12/31/21

tempest confined



I feel it too

initial thrust


first separation

arc of intrusion


where your white words

rust from exposure


where your given body

adapts to the pangs

---

cylinder, silo

tempest confined


growl of composure

stirs of a goddess


the venom source

the covenant seal


unleashed with greed

unbound, undefended



(Image from chaosmagickapp.com)




12/30/21

get the bullet



the easy one in the way

always gets the bullet


a hammer rises in a

hand that 

drives the nail home


the box of disintegration

lies snug in the womb


a wildflower rises above


random seed, no meaning

but beautiful



(Bullet-blood by aggrocat on deviantart.com)



from the skyless night



I dwell in blooded sanctum

blinded by the poisoned vision

deafened by the moaning tone


vertigo   and the eyes dilate

mutate   and the heart implodes


body of wings   body of light

drugged into a saved stupor


she falls from the skyless night

straight into this callous prison



(Image from vikikollerova.tumblr.com)




12/29/21

polar bareness



out of necessity

the vacant white

matte of a region


exposed expansive

with brutal simplicity

and blinding white


a mouth is numb 

with its own hello

and polar bareness


hushed in the husk

of this barren land

that lost its need



(Image from classicalarchives.com)



12/28/21

an afterthought



I saw a leaf 

fall from a tree today

and I felt its 

fall to death


does it matter 

how many leaves fall,

how many of us die


the tree will still stand

new leaves will return


brown gray and bare

will turn to 

bright green fullness


  a man walks by

  and flicks a cigarette

  near the trunk


  he'll be falling 

  soon enough

  I thought


  his skin already 

  turning

  and crisp



(From gify on pinterest.com)



12/27/21

bathe



it was a lost day

not many of most

and not the last one

ever to be had


swim to the side of

the frenzied sea to

neutral waters where we

bathe in acquiescence


bleed into the rill

these ancient heartaches

of longing and lull,

of feelings dissipating


bask in the life of

rare light and airiness,

take a fresh breath

and find the new day



(Image by Alessandro Puccinelli on hu.lumas.com)



12/23/21

it



it festers

and I let it,

I don’t know why


the suffering is a

stimulation,

self-flagellation 

with word-whips

over and over again


arterial red

splits the skin

and I let it


I don’t know why

but the painful grin

is so addicting


this beats love to

a pulp every time,

bludgeoned back

into a corner


it festers there,

a veil of convulsing insanity

over a pretty dream


forever unrealized



(Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky on tumblr)




last bottle on the island



I won't be writing to my

forgotten home anymore


there's only one bottle left 

and the previous messages

have remained unanswered


my hopes are floating

somewhere out there.


this is my place in life

barefooted, bare skinned

sun, wind and rain drenched 


living off of mostly less of

this and that and whatever


the heart beats, the stomach

growls, the joints crack and

this humbled soul is at peace.


the last bottle will stay with

me and I will fill it with poems

and shells and sand and sea


my hair will grow, my beard

will fill out, my body will thin


I will succumb to time in time

and someone will find me with

the last bottle, already at home.




(Image from wallpaperflare.com)





12/22/21

in the lab (my photos)


its a long way from fingertip

to fingertip and back again,

storms of interference pollute

the proper circulation


obstruction at the synapse

no transmittal no connection

somatic numbness or decline

bulk withholding and betrayal


this is presymptomatic, actions

indicative of complications

fight the urge of amputations

to extremities and entanglements


its a long way from fingertip

to fingertip and back again,

this anatomy is atrocious and

becoming more of a nuisance 







12/21/21

often enough


often enough

the heart is a medium


{except...} ... please

don't wake me up tonight

  I'm in a dream

  new star formation

  soft pleasure


pulverize the language of

this little galaxy

in-(         )-significance


words are abandoned

in the abundant light of

newly born emotions


don't give 

Love a name here


  just let it be



(Image from mirrorsinner.tumblr.com)







12/20/21

love's hands



love's hands

are upon me


a massage of foot

and calf and thigh

and groin and belly

and breast and arm

and neck and head


I lie prone

I lie supine

I let it in

I let it devour me


such tender cruelty

this impassive overtaking;


I lick love's hands 


the tongue tastes

the blood of two



(Image by Simone Angarano on eternalsatan.tumblr.com)



my world



she sleeps, my world is quiet

             

           vigilance is a struggle

against these turbulent hours


love rests, somewhere unseen

unknown


night keeps rising, a black flag

stout and stiff

 

            a warning; come dawn

pray your soft eyes will awaken


and hers, sleeping so peacefully

                                my world



(Image from georgepratt.com)



12/19/21

rush on by


poverty strikes the

unaware. joy is a loose

blindfold.

               a child is happy 

playing in the summer rain. 

shoes getting wet. mother

worries.

             up above reality 

the dead attend funerals 

for you and I. we call it 

living. 

          one foot stuck in 

traffic, one dangling from 

the limb. a bird in smooth 

flight never falters.

                             rush 

river, rush on by. take this 

mountain down one grain 

at a time. 

                as humble as a 

bee in its social rank, we

serve a purpose. 

                          mostly

futile.



(Image from georgepratt.com)






















                                             

12/11/21

journal-6, we were not



old AC/DC brings a certain smell. Bon Scott's death. late 70's shag carpet and popcorn ceiling texture. I listened to Shot Down in Flames before asking Abbey out. not the best choice or decision. it didn't go well. I still remember her voice full of hesitations and stutters. I hope she's happy somewhere. I'm happy here right now.


I had a bike and a paper route. an MCS Spider and the Quad City News. the newspapers were rolled up and rubber banded and stacked in a wagon that I pulled around the neighborhood. no care was given while throwing them in the yards. some made the driveway. others made the grass. as long as the wagon was empty when I got home. fingers full of ink. adolescent sweat. a few dollars for some guitar strings and new picks.


his name was Steve Shue. he bought my first guitar from me. a dark woodgrain Gretsch with a black pickguard. I went out and bought my first Fender Strat. he set the guitar on fire one day to give it a "look". Steve wasn't right in the head. he swallowed a shotgun blast years later in an apartment. he was alone. my younger brother was the first to respond. he called me while he was on the way saying "hey, a call just came in, you'll never guess who just shot himself..." I guessed correctly. it was the first name I thought of.


dad called me "Michael" when I was in trouble. mom too. I knew it when I heard it. and most times I knew what I had done. I had 6th row seats to see Judas Priest but didn't get to go because I came home from the mall an hour late. Rob Halford rode his motorcycle on stage. my friends told me all about it. that one still stings a little. I learned how to play Living After Midnight on guitar. Our 8th grade band played it at parties, along with Hells Bells, Brown Sugar, Purple Haze, Fly By Night and others. we called ourselves The Living Legends. turns out, we were not.

12/10/21

is as is



reverse order

when the existing wound

fits nicely over the weapon

held innocently in hand

by an unknowing


consequence

before a single word is

spoken from the purest

mouth mute in the wind

so far away


impact

from lightning in a storm 

charging above a heated sea 

raging from the single flap

of a butterfly's wing


this is as is

and its already too late

because love and hate

are innate creatures

devoid of carbon



(Drawing by Anna Andura on saatchiart.com)