I Don’t Dare

In the night, a glance,
his hand warm, sunny,
shuddering at cold

hair, wrapping around
each finger, tactile on
purpose, comfort at

last, his tiny body run
through, spear still
stuck in place, reminds

him of the fiction, of
youth, the folly of a
trap, spinning affront

static lies dynamic, they
twist out of control, like
a whizzing BB into a

belly, a bruise dusted
with blood, the tears
salty, fucking asshole,

fear and anger and heat,
eyes burning: ammonia,
fragile ego lanced dry,

pus oozes staccato, this
darkness sits in malice,
tipped tongue acrid lies,

the freedom he felt only
in dreams, a prisoner of
a short-circuited patron,

taxing the poor until a
certain death, hands now
wounded by misleading

love, torrid and fatuous,
you lived for your own
purpose, let him die a

death of honor, suck your
teeth down your throat,
cancer tackles troubled foe

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491

I am plagued

and shamed to walk here,

as long as it takes

to shake from dust and fire,

my grief is a badge,

my fist a signal of violence,

in madness

that sinks and spirals

out of control,

how insipid your faces,

wrinkles stuck forever,

frank and thoughtless you smile,

parlance and pertinence a culling,

shadows of the controller,

“his” hand, a dripping

sack of feted blood,

quote each one wrong,

hang the placard on your walls,

adjunct numbers stuck in absentia,

but my symphony of hatred

doesn’t despise,

it alone is the call that defines me,

jealous sight, you said yourself,

calls me names forthright,

a nasty craggy maniac,

furrowed brows and bland tongues,

every word a forgetful temptation,

each memory a fever dream,

I wish to forget it all,

but tonight I will,

the speed in which I live,

this bleed will heal and congeal,

and the dried scab that remains,

will fall into the waste bin,

and I will leave it there,

for you to watch over

and remember

Perfunctory

Humanity lingers
          on the tips of
every finger 
         that grips a glass
in a foreign room
         on a Friday night

Free E-books (again!)

Until Sunday (2-3-19) at midnight, I have made two of my e-books free:

Recent Poem Published in an Anthology (Updated)

Hello, friends!

A poem of mine was recently accepted and published in a poetry anthology entitled “America’s Emerging Poets 2018: Midwest Region.”

The paperback can be found on Amazon here, and on the publisher’s website here. Full disclosure, the link to their website is an affiliate link so I might earn a few dollars. Use whichever you’d like.

As always, thanks for the support and happy reading!

Damned

In the darkness,

the light inside

brightly glows

I’ve Not Heard Brautigan Speak; I Aim to Keep it That Way

Pluses and minuses, sssnakes’
passive plaintiff, a fortress
of self, wrapped and warped,
clung to plastic windows

the last man to die that day,
a victim of human ignorance,
of society and its painted
posies, masticated by guns,

bravery left in magnanimity,
soldiers stacked, bloody,
each year another forgets,
until facts distort, none left

but I won’t draw the blinds,
left aglow, washed in winter’s
bleak love, I will watch and
wilt, under blank thoughts,

and passive sunshine, in a
great whim, pitchforks win
each fight, and the gravel in
my voice stings each vowel,

but I am still here, bereft and
soft, wishing for the pain
to take its leave, hike up the
hill and stick a tent below

the stars sat watching glossy
gears twist and spin inside
the mechanical box, patches
inside patches, painted lips

singing my praise, for each
night I wrap up tight, glimmer
and shimmer, votive neckties,
I will remember the bolo tie,

and Australia, and the Wild
West, swirling smoke, wispy
hair, sacrosanct austerity, hands
like mitts, and I will thank

each day for your heart, and
your smile, and your teeth,
and your ethereal spirit, and
your laugh, and your stern love