Coin in hand. I stare at the visual

Hoping to find Something that can satisfy

the deep stirring hunger that I cannot dismiss.

Each wrapped confection intricately placed

to tempt me.

Alas, after war between want and will,

I clench the quarter tightly in my fist

and walk away from the vending machine.

tossing rusty coins

into this well that

doesn't grant wishes.

deep, because

it's not water in there,

it's my tears.

i continue to empty

my pockets,

trying to find meaning,

reflecting,

a visual horror,

my soul,

stretched out.

i dismiss

the storm clouds

brewing,

forming a

wispy ring

around my head.

i want to tempt

fate somehow,

bribe her.

i want to

forget.

polished pennies make for poor coin

in the house of desire.

but, the clink of ice drives distorted

visual pleasure and

draws an audible whisper.

wallflowers creep up paper thin walls,

strapping themselves to bright lights,

and spinning themselves

into faint tizzy,

breathless dizzy,

incongrous busy.

“lost and ye shall find”-type characters

wade in the deep waters of supposed sin

searching for purifying solace

in lonely arms.

anyone and anything becomes

everyone and nothing,

no one and all things,

singulars and plural.

destiny becomes free will and

change a trivial intermission

of magnaminous proportion,

nuzzled in between the tender kisses of

an angel and a devil.

Tentative Dismiss welcomes a mating call,

a bold gesture she becomes,

a tempt of unimaginable crescendo

accelerating to a level

ascending time and space.

there is brief respite in the anonymous magic

of hidden identity, but

the power of enthralling liberation

chains quickly,

locking,

securing, and

sealing the drunk promises of

sober renouncements.

so, she ends with a somber caution,

polished pennies make for poor coin

in the house of desire.

i forget sometimes, what

it means to be human

i

don’t think there’s some deep meaning to

find, to search for like the

coins in my purse when we were a dollar

short at McDonalds at 5 am. that was

life or death,

but don’t tempt me with death.

i guess this is why you drive, not me.

i

dismiss life, but

not you. you’ve

always said you were a visual learner.

you look at me while i shower eat undress walk sit

breathe

and it makes me feel, at least for a little while,

not entirely dead.

if only i had but a coin in my pocket,

alas there are none on these streets to find,

i dismiss the hunger lingering in my stomach,

and take one last deep breath in of the bakery,

wanting to tempt my fate for a slice of bread,

a visual of hope,

yet i walk the other way.

vulnerability takes courage

otherwise, it is a house, unfurnished

the walls are bare,

there's not a chair

the floors tempt

and and won't relent

their call dismisses question

because in their expression

they cry out feverishly, with no companions

visually, they are abandoned

it is courage that ends this gloom

it leaks light in the kitchen, the hall, the bathroom

a chair without a place to be

you find to be debris

but in a deep partnership

they hold hands in a tight grip

two sides of a coin

and yet, they are joined

this relationship unknown

can now be truly shown

for, what once was an empty residence

is now emerced in elegance

A coin careened in the machine.

Visible to the visual mind. Imagination moved to find.

Too deep to dismiss.

With luck to tempt.

I toss a coin to seek a soul

in a deep unlucky place

Tossed into a palm to pay an ancient toll

Hidden behind hands as I try to hide my face

A token given to dismiss those eyes

to find a hidden door

The hand outstretched to tempt, the choices pass me by

The visual completed, I start to see no more.