Slow Steady Drops Onto the Floor

It's a want,

A pure, selfish want,

And one I don't hide,

I miss so,

So much,

That time together,

When it was good to wake up,

When we made the best mistakes,

When we had no idea what we were witnessing,

It stays with me to this day,

A fresh wound,

They nod their heads,

But only you understand, really,

Only you friends,

Understand the jubilance when I say,

"It was beautiful,

And nothing hurt."

Young Adults

If I ever stare,

I hope you don't mind,

It's just eyes being honest,

Some wires getting crossed,

I really hope you don't think it wrong,

Sometimes I could really use your approval,

Sometimes I feel like just running out of this building,

I could be on the verge of some great fall,

And that makes my heart jump,

The excitement of falling through,

I really wish I could make people proud of me,

When I sit,

At night,

Sacrificing the present to tailored dreams.

A Distinct Lack of Deception Was Present

If you lay down,

On the wet, dark green,

The fat blades of grass,

Swept smooth by the low wind,

And look out over the grey,

Passing waters,

It doesn't seem so hard to love,

In the ungraspable sense,

Stretching wide to take in everything,

Fingertips straining,

Tilt your head back,

If you could just feel this rain,

You would hear it to.

The beckoning call of all those who refused. 

Venus is Curvy

It would be much simpler,

To assume that no one will know,

What you feel and what you fear,

And how close the two sleep,

The feeling of leaking,

Of a forehead against a peeling wall,

Close your eyes and listen to the rest of us,

We're just on the other side,

Put your hand up to mine,

Trembling lips,

What do you say?

It's a Mocking Smile Across the Room

It's a cold gap,

A space that shouldn't be there,

That leaves me,

Lurching and reeling,

Praying,

With beads of sweat,

For some sense of closure here,

Some need of touch,

Of understanding,

A warm, smooth voice,

An equal,

A beloved adversary,

In passionate entanglement,

Rising to fill the loneliness,

That surrounds me like wolves,

Does anyone hear this frequency?

If you can't don't try,

Across this chasm,

Of Derailment and Wishful Tries,

Does anyone understand this?

Does anyone vie for this?

Take Care Samantha

I remember,

The catatonic woman on the third floor,

Of the hospital where my father worked,

And the man who slept next to her,

In the chair he dragged across the room,

With his head in her lap,

He spoke to me about her smile,

And I could imagine it so well,

Oh how his hands would shake,

And he would whisper in her ear,

Something he would never tell me,

It was between them he said,

Something he had promised to do,

I visit him when I come home sometimes,

He is now in his own bed beside hers,

Lung cancer is one tough customer,

So my father says,

But it is still in his eyes,

Whatever he still whispers to her,

And I know,

There are some people who do right in this world.

Don't Shake Like That It Betrays You

We're running,

Wide eyed,

Into the night,

Necks inclined,

We stare at the sky,

Breathing steam,

Excitement,

We push ourselves harder,

Because it's up to us now,

To move the world,

Feet crunching into snow,

This is being alive,

This is purpose,

We grab hands,

It will be harder now,

We run harder now.

Effort

Your asleep,

By the end of the movie,

And I'm running down,

To carry you back upstairs,

So tired,

Of these bleak wooden steps,

Staring into static every night,

Praying for a new masterpiece,

Like a bright red bicycle,

To replace what I have made,

But I have made you,

As you smile serenely under covers,

And for that,

I will never stop being thankful,

I will never stop trying to make things better,

For you.

Tinseltown

Strong,

I feel so strong and so hollow in this,

Like memory,

Straining every detail,

The light on the table,

The dust in the air,

Two bodies stand apart,

Your white blouse stands out in front of the curtains,

Ruffled and shaking,

The light displaying an open stage,

An advantage that no one takes,

Because we both feel right in this,

And no one is shaking their fists at us,

So we go right on,

Erring.

No one is telling me what I'm doing wrong anymore.

Traveler

She rides rails,

Across the Western European ruins,

Imagining the love that took place,

Over hills and under vineyard trees,

To the sound of a brass quartet,

Mourning the November winds,

She drinks in the last of a day,

Retiring to the bed of a Lithuanian,

With jet black hair and beaten skin,

Lines of his life shoot across his forearms,

As they quiver and flex with his work,

He does not speak to her much anymore,

And seems to take his years with a determined passing,

Intent on the end result-whatever that may be,

She thinks of her father,

Laughing at the table outside an Italian restaurant,

In his frayed white suit,

The one that they buried him in last April,

She remembers his last words to her,

"The juniper seems awfully overgrown,"

Breaking her concentration she sees,

The man is watching her,

Studying, saying nothing,

She smiles weakly and brushes back her calm brown hair,

This is another instantaneous moment of your life,

Remember and cherish them like children,

For sometimes they are all we have.

Gritting Teeth

Downcast eyes,

Their unpainted lids piercing,

What is it to be good?

The fall of the century,

I'm swinging at thin air,

You're wanting to hope,

That it gets better than this,

Don't for one second think,

I don't feel for every step you take,

So I will find a way to save this,

I will vie the world.

Snowstorm

When words,

They don't come,

And the frost on the window,

Doesn't give any comfort,

Barricaded against the outside,

We huddle together for warmth,

My thoughts and I,

And we think of you,

In your own snowstorm on the other side of our small farming town,

Can we make it?

Can everyone come out,

With blinking eyes and scrunched up faces,

And take stock of things,

Of the frost on the windows,

Of the houses they leave,

And decide that outside,

It's better here,

And it really is important.