Strings

Solemn vows are often subdued in the darkness of Heaven and Earth.

Quiet longings become voiced in desperation and dilapidation.

And the solid groundwork built upon love and tenderness begins to crumble

As the harsh light of reality peels back the velvet sky to show what has occurred.

Persephone knew

As did Orpheus, but his was of lamentation, not of contemplation.

The blind boy pulls his arrows back to those already removed from the board.

And the solid music of Artemis forces us to put on blinders....

To what is right...to what is wrong.

And the pillars of Earth, Heaven, and Hell shake as we commit to

Four words of ferocity.

Four words of terror.

"I don't love you," said in the whispers of Ouroboros.

And our answers are not, "Why not?"

No, we instead say, "And why should you?"

Asleep (With NI)

I meet you in a dream

somewhere in the land of nod

we forget introductions and focus on possibilities

swirling brush strokes of time's children follow

and the indigo moon weeps her joy

surrounded by stars that spell out our future

we stare at our pasts in the embers of cold fires

lip singed scars on our necks the only remaining heat

and long lost touches our only memories

and when we chase the flames again we find them frozen

dead in the four chambers of existence

nothing left but this tiny second of rem

an eternity in my thoughts

as the golden dawn destroys Selene,

my search ends

our eyes open filled with stars and the fresh sunlight

and we step on fresh sand and dew

toward infinite potential

Astronomy (Written with NI)

Slipshot down a nubile curve toward grateful fog

where I lose my mind between her and reality.

Fingers and lips blend into ethereal ecstasy

and in her heartbeat and breath,

I can see the end of the galaxy.

Stars blaze in her eyes asking...begging me

to search brave new worlds.

I navigate by the constellations

now forming along her curves

and lose myself in uncharted moments.

Without a map or guide,

she whispers new directions.

Her words pulling me away toward darkened stars.

Nightblind, I fully succumb to her seductions

and am filled with the secrets of the universe

as the planets succumb to death.

Falling from Grace (Written with NI)

The white shadows form frozen ghosts.

They quietly flit about in static light

and in the darkness of negative space,

I find long forgotten vigils to those not yet imagined

scattered across the abyss like cryogenic dreams

and dancing with an angel on the tip of a needle

until their balance sways and heads toward

points of nullification.

A deep void made of ten thousand shadows.

I become the angel on the tip of a needle

pulling off my own wings

and hoping for a soft landing.

The reasons too many to recollect.

The consequences too hard to fathom.

So, I close my eyes.

The rushing wind becomes my bride.

The air whispers truths and vindications

and the blurring world fades past.

No earth will slow my descent.

No touch will deny my destiny.

No names to fog my clarity, only this...

a silent soliloquy to love's loss.

Memories of ghosts drowning,

in rivers of my own longing,

cannot help to douse the fire of green hope.

As the moments push me further,

they won't let me forget.

I plunge through the mirror.

The surface merely ripples,

reflections dilute and then disappear.

The fall gives way to a sickening rise.

When I open my eyes, everything

and nothing has changed

except for the eyes of March

staring down into my soul.

Seeing more than I am able

and pushing the stars away.

I relinquish my ideals

and give in.

Set down among the dewdrops and nettles

a razor takes form across my heart.

Quiet slashes remove malignant memories

of lost love...lost truth...lost moments

and before the sins appear,

I am bathed in the light

of her innocence long forgotten

redeeming the monster within

to almost child-like savagery.

Faith

Because you have a songbird in your soul

That sings a song of what the universe is, was, and shall be

Because a compass buried in your heart

Points you toward a light beyond the darkened horizon

Because we have to act on faith at times

Or all is lost

Because you have faith

I may not be the monster but the man.

Sinner Man

Standing alone in the cacophony of life

Sitting alone in the stillness of breath

Moments pass as hearts and wings beat to war drums

Your words drip down my neck and sink into my shoulder

While soft tears are lost among the buses and blurring feet

Solomon stands above fingers pointed at me in disdain...in disgust

Second lives intersect in strewn glass

And absent daughters take a chamber to darkened floors

Because we shield

Because we hide

Because we deny

Because we idealize

Because we are broken as a whole

And like the clarity of reality awaking a dream's death

It burns

Force of Nature

The dripping of non-existent water

Forces my brain awake as the corn

Blows in the tired wind.

Morning has come, but day is not at the door.

Weak musings of protest escape sugar plum dreams

As 33 separate sides slink together in line and

Move along dusty carpet toward harsh reality.

Quick splash of life's nectar drips into a Colorado bowl and

Wrests focus into being.

The carnival has problems all over, but must be open.

Buttoning denim's second skin, I move through the black velvet

And begin making mountains out of molehills.

As the sun rises, my only thought is the approaching storm tearing down

The work I have done with nothing more than a careless whim.

A thought,

A whisper,

A yip, and I stand before a child of Zeus ready to do battle

Before her daughter takes leave of light and air.

Quick prayers do nothing, and the sun abandons his guard.

Rise and fall over slashed days will keep me here long after the land.

Vanish

Deep below raging waters

Far from static eyes and

Narrowing lines

Lies the small piece of bliss

Lodged in surging veins.

A small child of devotion

Feeds him in his cage and

Comforts him while the water roils

And the wind howls.

Bliss asks his new masters to let him

Be the father. To let him hold her again,

But reality steps to and proclaims,

"You are not blood."

So bliss rages in silence as his cage is lowered again

With their faces carved into his back,

And reality sets forth to pull the ship through a storm

Of his own creation.

Most Days (written in two minutes for an assignment)

Most days
I squeak by the mirror
Hoping the wisps fall in place
Like the gods of old.

The Fonz, Batman, and Roosevelts
Break in the wind
Yet our egos remain checked
On the empty, open range

I've taken the splendor of youth
And hung him next to the jerseys of old.
Someday my son will remove him, but
Not while the door is held in check.

I hold redemption in the palm.

I beg Sisyphus, Socrates, and
The Wall of May 3rd to Wait
For me,
But the ghosts of Mars pull me into
Isolation.

Atlas

Do not go the extra mile.

When clouds are seeded and wind blows the crowd down

Do not go the extra mile.

When the eyes of perilous youth stare into the abyss, tell them

Do not got the extra mile.

When the gods of olde thinking stare down your ideas

Do not go the extra mile.

Because the crowd will not thank you.

Because the youth will not understand.

Because the gods will crush you.

And your hard work

Your blood, sweat, and tears will be your coffin.