"get laid"

Those words are hideous,
Mr. Rike, you were right,
we've taken something sacred and
made it a game;

There are two halves to everyone,
and the body changes inevitably, but
the spirit is not as mutable,
and that's what counts — I hope —

because if it doesn't, then
only half of you will ever be satisfied;
"soul mates." Brave words
for a narcissistic generation.

Do us all a favor.
Treat her like a goddess.
She's kind enough to give you a chance;
please, be kind enough to really prove your worth.

small heart

an evergreen park;
searching, under the pine shadows
you will not drown here
because look around you:

you are not alone.
these growing angels are reaching
you don't need to take their hands,
because they are already holding yours.

take a breath.
it's so easy, isn't it?
so easy. don't savor it,
there will be many more like this.

wonder at the clouds you can't see,
at the treetops that cover you
like a new sky,
they protect you like a precious child,

an embrace that feels like the world
has conspired to love you and put
all its efforts into keeping you safe
and wonderful and so, so alive.

don't worry, young one.
they're above you. they're around you.
so listen:
you're not alone.

burning insides (this is one more sonnet)

The bible-burning rite leaves me inside,
With pages flying out the windowsill;
There's no place for this golden cross to hide,
So I'll ascend atop the burning hill.

As I draw close, I feel my insides freeze
Against the sour flame of burning books;
The soldiers seem to smile with such great ease;
Pretending is much harder than it looks.

I feel that some small part of me is dead:
I'm folding nothing into pleated squares
While demons crawl and sleep inside my head;
The ship is going down, still spouting flares.

They're burning God beneath a screaming sky.
I fall to ashes as the embers fly.

i'm sorry, colin, but

I don't like when people say
"we'll both go down together!"
and hats are thrown in the air, and
reviews full of praise are published,
and everyone says it's so great because
it's just so goddamn romantic!

well,
it makes me think of you and i
flinging ourselves off a veranda
and our bodies,
suffering slaves to our emotions,
bursting apart on the rocks below,
and our bones drift out onto the open ocean.

A rush of blood to the fingertips;
if we can feel each other
then we'll be close enough
and we won't have to become ghosts
to defy the laws of physics
and exist within each other.

i ran out

no more
numbers
no more grids
no more
nothing

i want my goddamn medal
i cried for your fallen
i stood for your pledges
i grew angry at your wars

i'm an angry latino
and i've never even been there
to cuba

i'm lying to get ahead
identify? i don't ify.
i just make lame plays on words

while i'm waiting for my medal

so give me my goddamn medal



please

it's fucking midnight and a half

sudoku that is
six by six;
"so strange i remember you" with church organ
set in
stone inside the temples behind my eyes; a
sound that
strays so far from the burning original;
stop and rest, he
says, from the back of my brain, you don't even
see anymore, and these
spiraling shapes are getting away from you.

six.
by six.

a couple of good quotes, and dustin, i love you lots.

"come all you weary."
gather 'round me
and i'll tell you some stories
that will give you courage to go on.

"we are bridges to someone's broken heart."
let's open ourselves up to each other.
let's grasp hands and pull each other to our feet.
we will lean on each other, and if you will teach me,
we can sing good songs to the wide, wanting road.

after sowing season, yeah!

I will not hold your hand!
I will not stroke your hair!
Don't look at me! Don't look at me!
I do not love you!

Twelve years, my darling, twelve years!
I've never seen the light of day!
This black cage is all your fault, my dear!
So break these black bars all away!

The heat weeps through my white-streaked skin!
Look at my arms, darling, look at my face!
This darkness goes for miles down further in!
I'll never see the end of me, of you, of this place!

There's a monster sitting across the stage
Who growls out his iron rule!
Your betrayal draws him to this cage,
And my screaming is his fuel!

So leave me dumb and blind, my dear,
Leave me below this earth!
I will sing and burn and drown in fear,
And await my second birth.

i changed my mind

because "well, the blood’s in the water
and the shark’s gonna come
and we swim in the dark
until our bodies are numb."

things that clash
and drums that crash
and a guitar that sings
and a piano that rings
and a voice that yells
and yells and yells
"THE DEAD MEN ARE COMING DOWN FROM THE SKY,
WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE."