future

from the porch, the stars at night are big and bright

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

put them on display like marie o’day

a traveling freak show of our forever frozen-in-fear children’s bodies captured behind glass

we’ll pay our quarter and gasp

will we find the answer?

as they continue to be riddled by bullets from the sphinx’s arms, can they enter our institutions without having to guess who is on all fours and who walks down hallways holding an end to their innocence, not lost, taken, never to be regained?

one last wrinkle from the protector of Thebes tongue, ‘he slithers on his belly after lunch’

these displays are not an anomaly

nothing to stare at stupefied

they’re genetically modified like the rest of us

a mirror in her casket would prove to be interchangeable

next to the werewolf man, just as believable

our fears

in arranged viewing areas for us to examine

school buildings charging admission for us to safely discover what keeps us up at night when our imaginations are made tangible, agreed upon breeding grounds left to their own devices

desires to smash mores established for greed, desires for their moms to fulfill their needs

and dad’s to stand up, before another one bleeds

and joins the circus

from the porch, i forgot how

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

a part of it is, i don’t remember

i can’t trace the sequence of dance steps that led us to this disillusioned state staring at statues that led us to this place of deserted rhythms

the loss of a heartbeat

still life seeking solitude when up against fates knife

slit

distancing ourselves from reconciliation

worries dissipate

sorrows meditate

the taste of your breathe finding a way to my memories

it’s over now, the present straddles dawn break, and leaves wonder in its wake

this i’ll take

and forget how i got here

from bed, our last supper

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

leftover chicken for dinner

i knew how much i was cooking

what i could eat

it wasn’t left over

there was no one in the seat across from me

i chased you away with worries, monsters concocted during day light dreams

nightmares

suppositions

blank stares

bacon consistency never remembered

what size of spoon you use, for cereal and ice cream

i stopped guessing and brought both

or, sometimes, i left the drawer open and said ‘in here’

you got the hint

i regretted dropping it, shattering silence with a clang, as your uncles’s gift forks fell to the floor, your final sigh closing the door, i looked around

finally

free to explore

what to listen for

when the neighbors stop arguing

from a chair, distance from disaster

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

you stuck the wooden mallet down my throat and began churning out helpless emotions i stuffed deep years ago to dispel the myth that i am predetermined to your sink-disposal life they threw everything into before you ran away

i’m ok

it made me gag a little

i can taste the past

visions will never last

i bleached my eyeballs

knowing i had to keep moving

my sentences full of your pronouns

i forgot how to say her name

digesting symbols of those who came before the blame

it was them

jesus and the gang

names, like animal emotions

only for us

humans

i gurgled visions of father figure fuck over from a forged outcome past and spat hard on rocks as i kept walking

you’re behind me

motionless

the handle hangs out of your bludgeoned head

eyes resting

red

unfed

dead

from bed, dangling before you

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

knots tie themselves with the rope i swallowed

eating it seemed a better option

a limp lasso left resting in your hands would have given us a chance, we could’ve summons two strangers to swing our string in elliptical patterns while we jump in tandem heart beats

who’ll trip first?

when one goes

so does the other

we’re no different

sell me another story

one without glory

a riveting wrangling of words written to loosen the stitches holding me together

oozing sinewy strands i pick up

three hitches, better than a hangman’s

tether it to something

don’t leave me dangling with this doubt

i love you

from a bed, dried on the vine

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

shelter our young ones from the onslaught of instincts gone awry

hide them under covers, let them clutch fabric with tight paw grip, peaking out, waiting for us to leave, staying still when we, invariably, come back in

they wait

for us to forget

we’re the ones who tucked them in

when will they know the coast is clear

that presents are under the tree

and it’s safe to come out

feigned surprise guilt faces as they tumble down the staircase that erases the fears we fostered to maintain control

unwrapping hopes

they resort to tropes

left behind

codes to define

generation connections

crossing the line

we left no pictures

traces of our devastation

it lives behind their eyes

never mixing in their words

as they rewrite a past

better forgotten

from a couch, detained by doubtful words

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

sentiments were left blowing through the streets, strung along by a tongue tied wind, encouraged by the black-out rage of those never looking within, or back, always forward, dead-aim attack

impermanence

words never meant to linger in nibbled on lovers ears or bask in the glow of a child’s terse tears, said and sung away softly, drifting down pallid people paths where sullen dreams dry up, fall off, and catch the swirling cycle of platitudes puked into the air, so we can say we did something

they caught fire, in grey matter caverns

destroying rehearsed dance step memories

forcing us

to say something new

from the porch, wind is catching the fire

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

tempted

tell me another story

the one about leaving home

the one about walls you pine for

the one about saturdays spent in doorways deciding to stay or go, spinning in indecision, the sensation of losing control, without a taste, yet, of jaded-aged fright, a dice roll, pulsing with prudence you pounded your heals into rooms ravaged by moving flesh organisms lifted in syncopated sonic flashes wishing there was a way to make it last

tell me

tell me how you wandered out of the door to streets stained with the after glow of moonlight tromps seeking souls left asunder, dancing while asking which way the golden one goes after declaring the detour was a faster route

come again?

i heard you

i just want to hold on

to the tale you chase when there’s nothing left to talk about

start over

were you scared?

did he trick you into believing lamppost guides led the others to death, a fortune tellers dream i trusted

leaving me listening to your stirring stringing together sequence of events capturing the laments and happenstance that left us helpless

i would go

if you’d stop explaining how

from the porch, after getting out of bed

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

curious notions were satisfied when i stripped myself of your diseased perceptions creating questions asked for during midnight mumblings alone in a room made for two

i’m forced into deadline reconciliations with someone i’d walk over on my way to develop new-vision novelties

splitting open rotted wood emotions with hatchet hands

taking another step

forward

counting the splinters stuck in my socks left soaking after the slush i sloshed through in rock-kicked alleys developed a leftover meal for children clawing their way up

determined to continue counting question marks when presented facts

vomiting distractions on desk tops made for drawing, hoping you’ll stop prattling on with dotted dates and crossed out names

i know what you’re thinking

i didn’t want to be here anyway

from a couch, blinking

Posted on by andrewsmeyer

try

say something else

we have to

retell the stories, erase the fact that there are facts

only perspectives

unraveled concepts

con-men with biceps

pounding their chests

i hear the echo

trapped in your lungs

shout

scream the song of comfortable doubt

sing, of whys and how’s

not when’s and where’s

let this tune be trumpeted by trusted truth-tellers tempting us to triumphantly overcome this cyclical torture

breaking free

to destroy the enemy

dying free

once again finding we

releasing the me

from this human debris