Discounted Poetry

The swaying ocean punctures me And drains something I've never done Without. Down the shore, A couple holds each other As their boat is settling. Returning is a pleasure I can't recall. Pull away. Feel my heart deflate In unison With the waving crowd. My Joanne, She's anchored to her ailing father. I assured her understanding I don't have. She's now nearly gone, A slender body on receding ground. The water lifts by an inch And falls by fathoms deep. I sink along. My dog's excited, Tearing over sands And barking strong, Confused. - 5/30/25

You lay the earth across And heaven up and down. The spot they intersect Is agony and death, Forgiveness. I greedily engrave a tally, Not erasing. I remember every stone To bash my forehead, Every blade pushed in my flesh, And every thoughtless promise Made and left abandoned Like an impossible child On a death march. I don't lose count, Recalling every face and name. I've wounds enough To bleed an angel dry. Don't bother telling me To carry crosses. Who wants to die, To feel a nail Straight through the bloody muscles Of your wrist, To give redemption To the ones who kiss Betraying, Trusted friends who pierce And mock? I'm not your fucking Jesus. I'm made of mud And not much heaven. - 5/29/25

The hours after  Heavy summer rain, The air A written proclamation Held suspended within a pond, All brute commandment Streaked in running ink, In soaking saturation. The sun is sticky. It evokes the strangest Curious cravings. You part the honeysuckle bush. Along the tubular flower, Tug the style. Trail it down your tongue, A nectar wild, Nearly syrup. The poison berries hang so tartly sour, The blossom blooms so sweetly. - 5/28/25

I drank Too deeply Of your limoncello dress Forgetting suns Like greyest eyes Are always Promising. I stumbled Through your  Yellow sighs, Believing. Softest beauties Use their words Like painting brushes, Coloring The grieving dark, The gayest brightness. - 5/27/25

I collected your minutia Like scooping out The seeds of red bell peppers, The deepest breath You'd grab Before confessions, Chewing pencils thoughtlessly With undefined hunger, The soft squeaky way You sneeze, The absent twirling Of your thumb ring, Wispy fingers Spasmed straight On hearing compliments, Damp creasing eyes Which shifted down Before you'd kiss Abandoned, Frantic, Your tongue  A banner free, Your face aflame And ever hotter. The flesh is finished, Nearly clean. I study each, Remembering. You bury these in soil, Green sprouts wild. I smile And release the seeds Into the running water. - 5/23/25

I've observed The Oklahoma winds Heave up a car And spin it While stealing it Away. The clouds Are spreading Thickly Every day, The varied colorings Inside the black, My life removed, Replaced Again, Again. Your eyes Were wet Sapphires Glistening In melting Snow. Beside the  Christmas trees, I could taste Your thick lipstick Forever. I grip So little, Letting hours, Years, Arise and Leave Behind The locked Transparent door Of time. I know The breaking breeze Will ever win Its will. That night I curled My fingers Tightly over. Every time I see you still Are taken, Caught above The murky sky. - 5/22/25

The closet light Is painting  A rectangle of carpet Turmeric. The air is arctic But to no avail, The rain-drenched wilds, The mudslides. You swore You'd never, Yet the seventh veil Is puddled on  The yellow square. I breathe Your breath, Fermented Cider. I've lost My balance, Tumbled from  The spicy floor. A sigh. The world. - 5/21/25

You're sowing salt Because it makes you think of snow, Confused by the spoiled Barren furrows. You caught the fireflies Too tightly, Tearing glowing tails  From the survivors. You are gathering the pieces Bringing you joy, Discarding what's left over, A maze of squirming limbs And dying lights On frigid soil. I cannot abide Your unfortunate uncertain ways. - 5/20/25

The moon is waning old, As sickly yellow as a tablecloth Too long by cigarette smoke, Or an egg that never hatched. The world has holes About the elbows. I feel newborn And out of joint Above the planet's Labored breathing. I'm aware The path to bitterness Runs next to disappointment With reality, But surely summer waterways And lunar speckled winds Can freshen up before the leaves Curl brittle, Fall. I hope for, No, demand  The cracking through Of days  Without their feathers, Eyes still opening, Crying shrill and raw. - 5/19/25

She wishes She could tan Beneath fluorescent Lights. The constant static Far too soft, The sterile air, The cool cocoon Bathed in beige And calm yet morbid grey, But neutral bland chromatics Never fostered Sprouting wings. That process sounds too gory, Filled with hurt. She hates this Fraudulently promising cage But isn't quite convinced A step away Would lead to green And indigo. She's finished with All pain Forever. She remains, Longing for a window. - 5/16/25

You're under pink and blue, The entrance you were planning, Looking like the coolest Friday night. I'm dropping from the ceiling, Reddest apple  Days too ripe. The cloud of men surrounds, An open box of donuts in the office, Glazed and filled. I watch. I've been that boy before. I've paid the interest. There are many ways To slip and plummet Over the railing. Waves appearing kind Are often cruelest. - 5/15/25

The scene rolls out cliched.  You’re left squirming, Bolting from the trail you’ve laid. When the joy is purely chemical, Your conversation’s merely trivial, The brazen bells are broken, Chiming for no one, But still You hear. You bit the bait But slip the snare, The knot you managed, Stumble to your comforts, Couch without a burden, Bed without another weight. - 5/14/25

The rain gave out Exhausted, Possibly deceased. You’re across the sodden city In a home Probably comfortably asleep. The college kids Are drunk outside My dark apartment, Young and random mob Too new to this decrepit world For scars permanent or deep. You ache and throb, A severed limb, A wish I lost Ensnarled in the stars Forever. - 5/13/25

The sky, The clouds, The grey collapsed, Its shards now liquid glass Exploding on the concrete ground, A muffled pattle  Sounding sweetly. I am always baffled  People often fear, Believing I’ll discover that I have already figured out. You part the gates Into your soaring ocean. I am under all, Surrounded By your fickle tides, An honor Breathing deeply, Drowned inside the gushing waves. Your secrets Wash me Far away From shore. - 5/12/25

I steal A tremor, Seismic quake Unlocking our concluding Pretensions, Breaking the lowered bar Between our bodies And the bridge now gone. Extinguished, beaten, Are we wan, depressed Because we’ve lived enough To know the odds displayed Across the tote board Or hoping that this mess Can cover naked hope, Impossible desire this could Survive enough To break the cord Again And over  Again? - 5/8/25

Your lips divide impossibly. You volley all my clever quips. I know you drift into my ways. You don’t want this. - 5/5/25

Your vodka lime Is clinking as You wave your arms, Magician casting spells To make me Disappear. I only have my words. My tongue Forever conjures up Mysterious Enchantments, Liquid silver  Through your ear My lone charm. For minutes, hours, You're the center of the universe And every star is showering down sparks About your head. We speak. I wrap a midnight sky around. You laugh and cheat to red. Your arms are still. Your ice has melted. - 5/6/25

There's a freedom Seeing the body And feeling nothing Anymore. We bury our dead Too soon. - 5/5/25