first and last time

Always kiss like it’s the first time

and the last time

Sleep naked every night 

to maintain a healthy sex life 

red

a dream you awake from yet forget

it slips from your swollen eyelids

like heroin from a syringe 

a dream you awake from a moment too soon

a dream that has you all in a swoon, all tickled

and heartfelt 

a dream to make all dreams melt 

a dream of a dream of a dream

where you continue waking 

yet remain fast asleep 

so fast asleep you feel slowly dead

it’ll go on and on in your pretty little head

until we subtract the blue from the purple

to get red

blasphemy she let leak

In a native land

Soma holds the flesh of 

another

in

Her clammy hands

Her palms are sweating,

her mind is regretting

All the psalms she didn't sing

all the blasphemy 

she let leak

from tiny

Perforations in her veins 

Now, someone else

holds the reins

While she suffers

shivers of cold

and pain

Unimaginable 

The mystic kisses 

her fingertips

The mystic licks her lips

healing every wound

received since

exiting 

The womb-

Soma is shoved back into infancy,

in a fetal position crying

The shaman, the medicine woman, 

the mystic 

Takes both her hands

and blows powdered

smoke up her nose

Until Soma can't see

a thing,

Until she can see

the meaning, 

Until Soma can witness

her ancestors in bubbles

of starlight,

Until Soma knows

that everything

is going to be

alright 

shark

if a shark stops swimming it will die

if i think of it as a beginning versus an ending i won’t cry

i am shy, fifty cents shy of a dollar 

i loosen my collar and let the call to prayer sound

with one foot on the mound it’s a grand slam

with one foot in the end zone it’s a touch down

if a shark stops swimming it will die

if i stop believing there will be no reason to try

gray hairs/malcom x

gray hairs new.

dirty underwear used

to use drugs

now they use 

you

are still beautiful

beneath it 

all

will one day fall

like leaves 

from a wishing tree

like rome fell to her knees

so breathe, just breathe- love

everything, take it easy

cause it comes rough 

in groups of three

multiplied by two

is still six six six

and thirteen will be

the death of you

is the beginning of me;

no need to need

no need to worry about inevitability-

it’s just a given, a known quantity 

that we simply have to trust

and believe 

there are better ways to spend time

than to grieve; there are more ways

than one to spend all of this money

is making me green

and lonely 

like spielberg’s alien, like e.t. 

in a foreign galaxy 

in a different reality 

is where we 

will meet 

in the middle like malcolm 

x

marks the spot

will always be hot

so start digging 

through my heart

you always do the worst

job 

best 

holy women

i know where i have to go

but i can’t do this alone 

where i come from cell phones 

don’t exist 

where i was last living exits

didn’t exist 

there were three holy women

dressed all in satin 

i can’t go back 

i need your assistance 

before it all turns to black 

pierced ear

it’s been a year since you pierced my ear

a time came when you had to face the fear

why did you run away, why did you decide

to hide out from the world? you were once

the earth’s baby, the world’s little girl 

now you are a shell of your former self

a shrunken infant crying on sucked thumbs

and diapers full 

of longing and bad energy 

you try to stay sane but the pain gets in the way

i remember you once told me not to say 

it but i did it anyway 

now look where we are? 

the lights are so bright in the city we don’t even

see a star

nothing to wish on so you keep those pennies

in a jar

and wait for a wishing well 

to tell your desires to

instead of you telling them to me

i wouldn’t be listening in the least to say the least

we had our feast, you were my beast

not the best but the brightest 

short but always the highest

now you’ve gone and hid yourself under a rock,

head stuck in the sand

but the marching band still plays on and i’m glad

i no longer stand in your way 

remember when you pierced my ear?

the hole is closed up now and there is nothing

more to fear 

gone without the wind (pt. 2)

gone without the wind

gone without a trace

all the things we forget to say within a day

come lingering back and pushing forward

like hay

in a barrel 

while i’m looking for a needle 

and ‘no comment’ is a comment 

as you keep predicting predictions 

i laugh down my sleeves 

then pray to leave quietly

so nobody will hear me

i’d be gone without a trace

like all the things we forget to say within a day

like hay

in a barrel

while i’m looking for a needle 

charlemagne

i love the way you smack your cigarettes against yr palm 

to make sure they smoke right and strong 

once you’ve got one hanging out the side 
of your 

smile 

makes it rain in my brain and temporarily numbs the pain 

cocaine and champagne and charlemagne nightmares coursing through our veins 

i can’t sleep so i drink coffee with no sugar and no cream 

and perfection is a flaw so go on and drink that alcohol 

i won’t ever judge you, i’ll just catch you when you fall

dxm

it’s not what i do for a living

it’s what i live to 

do 

you

remember the time

we fell in love

or do you at least

remember michael 

jackson singing it

as we swayed back and forth

eyes all large from the dxm?

we waddle stepped like the carpet

was falling away beneath our feet

you kissed me and your lips tasted

sweet from the strawberries 

i stuck a straw to my nose

just so i could accurately

tell everybody which way the wind blows

i answered questions before they were asked-

i shot gunned the sun; it tasted hot like fire 

was crawling up my feet and down my thighs

your eyes were lit up like new years eve night

and all i can say now is goodbye

and may your trip be alright

cause the journey or the fight

is always more fun than the end

which is always in sight

even on a good day

it’s not what i do for a living

it’s what i live to do

you

broken heart

and even a broken heart can beat

right twice a day-

i don’t mind change 

i just don’t like things

to be different 

time zones, different types of phones

cellular, mobile, attached to the wall

but still i hope you’ll hear me call

before i fall

again

even a broken heart can beat right

twice a day

and it’s the things you don’t say 

that get in the way 

when you cry it rains in heaven

death is the common denominator 

time, although fictitious, the inevitable 

you wait with spoonful to your mouth

as all the birds fly south 

and when you cry it rains in heaven

or maybe it is maybeline

maybe she was born with it

the point is: not all is what it seems 

especially not our dreams 

yr baby

life gets in the way of living sometimes

sometimes

your eyes remind

me of an earthquake baking

or a tsunami rampaging 

you are a wild child

and i just wanna be

yr baby 

olympian

as i watch the olympics 

i think: i could’ve been

a gymnast but i chose

to love you instead 

nosebleed seats

hey everybody!

get ‘em now and get ‘em cheap 

nosebleed seats to my defeat. 

and you ask me very seriously: 

‘‘how much wood could a woodchuck 

chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?’

and i wish you would 

just. shut. up.

although, your mouth looks pretty

when you speak 

to me in a language i can feel

not hear, please.

and sometimes it seems that you are listening

just for your turn to speak 

so listen really 

to this silence then tell me how 

it sounds- 

i line ‘em up just to knock ‘em down

with my

head up in the clouds

i am an astronaut. 

head down south 

and 

you’re ‘the one that got away’

tomorrow is always today

and i have nothing more to say 

broken teeth

broken teeth

broken dreams

filling up the sink

that i just vomited in

o!

everyday i live

i die a bit

more

my heart, soul, 

mind are sore

i’m not a sore loser

i’m a sore winner

i don’t want to be in this championship,
i don't need to be in the running 

keep the trophy

somebody other than me 

can be

the biggest loser 
this evening 

thunder

your heartbeat is like a metronome 

your feet a different time zone-

butterflies sing every time you stumble

i hear a rumble like thunder 

i wonder when we went asunder 

of the good and right-

thoughts weigh heavy on my mind tonight- 

it is hard to sleep; i tried

counting sheep

but i lost count around 33- 

houston we have a problem!

that needs solving 

for X 

i always get exactly

what i need 

never what i want 

to be with you under skies blue

instead i wind up near dead 

in an orange jump suit

bucket

didn’t quite kick the bucket-

more like i stubbed my toe

on it and knocked it over

and over

and over

and over

again 

we become ‘just friends’

i wonder when this game,

this charade, will end

devil

self unemployed and reaching

towards the void

there is a devil inside of me

i try to play hide and seek

but i’m the only one hiding

and there is nobody coming

to find me

bluff

all i know is that i don’t know

anything

as i grow older, my blood

is thinning

i am becoming weak kneed

with ease

and electricity flows through me

like money and greed

we 

we are no longer like the movies

because we don’t say it enough

i try to make up for lack of love

with lots of stuff

but you always call my bluff

lake michigan

walking along lake michigan

with a chip on yr shoulder

and a dent in yr chin

i grin as

the wind kisses yr skin

double the situation we’re in

multiply it by ten 

and you’re still not even close

so go ahead,

double yr pleasure and double yr fun

chew some gum 

i’ll just bite my tongue 

knees

i’m not afraid of fire i’m afraid of getting burnt 

all the lessons learnt were washed away in the flood

the water ran thicker than blood for sure, for certain

it’s hard to survive on the outside after being in

such a long time

playing possum to save my life

until everybody thinks i died

crying wolf like a child, i went wild

with the thought of viewing my own funeral 

surreal and cinematic 

weapon of choice is an automatic

dose of something tragic 

like a beauty and the beast story

or anything make believe 

in me-

pretend you are a priest and i am on my knees

mirror mirror on the wall

Mirror 

mirror

on

the

wall

What will be my downfall?

Will it be drugs, women, or alcohol?

Mirror

mirror

on the

wall

On which city or territory will the next bomb fall,

where in the world will the next missile be falling?

Iran, Iraq, New York City, Washington D.C., 

Afghanistan, Sudan, the Vatican City, or Kabul?

Or maybe on nobody, no city, no country, at all?

Mirror

mirror

on the

wall

What is the significance of a crystal ball

and a bucket full of chrysanthemums

swaying in the breeze of a "Star Spangled

Banner" anthem soundtrack, and me 

on my knees all dressed in black?

Mirror

mirror

on the 

wall

Will you accept a telephone call 

from yours truly?

It will have to be collect,

you'll have to pay for it

For there are whole holes

in my pockets and my wallet

Is as empty as a church on Super

Bowl Sunday...

Okay? Thank you. 

Much gratitude.

Credit where credit is due.

...It's true, it's true, it's true.

fingerprints and snowflakes

Fingerprints

and snowflakes

Tiny indents 

and big ten 

corporate 

conglomerates 

...Sometimes we just

feel like we are playing

grownup, make believe

With this lack of stuff,

with this lack of love, 

Carrying around a wallet

empty 

And calling 

our own bluffs

continually.

Minutes of seconded emotions

second glanced at with

double takes,

Deciphering the difference

between a guess and an inference,

Deciphering the difference

between authenticity and the fakes

Can be more difficult to make

than anything these ovens

conventional boast at being

able to bake 

Consequentially we grip-cling

to the memory, to the reality

of fingerprints and snowflakes

Falling and landing in a far away

galaxy 

Like a dream 

...Failure doesn't mean falling,

it only means refusing 

To rise and ascend, again

Failing is denying

the elements an attempt to

try, try, try another time

emotional roller coaster

It's an emotional roller coaster

ride that takes place on a subway

train but either way you can't hide

from the pain inside.

explain

how to explain the inexplicable 

how to explain that i am 

despicable 

all star spangled and mangled

as we scream through

wind pipes strangled 

worth saving

smoking roll yr owns 

in different time zones

what i own is what

you own

till death do us part, 

art is believing 

in something 

worth saving 

so tell me, when it 

all falls down will you

be there to rescue

me? 

bees

words we can’t formulate, 

stuck on our tongues

like honey

the bees are buzzing

as you try to speak, 

just

hold yr tongue and say it

then wash, then rinse,

then repeat. 

it is hot in here

the oven is

on 450 degrees 

and i’m thinking 

of the six degrees

of 

separation

left me severed 

from the brain down

and down you used

to go

now you’re too high

to even know 

doom to gloom

wolves howling at the lack of a moon

you doing what you do with that spoon

from doom to gloom- 

a bride, a groom

moments too soon or just plain late

i drink this latte of soy in your name

i can’t wait till there is a better game

to play

with me please?