cold sweat

addiction is motivation
blinders on and unaware
that the world was bigger
than a pill bottle
close to empty, began
its lonely death rattle
only one more dose
better vomit first

Raider

I walked these streets
Quiet and unknown
My hunger and my thirst
A guide to my feet
Feet that always carefully
Guided my eyes
To pages wild and alive
With the danger of ideas
Feet that sought masters
To bow then overthrow
With words that rang loud
Like the bells of freedom
These doors unlocked
To grant me entrance
Where others unyielding
And I, uninvited
Did conspire with fate
And ancient bound pages
Cherishing this artifact
Raided by a mind

A Time

There was a time

When my heart sat low

Searching for feelings

I wouldn’t show.

There was a girl

How there always is

She drank my whiskey

Smoked my cigarettes.

There was a time

My eyes were young

Not battle-scarred

By things left undone.

And she was crazy

Just like I was

We danced a little

Oh, just because.

There was a time

I was present there

I’ve long since gone

To the end of her stare.

And whatever mask

Love wears tonight

There is no beginning

And no end in sight.

Dark Here

It gets dark here
It gets cold  and lonely
Eternal and desperate
No garden to be cast from
Only images that flicker
Against darkened eyes
Sheltered by the night
Weak with fear and hope
Propped up by a fiction
Weathered by time
That crashes relentless
Into the promise of dawn.