this needs to happen. this and that.
and all the things we seem to label benign.
they need to happen. let them.
don’t tell me you are so naive.
they are not benign. they are messy.
you are messy. they need to happen.
O God,
O God,
it is me
that you love
and I can
scarcely fathom
my heart above
how I feel
just now
when you say
it is me
that you love
O God of strength
my God of weight
have mercy
on me
i’m about to break
and bear lightly
upon my soul
for just a little
is far too great
mercy, O, God of love
have mercy
on me
O God my God
I am but a shell
emptied of all
but this skeleton
empty of life
pulsing beating life
O God, can you
fill me?
can you flesh these
dry bones and
raise me from the dead?
just for now.
so that I may
wake to see
the sunrise just
one more time
O God my God
Have mercy on me
plant me down
here in this nowhere place
where no one knows
and the known replaced
[read more]
i’m tired of hiding
behind a pen
the pain
that is building
inside me a dam.
do you really want
to know what is true?
[read more]
So tonight
is the night…
i guess
and i have mixed
emotions
when i think
about my emotions
and you
because the morning
will come
so much faster
than it usually does
and you will
still be smiling
at me, i hope
and make me feel
the same way i do
this very moment.
[read more]
an alcoholic
in a wine cellar
might not pay attention,
the kind he should anyways,
to the wood grain
in the barrels
the way it cheetah streaks
down the oak
like an almost empty
paint brush stroke,
or the light
that is, thank God,
quietly missing
from the room.
[read more]
there is chaos
inside of me
fingering my bent
tendency towards
entropy
and the need
to lean on…
…anyway. if you could see…anyway…
[read more]
the edge of contentment
words come, i’m blown apart
stones cut, stones receeding
waters rise, my ears are bleeding
[read more]
old stains are all that remain
of living room picnics
and making love on the floor
the house still carries the lies that i married
and the memories from Christmas
that won’t happen anymore
[read more]
dear doctor,
might you see me
today?
yes today.
now that would be nice.
there seems to be
something awry.
you see, i cannot
see myself in the mirror
and this silly talk
of pregnancy
is just plain absurd.
[read more]
there are all these
round colorful balloons
floating around my head
and the cluster
is causing more fear
than i can handle
for a clown of my age
[read more]
O God,
will I ever sing
the way I sang
for you
when I sung
before I knew
what I know
now?
[read more]
sun across the floor
burns where my painting
of those orange bundled children
isn’t hanging anymore
my room is empty
and I am saying…
to this place
to this place
[read more]