THE CREATIVE ESCAPE

The sky disappeared The world has faded Voices once loud Are soft and muted Passion spilled out In inks and paints A world created To drown the noise And I wonder Am I leaving slowly Am I doing it again Part of me Is disappearing Slowly but surely Into the silence I’m creating Man… I’ve…

IT’S NOT TOO LATE

Twisted shadows Stain her eyes Feet buried In a satin hole Hands doing shots Of numbness Rusting guts No more triggers No more tears No more fixes Night falls A gauzy blur As eyelids Fall shut To glimmers Of light Sprouting As if rooted In glitter A reminder You hold a life To not fuck…

A STORY

Don’t think Walk slow Stay steady Focus on steps Close off sound Close off smell Shallow breath Step into shower It’s cold Sharp inhale Shock Water warms Wash hair Wash body Then cry Cry harder Feel your body Shaking Breaking Washing down drain… No… Stop thinking Feel the water Stand until It grows cold again…

MUTED

Sounds tend to throb Slightly muted Under the noise of Blood rushing A vibrating River Dulling my words I’m in here My eyes plead My hands reach My face contorts But my voice Is imprisoned By the sound Of my own pulse *NOTE There have been moments in the past that are hard to describe.…

TRENDSPOTTING

Reconciling never ends As the narrow bones Widen into countries And the steps descend Into chaotic drumbeats We churn the gold out Spread it on idols Tarnished repetition Tok tok tok tok tik Developing desperation The bell tolled And landscapes rolled And nobody Was the wiser

THE LAMENT

I keep looking down To see if my skin is still there It feels like it’s crawling off Trying to leave me exposed No way to hold myself in I keep grinding my teeth So much my fingernails hurt Sympathy pains maybe Spreading throughout my body My muscles are tense Working my joints Warming my…

THE SINS OF TRAUMA

There are lots of things I hate About trauma Real honest to goodness trauma Like… How it automatically steals Future joy How it cripples effective communication How it makes trenches With one way signs in brains How it dictates patterns Of protection Of avoidance Of self-sabotage Of self- destruction Of hyper-vigilance How it demands boundaries…

SPRING MIX

Green leaves sit Vibrate and valuable Huddled together Inside plastic Waiting They did their job They grew big Got picked And packaged And ended up In my fridge Where good intentions For health and happiness Wilt slowly Eight dollars and change Each week Wasted on Not following through

SUBTLE NIGHTMARES

I’ve been dealing with an especially long bout of nightmares. They don’t bother me really other than I wake up more often and that bothers me eventually. Some are relentless and some just… sneak in and subtly warp things. Like an especially large or evil smile on the face of a loved one. Or my…

MELANCHOLIA

I broke down In a place Called Famine Wishes On my back Good intentions Safely packed Sacred shrines Built with Dry split bones Line streets Paved with Bricks of mold A hungry place With liquid teeth And too many Stranger things Upside down Reciting prayers Of starving dread Too many Inky squids Writing love letters…