anonymity in the belfry
i go wincing down the block
and find myself altogether languid
and out of stock characters
so here i am writing
of no one at all
can you guess where protagonists lean?
against walls: james dean
on me: bill withers
and so since there’s sunshine
now she’s gone
and i tell it again
like it was nothing but nowhere to no one
i lead you with no pen
and thus do not fence you in
but leave you slipping
so you don’t slide away

that pardoned me to say what i will
this wanted me to say what i would
those wishes upon stars
these wonderings where they were when i needed them

i gazed into the eyes of a nameless girl
and thus became convinced
no eager wanting on a nameless trail
i am sin
but i’m not lust
i am not you, you are, i trust
i am not yearning for the past
i am the future coming up fast
i am the worried state
you are a lasting fate
i cannot decide
no decision rife with pride
i tried
and took it all in stride
and busted

it should be noted by a clown
no laughter flows around
just the water rushing past
under foot
and with a wind as mighty, still
as the ink under my quill
there is smoke
there is fire
there is soot

from pen to paper to screen
i’m writing to be seen
but the image no one sees
is an image all my own
i am not a graveyard
ghosts surround me still
and yet alarms are going off
for me to get no fill
are you or aren’t you?

with a look out the window
a look across the lawn
the breeze plays lightly with the rain
and so it drifts sideways
in through the screen
and sets to dampening the air inside the walls
and so
with a short poem
i watch it
and go out to smoke

moving through the crowd, i wandered
and sitting beneath a tree, i pondered
why and who and what and where
anywhere is over there
wonderin’ what you’re doing

walk on toward the twilight
find the brook isn’t babling
and mistake the sky for nighttime
and go to sleep
as pretty woman plays
only the lonely will speak
quietly still, i am lost in a daze
going and going
i’m going away
to dance on a cloud
or sleep in the streets
leave and be leaving
to be left on a breeze
slightly

1 am a possiblity
2 am is 1
3 could be anything
4 is no sunshine
5 is no prison cell
6 is a clown
7 laughs anywhere; is knowing and fun
8 is a crease on a jacket
or
8 is a fold in your jeans
9 is insanity
or
9 is your dreams
when 10 is a challenge
when 10 is the law
1 am a possibility looked toward the wall
10 is ideas and
10 is alright
my 10 is a loveliness
outside and gone
when
1 is a child
2 is its sleep
3 is the darkness he or she needs
4 is on fire
when 5 is all left
6 is a dragonfly
7 is home
8 is belongings
when 9 is a sin
10…
10 is impossible
when 2 losers can’t win

look at the face
of a wonder, too dear
wonder how wonderful
god put us here
i am a capital m on my sleeve
i am a confidante
i have no steed
i is a-clamoring
poetry; clause
read and imagine
a meaning so flawed

1 is for loneliness
2 is for greed
3 is for everything
4 is my need
5 is contingency
6 is a dream
7 is heaven, when
8 is too speedy
9 wonders why there is nothing at all
when 10 is impossible
staring at
11100101000111111111
or
the wall

here is the right way
to mend with a needle
up in and down out
with words not but which take heed
i am a bore to myself
i make plans
and shudder
too many stitches
but with stitching, i’m mended
my fingers all loose on their hinges
make me a better man, oh doctors
make me something you can understand
and better yet

there to form two harbored streaks, continue
and lead me out into the storms
who find no features to be faded off the lawn
and tell me straight
until i’m stronger
when you will admit no loss
and soldier on
a past into the future’s sun
will you
pass me and be gone
to find no sequence in stow
and land me prouder to the storm…
the calm
calms nothing
i say, it’s longer than creation
on and on
finding me fading
find me gone

looking for the perfect beat
settled for sleeping on dirty streets
again and again, i was once and for all
once upon a time, i was yours
but ‘round and around i went and am gone
worth every second i spent underground
so party on, lady
you told me so
with absences spelling it out

(right hand)
make me earth and alive
i am one and the same
i could do anything
(but i’m) playing the game?
words are ideas
i am always the same
this is a digression….

(left hand)
this is digression
take me away?
i love “each other”
and now, i’m dismayed
i will be kindness
and i’ll be okay
i’ve been in pain
this? i am wondering…
i need a smoke
so i guess i will gamble
and just say “no”

1)
disappear into a dance and shiver rightly
contract a tire on a street of fabled rams
cause no beatitudes of bravery where
bashing knows no stable,
to be tied upon no tirade of a lamb

____

deny your penchant to be writhing from no closeted stare
depict no candle burning down so you can handle me with care
could you allow me to go waltzing, as i’m down and out
i’m talking to a voice inside my head
an idea born like brothers’ bread
mine eyes remain, but fading like the sun behind my bed

____

liars treat me poorly for a penchant born
from histories expecting to be able to be worn away
like tread on aged tires
i know no one to read the fire which only keeps us warm
my father was not who i greet with scorn
and yet he knew the times
and even still, i’m not
be mine
God is god: commit no crimes

2)
myself is barren desert
or a canyon wrought by flames
my tongue denies itself itself
because i feel i am to blame
regardless of the reasons that i’ve lifted and received
from beggars begging me to help them
or to kill them with a smoke

____

i am a tired minister of madness all my own
i am a wholesome creature even with my aching bones
i am a finely tuned decision i can’t make
because of history; who knows what all’s at stake?

____

i have no well for drinking
just a pen and paper mates
i have no time for dreaming
so the dreams run into days or daze
only when i’m shattered like a mirror can you even see
the pieces of me

3)
lie like liars lying
try to tell all truths
take me as one talent i have always used
utilize your pain and don’t pretend you’re who you aren’t
especially a craving for the “parent talk”

____

a bird or bee establishes their natures know
a partner tends to tell you what they think without words to talk
you could spill your heart, no guts to follow
you could scream your thoughts
a sadness wallows

____

i am broken or diseased
and one plus one is three

4)
an old man knows no happiness
when he’s sitting all alone
a tirade of inceptions, all
are finely toned
my table is a touchstone
my chair is soaking wet
athletic rights aside, i am scared to death
my teeth are fine – who gives a fuck
unless they’re killing me
my gums, my gums, so often bleed

____

my stomach is a-twisting
and i’m really not a kid
i’’m older than so many with an age that’s twice their id

____

capture love on canvas any multitude of ways
and don’t pretend
my god, pretending is a form of lying
unless you’re acting reactionarily
tell the truth and instant karma might reward you

1)
take “please” and jump toward a channel,
weird and regarded as a truth, untold.
and do discard an old backyard –
forming forgiveness on a distance placed,
as i am alive.
yes.
and i will give.

dressed and reporting lies,
i’m happy just to be alive.
i’m a culture.
i am a shadow.
i’m a drag into form
with me bold and dark

2)
break me into shadows
(we’ve all got more than 1)
i know i am willing
i know im not the only son.
know that he is struggling with this
forced, repulsive set.
and know that i don’t care too much…
because i see nothing in no eyes

and so, beyond me, i’ll be laughing
and so, in front of – i shall pass
and so long
(and so forth)