The buzz of a first cigarette
circles my head while
the heat of the smoke
incubates a strangeness
inside of me

conceives a suspicion which
I inhale
again...and again...and again
until it spits me out
unto a shadow
making the sun
the whole of me
rolling toward the edge of all things
casting me further and farther away from me.

Imagine a world filled with frowning faces
with people seeing their lives as the worst

They are sad, angry, lost and alone,
their hopes reduced to the bones

Their hearts bound by misery and endless worries,
their minds sitting at the edge of a death wish.

Then comes a girl, greeting them with a smile
full of honesty, washing away the vile.

They will feel a new connection to life
because she makes them feel alive

And very soon everyone is smiling too
because her smile is as contagious as flu!

I've known rivers
I've known rivers ancient path,.wilder and longer than the
flow of the blood in my veins.
My soul has grown strong like the rivers.

I used to swim in the Euphrates when the days were young.
I built my house near the Congo and it took me awhile to find sleep
I looked upon the west and raised the pyramids of hope
I heard the song of the Mississippi when Abraham Lincoln
went sailing to New Orleans, and I've seen its clear
bosum turn to gold in the sunset.

Blood citrus
cinnamon

electrical
dryness
the sheets
stainless
wrap around

five degrees
three hours to
dusk

blue and violet
sable smooth
the ride
descent ending

and then
the bell
rings

the door open
widths

The theme today is eyes
I always have known
that beauty lies,
in the beholders’ eyes
as does love
and that is no lies!

so as the theme today
appears to be
all about lovely eyes

I wish somehow
you do too see,
the beauty in my poetry
if they do lie
do tell me,why

for I know all of us love
our very eyes
and love,
lies within ones loving eyes

Woman -
You are so damn incredible,
I wish you can see
Just how much you mean to me...

Woman...

You are a piece of work,
A masterpiece, a work of art;
The way you work a skirt,
How you whisper in the dark;
It ignites candlelights of desire
Deep within this man's heart
And I want to share that fire
Experience why you are such a work of art.

Woman...

I have been unfaithful,
under a curtain of night
even as you laid
a fingers breath from my hem,

he stole my affection
in shear moments of ecstasy

~~~

We came together
an eclectic mix,
liquid methane and fire,
once we had merged
passion ignited

In this bright black heart
the longing for better days aches
the memory of halcyon deeds awaken hope
yet only as a torment to reality bidden forth

This twisted flame of reality burns
but does not warm or comfort
slowly the ache recedes only to flare up vengefully
and with ironic intent to mock and choke all respite

Words are all I have left
enemies gone only blustering malice remains
spiteful friend of peace and haven safe
twisting the knife in happiness's broad and vulnerable back

So many kingdoms I have laid to waste,
so many freemen I've enslaved.
My imperial army moved with great haste
to conquer all the lands I craved

Spitting on the heads of fallen rulers
I laughed as I took their women
while I let their pathetic men witness
what I did to their children

I celebrated countless triumphs
as the reign of my empire grew
but greed opened doors to treachery
and my actual friends are few

You asked me,
"why do you cry?"
I replied,
"only the sky knows this",
you said,
"you require the blue
of day to fade?"
I replied,
"it began at dawn."

---

each day
my lead wears down
when fingers
scribble with a stub
will anything remain
of me to write?
or will iron
seep into my veins
and my finger take over
marking lines
in steel