noise

It thunders in my chest

My back is weary, heart is sore

I'm choking on unrest

The shadows growing long and dark

The evil edge ahead

There is a tangle, this shuttered spark

That rings with words unsaid

There is a pulse within the air

And it trembles as it rings

Joy will win, beyond despair

Myself so full of joy it

Controlled burn

Less wildfire

My fingers

More grasp

Less claw

I was softer

Holding myself

Like melted wax

There is ache

There is worry

There is gentle

Crushing seconds, I'm heedless

Of soot asunder

All those fiberglass diamonds

They watch below the waves with seafoam eyes

The moon is just a golden bright embrace

Lurking, lethal, dangerous surprise

One that wears a beautiful angel's face

Summer comes calling, petals on the waves

Far below, creatures carousing in the deep

A hungry mouth will always get what it craves

Shadows slice the silence where strangers creep

But perhaps hope is found so far from the shore

Perhaps the monsters made of myth and fear

Maybe that song is meant just to adore

They never made that meaning clear

The sea's in my blood, etched in my bone

When I examine my heart

All this blank canvas

While once painted with wonder

When you're swallowing prayers

When hope is a knife

You dreams can become a trap

Letting go can be freedom

The pain of worry—

That poison leaves slowly

Green leaves grow again

And forests can be rebuilt

Out of ruinous wildfire

Your soft seedling heart

Cradles the moss of your smile

A warm place to rest

The breeze whispers its secrets

A world almost remembered

The boundaries feel

Like a dream

The forest withers to desert

The sun will always disappear

But it's high in the sky

I am painted with shadows

My head is always so full

My hands are empty

I'm embroidering ideas

Crimson petals leaking

From a Robin's egg sky

An exhale into ebony

I fold gently

All torn skin

All nervous hands

All bitten lip

The frantic dance

Of clock hands circling

The way the stars

Fall out of sight

I know how it feels

To fade

Watercolors &

Cause amoebas are all breeding

And our brains will be a slaughter

If we give them for the feeding

And sometimes our air

Is too toxic for us too

And it's easy to despair

It's the natural thing to do

We are the monster that fell out of the trees

An ape with a desk job, eaten with greed

Sometimes the people are just a disease

Sometimes an ending is just what we need

We built the fire and now everything burns

We are the bullet placed in the gun

The smartest beast that never learns

Dancing in the gold dust

At least it seemed so then

Every star was a wish

I was roses and trust

Just glittering rust

In a wayward storm cloud

Those gossamer wings

My honey drunk heart

The bees still find

Flickered gently in the wind

The trees told secrets

The moon kept counsel

Her eyes scraping the shoreline

Like some salty prayer

I am trundling earthbound

Still trapped here in the middle

My words have no wings

But I have wishes

That glow gently in starlight

A mean right hook but I am

Really leaves me, a castoff

Another discard

A child just counting

The tail lights, those scorpions

Painted red with want

The poison settled

In my bloodstream and now

Have taken hold, this desert

The corpse of desire

I'm massaging calluses

Moscato sweet and sun drenched

To grow ripe in the dirt

Not this vinegar bitter

All the burn and the pucker

Or a peony

Fragrant with the morning dew

A butterfly's home

No thorns, only soft welcome