Dispute.

poetry

We would speak for hours
or I’d listen and
you’d tell me all about it.
And it made sense that
it worked that way,
and I never asked to stop
and reconsider the
usual course of events.

But what is one to do
when the truth of every
matter is disputed by
cold hard fact?

I’m sorry dear,
But I just can’t
believe you anymore.

cover me

poetry

the first night we
spent apart i slept
with seventy-nine men adrift
a roaring sea of snoring
lost
without you stealing
my covers–but then i
realize that’s why
your skin radiates
incandescent warmth
when i reach for you
in the middle of the
night. now i know your
thermal secrets

and I’m not afraid to use them
against you.

test subject

poetry

can’t get these things
to come out of my mouth
when my equations are solved
before i write them down
by the things they don’t
teach in school and you’ve
got to find them out yourself
and if you aren’t looking
hard enough, well
that’s deplorable.

Gary.

poetry

And t’s sobering
to see the best of men sit
Fighting for 3 long years,
just to witness all the good times.

To make God Damned certain
that his kids have grown.
To make God Damned certain
His people were taken care of.

It’s not a death in the family
but it hurts like one.

Goodbye Gary.

We miss you already.

Ghost Stories.

poetry

We told ghost stories
while driving down a
mostly-abandoned midnight
stretch of I-94.

The truck hummed familiarly,
keeping a semblance of
comfort as our minds Raced
back to places where we
didn’t know what lay
quite beyond the ring
of our flashlights.
When gates swung
for no good reason,
and toys came on
without a battery to
power them.

the thoughts of forgotten
fears gripped us,
memories of times spent
in dark places we
probably ought not
wander through.

And without the comfort
of that constantly
humming motor,
I’m certain we would
have driven ourselves
Insane.

Conformity

poetry

Going home is strange
and nearly, almost always
leads to regression,
not within me
but within my dad
who mistakes me for the child i was
and forgets that i can make my own choices
but instead expects me to join in
to whatever the action is,
whether that is eating
mylanta for upset tummies
or drinking water
when i don’t want to
or taking a dump
at the appropriate time,
so that after i leave,
i never know how
i make it on my own.

i’m losing my mind

poetry

these things sit very
firmly like the earth:
money
institutions
the thoughtless
american dream.
you cannot budge them
they do not need to be
emphasized
we’ve already bought in
we are no longer
on earth, we are
in a country. we are no
longer a human being,
we are a caucasian male
american. we are no longer
singular. you walk outside
and you’re not a human
standing on the earth
breathing in the air
your standing in the middle
of property, names, buildings,
commerce, shit.
but it’s fact
and
anything else
would
be
crazy.

i’z

poetry

my eyes alone
my eyes are alone
i see through them
as does no one
else
i see through them
and am solitary
yet a person
like everyone else
but i don’t know
what everyone else
sees because i
can only see through
my eyes alone
you know me?
how could you
know anyone else?
you didn’t exist
until i saw you
through my eyes
alone.