Million Scarlet Roses

we are a million scarlet roses
tumbling lightly on heady winds
through poppy fields
and pale skies
soft light giving shadowy depth
to silky petals
noontide
kiss of light upon a blossom
all the edens of the earth could not compare
to the dust devil wilderness
of the throat of a rose
we are
we are
we are of the world
a million scarlet roses
heads tossing in the winds
give breath to all that is
wake up
fall for the stars and breathe the moonbeams
ache for rain and pine for sunlight
soft kisses on petals made of satin
love given by all that's good
life, tenuous and faulty
keep your head up
no matter the evening pale, the dark
the swallowing shade
the sun arises
and
we are
we are a million scarlet roses
tumbling lightly in heady breezes
an ocean alive with potential
endless in the motes of soft wind
in a dust devil wilderness
filled with such pure
perhaps.




(c) 2015

Scattered Thoughts

touch like sunlight
warm
inviting, clear skies
breathless in breezes
luck, lady luck
how you have blessed
this little dewdrop

feel like sunlight
expansive
open
free
freedom to be awake
in an inverted world
painless

you

entrance

i am

dissolving into light
this warmth
this creation of memory
wholly new

say my name
i remember
a reminder
i want

you

fascinate

i see

your touch like sunlight
pure energy
breathless
catching, holding, caring

i feel your
touch
through disjointed
fingerprints
unable to focus
expanse of consciousness
more
please

sunlight, like water
whet the wanting
sharpen
i could drink you
simple contact
rain on a desert
there's more than just
wanting
necessity

drink me
i am the ocean
you the sky
falls the rain
replenish



(c) 2015

Pre-Crash Thinking

snail trails, shiny markers
tear stained ground, my cheeks
thought forms wrestling with my good sense
knowledge of who and what and why
questioning decisions
afraid of pain
i wonder why i do what i do
i wonder why i say what i say
breathe the air i breathe
care the way i care
all it is is useless air
rushing in, rushing out
i'm caught in the middle
of a push, a pull, a cycle
i never meant to fall
i never meant to sigh
maybe i am what i'm afraid i am
a speed bump
a way station
a pit stop in a greater journey
but that's not what
not ever what
i would want to be
i wonder why i do what i do
too fast, too hard, to much too soon
kept secret and safe and hidden
but still there
still felt
still crumbling me down slowly
step after step down the road
laughter and stars and who could know
i can't pretend to be anything other than me
honesty, not hiding
but seeing that smile
seeing that way those eyes turn up
imagining the laughter shared
imagining the memories
i cannot compare, i am sure
crumbling to uncertainty
i'll continue
continue
continue
until the crash
at least i know.



(c) 2015

Sky Child

gazing at stars
with laughter
the tender sigh of contentment
of you, lover, nestled close
strong arms
safety
the worn pages of a favorite book
the soft notes of a good song
the memory of those smiling eyes
and the touch of hope
these notions
caught in the scent of incense
with a hint of cedar
you remind me of stars
the sky, a sky child
blinking fascination
your pages draw my eyes

i feel infinity
these notions of ever onward
catching, holding, silence evaporates
some things to notice
the old barges on the water
how the wet sand smells
cold cherries and ignoring stop signs
laughter, unhurried forward motion
wet roses in the late night air
driving too fast
just to see the world go by, and you sooner,
i confess.



(c) 2015

Flux

We are in infinite flux
Or perhaps dreaming
Our cells dividing
Life continuing on with nothing left
With nothing left to dream of,
Yet still we dream
Our philosophies crumbling
Continually building on themselves
Even as they succumb to change
These infinitudes of fluctuation
Carry us aloft
We are naught but creatures
Caught in a maelstrom
Tossing, turning, helpless in the tide
I feel infinite.


(c) 2015

Blue Kisses

kisses that linger on my skin
soft, pale lights,
effervescent, aglow
tenderness untold, awoken
feather kisses, softness
you hold me with simplicity
genuine, honesty, favorite place to be
sweetest thoughts
i am myself with all i am
remaining unafraid
my soul is safe
in kisses still lingering on my skin
and the pale light of dawn
i am effervescing within this
featherlight
tenderness.


(C) 2015

The Truth

the truth is sometimes hard to tell
the words don't come
the syllables stutter and shift
the wanting turns to mutters
half heard admittance and sighing
sometimes the truth hurts the most to keep in
to keep quiet and tiny in the innermost heart
these things, these sighs, these words
all that are supposed to be said
catch in throats and tumble half formed
from lips that seek to suck them back in
as if they never were
this truth, this hope, this thought
the words don't come out in the right order
emotions inform reality
the tongue stumbles like high heels in the cracks
of a sidewalk on a busy street
what belongs to one can be breathed out
in honesty unrepentant
the price, the cost, the damnation of a perhaps
the constant fear of words
the things lips try not to say
those concepts too much unformed to birth
into this vague world of chances
what must be said, this honesty, the truth kept within
for fear of punishment
these little collections of noises given meaning
by ancient history
that history which built so much caution
this truth, what may never be told
something larger than life
lingering on the tip of a tongue
resting against the cage of teeth
behind lips that seek to stop and catch the tumbling words
to take back the voicing of a perhaps,
a desire, so much more than wanting
but the truth is sometimes hard to tell
this truth, with these consequences, with this perhaps
the tumbling words appear like swords
these sighs, these words, what could be worse
than these lips that seek to halt the passage of knowledge
but instead spill the truth
like water from a glass
this perhaps takes flight
but does the flight soar
can the wings of truthful speech
not be halted by the simple sigh and closing teeth
of a tiny choice
to save the truth for late at night
when nothing stirs and the speaker speaks to the stillness
alone with honesty
for sometimes the truth is hard to tell
when the words are yet too unformed to birth
and the listener sees the world through eyes
that cannot yet understand
a perhaps too early said.


(c) 2015

Being Young

with lungs full of high priced cigarettes
and a stomach full of cheap whiskey
with Fall Out Boy blaring
through shitty speakers
with no bass
is this what it means to be young?

to drown bitterness and sorrow
with drops of loathing
clothed in alcohol

to suffocate self hatred
with nicotine and bloody tears
weeping down sides

is this what it means to be young?
to express yourself with slow suicide
pretending to be okay
until even you believe it
sometimes

i've never felt better
am i lying?

i'm the prettiest fuckup
with the best taste in tobacco
and caffeinated blood

i'll make a pretty corpse, it's true
sex, drugs, rock and roll
what's there to miss?

rat-a-tat-tat on the door
is it someone i love
or a reminder of all the things i've done?

with lungs aching from classy smoke
and a breaking heart
from the past
with music and daydreams and failure
is this what it means to succeed?

burnt to the filter
inhale slowly and it won't kill you
sip it like it matters
and maybe it will
hope that it will get better
and maybe it could

they say it never gets better than this
and this is pretty fucked up



(c) 2015

Personal Fantasy

your dark, personal fantasy
strange, erotic, lucid
smelling like beeswax and leather
you're only home in your own head
spiraling, out of control,
you're a galaxy
untamed, unbowed

your dark, personal fantasy
Freudian, eclectic
it makes you shiver
these things that create something within us
feathers on the skin
lashes, closed lips that beg
we are unencumbered in those moments
i miss this

your dark, personal fantasy
bent, twisted, deranged
you like that, don't you?
you like it when it's burning you up
you like it when
you like it
you like it when it erases all that could be wrong
to sink, simple, into a different consciousness

your dark, personal fantasy
filled with yes ma'am and no sir
brings you lust
panting, desiring, you want more
no
please
no
please
well since you asked so nicely

your dark, personal fantasy
you love it when you can't see what's coming
don't you?
yes
but it's not that simple is it?
no

your dark, personal fantasy
tied up in knots, unafraid
it frees the breath in your lungs
expressive in its tightness
gasps say so much more than words
they do?
yes.


(c) 2015

Red

how do i describe something like this?
this odd liquid shimmer
this color unmatched in its many shades?

it's the color of love, of lips brushed with pigment
of sighs, and that feeling of waking up too soon
it's the color of the first tendrils of sunlight
after a dark night
filled with clouds

it's the stammer in the voice of a boy
giving the eulogy
for his father
it's rage

it's the scent of cinnamon
the blush on the cheeks of a young child
being told no, the same blush
for different reasons
on older, wiser cheeks

it's the clinging touch of a lover
the lingering marks from their teeth
the shape of a hand,
whether from hate or lust i do not know

it's the lines on the skin of a sad young thing
who, devastated by something,
seeks destruction

it's the deep, pearl shaped drops
oozing slowly from lily soft flesh
or the swirl of water down the drain
from coloring hair

it's the odd laugh that sometimes
bursts forth at the wrong times,
the varnish on her fingernails,
the hope of a new dawn.

they call it red, crimson, sanguine...
i call it
the color of yes


(c) 2015

Laughing at Dragons

You make me
Forget about dying young
Living is much too bright
Leaving is always hard
But all the hellos are worth the pain
Every morning, I'm alone at midnight
I have a war raging in my mind
All I have to keep myself sane
I hear the birds in the fog
On the powerlines that sing a name
I can howl to the moon every time
But I know you can't hear me
I just might go the distance
I just might run
We can play house in cities made of steel
Make me crazy, let me be wild
We can laugh at the dragons flying in the clouds
And I can love to
Drive fast, bass beats thundering around us
This is the best hell
We can run wild
We'll live fast and die old
And every night I chant to myself that I am not afraid
I am not afraid
Breathe with me, we made it out
We made it to the other side
Let's fly
All the hellos are worth the pain
They're worth the hours looking out the window at the trees
Listening to the birds in the fog
On the powerlines that sing a name
We are immortal
And deep in my electric heart
Swelling with the tide and moments
I am howling at the moon



(c) 2015

Black Eyed Queen

razor blades and daisy chains
and people stop and stare
at the girl in the black dress
lying on the spiral stairs

who is that girl you never noticed before?
what was her name?
what made her smile?
truly smile, not that Mona Lisa grin?
let the show begin

there were tiny monsters in her dreams
tiny, ageless fears with sallow skin
the low light gave them freedom
to hunt this harlequin girl

it's kill or be killed in the midnight dawn
it's rage and hopelessness
there is no discipline in this empty plane
just bad synth music and operatic failure
tell your stories to the clouds
and no one will notice the tears

you can only be empty for so long
before the world fills you up
with passion, ashes, bitterness and fear
with love and life and dreams
with love, the night glimmers

stars have no place in a world without hope
constellations gazing down at a girl without direction
the moon can watch her footsteps
and hide her sins
but the last light leaves her alone again




(c) 2014

Electric Ashes

A long time ago I was adrift
I was that hopeless girl with no direction
That was my truth

A long time ago I thought I was alone
I was a single atom among unknowable numbers
I was going to die alone
And all it did was get worse

I settled to a rhythm
I was a pale form of myself
I was a simple fairy tale in the wrong book

I was but ashes
Flickering.

My heart whispered to me
Open Sesame
And of a sudden I could see
My feet were carrying me along
And I don't want to lie
But I felt like I was flying
Down an escalator in a crowded hall

I suppose you could say that I was asleep
And the sound of water woke me
And the crazy green blood of a new dawn
So stop the world

All I want to say
Is written down in dust on a hundred thousand pages
Take the words from the air and speak them anew
But I don't want to tell the truth
Because in all these years the world has spun on
So I suppose you could say that I'm afraid

Last night I stood onstage
I was breathing the world around me
I was alive
I could feel the rightness in the world
I put it down to nerves
But the tingle that ran through me was electric

So when I wake up, and with a quilt and cocoa
And I want to watch the snow
Take a breath of the icy air
Listen to the silence

The silence speaks more words than I ever could
Not in a thousand lifetimes
Or with a million books

Every flake of icy white that falls
Says a few words
They say,



(c) 2014