walking out       i wash the white  
and black out the red 
its all i keep contained within  
that keeps my visions swerving 
running into you again... 
oops i am sorry, 
my mouth didn''t mean to say those things 
its just that my stomach sometimes pushes out tired of boiling, 
burning acidic pains 
and i can't help but to look at you sideways. 
i'd leave if i could have the keys 
or take the dog on my leash... 
i don't mind walking,  
really. 
i could find a place under the shade 
where it wouldn't look to funny if i sat down and prayed 
with my hat, blocking the sun and keeping the sand 
from kicking me in the face. 
i have always got dirt in my mouth it seems 
spouting out twisted little mind *** themes 
and i wonder if we are living this just like it is my dream, 
but no we aren't i see at the end of another  
sleepy haze, 
mom is still alive, the  is still ...  | 
  
  
  
       
      over and over       there is a man in the cell 
his structure compares to movie role models for kids that want to be  
bad asses 
like little timmy who wants to ride a big bike and have tiffany tattoed  
across his chest 
right now he is ten and still playing with he-man and other force-fed  
superheroes 
i wonder if he still wets his bed. 
well the man in the cell doesn't. 
he strokes his phone cord and thinks of longer  
longer days and probably longer nights 
just like these 
lonely and unafraid... 
at least if you ask him. 
he waits and waits and 
wastes 50 cents on the phone call again 
to his girlfriend because he couldn't stop needing to hear 
the sound of her voice ringing his ears. 
everybody is a victim sometimes i guess. 
and baby please the time is growing still 
and i can't hear you thru the interruptions... 
i said mama doesn't like you and 
she is cutting...  | 
  
  
  
       
      my mother       my mother used to paint 
cutouts, clippings, 
computer print outs  
scattered all over the living room table and couch 
she'd stare for hours after smoking a bowl 
deciding which picture to use for inspiration 
to self teach her hand to move like 
monet, picasso or van gogh 
she made herself an artist  
infusing styles of the masters  
in with her own 
but never realized the beauty of her work 
my mother used to paint.  | 
  
  
  
       
      for u       today 
i fall inside 
the warmth of your gaze. 
i watch as your fears 
melt into mine 
and i can no longer tell 
who is (more) afraid. 
i call you out 
to show you places 
where we need to 
bridge the gap 
before we both fall in. 
i close you in, 
boxed, 
until i think maybe 
you might understand 
we both have feelings. 
tomorrow 
i am hoping that 
you'll be here, 
cradling the outline 
of my curves 
holding me tightly 
through the night 
until we both 
wake up again. 
i can even say 
i like sleeping now 
because i like the way 
you feel pressed snug against my skin. 
whenever 
you can't seem to figure 
what is going on 
or don't think i am 
strong enough to bring along 
remember i am. 
i am ready and willing 
and waiting 
for you to take that ch...  | 
  
  
  
       
      the first groping       "nature is opposite of the soul" - emerson 
i am mutating into truth 
shuddering  
thinking of how to hide myself 
in the world of my own workings 
will i be able to pass off this  
chaotic sickness 
and its hard, cold realness 
or will they catch on 
finding me in the struggle 
of yet another welfare love 
that can't figure out 
if its my feet or his, he should be picking up. 
and i don't know 
anymore than 
the mind of the vacuum 
that sucked up all the 
good.  | 
  
  
  
       
      in the yellow       there are pieces of shadows 
pasted against the pastels, 
i am yellow and 
overhang the rope for myself. 
my head is still muttering 
silly things  
like "die ... now," 
and i regret being so nice - 
letting go of suicide 
when it was my time to  
wear the evil grin 
and do myself in.  | 
  
  
  
       
      this is my nightmare       we have subtle lenses 
attached to complex visions. 
they call it creativity. 
i call me falling off 
the deep-end 
not drowning 
or swimming in 
but falling. 
guess its a perception thing. 
i think at least if i were only drowning 
i'd only have five more minutes of 
living like this. 
but falling, 
i am still breathing 
and i can be falling forever. 
at least that's how it seems. 
my mind made up 
always different than 
the norm or 
the rest of the breathing world. 
and i don't care if they do. 
leave it to them. 
i can't worry about 
pleasing everybody. 
i have too many damn ledges 
to avoid catching, 
to avoid becoming 
just another 
anybody 
like the rest 
of you sheep 
in society. 
my eyes will stay 
wide awake. 
*** you for loving me 
and wanting me
    | 
  
  
  
       
      living amongst the noise       the guy in lot 5 likes to give women hickies 
then paint their portraits in the sand. 
he gives them texture, 
because everyone in Venice must have worn grooves, 
even potholes, in their character. 
down the way the waitress who brings beer, 
wears bells around her waist 
and already knows our order 
before stopping by to say hi. 
we drink the sunset away before going 
to bounce around the skate park 
for a picture or three. 
take a ride on the swings 
up, down 
ugh, too dizzy today. 
the erdinger in my stomach 
grins at me. 
we kiss with our feet in the sand, 
the water rushing up - 
you preparing to run, 
me preparing for the cold. 
the rest of the night is soft 
stereo noise 
hummed against the moaning 
and our already rickety bed so close to busting 
takes another pounding 
with me between him and it.  | 
  
  
  
       
      just anything       monday has tentacle arms 
and swallows deep. 
i take another smoke break 
even though i quit four years and 3 months ago. 
you turn up the volume on the microphone 
in hopes to kill some of the dead noise 
with your voice. 
i keep myself twiddling my thumbs, 
shaking my feet, 
bouncing my knees... 
anything 
just anything. 
tomorrow will find me another bedside, 
another exhaustion pipe and 
green. 
i can bring the Cathedral 
to our dreams 
if only you will pray for me. 
and there you go 
avoiding my fields of stains and 
broken minds stuck in 
repeat silences 
that have you so wound up around pointless 
that you brought a gun- 
and i wonder if this is my misery 
or is it yours? 
stop stiffening the breeze and speak - 
say anything 
just anything 
(so i can get to sleep).  | 
  
  
  
       
      no answer       i used to smile against the weather, 
now i am just too run over. 
all the shadows take horizons 
and my goals disappear inside them. 
i could collect call from the west coast 
all the way to new hampshire, 
but what good would the ringing do 
for either one of us. 
we both already know 
you aren't picking up the phone.  |