Likewire

far into night

i scuff the line

stripped dotted

mollified all mine

deep into day

i straddle standards

trading berating

inundating tankards

late into life

who regrets a rush

decaying just saying

praying for crush

Terrificied

bring it back, back,
this time make it last,
drink up, keep it down,
lather up, bug out,
full blast, last call,
once again, don't think
twice, third time's
sure to cause harm,
don't be alarmed,
bring it on back,
freeze it, need it,
know it, show it,
make a joke out of it,
be aware, don't be scared,
take what's yours, bury
what's dead, make a list,
whisper wish, carry on
hopeless, feckless,
& reckless remember
the good things
but bring out the bad
instead

Smooth Wandering

Aneurysm
wrapped up
in the tip
of my lethogica:
indefensible
conclusions
come to the aid
of binaural
symphonies.

Hear this?
Sonic foam
percolates
on the surface,
solidified
by the furnace.

Yawning
rewards me
with sapphires
forged in the
nursery of
bruises.

Bio

Grind
out yr
destiny,
quit stalling,
quit calling
nature and
desecrate
yr fecundity.

Unclench
another
one of yr
pointless
mind-mines.

More, Over

What's good
for the goose
is easily
googlable.

Are you part
of the search
or what?

Snow-Going

Born
snow-globe overture,
but age like a storm.

Comin' up
on the rails
with a scene
to supercede.

On northern
fronts, where
cold air
extrapolates,
we kept
our collective
breath
in icepick
armories.

The peaks
disappear
into downpour
of white pristine
flecks.

Psychopathos

untwining
mind w/
twin suspicions

well well well
wishes &
sun-hardened
skin

for the birds
in stead

for the birds
in my head

for the birds
chirp chirp
burp belch
gulp strip
bark of birch
help

i came back
from the gap
afraid
of magnets

salivating
electricity

kept what
i meant
pent up

'till every
pin pricked
apart
my burning

kiss my cliche

some cliche'd
swigs from
my cliche coffee
followed by the
well-entreatied
biological breakdown
and academic hypnosis
and midday prognosis
and blooming halitosis
and wellgroomed psychosis
and jealous misdiagnosis
(and that's enough)

knowledge is rough
and i am begging
for a little guidance
on this ridiculous split
life in which i inhabit
neither half,
invisibly whole

the controlled crackling of an unavoidable flame

inside, forest fire—
touched enough.

distance smoke
crumbles black,

forms narcissist
spires. splinters

now into
multi-musicalities

of fusty arches,
of fallen pyres,

sticks sky w/
bloat moan.

petal pump
flattened like a fly-

swarm pelt,
rages into

blazing thick
bodiness.

far-off where
the eyelid air

undrapes its
emergencies,

water-body
presses its weedy

fingers to my
arid lips. and

despite never
feeling a thing,

it knew
you were there.

Saucy Lady

Your laugh

tingles my lips

like a green curry.

Spicy sentiments

clamor for viability.

Squished 

not one lime but two

to sweeten 

the inevitable letdown.

Led attention

astray, praying 

to never again

get carried away.

A dollop 

of destitute hope

cuts the heat,

beats me

if it ever learns

to give it 

up.

Wither

When last I watched you unfold
your limbs like apricot boughs,
I silver-pincered this wilted tongue
with the thorns of a frosted rose.

Whenever I witness you fearless
engorge horizon with your tears,
forget stars, forfeit sea and sun,
you water my will to stay here.

Now I think of this trajectory—
elegiac— won't say it's all history,
but warily confess all I've done
was just to keep you next to me.

Illogically Ordained

Ahora,
our halos
are hung out
like crisp white
flags from
sunken bunkers.

Never meant
to make my bed
such a battlement.

They
said the going
would be slow,
despacio, distinct
in its absence
of knowing.

Shadows
of redwoods.

In return,
an auspice
spit out by the ocean.

Fortunately No One Resides Where The Magic Happens

Morning's
dagger-thoughts
descend from fog,
long since zeroed
out.

A slit
in the finger-skin
floods glove
with blood.

Green
slurp-snakes
lie in a poorly-lit
enclave.

Expecting uplift.

Chandeliers
twist their metal
telling a tale of an
immigrant's arrival
from Bhutan.

This petal-machine
runs on probability.

Depending
on a headline
to rescue
paradigm.

Behold Through You As Bad As The Rest

Take center stage of my breath
while projecting your bravery,
and I will forfeit whatever's left
of skeleton's curtained fantasy.

Fingertips kiss with liquid touch
the lids of your reflective groves.
Threaded bare by morning's gruff
awakening, releasing dreamer doves.

I wanted you— wanted you whole
and happy. Months tore their wings,
regressing into indulgent toil
where the court berates the king.

These squiggles of stranded spirit
demand feelings to fit their agency.
Uncrushable will, what to do with it,
when it wills itself to crush me?

Hot and bothered I, with no other,
am scarlet, bird-bone, enticing flame
to take shelter in a throat that shudders
and scrapes the bottom of your name.

These Children Laughing Are My Valentine

Cascading sound

of newly-discovered
play-ground flocks
to me, summons

playtime memories, tries

to pluck into place 

my luck to be living.

Walking
sun-drenched trails,

softly reciting poetry

out of air,
out of frightened heart,

coaxing embarrassed
language which bares

no teeth.

With soft lips

like the sea
the words press

close to my body,

teasing out realization

that despite how often

it feels otherwise, 

I am in love

with this living.

Nobody Knew At The Time

look at this kid,
collectively struggling
to secede from his bedsheets,
questioning the validity of his alarm.

he bites his hand,
the fleshiest bit at the base of the thumb.
feels his way through the basement
toward sensual scalding chamber,
the delight of his day.

strapped stone
to his shoulders. dropped off
into phone call questioning function
of the plastic coyote. decided geese
were dissuaded from landing.

an hour out the window
brings surprising amount
to nothing. magick'd cash
from the swindle box.
made change.

narrow misses
and quick crossings
leads him to the interior,
where passersby flicker
in the hallway.

he cuts an orange pepper
with spinach and salami.
eats the offering in one go.

catches a dozen videos
in the crux of his yawn.
discarding bad feeling.

he shakes his head
as a wasp scales the window.

Enamorado

It is my private,
personal & public
hope

that the world
be enamored
with me

the way I
am enamored
with it.

Addictable

affable addict doubles down
on his dose, don't it look
fun. cries, laughs. flies
out of shallow hollow sleep
with gusto, barely touching
toes with a nectar tongue,
benefiting power creep.

solar plexus itch
mutates cracked coat
of touchable skin: hovering
o'er ten beet-red oars,
beats me what they're good for.

nefarious end-game
when the way ain't fun, so
scrape, salivate, skim
the overwrought thoughts
off your percolating path,
take a heroic gulp:
then, a few more
for good measure.

ALL THE GLORY THAT I BEAR

diminishing rerun
of torn-open scroll
reads: go again

charm absorbed
from friends
at arm's length

lends an air
of heavy oxygen
motes clogging
the clothesline

what's it matter to me
the ethic
of my apology

SLAP SOME BLUE PAINT ON THAT PARKING SPACE AND PACK IT UP

Trouble in the lot:

refuse overflow,

denial descending

arpeggio, crows

picking their way

through flesh-flecks

of commerce. 

Enter our amigo,

at the crux of this 

fussy influx of

carnage, uniform

strapped on slowly

like armor, making

off-the-cuff remarks 

of mourning for a filthy 

premonition. Ghastly

shades rumble in the

dumpster. No matter

how new, still the same

cracks in the foundation.

Though spacious

inside, outside surrounds

with no body, no body,

and rather than feel sorry,

it's best to delay worry

for next dumb stumble, 

some oncoming name-wreck

cycling through gasping

brain, fighting
stupid, working

overtime to fatten

a far-off paycheck.

A SERIES OF SHOCKS TO AN OL-TIMEY SYSTEM

let's play loner-meet-lion-cave

or at least read the histories

forgo another depraved evening

in search of sustainable merit

forget what felt better you know

some sensations depart never to return

who bought out the roller disco

and dicked over the ticket counter

check out this consumerist trick

cannibalism gets a lil more digestible

in the ear drum roils a tongue

battered in the taste of a birthday

SHITHEAD SAYS THANKS FOR THE LOAN

says, watch me revenge

says, check this hedge fund

says, who's your caddy

says, what's cookin

asks, anybody lookin

asks, do your daddy like me

says, could write this shit twice

says, better do it once

says, forgot how to dance

been happy since

MY PROCLIVITY TOWARD POORLY DRAWN MAPS

Not all those who wander are lost
but I sure as fuck am

arriving at the foot
of these mountains again
not sure how to feel
except mountainous

listlessness mounting
worrying thought-tambourine
clanging thought-tambourine
pressing on incentive unseen

a bus passes, passes, passes
my angel wears glasses
and squints as I squander
another afternoon, dispirited
wandering cross another
dirt road

lo, yo love is gone

still hopin
for a way to hold
my bones

IN WHICH FANTASIES ARE FATAL

and the waffle maiden
takes a few cushioned blows
from the butter knight

and the kid can't take a hint
when the snakes hiss-hush
his uninterrupted meddling

and the gorilla seemingly lost
in the chilly northern forests
hurtling away from help

and the protagonist pulled
apart like braised pork raises
an objection to window shades

and this performance portends
a little levity shining an irrational
light far up into the rafters

A TIME MACHINE REEKS OF DOG BREATH

all night held each other in skeletal grip

morning wasted retracing steps

leaving burns in the upholstery

taste smoke— drool— forget

STEAMING PILE OF BIRDSONG

gleaming plate of eggs
mocks my status
cracked peppered
ligaments

never mind all that yolk

was just the liminal
broth of an emergence

my chef'ining sharpens
against the horns
of my cape-less
shoulder

quivering pile
of puny would-
be baby
quickens
my appetite

piercing tongues
with their pointillist
opus

THIS WILL BUM US OUT EVENTUALLY

second-fiddle
streams
of unconscionable
envy

vermillion
cheeks and
horizons
in vitro

reflexive
organs
drag note
warp throat
pull teeth
fill shell

will lung
be willing
to accomodate
such a constant
drag?

growing up

what compels cat
to knock over cup?
rudest awakening,
being drenched by coke,
a fructose waterfall,
though my sticky apathy
put me back to sleep.

what compels man
to refill his cup?
despite being stuffed,
inundated with flavor,
sticky still and still
calibrating his luck,
every electrical charge
gets squeezed 'till
the last drop.

what compels a man
thirsting for the cup?
through desert days, oasis
in plastic stasis waits
beneath the bus sign,
and after quenching his
thirst, he thrusts the cup
to the ground, it's spilling,
it spills, not my problem
not my problem,
but can't stop the thought:
this is not my life.