Breathe

And be

Right where you are

Now

And remember

You are God

In this place

A what if

A could have been

A maybe one day

Is as empty as a cloudless sky

Is as void as the space

Between the earth and the moon

There is only now

Everything else is nothing

There is a cold wind blowing

Like it wants to scrub the earth

Of any evidence we were here

Lifting its voice in howls

A song of impending triumph

Carried high and into the blue

Like a new anthem

For a new country

There are flowers

In the window

Pulling me back

To now

Orange and pink and yellow

Meant for me

Rooting me here

In this place

Where calm creeps in

And the dead

Return to their graves

Where they belong

The predators

Sunk their teeth into me

Though they are long gone

The wounds remain

Small holes from which

Old horror leaks out

From time to time

Making a mess

I need to clean up

Draw them out

Like poison from a wound

Draw them out

Like shadows stretching at dawn

Pulled forth unaware

And caught like animals in a snare

Listen to them cry out

The wrong having been wronged

Never feel the noose

Pulling tight around their necks

And they are clothed in guilt

In the end.

I am haunting this house

Before my time

Knocking about

Alone

Even the cat

Hides away

During the passing day

As i work

As i write

As i stand to listen

For evidence of a world

Outside these walls

Sometimes gold things tarnish

Over time and with love

And the glow seems to fade

As a bright piece of metal

Comes near or passes by

Some cheap thing that catches the eye

And we come to desire

This less valuable trash

Over what we had all along

Tempting us to trade

Treasure for trinkets

When all we had to do

Was remember the value

Of what was always there

How can you create art

If you cannot hate

And there is no spite

No violent passions

Like love in the dark

No grinding fuck

No passionate deep held kiss

How can you be called poet

If you’ve never been sad

Never been crushed

Never bled in pain

Or wanted to hold

Or wanted to kill

You cannot imagine death

You cannot create life

But you can copy it

You can draft

A reasonable facsimile

To pretend humanity

Only to be a shadow

Cast upon the ground

Suggesting something greater

Between it and the sun

How much do you want

Of this beautiful horrifying life

Enough… what is that

Do we wring this time

Of all it has

Or do we sit back

And let it take us

Where it will

Bereft of motivation

To be anything other than

A leaf in the stream

When we can be the water

That moves the world