Thieves

The women are well-known thieves in this town
Like sirens from the Odyssey
They beckon lonely sailors in
To watch their ships go down
And the men are well-known thieves as well
Selling snake oil to the infirm
With cloves and cinnamon bandit masks
They're gone before you stir
And the wicked sleep as easily
As the victims every night
While one grasps for a justification
The next one plots a crime

Sand

From hourglass dreams
Over quicksand dunes
Lightning from miles away
Jolts the poet upright in bed
A pen clicks, inspiration
To a rush of schitzophrenic innovation
Lightning in a bottle before
Another click, its gone

Closing

Apropos of nothing, she stumbled in from the cold

The place was late, the mood was dark, the room was full

In her ardent eyes you could tell, a bigger meaning drove her soul

The same hand that parted the sea between us had pulled her out of hell

Smoke and mirrors, silhouettes in the shadows

The femme fatale in a film noir

Silk on leather, her polemic disguise 

Made the plangent music blare

I'm leaving, she said, as she leaned in, can I bum a light?

Like I was the only one in the bar,

That's a matter of perspective, I said, as I pulled her close,

There you are, here you go, is it far?

Snow

The streetlights made the endless comic cosmic darkness glow,

The night we strained to see twinkled stars, seeing only glittered snow.

We laid alone, on a snowy road, together just you and I,

Scared, I watched for cars, wondering what was out there, you watched the sky.

You mused about the meaning of our time forever fleeting,

Like the zen you feel in turbulence, your life before your eyes.

I said if we live like we are dying, won't we wonder where the time went,

You said yes, let's live like we are living, darling, time is on our side.

The blanket sound of silence kept our whispers from the streets,
You said you would live forever in that moment, if left to choose.
We laughed to tears of happiness, our secrets freezing on our cheeks,
As headlights ended our cosmic moment and we left for lesser truths.

Cartography

Studying the hills and the valleys

Studying the faces of cliffs

The way the light makes the mist a memory

The way the crevices take shape to lips

Memorizing the maps and the plans

These trips to the edges of Earth

Might all fall apart in my hands

If I can't get back to you first

If

What would you do

If you weren't afraid?

Would you dare,

Would you share,

Would you care?

What would you build

If it would never break?

Would you dare,

Would you care,

Would you share?

Consciousness

To what end will our arrogance self-indulge?

To believe that we are masters of it all..

To think the body has a mind of its own

And that in this condition we are alone 

As the blurry lines of sand and shore

Ebb and flow forevermore

In such a way are we aware

That consciousness is what we share

Peaks

Bless for me, that spiritual journey

For me, I go,

To the tops of the places they'd never let me go

Pray for me, that I can see 

For leagues and miles and days ahead

And that I make it safely

Back to your side

Flit

If there is nothing new under the sun,
Then point me towards another sun.
I shan't be wasting my precious time,
Exploring old adventurers' been-there-done-thats.
Lecture me not, but challenge me daily,
For I will train myself.
If I must fly, or flail, or be in two places at once,
By joe, if my ticket off this rock,
This silly, spinning, sinking ship,
Is hitherto impossible forms of travel,
Then lucky me to join the ranks
Of those intrepid, flea-bitten fools,
Who pioneered before my time,
And discovered all the easy stuff.
Ridicule me, discredit me, discourage me.. I'll endure,
So that I may build my own fortitude.
I am no giant, but I dream big.
I must!
Release me, dear life I know, let me be free,
Limit my body, free my mind!
I leave my material things in your careless hands.
I take with me my selective memories, your unconditional love,
And our unspoken understanding that what shall be considered beautiful
Is everything we cannot understand.
I am an explorer, a starman,
Pollen on the wind,
And the horizon beckons me forth!

Houdini

The magician's apprentice spared the premium seats
And watched from the back of the balcony.
His intuition terrified him to his core.
The master was bolder tonight than he'd previously dared.
'Constrain me by the bounds of space and time!'
He had earlier declared,
'And watch me laugh at those feeble cuffs.
For soon I travel the stars.'
Now a hush settled upon the audience.
And just like that, he was dead.

Balance

My dear friend,

You can walk a fine line,

Between genius and insanity.

You will find yourself pushed and pulled

And you must right yourself.

You can walk a fine line

Between the blessings and the curses.

The math and the magic

May pause you in your curiousity.

Gather these tools as you go.

When you know the fine line

Between always and never 

Sometimes you will jump or duck or swim.

Keep your eyes on the horizon, move forward,

For your destination is further on.

If you can run the finer line

Between order and chaos,

You will learn every swirling storm

Has a calm center inside.

When your house is in order

When your mind is at peace

When your heart is at ease

Your soul, my dear friend

Will be steady and ready for everything 

And with every equal and opposite force

Your motivation and your momentum and your love

Will keep you on the fine line

That is your life.

Godspeed and be well,

You have found balance,
For you have found love.

Secrets

So I admit

I fucked it up

I never told you

How I love

Secrets 

Defense

Journals and quotes

I draw a picture

In my mind

It falls apart

In real life

Inhale

Exhale

Mirrors and smoke

I smoke to think

I drink to laugh

I sleep to keep

The peace I have

Evenings 

Dreaming

Pedals and boats

A rarer thing

Than truth is found

In love when measured

Knows no bounds

Self-fulfilling

Glass half-full mentality

For prophecies self-fulfilled

But you knew before the secrets

Or the seed were ever spilled

Small scale delusions

Put a restless mind at ease

Former flames just fade away

Like embers in the breeze

A tragic trick of memory

Or a passive act of war

If feelings are so fleeting

What are feelings really for

Another effort ended

A new pursuit to pass the time

Until the monkeysphere is full

And everyone new is left behind

Evening

Charred beneath the grill lines in the star streaked summer sky
A yellow grass is crushed beneath our dancing calloused feet
From the west your better judgement will chase in a storm tonight
For now the twilight, bandstand, and the crickets all share in our heat

For months my whispers filled your hair like air into your lungs
Former lovers fill your mind like they did when you were young
Black and green, the shade of evening, shrouds our steady spin
A warmer breeze puts you at ease and you are in my arms again

Falling girl in white and flowers, finding clovers in scorched lawn
Knees and elbows, goodbyes and hellos, charades perfected long ago
Kisses steal breaths, inhibitions fade into the setting sun
Ennui gives way, in weeds we lay, and dormant feelings grow

Skin and fingertips and nods, sighs and raindrops and goosebumps
Gentle hand upon my chest and with no effort pull you up
Calloused feet retreat, start running as the temperature begins to drop
And suddenly the rain is falling, you grab my hand and we both stop

Overnight

Overnight in Paris
Up late in Cape Town
Losing sleep in Seoul

Wondering of purpose
Some desired greatness
Beautiful specific intents

Hotels by airports
Hotels by the sea
How young can you be

Thinking about the first night
The hotel by the bridge
We didn't write the future

Starry

Wish away your shadows, babe
We're running from the sun
And soon enough it will overtake us
We can't run fast enough

I've been lost in the dark before
I'll show you the way out
And you've flown too close to the sun before
Maybe you can show me how

We've been lost in the stars before
So far from anyone
Your eyes are my stars and skies
Mine are your moons and suns

I've been lost in the streets before
I wandered until I was numb
Oh, you've been lost in the sheets before
But you've always woken up

We've been lost in the dark before
We let ourselves be overcome
But we've been lost in the stars before
And we've never given up

You've been lost in my sunny eyes before
In fact, you showed me how it's done
And I was only lost in your starry eyes
Until that became my home

Who

Who was he
That man in black
Who seemed so cocky
Dressed like that
His face obscured
His vision blurred
His whole outlook
So flat

He doesn't visit
Anymore
Well not but once
Or twice
The lanterns keep him
Dim and distant
He can't abide
The lights

A harbinger
Of innocence
He thought, he knew,
He lacked
His company
No longer welcome
Just memory
A flash

Ajar

I left a jelly jar, ajar,
Forgotten on the forest floor
Something missed, for ants a gift
From strangers from afar

Through the canopy, a star
The first star of the night
A drop of rain, we'd best gone
Before it gets too dark

Picnic packed, back in the car
I'm thinking of that jar
And ants and rain and pretty girls
Who notice that first star

Kaleidoscope

I still remember those kaleidoscope eyes

As we stared, star-struck, and stars collided.
How the wind in your face put the flush in your cheeks
Cold-nosed and rosy, you'd press against me

The stars in your eyes, how they'd sparkle and shine

With that glint when you'd hint at that thing on your mind
And I still get those butterflies thinking about times
When you couldn't sleep without your lips finding mine

We once lived on the clouds in the sky
Til we lined our lives with silver lines

Years

She slapped him like a champ

He laughed for he deserved it

She sat back and watched him hurt

He tried his best to hide it

She bore his hurtful words

He swore he'd try to change

She prayed for winter snows

He prayed for summer rains