I Love It

I love it.
The intimate caress of flavors
Bathing my tongue
Drawing patterns in sweetness and salt
Crisp sourness and things more bitter than hate
Oranges and lemons, and the peelings of a grapefruit
Vanilla and chocolate and sin.
I love it.
I want to bathe in scents
Tender, blushing apple
Clean, sweet apricot
Create a symphony on my lips
Wash away the taste of air
With the wind on my face
And rain in my hair
I want to taste the thunder
I love it.



(c) 2014

The Woman in Red

There’s a red clad woman dancing on the sidewalk

Her head is full of the glory of life

And she’s singing

Can’t you hear her singing?

She’s singing

Can’t you hear her sing?

People think she’s crazy

Her heart is burning, her head is pounding

Her eyes are full of liquid rage

How dare they, when they know nothing,

Criticize the life of someone they will never meet?

How dare they?

How dare they?

There’s a red clad woman dancing on the sidewalk,

Her head is full of screams

And she’s crying

Can’t you see her crying?

She’s crying

Can’t you see?

She feels alone in the world, her life over

She runs a blade across her skin

To let her horrors out

People think she’s sick

But they know nothing of her disease

She feels the wrath of a world alone

In solitude and mayhem

She wants freedom from her woes

She is on her own

How dare they?

There's a red clad woman singing in the rain

Her voice is soaring, soaring

And she's smiling
Can't you see her smiling?
She's smiling
Can't you see?

She's healing from her wounds
She can breathe again
She feels free from the pain she felt

People see her beauty, such beauty
They say she shines like the horizon

She feels like fire 

Aflame with dreams and passion

She has begun to sing anew

She is not alone
They dared to be kind
And she is saved

(c) 2014

Self Destruction

young blood, coursing though
innocent, soft red, pure
easily corrupted, changed
life always takes its toll
a push, a pull, forces
nailing our feet to the ground
heaping desires on the tender shoulders of youths
expectations, algorithms to determine
what we like, who we are, what we want
how we live
sickness is defined by freedom
freedom of thought makes us mentally ill
medicated, studied
our cries are silenced
our blood runs thick and dark
the innocence bled out

and so we self destruct-
we inflict pain on ourselves
cuts on our skin
marks showing the hell we're in
we grow up before our time,
jaded, unacknowledged, pained
seeking solace in self destruction
we remain alone
don't be different, don't dare
we claim equality, but are still persecuted
for our genders, for whom we love
deemed "too young" to know, we are "confused"
we've tasted our own blood from being struck
cried ourselves to sleep because of harsh words

and so we self destruct-
we've lost our innocence, it was taken
by a world where being honest about yourself
loving yourself, is treason
our youth, my generation, is destroyed
our youth, given over to degradation
told to grow up - they say they care
yet when you bring home the person you love
you are gone; your family closes the door
the locks are changed

and so we self destruct-
we don't have what we need
in a world that says we are equal
we are less than nothing
i fear for our children.


(c) 2014

Anguish

where have i failed?
this long march, and blood on my hands
rivers of regret
tag-teaming my mind
overwhelming in their anger

where have i failed?
failed myself, forming thoughts of lifeless languor
i'm falling

where have i failed?
time and tide against me
and all the marches of man and master
i must go on
through each moment
restless

but where did i go wrong?
sitting alone for so long
have i forgotten how to cry?
has this anger at the past consumed me,
left me a husk of tears unshed
that is how i feel

where have i failed?
my honey words desert me,
tears cannot fall
but my mind screams
where did i go wrong?



(c) 2014

Cobblestone dances

i'd love to see you wreathed in light
kissed by dawn, or late at night, the moon
i want to watch you come undone
and let the shadows wreath the sun
so let me look into your eyes
dancing, in the town square
freedom in footsteps on cobbles past midnight
gentle thrumming beats pounding in heart shaped kisses on the back of your hand
simple gown, transparent, effervescent
swirling in patterns that echo dreams
beautiful, serene.
cloudless skies look on in wonder; never could the stars outshine
never could the moon ponder in all its years
your beauty, that delicate glow
wreathed in a breathtaking alacrity you sigh
and the music sweeps us away
kinetic, jump and twirl, hardly notice the hours
blind to the world
to watch us come undone
while the moon looks on in wonder
let me look into your eyes




(c) 2014

Sometimes

sometimes there's a word on the tip of your tongue
heavy and dark and full of promise
stuttering there, trembling, waiting to fall, to be spoken.
sometimes the word is a name, so soft
filled with edges and consonants and gentle vowels
sometimes the word is just a word
simple, delicate, a rose on the edge of the world
about to fall, gravity reaching its slender fingers skyward
to grip and grasp and pull it down
sometimes the word is a vow
a trembling thing, so small, so frail, so weak
but let the seed grow and it will give you pause
and a reason to wake up, in a world of a heartless many
sometimes the word is just a thought
and an endless, formless, sightless terror
nameless and feared, and there will never be enough of us
of the compassionate few, to slay the dragon
sometimes the word is an idea
hiding in plain sight, behind a Guy Fawkes mask
with the endless determination of a madman
sometimes the word has no meaning, because it's been said too often
by the wrong mouths shaping the wrong voices
but...
sometimes the word is said
and the rose falls, to shatter on the pavement, and let the shards fall
and pierce a scream of a name
to chase away the terrors
and make a vow.


(c) 2013

God

Don’t try and guess my methods

Leave them lie and let them be

Just raise your hands and pray to me

Call my name; let it ring among the stars

My grace is in the breath of a world,

Insignificant among worlds

Tiny; just a speck of dust of the map of the sky

Raise your hands and pray to me

Say my name, scream it loud

Beg for mercy, love, a burial shroud

But fear me not – great is my love

Greater than the heat of suns

But like the universe itself, it will fade

Wake in the wonder of the worlds, but remember

I cannot grant you wishes

Nor create where there was emptiness

For I am not god

Nor am I God.

(c) 2014

Dystopia

cops walk the streets with electric weapons
looking for trouble
guilt measured by the color of skin
closed circuit cameras hidden on walls watch
but the eyes and the mouth are disjointed
the woman in the alley receives no help

the human is treated as a machine
sometimes it seems, it's illegal to breathe
running for a train, to catch a bus, a hairpin on a plane
suspicious
laughing too loud or walking alone
deadly

drowning in dystopia
like water, it's all around you
blink and you'll see it
have another pill, you'll forget you saw
if you dissent, you'll regret it
as the IV unit drips chemicals into your blood
remaking, reforming, changing
opinions kill in this wounded world

wear a mask, show a face, don't let them see
the freedom to feel and think; gone
if you transgress the norms and laws
all you have will be gone

the myriad complexities of human morality
the right of an identity
deleted.



(c) 2014

Countdown

strangers at the gate
counting down,
5, 4, 3, 2,
one more day, one more night
one day there will be nothing left
naught. nil. zero.
knock, knock, knock
good day, goodbye
tomorrow, hello
red dawn, red sky
5, 4, 3,
too many people, rushing around
welcome home
5, 4,
three more days till it's all
done and gone
done and gone
done and gone
return the silence, pacem,
let there be peace
5,
for us all to breathe
let it go, let it stay
let the rain wash it all away
screaming
it's too late, too early
five minutes left
the fire is raging past its limits
let it all, all go
let it all go away
close your eyes, don't worry
stop the tide, inhale
5, 4, 3, 2, 1,
sleep.



(c) 2014

Colors

you ask me, what do colors taste like?
i reply, like the times of day, but sweeter

Blue tastes like sugar before you fall asleep

Orange tastes like cinnamon bread,
and waking up late

White tastes like candied violets and catching,
the bus in the morning
heading to school,
with your breath misting

Green tastes like honey and,
the first time you find a blooming crocus
nestled in the grass

Yellow tastes like chocolates at five a.m.,
when the clouds are just
blushing pink

Black tastes like hot tea before bedtime,
silky and sweet and steaming

Red tastes like rose petals,
and caramel while you watch the stars
on the hill behind your house

Purple tastes like spun sugar,
spider webs,
dusted with nutmeg
in the hour after dawn

Pink is like a deep breath
of vanilla
by the fire
at midnight

Gray tastes like cigarettes in the cold,
under a streetlamp in a big city,
fanning smoke tracing patterns in the air
like white pencil and black paper
haunting

then there are colors like Verdigris, Orchid, Wisteria...
Burgundy, Olive, Warm Black, which is really
just a different sort of blue
they taste like rust and cherries
like blood and music

the color of unbleached silk
gentle, pale coral
tasting of pure and crystalline water
flowing from somewhere
arriving at a place, unknown

delicate yellows and a thousand shades of pink
colored from tumbleweed to turkish rose
restless, gentle
taste like the first mists of autumn
and silence.




(c) 2014

I never

i never want to see another child
with a mark of hate on their face
with fear in their eyes
with a scream on their lips
and a hatred of themselves
a thought in their minds that they deserve it all

i never want to see another woman
with scars on her heart and soul
battered, bleeding, alone
unable to scream from the damage done
by a man, or men, in the dark or the light
by her father or her brother
by society, by the world
by her lover or her husband
by the mother who sat on her hands
and never stopped the harm

i never want to see another teen
with scars on their arms, legs, body
from a razor blade in the bathroom
brought on by the desire
for their inner pain to be released

i never want to see another person
mocked for who they love or the color of their skin
or how they dress
what gender they have come to understand they are
what foods they do not eat
what they read, watch, or do for fun
who they sleep with

i never want to hear another person say
that a woman is nothing
that a girl is a slut for saying yes
or a prude for saying no
that a boy is queer
because he cried
or gay because he hugged his friend
because he loves someone

i never want to hear another excuse
that we have freedom of speech
that they are different
that she shouldn't have done it
that she was asking for it
that he was just being a man
that boys will be boys
that they are guilty because they're not white

i am sickened by humanity
by the cruelty
by the hate
by the refusal to accept what is different
by the assumption that they are lying
by the death, by the simple inherent evil
by the excuses

take a look at history
glance through the pages that detail time
and tell me that things have been fixed
for a woman, for a person with dark skin
for anyone who is not
a straight, white,
man.



(c) 2013

The Way

the way you blink, slowly
the way you laugh, at me, at yourself
the way we can understand each other, from a glance
you showed me how to laugh when i was sad,
weeping wounds on my side,
you took the knife away,
said, you're okay.

the way you move, gently, graceful
the way you kiss, sweetly,
the way you light me up, afire, ablaze
you gave me a new outlook,
opened my eyes, wiped the tears away,
kissed me better,
now i really am okay.




(c) 2013

Snow

falls down, pretty, white
settles in your hair, featherlike
melts into tiny pinpricks, droplets
on your skin, glimmering
in the half light, you're shining

how many angels on the head of a pin
how many snowflakes will collect on your skin
let me breathe you in
let me breathe you in

snowy silence closing in, breathless, cold
moonlight glowing vright as day,
wind-tossed handfuls, laughing, playful
tiny footprints in the snow, mine, yours,
side by side.


(c) 2013