Collected by Blood

Dreams are forgotten
in early morning syrup
distracting and sloppy,
Collected by blood
rearranged over eons
Travelling silently
first heated once by the Sun

Each lost mirage
Some gentle opportunity
in the dew
trying to push past fragile veins
as the certainty of fading
into shadow
taunts each cell

Don't wake them up

Considering fate,
I'll be washing the dishes
when those nukes wake up

Say that one thing

It isn’t nightmare that mocks
but its faint memory
Chalk in summer on salty concrete
pale and dull,
A strange headache of the soul

Say that one thing again
Send me to that blinding cave
where I stay lost
I’ve never slept quite the same
since then

Insincere barter
All I’ve been offered
are shadowpuppets
of someone else’s one last chance
at integrity

Repeat words, actions
I keep hearing them in my dreams
and it will always feel
as though I never woke up

Conversations

Why does it always
end in death; why do we try
to outlive ourselves

Can We Admit

Glass is meant to be the same
every time it's seen
Illusion of protection

Can we still write those poems,
lovesick
between breaths,
Inches separating histories

Can we still write the poems
about not knowing
why we ever loved them

What do we do
when all of us are lost
at the same time

Can I just admit
I don't know
if there is honor
in remorse

And that I don't want you
to keep paying me
just to charge me when I die

Hearth

Kitchen table hearth
bright yolk-stained confessional
surrounded by time

Invent

Have we ever not
been living on the brink of
annihilation

Why do they tell lies
we could not ever forgive
Wilted future tense

We invent our own
origins while the bombs drop
Prayer has never ceased

Wet Shoes

Life, sometimes a miracle,
Sometimes just wet shoes
ungracefully leaping over
muddled puddles of time

Guilt, leftover from spent seasons,
Not knowing how to
listen to tragedies without
vomiting

Most of this orbit’s gifts
lying in such toxic pools
are never hung out to dry,
unable to breathe, disregarded

Entire histories obliterated
with a bang, coupled
with some faint apology,
leave voices muddy and silent

Next to puddles
filled with expired energy,
burdens are left to air out
haphazard attempts to repent

April Showers

Collision's tart scent
Green comfort given by fate
Planets in frenzy

Dreamin'

Useless indignance
We all beg for honesty
Even our dreams lie

Praying Mantis

Pious cannibal
Something a lover might say
Sinning for hours