The way you sleep

poetry

As still as a broken toy
But wired like a landmine
Waiting for something
I just haven’t quite
Figured out yet.
Every night across the
Silk-screen canvas of your brain;
A dazzling watercolour
Of ferocious intensity.
Ten long years of painting
Where all the colours
Smile and wink,
Dance to Moby,
And kiss each other
Hard on the mouth
Like Mulholland Drive paramedics.

About the Time…

poetry

At which things started breaking
Was about the time when fists started flying
Which was shortly after the apoplexy set in
Which was preceded by shrill screaming
That had elevated from guttural yelling
As a result of voices trumping one another
Heightening in octave with every rebuttal
As body language and seething glares
No longer conceived the harm inflicted
Which was about the time or soon after
One diminutive and seemingly inconsequential
Sardonic comment had been uttered
In the delicate form a of solitary word

Paroxysm

poetry

Sally squanders bits of youth on the dance floor
like a tit in a trance, boogying towards death without resistance,
her body quivers and twitches in a lovely meaningless despair,
she is digging for truth. Intangible and eternal.
Her beauty is in the moment; a transient luminiscent energy firing up her atoms in an electric storm. 
    

Hopes Up

poetry

I don’t know what I’m expecting
I hardly know what to expect
when I
shift my body ever so slightly
to the right
and get just enough of a view
to see that point of interest
(At least a point of my interest)
off in the distance

Back and forth and back
and forth my gaze wanders
body twisting
left and right and back to where
I can see
but what? I do not know.
It is unexpected.

Double Negative

poetry

I’ll be a millionaire, I tell you!
Filthy freakin’ rich, it’s true.

I can’t believe it,
But here’s the secret
And don’t tell a soul!

I owed Johnny $10 bucks
And Derek $10 more

So using what I learned
In school about math

I just multiplied the
Negative $10 bucks
I hadn’t paid that
Schmuck Johnny

By the $10 bucks
I had owed my
Old buddy Derek

And check this out:
I have a $100 bucks!

I’ll be swimming in cash soon.
Gosh I love math!

arrow

poetry

\\\on this given day
–we write in your language
on the L[an(231)]D we TOOK
from
you
777777in gasping sighs
and animal grunts
..eating
and sh1111111iting
a_____s class\\\\\less
middle of^ th#e ro0oad
m:::::o<<<<dels////
of an outdated design;
dea
d words{272634}
,

dead senses.

Grease

poetry

grease-blackened hands denote
either
recent hardship
or
rent paid
by the fingers that work
furiously
on those grease-blackened hands
to
the bolts and springs and
nuts
and parts that click and shake
when
everything is working properly.
but
goodness, it’s so hard
sometimes
to either wallow in despair, or
to
bring yourself to bear
against
the parts that always
cause
that mess in the bathroom.
Grease
permeates the situation.
That’s
that, sometimes. Now
get
to work.

i’ve thrown my inspiration the way of the broncos’ super bowl dreams

poetry

oh i write brilliantly when the sun has been hiding behind the clouds for months at a time and i’m frozen. my down jackets and extra layers of all-humanity-is-suffering-alongside-of-me socks bring out the best in my desire for clouds and trees and something which will bring me joy. the hope on the horizon of the summer they claim will come.

but then i up and moved to where the sun will never fail to shine and i cannot pass the hour without both a hat and sunglasses (an accessory i’ve never used in my whole life and thus had to purchase the kind that fades in and out but embarrasses my wife when indoors and still slightly faded – but i love it because at the core of me i love when i’m judged a fool). now the mountains scream beauty to me every day and the last of our issues are being worked out in a city that actually serves donuts.

yes i’m afraid i’ve shot myself in the foot. or as a writer should perhaps better say – in the hand. i fear these bones will continue to type or write into oblivion or at least eternity and be wrought with not even the slightest of inspiration thus bringing you fear, trembling, joy, love, beauty, and everything you ever longed for

sans poetry.

I Don’t Get It.

poetry

The vastness of humanitiy’s opinions is staggering
and quite difficult to conceive, just as it is
similarly difficult to conceive an opinion
on the vastness of humanity

Are we what we say we are?
and who is we? Is it Science?
I didn’t vote for Science.

Was it God? Can he/she/it/we
give us another stab at
the definition? Oh goodness.

I hope we aren’t graded on spelling,
metaphorically speaking,
or I fear we might have failed this test.

Pessimist

poetry

Don’t think of it as half empty,
Think of the glass at half full.

If it was full to begin with,
And if there’s less now then obviously—it’s half empty.
Plus you need to factor in condensation,
And not to mention there’s a fracture at the bottom.
And you’re feeling down
Down
And out.
And some days
I just feel like poop spelled backwards.

Delirium

poetry

Last night, a god dreamt about me,
and I saw myself in the flow of his dream.
Amidst the vortex of  thunderous thoughts,
the eye of creation  was ever watchful.
It was a moment of intense gratification and heightned love,
for this sublime higher being had a spot for me in his consciousness.
I was the  red wine stain on the cosmos’s wedding gown.
The universe was festive and I was bold and depraved,
wildly engulfing myself in the brightest stream of light.
I had not a care. I was a mere fabrication,
thereby disengaged from any morale obligations.
Far from the grasp of gravity and
the vicissitudes of a life rooted in a consensual reality,
i stemmed from the dream instead and 
bloomed in vivid space.
I was
Aghast-marasmic
no
more.   

                        

oi

poetry

we can see for miles
on these hills they measured in meters
and beat our heads firmly
on rocks placed here as an ebenezer
by our ancestors.

that or we can buy donuts
beer
and celebrate

Whoddawhatsit

poetry

Give me the cue
And I’ll pull the trigger
We can start this now
Or wait until later
But either way
The time will come.
—So line up.
Take your places.
We’re about to begin.
—At your marks.
(Told you so)
Get ready.
Lights!
Camera!
Distraction!
These means they have no ends
Breaking pieces into more parts
Only to rebuild them yet again.
And with too much rope
The chances of strangulation increase per inch
Until every word is suffocatingly
Squeezed
Through taut lips, dripping like solitary pebbles into ponds
I have ideas
Some better than others
But I guess that’s to be expected.
And most worse than most.
Yes, could someone redirect me to the starting line?
It appears I’ve lost my place.
Ah, at last—completely unrelated and obscure
Viola! How admirably memory serves
When the extraordinary has become extraneous
So I’m sorry, but you must be mistaken
And could you please rewind
Because I have no idea what you’re saying.

Don’t Forget to Eat Your Irony: A Cautionary Tale

poetry

Jimmy always ate all his veggies even since he was two,
Ate all his peas and lima beans and so very strong he grew.
He scoffed spinach like Popeye and took his vitamins too.
And when Jimmy ate meat it was thirty times he’d chew.
He drank water everyday, eight glasses or more
He could do fifty pushups when he was only four!

Jimmy knew exactly what to eat and by the time he was able
He wouldn’t touch the meal until he’d read its food label.
Jimmy stayed far far away from any sugary treats,
He had no tooth for candy and that is no small feat.

In bed he snoozed his restful sleep,
Never did Jimmy count any sheep.
“Eight hours for me, no more, and no less.”
And I think that was the secret to his success.

Holding his breathe longer than a fish
He swam through water like a swan.
“He’ll be the next Michael Phelps!” they cried,
Why little Jimmy could swim a marathon.

He never sipped a soda, never smoked a cigarette
He shared his wisdom with me once, but I admit I did forget.
He rode his bike to work and he never once was sick
Amassed as many vacation days as you could shake a stick.

He ran five miles each day and five more at night
Like Usain Bolt, he was a rather impressive sight.
Jimmy was invited and begged to the Olympic trials
But he declined by saying it wasn’t worth his while.

By the time Jimmy had reached twenty-five
The papers declared, “He’s the healthiest man alive!”
They watched in awe and even began to wonder
If he keeps this up, he could live to be two hundred!

Yes, Jimmy was the fittest person in the entire world,
But as he left his house one morn that title soon unfurled:
He forgot to look both ways when crossing the busy street
And now Jimmy is the world’s healthiest pile of concrete.