Threatening violence
in wake of words unliked,
knowing online anonymity
will always protect
from real consequence.

Insulting others for
their honesty, manipulating those
that stand by what they say,
yet accept responsibility
when they are wrong.

Fishing for more sympathy
with lies and hateful diatribe
on being so hard-done-by,
while masking hate with
"I'm just trying to help".

In these days of darkness
The dose of faith comes from within

I put all my wishes in a hope chest
Only to find dusty cobwebs
Long held in this cold and dreaded prison
With the gates unlocked
My foolish heart wouldn’t let me pass

I kept in this rage for so long
Suddenly the volcano in my chest exploded
Evacuating the city of innocence
Leaving me orphaned on unknown roads

What progress within the static constant
I could shut one eye for ever and nothing
would change but appearance, becoming a
one eyed blinker temporarily blind
for an infrequent instant.

Impatient through the grinding hopeless
numbness that battles my sensibilities
seeking distraction within view of the
impasse that encircles this fracture.

Splitting vertically beneath my feet
sees me stumbling backwards to the
safety of the ragged edge.

“Look at me”, they shout,
“look at me,
look how wonderful I am
compared to you!”
But they are nothing,
less than insect defecation
stuck to grimy windows
sweltering in useless heat.

“I am here”, they shriek,
“I am here,
look how much I matter,
so much more than you!”
But they are insignificant,
as tiny as the lives they lead,
pathetic amongst the throngs
they so desperately
try to rise above.

A homeless man lay dying
On a bleak and wintry day
People purposely avoided him
As if he was in their way

God’s angels watched in wonder
Surely, someone would care
To help this fellow human
But, they only acted unaware

He had helped a threatened woman
He fought to save her life
And the man that tried to harm her
Attacked the homeless man with his knife

People kept on walking
As tears fell down his face
The life poured from inside him
As he prayed for dying grace

In a dark and varied landscape
on a night of sickle moon
all seems stark and severe

As were the artist's medium
a charcoal sketch
on gray paper, bare

Even the sky is smudged
by stratus thumbs
smearing random stars
from west to east
leading to further decreased
ambient light

Skeletal trees upward reach
and with naked arms beseech
a return of leaves and warmth
having become cold
inured to their own nudity

I eat plastic noodles
to remember, the imaginary scent of December
sipping at chilli soup in my bed rags
your artificial smell
loving up my bed hair.

I fell into her bed right there
your feelings for me spindled around me
like a little moat of clouds
of hot, fresh steam
that balanced eagerly
in pure thin air.

Let the pain roll off my back
Into the sand my blood drops
My dreams go with the wind
My laughter sounds in hell

The knife you shoved into my back
Cuts into my heart
Until everything spills from inside me
Down I go
Spiral out of control
ceaseing to be

Watch as blood gushes from my mouth
As my heart bleeds through my skin
I fall to the ground
Look up at you and say
Your love was just my death in
a pretty disguise

Maple buds are now brick red
scattered through a copse of trees
with warmth mixing into a cold breeze
spring time must be just ahead
winter's song is nearly done

A robin and one lone blue jay
hopping about bare limbs and ground
both hoping food will soon be found
on this bright and windy day
beneath a yellow mid-day sun

Beech trees now their dead leaves expel
crimson blooms upon a red bud tree
that's bent and muted just like me
dogwood buds starting to swell
the return to life has now begun

The darkest winter, ever
never felt so damned alone,
these growing pains are crippling
hope it's worth it when I'm grown;

this winter brought more gravity
at least, that's how I feel,
this burden of first-hand knowledge
leaves an icy chill, that's real!

Folks say that they understand
it's a lesson we must all learn,
fate merely granted ambiance
when it finally was my turn.