Ruffled pillow case, Disheveled sheets
At night, Alone, He sleeps -
The pillow draped within his arms
The pillow draped within his heart
Of her he dreams.
He grew tired of all the sober scenes
So at night, alone, he sleeps -
A drink grasped within his palm
Reciting prayers, singing psalms
Of her he thinks.
In the morning, his eyelids lift
Off the mattress hangs a limb
His arm around the pillow’s waist
His lips are to the pillow’s face
If it were her.
Wake up, Get up, Wash down, Dress up.
Deodorant, cologne, chain, and comb.
Grab a sweater, some S’more flavor poptarts,
Cap backwards, walk forwards:
Turn and shoot!
Tunes up, step in, metro card slides down,
Fare’s up, head back, stare down.
Ipod shuffles, voices muffled, thoughts unclear.
Scenery blurs then becomes framed:
Stop and Go.
Stand up, sit down, motion through the hallway,
Lights drone, chalk erodes upon the surface.
Pencils mimic the chalk upon the loose-leaf,
And ink immortalizes every stain:
Regurgitation.
Retrace steps as if by stencil on a white sheet,
Bus lights drone, voices motion, freeze frame.
Souls erode on the ride home, screeching brakes,
Resemble the echoing tune:
A subtle cry
A routine life
The toughest metal erodes and turns to dust as
The disparities of men decrease.
Geological features alter: Lakes become valleys,
Valleys become mountains, mountains become hills.
Cities flare in the night until each light burns out,
The sun and moon race circles around the earth.
Moss and weeds invade ancient man made monuments,
Lincolns shoes become green. The Washington monument,
Filled with cracks and crevices, sprouts a thin coat.
Decay and destruction over the span of centuries,
And we’re concerned with seconds.
(Inspired by Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans)
Rehearsing the script of that Lana Del Rey
Blue Jeans, White shirt, Brand new day
Imbalanced see-saw; Judgment’s scales
Weighing out options whether it’s fly or fail
It can be gold coins, or you inside my lap
Either treasures or love, they’ll be (e)x’s on the map
May not always follow such a poor guide
Hurt that she’s alone (but she caused the divide)
Inny minny minnie moe, a man makes his choices
Actions speak louder than words (so I’m voiceless)
Blue jeans, white shirt, brand new day
Rehearsing the script of that lana del rey
Cause she put me out so now where do I stay?
The see-saw tips, the scales have been weighed.
As I walked around underneath the nightscape -
In the midst of stars sprinkled across the darkness, stood a moon.
A crescent moon, like an eerie smile giving away a hidden face.
It perched itself as any observer would, a safe distance away.
Night winds varied from gentle breezes to ephemeral gusts
Swaying my direction as I walked, rendering my gait drunken.
Cars sped down the boulevard, spewing latent emissions,
Zooming by JUST to catch that red light -
And I, walked idly.
Each gust blew away my troubles;
Each exhale purged some weight,
Each inhale consumed a little zen.
A beam of light treads a path on the floor in the hallway from my father’s room. The door is left ajar and from inside, the echoes of rattling dice are heard. Five dice loaded into the cup, shaken, and then thrown onto the couch repeatedly. Bundles of loose-leaf scattered across the second cushion were stained with black sharpie, they divided the papers into a few columns. “Yahtzee!” he exclaims occasionally, marking his papers. His excitement so faint it’d seem someone stabbed a sentient creature and with it’s final dying breath it released a deluded call of victory, or perhaps a daring claim of freedom.
Two years retired from laboring with Verizon, a job that left him with bi-annual visits to the chiropractor and a bummed knee, now his nine to five is this game. (A union worker willing to depart his post? Here’s your pension, now get out). A familiar odor clings to his maroon carpet. Some blend of Marlboro (Menthol) paired with marker, and beer in the air and creeps through the crevice to his realm and beside him on his desk lies a Budweiser can like a memo. Freshly ashed cigarettes still smoke in the ash tray, and this mixture casts him into the past, shuffling through memories like shelved files.
Stories that he told my brother and I, anecdotes we passively listened to while our subtle thumbs increased the volume on our Ipods while inside the car, but I heard them (quite a few times). One instance (while in a fuzzy state) my father met a man who stacked three pool balls, one on top of the other two against the edge of the table, and bet he could hit the ball on top without touching the bottom two. From a comfortable lean on his pool stick, my father slammed a few dollars onto the edge of the pool table and nodded. With slight impact, this man hit the cue ball and it rolled slowly across the turf and just before it collided with the two bottom pool balls this man slammed his fist onto the table. At this instant, the two pool balls rolled away, the top ball fell into position, and the cue ball hit the top ball. A few dollars, all gone.
Sorted out on the arm of the couch were a few lottery tickets which flailed from the gentle winds conjured up by the ceiling fan. Some of the numbers scratched out while other pink slips had scribbled on them “free ticket”. Over head, the blades propelled a small tornado of smoke to encase the room. The smells pervaded in this strange cloudy mixture and the heat tends to fogs his glasses. Eventually he’ll remove them and hold whatever he is looking at from a further distance, squinting all the while. He’s far sighted but my Dad is getting old.
Paddling my meteorite canoe
Through the dense milky way
Led astray from the waning moon
Strafing through the bright array
One vibrant giant serves as guide
For sirius love uncrosses stars
Each romance, worlds away unite
Super nova’s ignite inside two hearts
The passion from two hearts;
Oxygen to flames,
Each ember soars through our eyes
Piercing each pupil -
Possessing each iris.
We exhale warm fronts
As humidity and perspiration accumulate,
We’re absorbed into a hurricane.
Weather the storm?
Rain fall and fierce winds
Render fire feeble,
Whether the storm subsides
Or not.
I
Freshly stacked wooden blocks
Unmoved by quakes -
Stand proudly and complete.
Each brick relies upon the other,
Cemented -
So even the most fragile piece
Can keep the structure erect.
II
We are Jenga towers.
Life picks and prods at us -
Brick by brick,
Removing our stability.
Broken walls and holey floors
Make the tower feeble,
What could not be moved by force
Collapses with a gentle breeze.
Rain drops pounce into puddles,
Ripples disperse and surge the curbs as
Swift winds blow and disrupt their ebb,
They flow along side the gale’s whims
Ephemeral as earthly desire’s;
Ever changing, transforming, transgressing.
Puddles form rivers on the street side
Swept into the sewage pipes -
On the river side, waiting on a bus
A young man flicks his cigarette butt
Into the stream.
We pollute the smallest things
