Gray hair, pale eyes,
Like paintings on a wall.
Struggles?
Not their problem —
Easily entertained
And happily ignored.

All are one,
All are blood —
Given time,
All of life
Drains into
The thirsty ground.

Votes are for the living —
The dead but speak
Through memories.

Bloodied knives in open backs.
Allies under common threat
Fatally mistook for friends —
Alliances returned to rivalry,
Before the smoke has cleared
Upon their sunset.

Drowning at the end
Of a dry spell —
Blessed with rain
I have forgotten
How to swim.

You don't own me,
But get to act like you do.
Possession’s nine-tenth of the law.
You believe in your rights,
And I'll act along —
Working like a man possessed
To survive.

Blinded we swing
Time's scythe and truth's hammer
Through trust and other fragile things —
Desperately holding on
To all the ends we've severed.

Joyful melancholy.
Decades since you left me,
Messages, but only if you're happy —
Warming yourself
On the still glowing ember
That once was not enough.

Secondary motivators,
Hands of fate
Forcing our actions —
Of all their
Manipulative ways,
The most tragic
Is compassion.

Friendzoned entourage —
Predictably dependable,
Desperation palpable.
I'm here for you, babe.

Caught in the undertow,
The ballad of
Three bottle carpet rides
And miserable landings —
Happy ending happy hours
To forget the day to day.

Scripted justification
With deliberate omissions
On endless repetition —
Too smart for my own bullshit,
But will I ever learn?

The coward’s way —
Pull the pen.
Thoughts like live grenades,
Volatile emotions
Trapped in woven cages
Of defused words.

Paths, branching out,
Hard rights and heart junctures —
Full throttle,
Never back to
The mess I've left behind.

Not yours,
The right,
The prize,
The time,
Broken winnings,
Broken trust.
Greed a teacher
Showing us that
Worth lies not in having —
Such is
The paradox of taking.

At the basis of
Both failure and success
Believing is repeating —
Say that again.

Solitude in happy doses,
Planned vacations from the grind
Of all that includes others,
To reset the I.

Kindred souls inside
Clustered bubbles of tainted light,
Sharing an amiable hatred,
Watching the world distort.

If you're happy
And you know it,
Teach me how.

It's hard not to love,
But harder not to hate
When life seldom gives,
And everyone takes.