Verse: Objectification

All the things
we did not covet
quietly
acquired us

All the things
that accrued
to us
the titles
the tchotchkes
the tinctures
accumulated too fast
to assess their merit

all the things
the glossy objects
that obfuscate
and opiate
injure us
with longing

do you think
those casual gods
we imagine
dancing unseen
in the sky blue sky
even recognize us
anymore

Verse: Weak

Sunday
talk to no one
Monday
stay at home

Tuesday
avoid strangers
Wednesday
be alone

Thursday
admit nothing
Friday
bite my tongue

Saturday
but you're not here
and my song
will not be sung

Title: Here

(Apologies to @corvus_severus for stealing the title of one of her poems so shamelessly for the concept & a line of this verse)

This is not you

you could not
be inscribed
like this

you are not
those misplaced thoughts
nor the vague notions
you linger

you are not the inclement weather
your mild mercies
do dispel

you are not stone
and yet
you could not be
any more here
than now
in the ever present
unfolding
waves of you
dreaming destinies
untold

are you
the bare witness
to my confession?

Verse: The Arrangement

(unwittingly inspired by @corvus_severus + @russ_tomato)

The way
the wind
tosses those cold
wet pearls of snow
at your feet
like confetti
you'd think
you were wed
to winter

What will
you do
when spring
courts you
with a bouquet
of red roses
and the scent
of lilac
in his kiss?

Verse: Heathens

Here
we are
heathens

heedless
of everything
but love

which is
our salvation

the gravity
that tethers
me to this earth

to you

and what
I call you
if that be
your will

your right name

let the sun
and moon
collude to
swallow all
our time

I will make
a place
for myself
in your heart
and wait for
the wisdom
the thousand
shivers of
transcendence
that will surely come

Verse: Exercise

(Inspired by @darladavidson)

Every day
I run
to nothing
to no one
as fast as
I can

nothing
and no one
to pass
or pass me by
I run
in place

no wind
to resist
or force
me forward

no rain
but for
the sour sweat
that streams
down my cheeks
and into
my slack mouth

and all for
a series
of statistics
displayed digitally
in minutes
calories
and distance
though I never see
beyond the wall
in front of me

telling myself
it's not too long
or too hard

and knowing
as fast
as I am
I'm never
fast enough

as strong
as I am
I'm never
strong enough

and yet
each day
I'm on deck ready
to run at nothing
again

it's not a calling
it's a discipline

Verse: a letter to my former self

(NB: @Miss_Sarah_S asked me a question on Formspring. This is the accidental result...)

These are
a few things
I have learned

Love is not an abstraction
the distance between
being an insider
and outsider
is not so great

there is
a place
where you will
fit in
eventually

Happiness
begins with you
but true joy
is shared

the dark
isn't so dark
there are city lights
even stars
and someone
will hear you
if you call

live this life
not as long
as you can
but as well
as you can

fear not
the embrace
of the new
the as yet
unknown

wander
and never lose
your sense
of wonder

submit
to trust
be what
you want to be
you don't have
to be
so hard
or elusive

be present
and genuine
and in the moment
don't borrow trouble
it stays with you
constant as
a shadow

Whisper
when you want
to shout
reach
when you want
to retreat
hope
when you want
to dash it all

but
most of all
Don't stop writing
don't stop living
until time
takes you out.

Verse: Proposal

You can't
hold on
to letting go

eventually
you have to
embrace something
even if
it is nothing

Here is what
I propose

If you have time
we could
do one sublime thing
together
in this moment

you could be
my ally in deceit
and we'll subvert
the everyday

make a fiction
of our lives
and make it
extraordinary

one kiss
and it is underway

this
which is more than a rebellion
this
which is a baptism

Verse: Repudiation

And I saw them

I saw how
love made them
cautious
and conservative

Stifled by
the sense
of something
to lose

they did
radiate and
fade away
like a spark
in the dark

but I
went to
the empty spaces
where desire
does not reside

and through
a long revolution
gave birth
to myself
free of any
obligation

and I
headed west
wild and wary
of any invitation
to follow
or be followed

Verse: Communique

thanks to @jcubed1 & @flytetipping for serving as the muses for this...

Inspired by and
caught between
the chit
and the chatter

I am
ever looking
for the heart
of the matter

more ways
to say
but often less
to be said

on and on
and empty still
the noise
fills me with dread

How do I
contribute when
The only
language I know
is love

this vast
inexplicable vocabulary
I cannot free
myself of

it's struggling
to be heard
above the constant din

I never really
know where
I am meant to begin

all the little
lovelorn verses
that I, alone, devise

each one
is cautiously cut down
to italicize

and that love
is here for you
amid the noise
each moment
is christening

I've said all
I can say
and now
I am just listening