Discounted Poetry

She said to count the moments Everything collapsed to water. I remember when you hid the knives Beneath the pillows Because the devil pulled your strings, The night you danced anointed Purple, pastel red, and tangerine, The stolen day the baby died. The list is dripping. Oceans lapse And drop down sediments, Recover, Wrenching whitest cliffs apart. - 5/29/26

Maybe I'm too tired to muster up a meal. Maybe I'm not hungry anymore. Perhaps I've eaten my last. She whispered soft Beneath her arctic eyes She loved me. I'm out of words, Replies, A penguin on the drifting ice, Floating farther from the land And friends and mates and snow And deeper into water Even fish won't populate. She radiates. I've got to go. - 5/28/26

Press the mud Beneath your fondling fingers. Push the brush across To trail a maze, Moonlight above The sudden city. Poetry, It breathes without the blood. It cannot  Set this scene, Her hair in tides against your shoulder Or between the window and you. When luck's in love, Her face now facing you, Her smiles always noncommittal  But occasionally, Something slips From narrow eyes And you're aware You're sharing a secret Like a holy hot Croissant in winter transit shelters. Inside the bus Within the gentle metal growl, Beside the greying pastures Letting loose their solid lines, She smells of pastries Glazed. Her heat, The blanket heart of everything. - 5/27/26

Her shoulders rise, Release, A little rap id er Now after I've leaned Into her breath. The air is threatening to tear, A rip unleashing Sudden tumble, Smearings colored Primaries, Confused and exhilarating. We resisted wary, Waited years, But now Our pulse has fallen Into one. - 5/26/26

The fully flooded moonsky Is lighting glowing black-grey. Underneath the mustard sun, The dreams are melting. I smile, far more honest than my usual, Interpreting her private language Of dancing hands and shifting shoulders. My stomach blazes. Smoke intoxicates attempts at thinking. There are days I know she knows And days I doubt she's ever noticed. Mercy narrowed thin her eyes. We'd never survive them otherwise. A setting sun is bleeding out. I settle hoping for another dream, A fantasy wherein she sees. - 5/22/26

When the risen blade's Above your neck You panic Or you laugh. The midnight breeze Is cool but empty. Study shady sidewalks, Shadows, corners, Alleyways between the restaurants. You know There's nothing. She is not Awaiting. If you let these Questions stripped of answers Haunt your days, You've given them away. - 5/21/26

The carpet's not the floor. The opening is not the door. I thought myself a hammer, Always in her hands. I swore I knew the way, But found the hall was wrapping round. I exited into the start again. The bottom's Ever further Down. The evening is not the night. Today, I woke to bloodstains Inside my top sheet. I stared into half-light And realized my power. - 5/20/26

You said you got it from your mother. Spread it on your plate. The mango sweet and juicy, Toast a brown with amber flecks And smears of orange marmalade. I had your hand Those days before. We stared into each other, Coffee in two mugs, Our morning meals on inexpensive dishes. I passed your hair and shades Across the sidewalk earlier this evening Saying nothing, All my wishes, Rain that's creeping sideways Finally to fly Clear off the windshield. - 5/19/26

The monkeys Raided. Naked violence Anointed them as lords Above the fools. The rumors riot, Gory stories, bloody messes, Lies and allegations. When you scratch the broken skin away, Set fire to the flakings, You uncover light That blinds the millions. You've been running far too long, Forgotten all the gold You hold Inside. You've been a quiet beggar To the stupid and the cruel Too long. Your sin eroded white. Accept your worshippers, Your glory. Rise. - 5/18/26

You can cobble rocks together, Hide beneath the rusty rain, Or wait until the days are hotter Than the fate we await. You're still not far enough. Two quanta matched Are dead locked, Tightly coupled, Even in another building, Even thrown across the universe. Laredo is a sleepy city. They celebrate George Washington For an entire fucking month, For thirty never-ending cursed nights. They even dedicated a museum To water. The years are dying off. The bed is growing. - 5/15/26

Affairs are always magical. I met your mouth On top the desk. Your oven breath Against my cheek Enflamed. Like an ordered sofa Through the postal service, There are only so many ways To put these things together. You lied, You proved so weak, And we were beautiful, A moment, We burned enraptured, Glorious. You stand graveside, Remembering oxygen alive, And it will dazzle, overwhelm, But never breathe or kiss again. Affairs are always tragic. Every story ends And never well. - 5/14/26

It lifted Like the spirit As a dove, Like a winter cough, The hearts in  Foggy breath On windowpanes, A fingerprint. It felt so permanent. It tasted of eternity. The dust of the earth Was heavier Than we thought At first. We could not comprehend it. We stayed And watched As it ascended. - 5/13/26

Dander, down, The wisps of fur beneath her arms, The scent of sweat, deodorant, And hint of something vaguely cardamon. The night's narcotic, Needle cold. It steals upon and over, Steals until your sense is absent, Till your breath is gone. When you strung the scarlet thread To mark your way, You never thought it might not hold, A man might don a razor, Teeth, Delightfully frozen, Penetrating sweet, - 5/12/26

On my bench down the stairs, I create these small aliens To release them freely, Dropped from high exploding Like ink-filled balloons. Most people never notice. None of them are Shakespeare. Most aren't any good, Yet every one of them Reveals something That's beautiful or pure, Although they speak a strange language Few decipher. Some just rudely scoff And some are lovely But remain with oddest angles, Uneasy, Off, And though they're not exactly Visiting from space, They don't belong here. Even when disguised, They're unnatural, Misplaced. I've no idea why  I sweat and sacrifice so many hours Giving them life. Perhaps they keep my hands from being empty Or allow me foolishly to trust I've meaning, purpose. Most people never notice. - 5/8/26

In the southern glare, I barely make out The empty saddle. My rusty horse Is spattered. My youth's remembered By nobody. Often, clever twists of words Left brutal twists of rope. I rode for the adventure, Rode for blazing romance, Rode for reasons To this day I do not understand. I made reckless decisions. Now random Decisions make me. This land, This pavement, sand, and water, Don't feel Home. I live a stranger, But will not die a foreigner. - 5/7/26

She told me I must visit the soda mountains While I am young enough To breathe the liquid in the air And hear the mermaids cry. "You've heard about universal certainties. Well, baby, this ain't one of those. It's lost between The unbelievable truths you can't express And lies we all hold close. It's truth behind the logic And the knowledge bare, Undressed." She told me And I have never been, She's merely memory today And now, Now I am old. - 5/6/26

The boarded sky bulged down and broke. The night collapsed, Hummed infection green. She swore Just another, Just keep it filled with gasoline. I learned so many years ago To always stay in the corner. I loved her, But she'd grown a part Of opium and greasy gears Enrobed in steam and smoke and hissing. When she rarely was at home, She still was fused inside the fumes, Her breath an engine Jumping rails. In bed, She pounded with the pistons, Cranking oblivious. Dandelions, daffodils, Entwine the flowers. Crown her glorious And make a wish. The machine coughed out sickly smog And finally went off. The world was numb. Nobody even felt the blow. The ones that hold your everything, They gallop over hills And vanish in the golden hours. - 5/1/26