snippets and thoughts and stuff what i wrote

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

caravan

world-weighted and weary

with the scoliosis of Atlas

she grasps hope in gnarled fingers

like roots in parched earth 

as sweat salt paints ocher lines

on burnt sienna skin

before the desert was the sea

before the mirage of a shining beacon


lessons

the thing you thought came easy

stays uneasy

and fucks off hard


the thing hard won

settles in

and becomes furniture



Thursday, August 19, 2021

Bryan

you were a phenom

always striving 
more to do, more to be
with love enough 
to fill a sea

braggadocios and yet
full of doubt
the kind of kind
to quench a drought

as weird and wild 
as the tempest
as strange and beautiful 
as bioluminescence

a force to reckon
a heartfelt balm
a raucous laugh
a quiet calm

you were a phenom

fierce and fine

and as for friends...
like so many,
I was so proud 
to call you mine

Tuesday, March 02, 2021

fountain

ink stained fingers
blotter skinned
I bleed words
and world within
escape through pen
and parted lips
saltwater storms
on cheeky cliffs

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Sam

hollow 
is my heart 
as i 
wonder why 
the fucking sky
won't start
to weep 
an admonition at the fates
in somber recognition
of the wretched devastation 
and universal harm
in the loss of such a man;
of such kindness, grace, and charm;
at the emptiness of space
where this gentle giant stood.
on stage and page he towered,
he made the mediocre good
and the good, he made divine
with an eruditely crafted line.
had setbacks, but never soured.
instead he softly chuckled 
at some dirty joke
then took it only as he could
to make an eloquent bon mot.
authentic, real, and raw;
he knew what others did not know.
he saw what others never saw.
he made a symphony of words
and he played it for us all
as we would raptly listen
in adoration and in awe.
i listen for his echos
in the chasms of my grief.
that he is gone 
is so unjust
it beggars belief.




Tuesday, October 13, 2020

twenty twenty

the world unfocused
tenuous at best we guess at the rest

days pass in spectacle smudge haze
and yet we stumble forward fazed

no time to stop and clean the lens
lest the monster keeping pace behind
creeps closer till its breath upon our necks 
to devour us before our time

so feet serve as sight and set a pace
towards deliverance or desolation

the race begun 
must be run 

soda haiku

bubbles on my lips
the tiny root beer kisses
remind me of you

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

not equivalent, unequivocal

if all you heard
was shouting

but did not see
the difference
between

standing for
and standing up

versus

"stand back"
and "stand by"

and if somehow
you think that one
is much the same
as the other

then I don't know what
you think

but I do wonder if


Saturday, June 27, 2020

a weird hill to die on

to hate all that you see
and fear all you cannot see
must be exhausting

to direct your anger
at a ten inch square
and two elastic loops

to value individualistic obstinacy 
over compassion
over community

why?
your coffin will be 
lonely enough 

Sunrise song

there’s a cacophony
as I rise
pops and cracks
grunts and sighs
from knees and neck
and toes and back
percussion steps forward
as melody steps back
in middle age
morning song
the tympani
is loud and strong