tingling toes in a hot shower

Raining leaves and singing dogs
In between the silence
and beams of sunshine

Cascading shadows blowing
in the wind on this
Empty country roads
with no audience
only sleeping cows
and bow backed horses in the wind

Swept fields rolling like water waves
on a tide unsure whether to
come in or stay out

the moon hidden below that
great curving fire colored hillside
yet
and here I am only breathing
in deep heart beat thumping
in my ears sounds mixing with the
hum and crackle of tire on road
and whistles of wind through
stainless hoops

for a moment
I spoke
only once in what was
hours
I spoke
and all I could
utter
"This is perfect."

the latticework

Exposed, as sticky crumbling
bits of earth falling
And breathing air
Untasted since the foundation
laid as permanent
Through which the blood
Flows

As the little demons
Crawl into and out
Of this ragged and fresh
Gaps torn into our surface
Cold, damp air surrounds
& colder iron and terra cotta
Works to replace
What needed to be replaced?

In short time
the work done
and the sweet sticky
earth surrounds and is
Blanket covered so only looking
Directly
Can you see the scar

3114

All these things
have happened;
I still love.
-with a part of me that never
Ends

Was I a bad man
did this happen because I
held on too tight-
or not tight enough?

remembering the ache
I fell harder than thinking possible
Only could she do this.
feeling the warmth
I alighted and soared
Only she could do this

listening to her music
and with tears welling
I smile.

times were never perfect
two separate beating hearts are never
perfect
Except
those times
-and the world fades around
All is inky and inconsequential
the din of the city
roaring it's silent roar
at either end of the alley
an Exit
that neither of us
wanted to take
Then.

Pittsburgh

Through these streets
Rush hours lasting
Most of the day
Forgetting to look up
From our books
Or phones
or
The inside of so many
Eyelids shut
And keeping
Monologues internal,
To wonder
the narrative:
Hinting at something that must
Be more

These streets and
Buildings
Just as these people
Speaking-
A silent story
And I'm not sure which;
I want to know more

The plaster shadows
Cast high up on
Outside walls that once were
Inside
(or)
The shadows cast low
On a tired face
That once was beautiful-

both
as each has and tells
Silent stories
And each is
Beautiful
As its passage
Through time
is
wordless

this is not the end

There is only
One
When, as last out and
Turning them all
off

But lets not think
of these things
either good or
Otherwise

For the past is passed
even when most in mind
as if the jumping touches
and feeling those intertwined
limbs

it's hard though
to not miss
such little things
-ball point pen
heart tattoos
& stick men on islands

passing idle times with innocent
contact
without thought
just as it were my own

all i know

Is so much less than
The sum of this feeling
When you and I are
Without borders and histories
Failing restraint and in that most

Wonderful grainy snapshots
Times that are no longer remembered
Realities are now only fading 1's and zeros
A collage of truth and fiction

And, fuck
I am moving on, in part
Myself
Too many, so many, always
Fractured pieces
And for you,
Always will remain
More
than the
Others

waking

with a head, heavy
from consumption and seasons
changing, the air
is nearly as confused and unsure
as the people who glide through
and now beginnning to avoid

I woke this morning
in a start, wide awake
almost three hours
til that cloudy sun rises above these
rolling hill ribbons
of asphalt and steel
reminding me of where I came from

where did I go,
they say
you can't ever go home again
and last night I felt
in which words still can't grasp
the tone so overwhelming
I can't grab hold
I can't decipher
I almost weeping
and with smile on my face
an unsettled mix of love, lust
betrayal and disgust
and all these
together as I lost grasp
on my conscious world
last night
but it never left and
here I am
still, again, awake
and the sun will not rise
until it is ready
and I will not quit
until
I am ready,
for what I don't know.

Monday morning

and it's back to
the world
I've known too much
of this way for
too long now

it's back to the
seat I've sat
and after this weekend
it's so much squealing tires
and spinning round, going
back the other way

brakes screaming and
stopping to hurry and go
I've got a train to catch
and fall back into
this real
world

in the shadows

between two still standing
for what seems like forever
a time was when they
aren't here anymore
and that's what this feels

on top of a pile
of those so many
memories
lasting forever seems
so long in the flesh
never long enough
when they're just
memories

of everyday I fall
into it with visions
of happiness and less than that
we were, too often
and maybe that's why we are
now standing
at arms length
on this pile
of nothing more than
memories