You can't touch me,
Stop trying —
I'll add another lock
To my barricade
For every key you find.

Foretold, yet unbidden —
Such needed,
Long-awaited
Unwelcome wonderfulness,
At such an inopportune time.

Tell you, love? No.
I'm an author —
I show.

It's true —
Love knows play,
Love knows loss,
But it is never
A game.

Is it real,
Is it deep enough,
Is it worth the emotion
If you're not
Confounded by love?

Just a few notes,
And you're back again —
Singing along the old songs,
The old pain.

Fear shifts along
Your every move,
Where hope arrows —
Don't miss it.

No heart, no home, no happiness,
No shelter withstands
All that rains.

Difficulty
Seasons the reward.

In case of normalcy,
Break the looking glass —
Release the you who still dreams.

Shelter in the dark.
Safety where the light,
The world,
The lust
Can't touch —
An inner child
Fled inside,
Forever on the run.

Just another Monday afternoon.
Two old drunks,
Drinking warm cervezas on the beach.
Killing germs, and tanning leather —
No, not retired, a lifelong siesta,
Living the inebriated dream.

Friendly eyes, aglow with joy,
A radiant smile —
They saw the teeth,
Not the killer underneath.

Pad the message,
Flood the space —
Exaggerate, exaggerate.
Lay your claim.

Piling up wishes, promises —
Heat-of-the-moment's,
Desperations,
Perceived needs —
With open heart
I claim the weight,
And bury me.

Close the lid
On this boiling pot of
Evolved beings,
Killing for the golden seat —
We're clearly not done yet.

Worlds at crossroads,
Lives convergent
Throughout eternity.
A tapestry of braided knots,
Bleached, divergent histories —
Ideology, culture, ethnicity,
Futility colliding
In the shared space between.

Were this all I'd leave behind,
Could you still see this life
Amidst my mess of letters —
Scrambled, glued together
By a thousand moments' whims?
To decipher me, even I
Would not know where to begin.

Rainbow hearts in grayscale palettes,
Brightness levels set to nine.
Celebrating every flavor —
One month, no love left behind.

And still we say
The sun rises.
Still we say
The sun sets —
Invalidated, ancient concepts
Used so often,
They've burned into our heads.