1/16 inch thin layers
Appealing to the saliva of the dogs
Overrated and shallow interiors
Claiming to be a superior
A rancid exterior to animals
Gritting my frustrated teeth
Recognizing a frivolous mind
Intellectually inept and blank
A lost Aardvark in the desert
Shutting you off like a valve
Lacking the ability to digest
Mad at myself for allowing you in
A crawling fool on the inside
Seeking depth and connection
Seeing an overhyped individual
Clasping to the vicious sound
Grinding my teeth to loneliness
Clenching to the hollow rattle
Snagging the callous pages
Latching on to the emptiness
Seeking the comfort in the corner
Clutching to the invisible truth
Absorbing the bitterness
Digesting too much judgement
Consuming bits of the view
Seizing the blankness
Clawing inside my cage
Refusing to listen and understand
where I was and where I am
Kiss me until we see the dark
Stand in the showering limelight
Seal your vow in the music box
Recite your lyrics softly in my ear
Sing me a song of devotion
Hum to me in your hushed tone
Dress me in your secret message
Hesitate your seductive murmurs
Swallow your sighs and hints
Mumble your satire in your birthday suit
Leave me your pamphlet of ridicule
Staring at your cynicism and bitterness
Remove the jaw jacking banter
Make love to me like the rancid dog
Deliver me one honest sentence
Walk away like the black widow
Like a caterpillar in the midnight rain
Crawling through the hollow misery
Love departed in the chilling seams
Disappearing sentiments shriek
A Rendezvous slipping away in palms
Astonished by the copper leaves flying
Lakes drying up from the emptiness
Broken prayers misguided by the glare
Compromises thrown like pounds of dirt
Discomfort stuck in the tendons
Our love trembles and yowls
Agony settling like trampled dust
Gasping on the soaring affliction
heartache submerged in soot and spit
A romance ripped at the fingertips
Surrounded by the scalding temperatures
Violent cramps pricking rhythmically
Thickening torture runs down my throat
Weeping madly and in confusion
Seeking deadly faults within the glass
An illness dispersed in coarse veins
Our love shivers and screams
Clarity is a dark cloud dangling
in my sunken and insomniac eyes
Jumbled up words scribbled in my mind
Walking like a tormented disorder
Gripping on to the petals with my palm
Forever embroidered within my sleeves
Dropping it below my tattered knees
Falling to the distorted earth
Gazing up at the swollen apricot sky
Tears flooded like a waterfall
Our love bleeds and pulsates
Shadows of the gravestone widen
A fortress of preciousness clamped
Clutching adoration and admiration
Seeking answers from a growl
Tasting chunks of sorrow
Drinking melancholy from a flask
Elsewhere and gone in my pockets
A nickel has more value than my identity
Bitten by never ending and lasting scars
Latching onto oppression and misfortune
Our love flinches and grovels
Questioning faith and man made religion
Cursing like a drunken sailor
Angry at the curved roads without signs
Cut hands raised in the fickle air
A flight of exasperation lingers
Waking up from vexation in my stomach
Anxiety and headaches twinkle like stars
Burden worn like an army jacket
Distress sinking in my teeth
Anguish and inward sketches touch
Our love is seeking answers in the mist of our hands
She dwelled in the chair of the copycat
She fell into a whirl of mischievousness
Rotating around the word swipe
She watched the clock tick in exile
She twisted herself between lies and truth
Revolving around the word heist
She was smoldering among the thieves
She lost respect when she stole phrases
Spinning around the word hijacked
She viciously borrowed invincible words
She stood in the shadows of peace
Circling around the word embezzled
She wore an invisible crown of deceit
She vanished when others pointed fingers
On the other side of the sphere with crooks
Promenading around the vintage square
Marching up and down like a soldier
Preserving the gloomy kingdom
The absolute and dreary monarch
Glancing up at the gnarling sultan
Toying with the saddened jesters
As they stare out the tear jerking windows
Mimes crawling outside the gates
in front of the gory and sopping river
Stumbling citizens speak like dragons
Clans of violence raid innocent homes
Barking dogs howling at the dying moon
Chopped off heads laying in ditches
Limbs shambling to the sunrise
A division between absurdity and insanity
Born in the thick of Chardonnay
Sweetness is just a flavor in a fifty mile radius
Dingy peasants begging for a light instead of bread
Inhaling the essence of bloodstains
Waking up in a bath of blush
Stuck in misery and fallen pieces
Like a dream shivering in maroon
Caves of turmoil splatter illness
An unknown species walks in the dark
Spewing words like tall weeds
Cutting through rocks with a monotone voice
Using only four syllable words
Monsters tall as skyscrapers touching
the tip of cerulean clouds
Gripping winds with hands as large as boulders
Roaming wicked jungles and grudged mountains
Over twenty thousand characters gliding on soiled clay
Surrounded by a lightning cage
Seeking a path to return their lost world
Unknown to how they arrived in Herston
She sketched me
a biting breeze
I brushed a stroke
of blood paint
on her wounded knee
She fell into the pit
of the abstract skies
As I sat in purgatory
playing the iron fiddle
She hurdled the
flashing disturbance
As I held on to her
ancient pieces
I saw her tired eyes
blink for a millisecond
The gore continued
Indecisions hide like bats in the echoes of the cave
Uncertainty sips from the acidic river
Vinegar seeping between the crushed bones and sharp nerves
Isolation and desolation are thumbs ripped from each hand
And the rattle lingers in the corner of the ear drum
Dismay is tucked away behind a faded curtain
Flaws stick to me like starving fleas
Substance is the saliva dripping from the piranha’s teeth
The equilibrium inside me wakes up the storm
And the rattle parades in a rhythm that disturbs the haze
Symptoms of a nontransparent disease spread
Inside the soliloquy the cage embraces the thunder
Murmurs and grumbles tremble with fright
Theology and myths walking in unison
And the rattle pounds like a headache
Butchered insults and splinters drive three inches through my anger
Crude laughs and vicious skies open up pouring sadness
Exasperation drags my eyelids through the dirt
Sorrow is a creek that I cleanse the silence
And the rattle pierces my aching skin
And I lay here with the rattle in the cage soothing the emptiness
Hypnotized by the sound of ice
Clinking in the sound of a glass
Smoggy and dreary atmosphere
Bottles full of hollowness
Mixed exchanges and signals
Pleasantries found in a blur
Spinning comments climbing up
Overdosed by her lustful winks
Lost between delusions and rainbows
First impressions engraved
A fragrance of whiskey circles
Crack of the cue ball dances
Spreading the triangle to all the corners
Quarters placed on the table
Perfume and alcohol mesh
A stench causing grins and sneers
Digits written in pink lipstick of the bathroom stall
A bartenders chuckle reverberates
Jukebox music playing at a ridiculous decibel
Communication at a bare minimal
Skirts and cleavage lecture over a free drink
Epilogues stumbling in and out
Clumsiness and truth cross paths
Ex lovers stuck close in a soap box
Identities hidden promenading in
Monologues spoken wobbling out
A haven of melancholic thoughts
Stationed between 2nd street and the laundry mat
Match made in intoxicating nirvana
Kill my ignorance
Lay me down
Kill my soul
Choke everything
Kill my existence
I want nothing here
Kill my silence
I want to disappear
Kill my love
For it was never true
Kill me now
I’m done living
Drowning Lies Pass
I scratched my identity
with a worn 1974 penny
I saw moisture dripping
from my divided reflection
Murky colors and shades
of discomfort twitch
Uncontrollable jitters
Apathy is a phobia suspended
over my troubled head
A hemorrhage spread out
from the corners to the end
Lack of intersections and interest
Bent and upended against
paralyzed and indifferent nerves
I saw the gash and blemishes
inside the blood clot
I abandoned the rustic door
and sit inside the character
No one wishes to see exist
I walk around with sanity
wrapped around my cold neck
I chatted with the in acid reflux
stuck in my throat
I slept with the hurricanes
surrounding the monster within
I fell into the ocean that
consumes the wreckage outside
I stood in front of the villains
that stole love from the monsoon
I left the darkest tunnel
to seek empathy in the light
I haunted grief like the night wept
under the hooked stars
I woke up from the phantasm
and threw away the silence to breathe
Exacerbated teeth
Displeased tone
Fiercely antagonized
Resentful up to the neck
Offensive esophagus
Twitching irrationally
Ill tempered and fuming
Provoked by repetition
Inflamed and irritated
Constantly harping
Strapped in defense
Whiplashing an offense
Sore and wrathful
Frozen solid to the center
A fistful of anger
Disrespectful and disregarded
Mouthful of harsh words
A storming outburst
Hanging acid from the corners
Bitter and twice bitten
Open up the wounds
One brutal tongue lashing
Between the blackouts and the vertigo
slurred discussions evaporate in the smog
Excuses and cursed words creep in
Empty words reside at the bottom
Even the bloodshot moon cries
Between the collision and the stars
sound of gin on the rocks washes away
sarcasm and coughed up memories
Acceptance of losses linger in the cold
Even the bloodshot moon cries
Between the anger and the doubt
brick walls rise inside my head
Drowning in the misery and sadness
Reveling in the toxic moment
Even the bloodshot moon cries
Between the strangers and ignorance
conversations vibrate and tremble
Loneliness staggers among the silence
Bottled up screams whisper
Even the bloodshot moon cries
You deliver a harsh goodbye
with a taste of frost bite
You struck a winters nerve
with no explanation
You disguise yourself
with shallow snowflakes
You hide behind your
deep cold vicious words
You walk into a blizzard
with a callous stare
You disregard the warmth
clenching to the ice
You are frost bite to the core
I’ve fallen between the snarl and the calm whispers
I’ve fallen between the thin cracks and the hollow cries
I’ve fallen between insignificance and crumbs of emptiness
I’ve fallen between the corners and crevices of brokenness
I’ve fallen between the remains and disguised pieces
I’ve fallen between the torn walls and dreary coatings
I’ve fallen between apathy and a misfit playing in the black
I’ve fallen between misery and torture dancing in my blank eyes
Tapping my left foot
to the trembling acoustic sessions
Pouring out my sliced up heart
to a blind mannequin from Florida
Ignoring the gauze wrapped tight
around my twitching fingers
Manipulating the longwinded view
of the moment she packed her
things in a thousand dollar suitcase
to leave me empty bottles and
stains on the lavender sheets
Bartender, bartender pour me a shot
please fill up my glass of half empty truths
Tell me the melody won’t stop playing
in my spinning and rambling head
Paint me a picture of a crystal clear moon
Preach to the fire hydrants
the rain will put out the crying flames
Send me photographs of the future
with a bouquet of blossoming dreams
Write me a love letter without the
scent of scotch on the envelope
Tell me the six strings will reverberate
in my sea of liquid sorrow
Check out my books!
Available on Amazon
Like a sunburn in the desert
skin bright as copper
Peeling the layer of desensitized
anger off with bitter teeth
Lackluster consideration
Wrapped around her centered self
No longer grasping of love
Magenta saliva dripping off
his jaded and reckless tongue
Calm like a silent bomb
Ripped off exasperation
Provoking frustrations
Boiling animosity and tantrums
Scratched and irritated affection
Pecks and lifeless cold shoulders
Struggling to confine the stew
Outraged by the stillness
A piece of mind is endlessly shaking
Somewhere east along Highway 37
A neon sign flashes intermittently vacancy
The Scarecrow Hotel remains alone
Stained threadbare carpets muffle TVs
And tearful phone conversations
Sixteen parking spaces yet only four filled
Warm shower and a sagging bed for the night
The ancient bricks lure the demented and sick
Vultures eying through the windows
Black and blue clouds crying endlessly
Wooden floors feeling troubled feet
Surrounded by ravens and blackbirds
Five miles east of the bloodhound river
She threw her suitcase on the queen
Predictably it flew wide open
The latches never held right, just like her heart
Two changes of clothing to cover her bruises
He’ll never touch her again but
Wrinkled clothing and a wad of cash
Don’t heal scarred faces
The letter “E” is barely visible in the sign
Voices humming a overture in the cellar
Last names engraved on walls by spirits
Doorknobs hanging by three threaded bolts
Driveway gravel is black as night
Welcome mat covered in red ants
He stares into the chipped mirror
Five o’clock shadow daily dulls razor blades
Just like the rings that dull his once bright eyes
The phone bill shows her increasing texts
Every time he travels to pay for her wants
More hours, more money, more fancy things
Less of him with less of her, he looks away
Dark stories unfolding in the rooms
Sheets covered in lies and betrayal
Cigarette smoke stirring up shadows
Tiny cracks in every bathroom’s mirror
Brown mustard dripping from faucets
Stained tears found in the corners of closets
She hears voices not her own
Listens every day upon a rented bed
One weekend she opened her eyes
Bloody hands and a very dull knife beside her
Finally a quiet clean house
Ever since then she lives with a smile
Mama taught her little girl don’t take no shit
Storytellers, dreamers, and howlers visit
Intending to sleep but fall in the depths
Replaying memories of the past
Cynics and liars raise a toast at the bar
Tipping the bartender bullets instead of dollars
Quarrels served at the table tops
He loosens a tie used as a tourniquet
Money well spent on the tricks of a whore
Last Friday he played two gigs stacked
Brain damage found in riding a white horse
Picks up his guitar and hums a few chords
Remembers the eyes of a lover
It’s another night, another hotel, another road
A neon sign flashes vacancy nonstop
Full of headaches, screams, and lost souls
Built on a cemetery of the Crowe family
Generations of terror between 6am and midnight
Sleep is just a word inside these haunted walls
Stories never die…
Braeden – non italic
Tara – Italics
This was a fun collaboration! I enjoyed it. Check out her blog if you haven’t.
