IN LIQUID FORM CREATING

The house creaks with age

Shutters closed

The paint chips away

When the wind

She blows so hard

Against the night

He stays inside

Just on the other side

Of the wall

Waiting

Until it is safe

To come outside again

 

This old tree once so grand

Now crooked and leaning

Leaves are a memory

And the monstrous roots

Of a giant, so long ago

Lay to rest upon

This dry scorched

Cracking desert lake bed

 

The knife so dull

Sharpening against leather

Back and forth

So monotonous, so skilled

Making hot sharp edges again

Perfecting the blade

To slice so true

To slice into you

The blade heals so well

If you just press it the right way

Letting the blood seep so fine

Mechanically divine

The power of humans

In liquid form

Creating the healing

Stealing the life away

So much to do in a day

 

Peeking out the house

Tip toeing through the blinds

Blinded by mid days heat

Biting down

The wood on my teeth wreak

Of your clothes

Something from the days passed

 

Knowing I have to leave the house again

To walk those roads outside

Watching, waiting, preparing

For anything that this crazy world

Just might throw my way

Pacing the line

Waiting for the right time

To jump back out

And get back on the road

Alone again

 

Never escaping my own head

Every day is a lonely bed

Been waiting for years

Maybe this time there is no going back

Maybe this time I won’t come back

To this old house

Rugged and torn

Beat down and worn

The shelter from this desert heat

Maybe this could be my last

Retreat

 

Maybe I should just keep moving

Maybe somewhere down the road

Alone out there in the world

Something

Someone

Is waiting for me

THIS SIDE OF THE LAKE

Midnight black sighs

Scream up to the sky

Caramel tight thighs

I’m not scared anymore

The girl with slanted eyes

Lets move into the next stage

The loft, the gate, the date

Night on Mondays

Kissing through Tuesdays

In the back of the room

Huddled like bread in a bag

In the dark

 

Lets just have fun today

Take my hand and let go

Of the stress of your day

Just for today we can be in love

For the whole day

We can just hug

And roll around in bed

Let the world slip us by

In the streets

The cars

They just keep coming

 

Writhe up and down

These feelings

Like oil on water

There’s just nothing to bother

Me

When we melt together

When we ride the sheets

The way you stick out your tongue

So hot, the dark, the sweat

We meet like this

Infrequently, just as

We swing back into focus

 

Loving the way

Your jet-black hair

Falls all over my place

Slide your fragile hand down my face

Kiss these lips

Now aimed true

My ching-chang for you

Loving the moment

When I pull up in front

Of the house

And see you coming out

 

So beautiful to the eyes

So hard not to cover your thighs

With my leg

When we sleep

Even though you don’t like

To cuddle much

We can just double-dutch

This next song and be free

Free to be happy

Free to be you and free to be me

Accepting of you do me

 

My new best friend

Come

To this side of the lake

Look off into the horizon

There is something

I want you to see

Let us not be afraid

Of the unknown

It’s the only place left to go

It is truly the only place

Left for us to go

MY CORNER SITS BOB

Watching the pigeons peg leg by

The sun beats you down

Sitting in shit and pee

Homeless and free

Your white beard grows as the calendar

It just skips

Reminding me of my father

Stable and grand you sit

Clothes scattered in flies

Paper bags

Crumbs of rye bread

Fisherman hat covers your sweating head

Your eyes stay monumental

I asked you one day

About the Marine Corps hat you wore

A soldier in the Korean War you were

Now soldiering dirty streets

Doing your best I guess

You pour a little gulp of liquor

Into a big gulp of rest

Sleeping bag

No zipper

No bills to lick away

Just passing cars to count on

Beach umbrella sheltered like a picnic

You wrench

I briskly walk past you at dawn

The clock radio already on

Talk radio like NPR keeps you baffled on the world you escaped

I wonder why

You still listen to what we all have become

Where did you decide

To leave this race and what was this worth

Who will reap the stories of your youth

I feel scared to touch your long

Brittle fingernails

Filthy with dirt and feces

Your skin charred well done

You must have had a life well done

For so many years

I wonder if life

Ever brings you to tears

Anymore

I wonder if there is any shore

Of waves

That could bring you back

To us

This society

Probably no one

Pondering what happened

My corner sits Bob

The old Korean War vet

The Marine Corps net

Must have missed you when you fell

I still give you a dollar every day

Knowing dam well maybe a meal

Another bottle of scotch

Anything that your big heart desires

I think of one day taking you into my place

Hot shower new clothes

Imagining the way

I would have to scrub the toilet when you’re gone

The smell of disease

And puke on your breath

Who’ll notice

This little old man’s last steps

I still look for you daily

Passed yesterday and you were gone

I gasped BOB!

I yelled wondering where

You had gone-a homeless man

Never gone

When you have no ground zero I guess

 

But just seeing your clothes and makeshift camp empty made me worry

I still care Bob

I still worry

For there is one last person

With a soul watching you grow old

Waiting a story to pour from your

Whiskered beard

Your snap-quick voice

Sleeping all through the day

I see you almost every day

Bob and now you waive back at 5:50 am

A silent friendship we have began

Bringing you food is so easy to do

You look like my dad you crazy old fool

Wipe your face more often

Keep your dreams alive

Wherever you are Bob

Wherever you are

I know this life is just but a dream

To hear inside your head for a day

I wonder what that means

For wherever you are Bob

For wherever you really are

BURNING BRIDGES WITH PEOPLE

Puking tormented acid through this lens

Destroying all that embalms me like lye

Washing this flesh away

In a river of Pigs blood

I eat

The entrails of your memory

Walking through this life of wreckage

Destroyed boats

The shores stay littered with carnage

The wind blows me away

Every time I glance to the darkened skies

Smoke fills these lungs

Destroying white blood cells we count

The hours of the night

With razor blades over my tongue

Keeping the silence a secret to no one

Living a lie in perfect harmony

Penetrating this stomach

The tissue just rips from my insides

Leave this city alone

You own nothing of it

Today it remains in awe

The stoplights are all green

Yet the sluggish of the day moves

No one goes anywhere

In this dream not even time passes us by

Listening to the sounds of my heart beat

I sweat frantically to the drum

Taken it too far again

I traveled the bridge with no hopes of returning

Ricketing splintered nails

Cracking below my feet

Dangling me alone

Above this cliff of hatred

I hang on by a thread

Watching my feet cross-over one another

Flames dancing in the night

The heat so warm

Letting this platform crumble

Like the cookie together we fall

Distant in the skyline there is no light ahead

No train rushing towards

These ropes burn my hands

Bleeding my prints to charred nails

Yellow and orange glaze my aura

Descending this love I succumb

Pulling hairs from my head one by one

This game feels so fun

Etching your name on my wrists with daggers

I dance with the line

Snorting all that comes through my frame

I steadily maintain this gain

Like a flame-thrower

I destroy you in my path

Taken no hostage

This is my romantic blood bath

We bathe in this lust

I eat

Taking all at once

I respond to every single obsession

Passive aggressive I throw guilt and shame

Powering myself like rain

You feel the confusion

Questioning your every move

You have no choice

There is no head-room to budge

You are my muse

Toying like a mouse

Teaching lessons

You never wanted to learn

These scars

Now you’ve earned

Like branding I stick to your skin

Braiding scars

Teething on these rusted bars

We swallow in harmony

Feeding this perfect reflection of destruction

Feel the love that I have to destroy

For I know no other way

Destroying this bridge

Wrecking this crib

Walk with me

Tormented

Through these burning flames