Friday, October 6, 2023

Soul Deep
(God in your life)

 When God came calling 
were you peeking around
the corner of that door -
way were you flirting with the idea of

me as your priest

I walk the edge of the earth
and look over the side
always wondering
on a Friday night 
symbols as old as time
relics of a crusade
remind there's a time to live but
mostly we die
in a word you were offered peace
but in another you said goodbye
and God only knows the reasons why for He is 
the only one who can touch your soul deeper than I 

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Stay on Point 

 Music is good but
poetry is what makes it
so why not master the language 

It's that southern "bless your heart"      
shit 
that gets me excited 
you can sing but can you
outwit 
the devil and here ya are winning with a bully 
making him chase his tail and laughing like saint George spearing his head we the victorious chant a monotone song of champs 
it's a come around 
like a cool summer
a head to rest near
the edge of a lake 
with a camp girl
and a camp fire
make me warm
babe autumnal 
fire
words blow like 
smoke giving us
meaning and hope
warrior in a garden
another trope but also
a lifeline too many men 
gone to their preferred anodye
sedation is bullshit kid, get up get a 
grip
tilt your head back
just a bit
fast forward to the next millennium 
and the only way to do that is loose your seed
hard and fast 
the earth will recieve the strong
with open arms and joy
just keep your shit
and stay
on point. 

 

 

 

Sunday, October 1, 2023

Pomegranate Seed 
(Of Persephone)

When we used to be sensitive to the spirits
you touched nature for the thrill of it
arrowhead in a riverbed and gods beneath 
the streams running wildly in advance
of things to come

dig deep touch
a conduit from 
another time there is a
print of a soul on it

she broke this mustang too quick
and I stopped her in the middle of it
thought of a lie and threw it out
quick but the damage had been done
Cleopatra with her adder 
and I am Mark Antony
stole her from Julius Cesar
with poison still in me
this stallion set free
spooked and foaming 
I rage

and we called it music

you did not know I was a god
myself kings and princes put on the shelf
you didn't know I was beyond your help
I am Hades lord of hell
collect your flowers
collect them well 
it makes sense
for me to 
have 
found you 
with a nymph 
and the earth will
open and you will
see  that there is nothing 
sweeter than pomegranate seed



Saturday, September 30, 2023

Live in Bed, Die in Battle 

 Dream softly
enter the sedation
end of discipline
sun-soaked day

nothing but a breeze
removing droplets
from your skin

- stop this -

like messanger birds
breaking a buck out of the rut
epiphanies are flying to me
power of my fathers 
warriors of the Boyne
Jacobites with dark hair
and emerald eyes 
black Irish in my blood
won't be denied 
the savage in my 
love can't be hidden
I want more so I work more
hussars to my left, Celts on my right
my ancestors lived in bed and in battle

they died


 Full Circle

 What tells the wind
move certain ways
and what tells can you
read from these lines on my face

the taste of your home town
in another's embrace is 
an experience to behold
I'm aging but far from old

I'm often pensive when not jocular
and these rhythms of mood 
hold a small world, too big to paint 
like a corn crib near harvest holds the 
orange, September, moon in place

full circle is more than a cliché 
I believe it comes around in more than one way


The Cards We're Dealt

 A psychiatrist 
can give you anything 
but inner strength 

watch your sedations kid
and watch your sleeves
near that machine

I remember being
shocked and being 
pulled back to life

it's life we all want and money we all die for 
but only taste freedom and good things
in a fleeting moment through our sons

so breathe strong autumnal air
we're all headed for death at the end
of a candle you had best embrace that western sun red with a head held high and a confident chest it makes no sense to think of anything else but what we make with what we're dealt.

Blueprints of Intimacy

don't care where we stand
capitalize bird prints in the sand

don't care who knows
an Alexandrian library aflame

blueprints of intimacy
tied in a knot kiss my cheek it touches my soul your name the breastplate of Cleopatra gems enthroned a gleam set deep against the black I reached in and tried to touch your soul offered to tie you to the bed post did what I could I know I thrilled your cheeks reddened like the setting sun 
desire will have what it wants

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

 A Reprehensible Truth

I was born 
with a flat voice
because God
did not want me singing

He wanted me monotone 
and bringing 
poetry 
heat

Words
might blow 
through you 
like 762 rounds
AK47 Armor-piercing 
no flash supressor for the swagger 
I won't allow myself to be average
even the ugly don't like the average

Judge that 
truth as reprehensible 
but my words and poetry 

as the beautiful

Monday, September 25, 2023

Carl Sandburg's Soul

 Venture the journey
what the road does to 
a man's soul
binds his wounds and makes him whole

travel the craft
tools in hand
and coming home
cash in the bag

the land is flat and open
peeling back layers of stars
the wind hits the back
and the neck and holds 
you like a long friendship
midwest America hits different 
out here there is enough air 
to sweeten the soul
my friends
pork burning
corn turning
a two stroke motor's exhaust lingers in the background 
bourbon in oak
Carl Sandburg's soul
is in my nose



Sunday, September 24, 2023

Slip

 Sunday morning
he said he made
her bleed 
bonds get
different as sands shape 
behaviors 
slip

"They all lie, they all paint their faces"
one man says,
"My honey's so good, can't replace her"
says another
I find the truth between 
and desire new sheets
something out of the dryer
recently, unsoiled, soft and 
clean slip your
shape to my bed
and fit well
the mattress is deep
fortune favors the bold
no matter the thread count 

I often find myself trying 
like the devil to replace the 
simplest of items
something not worth a whole lot
be damned, be caught
still slip off 
I must
build myself to tree-like
stature 

ignore the wanton 
lack of pasture 
and graze new towns 
I don't know what comes
after this
but I'll be 
damned if I let 
myself
slip

Saturday, September 23, 2023

 
Tells

 Hot crickets lie
cool breeze on my
back and baby what 
was this and how will
you earn me back?

now I know
but maybe I don't 
be still my soul
for answers 
don't come easy
one needs time to adjust
the plot and see
are things as dark as they appear
have we stabbed innocence with a spear?

my soul, too
sits on this breeze
a change of seasons 
thrust upon us like my 
hips into yours 
I'll know all too soon
what to do 
for every curtain closed 
down the hall is a door
light always comes through
so clothe yourself well
artistry, prayers and time 
always do tell. 

Friday, September 22, 2023

Not Nice

 A candle keeps me alive
a candle goes, you know,
as our lives and hopes
who I wish you were

oh 
dear
how I wish you were her
i
am not nice in any sense 
of the word and still this 
hot candle burns
I've only been known
for my heat
only been loved 
for the heat that I bring

i
am not nice 
in any of the right ways
I devour my loves
and they always run away
I'm ok with these 
turning tides

i
not nice, have been known for 
quick desire
turn away when close to the fire
yet this candle still burns
whomever is in my room
my heart still yearns
for what I had with you.

Thursday, September 21, 2023

 Against the Grey

When the rain 
has passed and
the sky is left only
grey
there is nothing
but the dull hum of transformers in a switchyard 1.5 miles away

nothing new to see here
just to share a beer
with someone
I do not know 
I know I wish it were whiskey
but I am making me strong
no one speaks of the dull drum
of discipline's lungs
breathing and beating
for it is a shadow
and shadows aren't particularly colorful 
after the rain 
even the sunset is grey
cigarettes don't even taste the same
like a suburban lawnmower in an HOA
personality without any taste
no one speaks of the race
only the glory of first place
but the race is what makes men
and I am being made 
by my own will against the 

grey

even tombstones 
spread wealthily 
amongst the green
excite the mind through
the eyes a contrast of colors
to be refined but the grave is on
furlough and our lives the waiting room
skeletons reclined waiting for a phone call
and when work calls
we will answer
I garuntee we will be on time
after the rain
is only a grey sky
same as a green isle
the green in hazel eyes
a patchwork of ancestors'
lives we pride ourselves on 
saints enshrined in stained glass lines
upward blow the pipes to the sky that is 
still 

grey

not a g'damned thing has changed
dull hums in the key of A
a soft protest of the 
season's change
a sharp blow
to the side
of the face
and when 
standing 
be it tall 
a rebellious
church against 
the rocks beaten by 
the seas also soft blows salt
briny foam and every other diadem 
set enthroned at the end of glory cometh 

on the other side of the

grey

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

 This river feels dead

but I know it's not black tree 

line and one owl speaks

the silence and the raptor 

remind me I dont know you

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

 With a Million Stars

Come here my love
understand I want more
most popular culture is
training for whores
I don't judge that
but understand 
I will fill your insides
I'll descend my hands 
to your sides 
back into me
call me daddy
my darkness
I am imbued with
the spirits of my dead friends
I am the new
Hades
and you are my Persephone
ride with me
die with me
your eternal hair
envelopes me

watch me murder Hercules
watch me reach higher than Icarus
watch me bite harder than Cerberus
baby, dream with me and let me fill your dark insides with a million stars.

Monday, September 18, 2023

 Our Preferred Blend

"She is
bad
-I mean in real life."  he said
the honor of her beauty, something 
to defend

draw back your wallet pic, son
you won't be home anytime soon 

habitually a man doesn't draw back
and I never apologize for that 
risks I took - consequences be damned

I always feel 
and am never shook

my brother is in a wilderness 
a place I have been
home would be nice
and so are warm friends
but the brotherhood of oil is thicker than all of 
them

muscle and steel nothing soft in this black land
fuel and blood we build with our hands
our lives shortened and saturated by our preferred nicotine blend

Sunday, September 17, 2023

 
Hope is the Secret Sauce

 Twenty two and half degrees to the left
rain cuts the trees of forest 

push down leaves in darkness
I have to sleep but this is no challenge 

for 
I am the terror
I am the sasquatch 
the lord of this manor of darkness
man never fears the wood
the wood fears the man 
for 
will to kill is more
powerful than an instinct

this shrub is an ode 
to my strength 
not here to kill or
destroy with wanton
only calculated 
and clean
within reason

bravery's reward is
greater than fear's comfort
a man juts out in the wild
like the trees jut out to the expanse 
a bold attempt to touch the stars
don't let up on your hope boy
hope is the secret sauce that makes us men
despondency is a warm blanket to smother your desires' end



Saturday, September 16, 2023

Only Darkness is My Love

 Sick lines
and hot metaphors
I have a few hours
I present them as an offering to an ancient god

a little bit of black ink 
and a little bit of mystery 
mixing in the bloodstream 
isn't it invigorating?
my love
my lady
the night that you bring me 
is darker than shadows on a white page all my ink spilled will ever be 

black, cloud covered night, rain thrashing trees
my heart is contented and over joyed with thee

it's you

 and your dark hair, eyes and breast-peaks
that 

enthrall 
me.

Friday, September 15, 2023

Die Like Moses

 A transformer sings electricity 
behind me, it's something you cannot see

only the work from steam 
to tea
only steel and the roar-thrum of turbine
passing by a thousand times per second

one magnetic line of flux 
throws an electron down an isophase
through space time at a frequency 
that cannot be denied 

High voltage electricity is like God
If you were to see that which keeps you alive
Like Moses, you too would surley die.

Thursday, September 14, 2023

 The Vision That Fills My Soul

Cicadas are a dog whistle to the end of summer
a bold whisper against the cool breeze and clear autumnal sky
laundry waving on a line

pencil in my life - sketch or an outline
of time passing by
like a speeding Amtrak

click clack against the rails, my heartbeat
the engine's thrum, my rushing blood

I wouldn't stop until I see that smile in front of the sun, cheeks turned up making your eyes tight and teeth like soldiers at bold attention, proclaiming thier victory.

we
dream
until colored
leaves filter sun 
and alchemize her fingers
gold and that is
the vision that
fills my
soul

Monday, September 4, 2023

Hotter, Coarser, Blood

 Couldn't move past you
fast enough
Couldn't get over your seductive words
in time

I took a drive 
and realized 
you sold me the dream
and it's still alive 

and I am vivified 
hotter, coarser, blood there cannot be
my mind is lapping the intensity


Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Alpha Widow


Fire signs playing with fire

desire unfurled and you know 
the place where I put you 

and there I stood
alone and smiling in the dark behind 
by reason of conversation you belied
and I wanted to destroy you
to wreck you 
to widow you

and I did it

Marlboro to the mouth
swift inhale and I realize the work 
wolf hunger and the spirit of a mustang

Baby:
you can break a boy's heart
But you cannot break a man

wolf hunger and the spirit of a mustang
desire unfurled and you are left wanting