from bed, tied up and twisted

i hope you’re well

starts most greetings i type

words that i spell

fastened to the intention that i wish i didn’t have to wish anymore

that you weren’t splayed out on gummy bathroom tile floors

wishing for the door to stay locked as you drift away

a wish your forefingers bought, caught, and forgot with bulging eyes between ill-willed hand shakes dancing with short black skirts

eyes alert

surprises divert my attention to your smiling arms

wrapped tightly

i watch from afar

you swing away

finding stones to kick down alleys where you’ll lay

i write you notes

quick sidestep quotes

from our shared sunday morning’s sipping tea with clarity when your stumbling words brought hilarity

and i didn’t have to wish

you were there

you

were

there

from the porch, first crack at a stream-song

it wasn’t long ago

i threw rocks in the corner

thought we’d never lose her

and then she left

i can’t whisper anymore

my thoughts a full-throated roar

silent no more

what for?

now i bounce around

drowning in the sound

of what’s lost when more is found

it’s you we miss

can we make this right?

winter walks in glowing night

searching for the might

to keep moving

i fight

we stand

a master without a plan

she walks

on gilded dreams

alone in everything

we left

she saw

what’s mine

it’s clear

you’re gone

sing

sing with me

of a sea baring nothing left to hide

stand

stand and fight

against every misguided gun shot shredding everything in sight

i can’t look away

come back

we can’t delay

come back

it’s now you say

come back

come back

come back

from a stool, hours early

i’m the drone picking up the phone, listening to thoughts alone, without a deafening end-of-the-road dial tone

give this dog a bone

i’m going home

to encounter memories with drawn on faces

catching up to residual synthetic traces of time left behind

hit the rewind and scroll

i’m going for a stroll with the one i extol for lending an ear to my pulse rising pedantic platitudes piling up to nesting bird’s homes as they ready to relocate with weather’s winds

shifting

i’m staying here

come on in

i’m alone on my couch

catching up with the contoured creases that comfort me as i stare into this rectangular glow

reaching out

pretending you’re all with me

sit close

let’s make this real

temptation will steal away thoughts that make this deal worth taking

grab me

shake these pebble demons from my troubled mind

help me move on

away from you

solitude

from bed, battle drums

stranded somewhere between east and west lines that divide a world only spinning for our comfort

every night she positions herself in a bed designed for two where the fate of another shrew is tamed and told where to whistle contrary tunes that pound through puckered lips parading past arm powered ships setting sail to island fantasies waiting in polluted oceans for us to conquer, or douse in gasoline and set fire

leaving constant reminders of human desires to contemplate death while passing through moon phases predicting the flow of life-stopping blood

bustling between scars left by the constant consideration that somewhere, something, somehow is better than the ticking clock we throw back and forth now bowing to unrequited lovers leaving for another zone to practice their polite panting exercises

let’s stop with the please and thank you’s

and understand

head nods and need are enough

stranded implies i can’t leave

there’s a way out

you

from bed, i did it. now go.

try telling me it’s not time to go

i nervously got up and shook hands

quickly glancing into eyes

fist raised

pump

i left

synapses firing

fast flying fury flinging manufactured memories of cities we left lingering as ghosts gathered by alleyway dumpsters waiting for us to walk by

to jump in our path

forcing an about face

we left that place

i kept coming back

never cutting the slack that left me grounded to imagined situations

i can’t shake them out

cancer doubt

remission never came

you wanted me to leave

from bed, cat scratch severe

he kept jumping

scratch scratch thwump

scratch scratch thwump

tenacious scratches unnerve my senses causing me to do the one thing i don’t want to

stand up

walk over

and open the door to allow traveling voices to fall down hallways making their way to ears unable to decipher sarcasm and forceful conversations

he scampered to chemical receptacles and liquid filled storage bowls, lapping and looking, ears adjusting to wind pounding echoes on windows suffering a winter storm

we don’t hide

he does

you aren’t sheltered

humans have emotions

we share this

it’s what tethers the strings of differences used to construct facades aiding in the grand effort of divide and conquer

we’ve been taken over

which means

we can take it back

clutch the vestiges of memories drifting gallantly towards another realm where we’ll welcome back the comfort of knowing you’ll see the needs i have to continue raising hands clenched and clasped, breath gasped, and flesh passed

he came back in

curled up on a brown folded blanket

and closed his eyes

i closed the door

and turned the lock

from a bed, daydreaming about tomorrow

it never ends

this struggle to ensure our humanity

validate our humanity

claim and reclaim

action without blame

our humanity

what does it mean?

we’ve spiraled in and out

towering long distance bombers

keeping a safe distance

they’ll clean up after us

up here, our ears can’t hear the shouts

though we grimace with doubt when the killers eyes rest in their sights

on us

close range

leaving us more determined as we walk the path, marching spurred by aftermath

when will we stand

fist high

before bullets blast windows where teenager’s eyes search through daydream-cries wondering what tomorrow will bring

the songs they’ll sing

to wake us up

they’ve been watching

taking notes

i’ll be there with them

witnessing results

of our failures

humanity

in all it’s calamity sleeps soundly in trust, love, and a continual fight to be sure we don’t forget

we are humanity

from bed, i’m hungry

too tired to relate anymore

i find myself closing the utensil drawer and wishing we never combined our unmatched forks

we still

eat every night

together

you know i use a small spoon for ice cream

a large one for cereal

knives stay put, only used as decoys for visitors wishing they never came to the last house on the left, right and ready for an unarmed theft robbing me of the unforeseen heft of hearts that fill and slowly leak onto plates decorated with mountain peaks and swooping birds, blue on white

a swallowed moon making darkness might

blood drips and pools

suffered a fool

once before

never more

our glasses collect the falling core

a meal for one

i cross my legs

and dig in

from bed, waiting by the phone

a formation of words developed from an ancient sequence of symbols used to make sense of utterances that slide out of mouths with a measured degree of certainty all resting on the belief

that we matter

that the individual exists

a pulsating whole, ebbing and flowing through all encompassing envelope folds drowning the highs and lows, drawing us out further, the undertows, eddies swirling us down and back above the rows of chairs that they sit in and judge

ourselves

behind benches and carefully dug trenches while lifting the relevance of robes worn for decorum’s dreams

donning fabric changes who you are, what we believe

so, tare off your masks

dance

howl noise that can’t be recorded

and find new ways to say hello

to the parts of you

making one

from bed, we’ll rise to their surprise

stand still

look around

focus on where the measure of a human is found

resting in dew drops dripping through fall leaf furls, cascading over ripples, rolling from red to yellow, finally forming a single tear

fall

pool

absorbed

soaked into story telling soil, spreading and climbing up spindly dendrites sucking to stay alive, splitting paths to where the needs reside

cycles

the rain stopped yesterday, dry air deadened our breath

we had enough to sustain

for a few hours

until we fell on crackling brown leaves lifting powder black dust passionately puffed into plumes signaling our demise

the formation and rise of a phoenix bringing rain

a chance to love again