updown (poetry)

when I thought I’d won, I’d lost
now I’ve won
and it just feels like losing
getting to look out over everything
so high
I see who I was
and who I wasn’t
get to be above the nightmares
and all I wonder
and all I wonder
isn’t if this here
this whatever
if it is worth the pain
nah
I just ask
is this really the only place I’ve come to?
can’t I go higher

updown
downup
where am I
guess it depends where my head is
and my head could just be
upside down
inside out
HONEY
I’ve lost the marbles
But that implies
That for some single moment
I had the marbles

Oh where
Is my hairbrush
Oh where
Is my hairbrush
No Hair
No where
No Hair
No Where
My little hair brush
sepia reality
grace tinted
it worries me
to be
just me
all are watchers
and their eyes see nothing
hollow pools of lightlessness
oh stare and watch and understand
not this opposite
to have the whole world watch
and yet to be absolutely alone
aren’t you there, over there
little dove
don’t you understand?
aren’t we the same
can’t I imagine blue eyed radiance
an aura to share and swim in and love
and be with
and to be with
and to not be alone
and to steal away your loneliness
can’t you be true
let us come together
over come every hurdle
have an entire three scene play
as we struggle to be together
and then at the end we finally meet
I catch you in my arms
and, like dust, you fall right through them
My never knowing
If you were just a figment of imagination
That fucked up brain praying for water in the desert
Making mirages
Or if at the last moment
I thought I saw no blue eyes but just darkness
(or was the darkness the figment)
and I let you drop
disappearing from you
rather than your disappearing from me

Hey there Mr. Nobody
Somebody told me you could be a somebody
I’m here to tell you you’re just a nobody
But don’t feel bad!
Or even a little sad?
Cus we’re all just Mr. Nobodys

Hold your hand straight
Hold it fucking fucking straight
Don’t waver
Don’t waver
Why are you doing this?
It doesn’t make a difference
Prove to the world that you can do something
That you can do anything
Even if it’s just for a moment holding your hand straight
But let’s be honest
We can’t even do that
Can we?

Melancholic this morning
Where is the rising sun
Three loud men
Screaming on my doorstep
Saying loud things
That I hope aren’t true
Wishing there was someone to call youuuuuu
Singing just worry
About everything
Cus I really don’t know
If it’s gonna be all right
Sorry just worry
About each and everything
Cus maybe we can’t make it
All right

I think I have a good heart
Does everyone think they have a good heart?
Is that enough?
There is definitely a room of darkness in my heart
Just one ventricle maybe
But I don’t hear so many people saying the same
I try to not be a bad person
Just like I try to not drink, or eat meat, or have sex with the wrong people, or smoke
Which is to say I do it poorly
What does it mean to be the nightmare?
It hurts
People look at you sometimes
Not all the time
But sometimes
Like you are the devil
What happens if they are right?

Where is the love
Every word tastes like ash
A toxic canal as it flows from my inner sanctum
Into my consciousness
Through my fingers
To this fucking screen
Like battery acid in my veins
Tearing away the beautiful things that could flow
And leaving this sickly residue in it’s stead
Leaving it a wasteland
Nothing beautiful can grow here
Can’t I turn this fountain off?
Peter, you make things that are pretty,
What magic that must feel
All I do is punch at my existence
My lack of belief in my existence
My lack of belief in myself
My lack of self
My lack of being
My lack
Could I write something beautiful?
When it would be a lie
Not because there is not beauty in the world
I have felt the fire of other people’s madness
As they are in love
But
My forge has never been lit
It is a workshop in name only
Never having made anything
Just a place to go alone and stare at the anvil
And wonder if these hands ever could have made
anything
That could have the name beauty
That could be a magnet of love
And I stare into the void
And it doesn’t even have the deceny to stare back
Since now I know the truth
I am the void
And I stare at you
Sucking the wonder in the world from my lonely horizon plane
Sucking the beauty from the world as it falls in my orbit
I didn’t ask to be me
But this is the only me
That I get to be
Even if it’s hard to say
Everything that I pray
I just wonder if I may
Escape from this gray
Even if it’s just for today

this poem draws towards its conclusion
I’d like to leave on ascent
Something pretty, to play cello music with
And leave any reader feeling at peace
My restless heart will rob you of this
Since my honest mind can say only truth
But, perhaps that is the lie
That we decide to say what is truth
I have no truth
I have no truth for me
And I have no truth for you
Which isn’t to say we’re peddling in lies
No
Instead we are just in confusion
The flower of my consciousness aspires to the sky
And I tell you truthfully that I have not found sunshine
And I tell you truthfully that I have not found rain
And here I sit in darkness,
Believing that to arise through the canopy
And discover nirvana
That it is just a myth
But if this was the logic no flower would ever bloom
If we can just have the strength of will of a flower
To strive towards the sun even in the blackest night
If we could just have the sense of self worth of a flower
To know that even as a seed, even as we wilt
That when that day does
Or could
Or even inevitably
Comes
Then there is a beautiful bloom in us
Our potential only ends when we stop believing in our seed
And if the magic does come
And that seed we could have cast off as dead
It finally get’s just the littlest amount of nurture
Then
We will finally spread our beauty
On a soft breeze
To the entire world
Leaving seeds for the next flowers
As we fly over those other seeds
The us’s we are scared to be
And might be
That never get the chance to bloom
Because they didn’t believe
That it was in them to bloom

Don’t Remember Writing This (poetry)

Some type of whispering
Waiting for an eternal something
Can’t you hear it?
There are greater things than we can understand
Can’t you hear it?
Perhaps there is more living than one can live in a life
Perhaps all we see is a single number
In an infinite series
Yet
To see just one
Makes us a part of the whole
Perhaps we are listening to the whispers
Perhaps we are also the whisperers
Perhaps we are an instrument too
The music we make
We don’t know for what
But we know we make it

Attempts At Euphony (poetry)

Found again lost again found again
All in just a blink
Waking up some days in bliss
Waking up some days self loathing
Life is a trip
Everything beautiful and fun
To smell the sweet fresh air
Or look at glistening stars
From the dock on the lake
With a beer in my hand
Not those things dreamed for
Where is the nobility in quiet moments
But perhaps they are the things that should be dreamed for
What happened to childhood dreams
Then, maybe, it is good I did not become a rapper
What happened to childhood whimsy
Then, did I not teach a child to fly
Or lie to that girl about being a Baron
These musings do nothing
An unconfused mind with a dedication of purpose
Looking for something to push against
Life is imperfect
I suffer
And am sad
But no more than the other
Things are the way things are
I choose to be blissful
I choose to be peaceful
I choose to be dedicated
I choose to see beauty
If there is any other truth
Then I accept it
Then I ignore it
And I carry on as myself

Before I Shattered (poetry)

Me

Self made soulless abstraction

Fighting with vigor but no heart
All I want is to hear something that makes me sad
All I want is something that makes me smile, a smile without care
To feel
Endless control, I will stare the devil in the eye
I will stare god in the eye
A force of nature, but not by choice
An immovable statue
Solid granite in an ethereal world
Watching all these fragile dancers
Splashes of color, mutable and transient
Let us look at each other with envy
Shall we not trade?
Or is it too late?
Let me invest in my granite
May I become an ever stronger rock
But how I wish to dance

A Day Of Smiles (poetry)

a day of smiles
grimacing cheerfully
don’t let this be like all the others
fear and grace leave these words
let there be just emtion
but specific emotion
words in a heart
heart in the words
no
that is like all the others
those things that don’lt say what need to be said
breathe in breathe out
breathe in breathe out
breathe in breathe out
the words are not these
do the words exist?
breathe in breathe out
is being alive a pleasure?
yes, yes. why not
there is no emotion
there is a bursting,
the dam does not break
is there a we in these words
if we could stare each other in the eyes
quietly
to just exist
but that is not real
not lonely, but everyone is alone
interconnectedness is not the fate of man
to search and not find
to find what is incomprehensible
bark at the night
scream at the day
all is something
let there be a primality
a free growing towards the sun
let us not understand
the words are not here
where are the words
the words are not here
what is it that needs to be said?
breathe in breathe out
whitenuckled
the words are not here

Leaves (poetry)

let this nothing be something
let all these falling leaves pile together
days lived days lost
they do not come back
yesterday will never again be today
what would better have looked like?
are there steps to this dance?
if there are, do we want to follow them
be free
but remember freedom has a cost
let this nothing be something
but remember that something will always disappear
be free
make life something beautiful
this is all there is
this is all there is
do not squander your nothing
may your eyes be open
see whatever you want to see
be whatever you want to be
your something can be anything
don’t let it be nothing

Sketch From Riu Hotel (poetry)

waking up in the middle of the night
grabbing a bottle of tequila
it is finished
take the vodka
still drunk
blood slurring from left to right
in the pitch black flash a smile
pour a glass and praise god
pour a glass and praise life
open the door, careful, don’t slam it
they are asleep
let this moment be without them
the dark air fills lungs
breathe in
breathe out
freedom
go outside to the music
all the other like you are in their beds
let all these be the others
see them smile at you
they know who you really are
your real brotherhood
a moment of love in your heart
ahhhh a table
and a pen and paper
you know the words will be lost
you even leave them on the table
tomorrows trash
but let, for a moment, the words flow
praise god
praise life
praise alcohol
praise sin
praise the devil
praise yourself
worship the inadequacy of the words
worship the moment
then
another glass
was it rum not vodka
was it gin
it’s all the same
go back to
go back to life
let the moment disappear
never remembered
is life different for it having happened

My Prayer (preSafeMotos) (poetry)

thank you my god for this life you have given me
may I see beauty, share beauty, live beauty and revel in beauty
may I be ever better than myself, mind body and soul
my god
with your hand on mine
on the tiller of my life
may we direct me towards the most perfect version of myself
to where I can become the most positive and powerful version of myself
may I have the strength, passion, dedication, grit and discipline in my heart,
may I have the brilliance, genius clarity in my mind,
and may I have magic in my hands
so that for those people that I love
for the entire world
for myself
I can re-enchant reality
and make the world a deeper and more meaningful place
I want to take those seeds and saplings of humanity
and nurture them
so that they can grow, bloom and blossom
fighting towards the canopy of enlightenment and nirvana
I want to make the world a more level playing field
and raise where the playing field is
I want to be better than myself
better than my weakness
better than my strength
better than my humanity
may I be like a river
may I cut, displace and flood the land
but may I do it for a higher purpose
to follow the natural contours of the land
and bring a new form of sustenance to the world

please watch over all of those people that I love
may my mother have peace in her heart
may she be surrounded by grace, magic and love
and may the world be good to her
may my father have peace in his heart
may he be ever better than himself mind, body and soul
and may the world be good to him
may you watch over my brothers Reston and Tory
may they be becoming who they are meant to be in the world
and may the world be good to them

today, may I be better than myself
and not squander the moment

Barbara’s Crescent (poetry)

Breathe in breathe out
Look out the window, eyes open
Feel alive
Be alive
Who is it you thought you are?
Is this who you want to be?

Talking loud
Everyone can hear you
Isn’t that what you want
To be the center
All eyes on you
But do you know who you are?
Are you the best version of yourself?

The streets have children playing
Sometime cars drive by too fast
But it is not so often
The road is very safe
They are playing tag on an empty lot
There are bushes
Strong and green, what is their name?
They are big enough for the children to hide behind
They are having so much fun
Tag, you’re it
Jacob, Marla, Amie, Keri
Was that really me playing?
Why can’t I play again now?

Sunset Beach (poetry)

snow white lighting my eyes

a fierce wind
surrounded by my brothers
laughing and smiling
let us play and be challenged
the great white north.
it’s in our blood
here where my father used to play
and where I will bring my children
let us play and laugh
let the cold be nothing
let us
my brothers and myself
may we be who we are
even if we are not there anymore