Without Substance

a kiss means nothing – sex even less – the warmth of an embrace is cold – without substance

Centerpiece

i placed you in a box a cherished memory bound in unglazed earthenware in order that you may never leave me – your ashes line my pyre – your dust floats upon the very air i breathe – your death becomes my sacrifice – as your bones snap beneath my weight i will drag your…

The Old Man and the Wealth of Nations

this old man walked up to me upon exiting the restroom at the entrance of a clinic and asked me if i’d read the wealth of nations by adam smith – i responded i had not as he seized the reigns of the conversation guiding us on a torrential path careening headlong into the rocks…

Sediment

tripping through sands rising falling summer heat shifting mellow trickle rippling the pebble plunks spreading out in all directions stream flows on stone face eroding jagged smoothed sediment lost in the muck

All We’ll Never Do

all the paintings we’ll never paint all the pictures we’ll never take all the books we’ll never read all the movies we’ll never see all the words we’ll never say all the songs we’ll never hear all the places we’ll never go all the food we’ll never taste all the friends we’ll never make all…

Cosmic Zappai

letting her hair down distant stars fall in mourning exploding silence

American Imayo

you need to go make money – i must never stop offered unto the dollar – nameless worker bee utilitarian cog – in a cruel machine everything and more’s for sale – nothing excepted

Gibbous

shave the wax from gibbous – whittle it down to a candle suspended serenely in celestial splendor lambent piece of eight placed upon the still eye of the world paying the fare for the journey across stellar styx – two ships passing calmly through space

An Interesting Bus Ride

i boarded the bus early that morning coming off a grave shift – a prolonged evening of stocking racks and unloading trucks – prime of my youth – the stop was lonely during those early hours and i waited there alone quite a long time – eventually the shuttle arrived and the long shuttered door…

Breakfast Blend

i brewed a carafe of coffee french pressed and piping hot – i kept the top removed from the kettle then turned the corresponding dial on the electric stove – i leaned upon the venting unit and stared as the element changed – the sooty slate-like coloring erupted emerging from faded ruby to an angry…