it’s quiet now that i’ve opened my eyes

i closed my heart
and it hurt me to do a thing
noise banging
like rocks
hitting glass inside my head,
like rivers river-ing in rage
i envy those hills
with bee-buzzing blankets of
seedy dandelions
everybody is screaming at me
the world is in its blackest hour
and i bet it’s been like that for some time
i wish i was deaf, i wish i was death
i wish all the things i was told not to think
so i quieted myself
and swallowed the aching whole
i replaced my anger with laughter and thanking
hands cramped from holding these eyelids shut
asking myself now, ‘did you see what i did?’
i had gotten used to the pain
so much that i’d scabbed over
i had gotten used to the lies
and viewing everything as myth
the truth finally untied
calm restfulness
but it’s quiet now that i’ve opened my eyes.

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don’t mistake my grimace for a smile

i can’t be the only one.
isn’t it hot in here?
i’ve been up since 4:48AM.
my luck, we’re out of coffee.
city so full of potholes.
let’s call it Moontown.
everybody’s hair is purple now.
winter is on the way but it’s okay.
el nino or plastic straws or something.
i paid too much for parking.
and i cannot figure out how to get more views.
my knee started aching, the right one. yeah.
she’s 38 with a two year old.
so i won’t complain.
i updated my pronouns to Shrek/Donkey.
typical highs, unusual lows.
now i have 57 new migrant neighbors.
seem nice.
i have to teach my kids about slavery.
only the facts.
i ended up in a vegan only joint.
might die soon.
anyway, i’m wearing crocs and sweats.
i’m here to vote i guess.

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not because i said so

the thing about trying is, it makes you give a shit about shit you shouldn’t give a shit about.
i know. i tried before.
no one likes to talk about their past.
the mistakes. the regrets. the people we’ve hurt.
it’s all the same pattern of forced apathy.
i say i don’t care but i twist my gut every time i think about it. anything.
and we’re told to hang on to hope. but she doesn’t give a shit either.
she lies. we dance. we break our ankles and do it all over again.
the worst people try wickedly hard not to die. everything. they’ll do everything.
but it’s all for show.
you see, we all are going to die. if you fear not, you live. if you fear the thing, you keep trying to make sense of things.
and questions go unanswered. puzzles remain mysteries.
hope becomes misery.
we want to know the meaning of life. every day.
if i think happy thoughts then i’ll be happy, an example.
if i try hard enough this pain will go away.
yet no one questions where the pain comes from. or where the sadness comes from.
or why we’re here in this life with such dramatic emotions consuming our existence every day.
at all times.
we try.
we have to give a shit about what’s going on inside. regardless of the world outside.
that’s the focus.
cut the noise even though everybody wants us to give a shit about them when we really need to bring it home. bring it inside.
every kids thinks they have the right to play with the toys just because they’re there. not today, skipper.
keep your shit for yourself. take care of your shit for you.
there isn’t anyone who can wash your insides. even if you pay a lot of money to a healer, they only put your toys on the other side of the room.
there is pattern amidst the chaos if you let it stay chaotic for a while.
what seems wild is often the only tame process. like staring into the sun.
hope is destructive to a soul without a reflection.
we let go of trying. we sit. we can wander back to ourselves.
the one who strayed.
i think i would find myself on a tall hill, covered in grass. a warm, lifting breeze smothers me up.
it’ll have been quite lonely up there. waiting.
but finally i can say how lovely and how nice it is up here.

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A little dose of gratitude

thanks for the air
thanks for birds
thanks for little old men sitting on curbs

thank you for flowers
thank you for water
thank you for kindly taking my order

thankful for clouds
thankful for dust
thankful for traffic that keeps going up

thanks for the small things
thanks for the big
thanks for the smile on the brightest kid

thank you for the fire
thank you for books
thank you for the tail a rattlesnake shook

thankful for mud
thankful for rivers
thankful for cold nights, blankets and shivers

i thank you for it all
i thank you for nothing
i thank you for the rest
i thank you when i have no words left

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im not good at love poems

all I know
is that
if i could
do it again,
I would
ask God
to make
me like
the air
you breathe
so I can
be around you
through you
for all time.

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even if

I’d want to know who you are
even if we were strangers.
I’d want to give you my first kiss.
I’d wait a day past forever
even if.

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conversations we had

all in my head
i thought you said
‘i love you’
instead
what you really said
is ‘i need you’
needs aren’t wants
and neither is close to love
which is a feeling
undetermined by the brain
solely powered by the heart
and that is an energy most
uncontrollable

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in the Water is where we stand

Ye have no faith

No weight to carry

Ye cannot walk on Water

He said

And told you a lie

Told you some stories

About what Faith is

My mother said

She said

If Water is where you stand

Fold your hands

Then stay there.

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voicemail

You have one new message. First message:

….You didn’t answer your phone….what’s up with that?

….

End of new messages. Message erased.

Thank you, and goodbye.

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get out of your house

Get out of your neighborhood.

Get out of your town.

Get out of your state.

Get out of your country.

Go out of this world.

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