I’ve seen the icicles hang in the burning silhouette I’ve been reminded of the unspoken truth caressing my frozen ghosts I’ve crawled between the spider like despair and mesmerizing sunset
Let the explanations seep and bellow Let the justifications trickle down my face Let the interpretations subside in the dusk Let the denial drip down my pale cheek I plead with my contradictions
I’ve tugged on my restlessness and uneven faith I’ve been surrounded by strangers with mind numbing tension I’ve sought out simplicity but eroded into complexity
Let the explanations seep and bellow Let the justifications trickle down my face Let the interpretations subside in the dusk Let the denial drip down my pale cheek I plead with my contradictions
I’ve drifted away from the sympathy and magnetized to the obscurity I’ve stolen hidden glances in my sleep and dream of the awakening I’ve ran from fears wrestling in the dark and disappear in the light
Let the explanations seep and bellow Let the justifications trickle down my face Let the interpretations subside in the dusk Let the denial drip down my pale cheek I plead with my contradictions
I’m jittery but calm in my logic. I parade these streets with echoes and slippery sentiments. I feel misplaced, misguided, and my feet continue to fumble. I struggle with intimacy and the white lies I swallow. I walk with expectations that I can’t see and standards that I can’t comprehend. I ignore my swirling instincts and lackadaisical intuition. I camouflage my fears with sophomoric humor and childish innuendos. I cough up resentment on a daily basis.
I wear my pride like a tattoo with animosity sewn to my arms. I am slightly dysfunctional and walk with a scorched tongue. I have an appetite to be understood than loved. Love is just a mirror that shatters over and over. Affection is just an object that we all hunger. I wiped away the frustration from my eyes and see myself residing in the winter’s scream. Please don’t hold me, just reach in to breathe in my cold air.
She bleeds heartbreak like tortured waves She bleeds drops of hopelessness on her vacant canvas She bleeds translucent sins and whiplash She bleeds numbness and savage cuts
Tormented sea, please don’t let me drown I have a will with armor and a fortress
She bleeds silent lightning and hollow caverns She bleeds lost yearnings and tainted echoes She bleeds obscurity with traces of animosity She bleeds contorted anxiety with frustration stuck in her throat
Tormented sea, please don’t let me drown I have a fire that won’t be extinguished
She bleeds nightmares with a voice of gnarled wars She bleeds a cry with torn rainbows and blazing reverberations She bleeds goodbye with a wailing fizzle She bleeds into yesterdays with tomorrows screeching
Tormented sea, please don’t let me drown I have something that you can’t see
She will care for thirty seconds and write a novella of accusations She will pine for your sensitive hands and cry a stream of tears from a distance She will crave hours of chit chat and stare at grim skeletons in silence She will dance and twirl in the garden and be embarrassed of her defects in loneliness
“In my view, I was raped by his alluring vocabulary, molested by his wit and probed by his twinkling generosity. He turned me into a walking paradox.”
And the mystery within her dwells And the inconsistency smears her delusions And the absurdity fills her weary lungs And the enigma is like condensation And the anomaly marches within her mind
She will walk with poise and diligence and shout with obscenities doused in wildfire She will cherish the remains and residue and toss her pieces she loathes in the garbage She will wrap herself up in sanitized anxiety and chuck courage up against the wall She will run with convictions in her fist and ignore the principles that define her
And the secrecy within her is desolate And the conundrum drips frustration And the perplexity drains her focus And the complications steer her vision And the rattle stumbles within her mind
“In my perspective, I was poisoned by his compliments, fondled by his intellect and abused by his sincere confidence. He turned me into a walking paradox.”
She’s exhausted from spilling ink She’s uncertain with her fingertips She’s wobbly and shaking on the inside She’s powerless from the past She’s flimsy as a thin piece of paper Sing me a song for wide hope Sing me a song for stretched out faith
She’s frail within her bones She’s isolated from the rattle She’s licking her wounds quietly She’s aching for companionship She’s comfortless and abandoned Sing me a song for freedom Sing me a song without chains
She’s tangled up in desolation She’s withdrawn and torn down She’s a tragedy without a witness She’s reclusive and friendless She’s a sky without any clouds Sing me a song for change Sing me a song for healing
I coughed up a tangled fairy tale A translucent liquid composed of quicksand and psychedelic castles in the air Dismay biting a breeze of reverberation Lust was an unforgivable bottle of poison Trapped between sincerity and admiration
For you and the wind that wraps me up in clouds of dust, I surrender For you and the sensitivity that twinkles like a star, I surrender For you and your sacred taste of sweet affection, I surrender
Forgive me, if I need too much Forgive me, if I desire too much
Caught up in the endearing glances Unspoken words, intoxicating voice Inviting and lost in a whirlwind Confusing thoughts, mixed signals Unhinged cravings, lava sensation
For you and the wind that wraps me up in clouds of dust, I surrender For you and the sensitivity that twinkles like a star, I surrender For you and your sacred taste of sweet affection, I surrender
Forgive me, if I need too much Forgive me, if I desire too much
A wicked charm alluring Sweat pouring, rhythmic tongue “Magic not seeing what was tragic” Insatiable endless night dancing Clawing and reaching for tenderness
For you and the wind that wraps me up in clouds of dust, I surrender For you and the sensitivity that twinkles like a star, I surrender For you and your sacred taste of sweet affection, I surrender
Forgive me, if I need too much Forgive me, if I desire too much
Grappling with a toxic incubus Static tangled up in hallucinations A diabolical perpetrator is lurking Dabbling with molecules and carbons And I sleep with annihilation
Memorizing the periodic table of elements Sinister mind combining mercury and lead A splash of chromium, pinch of caesium Blending a explosion in a wicked bottle And I sleep with obliteration
Ensuring a plague like disease spreads wide A blackhearted voice speaks with a chuckle Corrupted hands, apocalyptic intentions Selfishness wrapping around throats And I sleep with termination
Belligerent critters stalking the lands Referencing the last chapter of the divine Symbolic torture rest within the dollars Greed softens up the lips and tongue And I sleep with eradication
A clash of reasons, brawl between sins Fears sobbing until the break of dawn Scent of misery swarmed the dirt End of virtues, end of light And I sleep with a contagious virus
Author and poet Braeden Michaels delves into the many-layered political realms in his newest collection, Growl from the Sun. Beginning with his fourteen-page magnum opus of the same name, he confronts and denounces modern society and the politics of the day. No stone is left unturned. There are no sides, no labels, only raw emotion and unbending truth. This gritty selection of poetry is sure to provoke introspection and deep conversations for any who dare open its pages.
She disguises herself with prescriptions and 1970 cliches. More often she sleeps in black leaves and clenches to the whispers of the blizzard. She prays to the secondhand lions and searches for forgotten riddles. She laughs at horror films and weeps at the comedy classics. She’s never used the word forgiven.
She wrestles with the fears in the morning and drowns in the insomnia at night. She speaks in a language without discretion. She plays with her skeletons in the closet. She ignores the left side of her imagination. She dances to jazz and dips her fingers into white pages to write enigmatic poetry.
She expresses affection with amber kisses and her fingertips. She said goodbye to her fireflies. She built walls with quicksand and tears. She stares at her right side of her imagination. She pleads with the stone truth. She’s witnessed more endings than beginnings.
She circles her anger like a hawk. She’s deprived of human decency. She loves with a small percent of her tattered heart. The rest is locked in a music box surrounded by caution tape. She sings to her frustrations to soothe the madness. She’s in love with only parts of her identity.
No, I couldn’t stand in your resonance and your mind numbing negligence No, I refused to be your noxious scapegoat and omission in your dangerous eyes No, I wouldn’t be a remainder in your lopsided mistake
“Hush hush, nothing will save you” Yes, I thought I was rescued from my haunting past Yes, I thought this residence was permanently carved
No, I dismissed the fatal request but still felt the jagged nail in my back No, I denied you satisfaction and drifted in an awkward disposition No, I fell in your discrimination and felt blackballed from the very second
“Hush hush, nothing will save you” Yes, I thought I was found until I realized the pieces were scattered Yes, I thought this residence was secure and guarded
No, I destroyed the walls you built with your reckless hands No, I stumbled into your humiliation with anxiety stuck to my skin No, I cried until my rage leaked from my mouth
“Hush hush, nothing will save you” Yes, I thought I discovered love in a colorless dream Yes, I thought I found peace when in reality all I heard were silent screams
From the mind of Braeden Michaels, drink from this cup, the raven’s poison, a concoction of his collected poems all about the human condition. Imbibe in the rainbow of emotions found in the soul’s colors and taste the bitter aftertaste when you’re drenched in rage.
Indulge in the reasons beneath dripping lust before absorbing all the ways we experience our wide-ranging flavors of love and finish off with a sip of self-destruction. This is us. Humanity. All the layers stripped away and arranged for your pleasure.
Lock your trite lips in the propaganda administration Enlighten the elastic genesis, raise your meandering eyebrow Impose sanctions, disregard the impositions The wreckage is caught in your esophagus
Tiptoe on Infinite Promenade Street Engage in this four year sentence Presidents don’t destroy America Americans dismantle the roads we built
Reciting vomit, enunciate the splattered fiction Nominate a two headed figurehead Surrounded by bigots, cockroaches, and the ministry of backbite Inflame the toxicity, lay in the genocidal rubble
Tiptoe on Infinite Promenade Street Engage in this four year sentence Presidents don’t destroy America Americans dismantle the roads we built
Discern the contaminated logic Walk through the fog of monstrosity Seek out page one fifty one of the aberration Italicize the phrase “The American Delusion” Sip on the symptoms of the patriotic zombies
Tiptoe on Infinite Promenade Street Engage in this four year sentence Presidents don’t destroy America Americans dismantle the roads we built
Dilute the bloodletting, reject the veracity Follow the path of the misguided narrative Turn up the volume on this impaired speech Clap your hands for the disturbing inauguration Wrap yourself in the collusion and friction
Tiptoe on Infinite Promenade Street Engage in this four year sentence Presidents don’t destroy America Americans dismantle the roads we built
I’ve been chasing a sky of blurry lines I’ve been chasing constellations with my eyes closed I’ve been chasing misplaced trust with heartfelt lies I’ve been chasing danger with silent explosives I’ve been chasing peace with a vicious expression I’ve been chasing filled pages in an empty book
If these decorated walls could shout crumbled words would cut my open arms If these rooms could plead guilty my disease would cry indifference And my inflicted patterns dwell on Silence Boulevard
On my knees with my hands clenched together Reciting scripture and broken prayers Begging “Take my pain away, tired of all the shadows of yesterday”
I’ve been chasing delusions with a vacant jar of pills I’ve been chasing wisdom with limited experiences I’ve been chasing a river of echoes with a pierced eardrum I’ve been chasing a fantasy with numb fingertips I’ve been chasing daylight on a dim path
If these decorated walls could shout crumbled words would cut my open arms If these rooms could plead guilty my disease would cry indifference And my inflicted patterns dwell on Silence Boulevard
On my knees with my hands clenched together Reciting scripture and broken prayers Begging “Take my pain away, tired of all the shadows of yesterday”
I’ve been chasing riddles with a cracked compass I’ve been chasing affection with a crippled identity I’ve been chasing sentiments with a star dripping resentment I’ve been chasing sweetness with a bitter tongue I’ve been chasing suspicion with an arrow in my hand I’ve been chasing time with drops of heartache
If these decorated walls could shout crumbled words would cut my open arms If these rooms could plead guilty my disease would cry indifference And my inflicted patterns dwell on Silence Boulevard
On my knees with my hands clenched together Reciting scripture and broken prayers Begging “Take my pain away, tired of all the shadows of yesterday”