I will not let time enter into the fray
the albatross is already perched high
scanning the grey sea with grey eyes.

that awkward ride home
after a night in jail,
or those chance encounters
one can never tell.
It's the crashing of cars
and old folks dancing,
baby's first steps
and our dear parents' passing.
It's the dogwood's lean
under the shadier birch
it is starvation, war
and so much more.

We returned to alien children
and wives we had forgot,
homes submersed in rot.
These women would not soften
privy that we picked dead men
from our teeth: brother’s blood ill-begot.
We writ their names in the sand not
seen by morning-light, their bones broken,

carried away by evening tides.
These men will not forgive us,
in sleep we sweat and scream
in nightmares our time we bide.
Within your guts we hold their rage continuous—
and only when compared to the devil are we redeemed.

Roll the dice of life
And place your biggest bet against my heart
Take the world by its hand and make it right
Remake it from the start
Long lost birds symbolize hope
That you would be back some day
But paper promises burn and flake away
Dying ashes lay out in patterns I can’t understand
Tell me the truth about the Promised Land
This blue vase holds your ashes
I wish I could put you back together again
Time was gone and then came back
Your origami heart was so fragile

rising from another crises
one more squeeze of heart
that should have killed but did not
I awake, and think of nothing

restraints untied, I feel along
the tubes and wires snaking down my throat
nurses hovering, ready to stop me
should I decide to pull

with the hardness on my fingertips
choking off my voice
I wonder why I am still alive
and wish that I was not

Killer

Guardian Angel

when it's all over

only the wanting remains

the struggle goes unspoken

whispering Grandma's name

you feels the stirring echoes

of your Grandma's heart's gentle touch

you couldn't find words to tell her

you misses her so terribly much

now she's your special angel

watching down from above

guiding your uncertain footsteps

tenderly with all her love

knowing her spirit never left you

will bring comfort from the pain

Turn This Leaf

If only I could fill up
all the leaves of the world,
One day I would become renowned,
But you know never will I be so crowned.

A bard though you may call me,
Others may think you are unsound,
But leaves some day will turn around,
Pages full you will read,
As upon my mind,
Alas!
So many breed...

It ceases
this profundity of abstraction,
and all I'm left with
just breathes.

I still go through the motions
of feeding my shadow
and declaring independence
for my vagabond soul.

Desire is four-leafed clover
hidden under my feet.
I go nowhere
but there is no defeat.
Walking
towards the flame,
all I am
just breathes.

It would make a women giggle
and 'twould make a grown man cry,
but there's a blues I shall not shake
even past the day I die.

A kind of blues that's reckless
because we flew by the seat of our pants,
whether we ever was even with the girl
will haunt us at the chance.

She could've been any different woman
one could've cheated with, or without;
or maybe I never even tried
because I couldn't quite figure her out.