind can sometimes give me [...]

The Decay of a Cartoon

The poet sojourns to the real world, concerned with education and finances, too busy with real matters to watch his own walk like a bluejay on a telephone line assuming it is his, too bust to enjoy the glances at his jester clashed clothing and his odd squatting posture, recounting endless stories of dubious origin. [...]

Musings in the Night Aire

perching like a poet – I found a table and a bench tucked away on a second story walkway of the Arts building just for me. a yellow magnesium light shines down on this paper turning letters into dancing figures that say something important to me so I can pretend I am a poet. a [...]

A Troll

he sat under a narrow bridge and skulked, the fairy-tale Troll. I was the one who sat under the bridge and chose not to demand a toll. I could have asked for the world on a plate or rich trinkets, various and sundry. but he was a reclusive faint-hearted Troll who wished Man good will [...]

Migraines That I Don’t Have

you know I hate to leave you when there’s that buzzing in your ears that means your headache’s bad even more than otherwise because so miserable and so fragile, in pain, you look more like an Angel, saddened by the world’s tears.

On a Driveway at Midnight

I this poetry, on this midnight runs through my veins: all this hurting, my purple pen is my blood, each word a corpuscle – and to let it out to the world, sometimes my poetry is simple: blood, cut from my flesh, bleeding my emotions free. Self destructive so that I can leave the world [...]

Where You Are in the World

a star winked out in the nighttime sky and did not return my love as I cast into the heavens; a sword standing still riding my mind like the hip of a warrior. one oboe quietly mediates the tree’s disputes about who is shading who as I am walking through. there is no medium for [...]

Journal Chills

and I never thought that I was one to spend all of my time writing dumb things about being in love with girls and how they mean more than the world to me and even then some…

The Poet-Muncher

what to think of the world anymore/is a serious question like a toothache/ or this sore throat/or the nagging love for someone who’s gone/I don’t understand any better than the next person/they point to me and say “poet” and nod their heads/at explanations that I give them without numbers/no graphs, no statistics/poetry is the science [...]

Untitled Poem #138

he thought of strength in terms of eagles and coyotes: creatures of power, of flight and of prey. he could hear the frogs croak for him and for the death he knew was behind his shoulder. he knew that his writing had changed. he knew that he needed to live very differently; to tell those [...]

The World in My I’s

I always think that I start too many poems with I. I wonder if people really care what other people really think. But it’s enjoyable to think someone else will enjoy looking through my I’s.

Untitled Poem #-19

once upon a time I was a youth, no corpse dream thing, tiny and small, but I was as big as the world, bright and unbuttoned like metal. so anyways, I bend and I breathe. the sieve of my skin leaks the sand of my cloud life; strange clouds, odd clouds for people far away [...]

Blocks

I build more friends to aid me when you’re gone. I build songs to pass the time; the melancholy ones sound the best. I build whole worlds to think about that never get explored. I build schemes to make you happy and giggle and cry and love me more. I build creatures mute and motionless [...]

Pinky Ring

cold turquoise ring: you break, my friend. our journeys together have just begun, but I realize that you are old. grandfather to father to daughter to friend and thence to see more of the world with your blue blue eye.

Olde with an E

clutching vainly at the relentless grains of time; the youth that still holds to his mother’s skirts – afraid of the world – who constantly skins his knees. old. I’m growing old, and I’m beginning to like the idea that I’ve only recently come to accept. I’m giving up my desperate search for a way [...]

Untitled Poem #11

My life is with what everybody has toyed Shuddering, quaking, my will is destroyed. I fall to my knees with a heart-rending cry That echoes around in an empty blue sky. Now the tears come, they come like a flood But it’s not saline moisture, it’s dark crimson blood Coursing down my cheeks, staining the [...]

Dawn

The first misty light of dawn Caresses the edge of the world And turns grey clouds to pearl It wakens a peaceful fawn. Rosy pink shafts of sun Curve around a sleeping earth Dancing in their endless mirth Frolicking and having fun. Dodging between blades of grass Hues and colors, shades and tints Sage, tulip, [...]

Leper

Slumped by the wall Trampled by feet Too dirty and too obscene Sign around its neck In big block letters: LEPER OUTCAST UNCLEAN In sixteen different languages. Missing one wrist and About half of its face Splotches of purple and green It silently speaks Through rotten teeth LEPER OUTCAST UNCLEAN But no one hears him. [...]

The Ballad of the Coffee Stirrer

Upon the dusty linoleum floor Lies a discarded coffee stirrer. Weak and useless with a hollow core Its memories only a blur. It lies in wait for something new Stepped on is a way of life. A bottle cap with stripes of blue Joins it in its strife. Upon the ground, unnoticed by us They [...]