if faced

with trial

(I know)

you'd split,

at the side, draw me in

like Egyptian hieroglyph

above your heart

where our line

has crossed.

[My answer is a haiku]

To view such Glory

I'm Astounded to silence

I would just Listen.

I am the leper’s pen

Flesh canvas dipped in blood

Feasting on Ephialte’s priestly words

His crouched tiger tongue

Betraying gold framed knowledge

Until the baited lamb steals risk for tarpit escape

From ego death’s afterbirth delirium

And jilted martyr comedown

So apathy bites my cored heart

Down to tear moulded seedlings

Gifting the naked royal soil

Future wildflower crowns

To peasants who will never be king

Because I have written away my very soul

To the world’s insolent silence

The deserted colosseum

A sour resting place

For my bruised and disposable words

Picked at and then eaten by numb blooded birds.

It was Prom Night

Before the end of some world

When malice stalked Alice

Killing her midnite paper doll shadow

Inkless victim to his paling headlight moon.

He unloaded Hell’s flaming acid tongue

Licked her cherry chariot stars

Wearing crimson blizzard scratches

And lovesick dimpled guilt

Under dented hood heavens cradling her cutaway heart.

The roadway home hibernated cryptic secrets

Though Alice spoke without words

Whispering her motored curse to asphalt ears

Between jaundice yellow dashes

His ebonite getaway heels all molasses and chrome.

Alice’s spectre

Became blurred bee swarm motorcade

Encircling his stalled vagrant shell

Her poisoned heart’s fuel

A fatal kiss returned.

Black cherry crush

Black cherry cars

Black cherry moon

Black cherry stars.

Sadness cannot outrun your sun’s laurel wreath halo

Fitted for your gallows hanging head

My precious and sorrowfully crucified friend

Sleepless and taken to hell’s blistered womb grotto

Through bitter black nights exhausted and caustic

Where misery’s dark clustering grapes

Ring through your weathered and scaly hands

Worn dull to age gnawed skin

But look up through bruised blood shade

The wine sheen skies sink crimson glories

And swim Poseidon dashed laps

Around your fragile heart’s isle

Where hope’s charted environs

Land like cloud kissed butterflies

To swallow whole

Those coffin cradle wishes;

So put on permanent silence

The ear piked static

Of memory’s leech engorged mockery

Feeding off melancholy’s derelict heirlooms

In trauma bunker thoughts

Because your shuttered spirit’s captors

Will immolate into splintery embers

And out will deliver new birth exultant

Your unshackled bluebird

Painting cerulean skies over ash doom

Your heart’s abiding protector

That has never abandoned your sunken shoulders

Nor turned from your thorn driven side;

My dear friend

May your heaven stalled hot rod

Cruise champagne highways with raptured abandon

And bubble over dross suckled passage

As the aching road forwards

Trembles with euphoric readiness

Because there is no way that you’ve come this far

To be laid to ruin

Hung out to dry

Or die an empty and jilted

Dead bride sacrifice

For you are a walking masterpiece

Finest wine stained hands

Turning sour grapes into monarch claret

Distorted mirrors be smashed

And lying devils be damned

For your violent will to live

Exceeds death’s dying grasp.

All I Have is This Photo

November 18, 2024

All I have is this photo

Taken at the beach

I asked her if I could

She replied with a shrug

It was an older camera

I purchased it in my youth

It used film

It was my last exposure

I wanted to strike up a conversation

The original premise of my asking

I expected a cheerful change of demeanor

She remained sullen, incredibly distant

Her eyes looked everywhere

But they focused on nothing,

Nobody,

And nowhere

Had she been hurt

Had she been ignored

The indifference someone instilled in her

She now instilled in others

So, if by chance you should encounter her

If by chance you have an inclination

Drop a hint

Whatever it is, it too shall pass

Mysterious beginning;

Did you have a start?

What parts of you,

through and threw,

are conglomerate at heart?

Why is my Relationship

Defined as it may be?

Do I have some Leadership?

Am I slacking at some Duty?

If Fault finds you not,

And blame is my game,

Is evil my Nature;

(am I a Crock?)

And as Time is told

What might you be?

When it is out what stops?

Is there truth in tale of

Forewarning hailed or

Should it be taken seriously,

Or is it as reliable as that

Which is pliable for

a wooden balcony?

To all the survivors

Being born as we speak

I can't promise you much

But I know you're not weak

You've fought a whole war

Where no one could see

But you're not really alone

And that shits the key

When you're lost in the darkness

And can't find you way back

Remember these words

You can weather any attack

You're a survivor

It's what we do

An emotional Macgyver

Who can carry through

I know that shits tough

And I'm right there with you

But that's how you know

You can see this shit through

So the next time you're lost

In a neverending nightmare

Just close your eyes

And know that we're right there