On Track

i walk ‘long
the trembling bands of stretched steel

converging
upon what i have since deemed home

secretly wishing
appointment athwart

the shrill hiss
of doppler redemption
rings mercy

where spirits sing, spurned

e’er awaiting procession

to join them, i know

on this timber runged row
i must make my own choice

here, alone

and forever

All That Was Sane

driftless
did beckon a shadowy shard
to shed heaven’s trepid desire

wisteria wrapped every route
to the west

with fretful entwine
of an erstwhile illusion

sirens of sonorous song slithered slowly

the echoes of strident footfalls stammered forth

polaris consumed the sky’s ley-crossed companion

as arbor lay neath borealis imbue

in that dire finite instance
of fate’s foregone paradox

pride would presume its empirical reign

abashed hearts feigned
an inglorious preclude

and all that was sane
did surrender its muse

What Is Known

just try to hide from hypervigilance
hijacking your every thought
for negligence e’er nigh begets
the desperate measures realized to compensate
for the disparity of that which should have been
but wasn’t

see if you can circumvent the sequelae
of your affliction
usurping your disposition
prefacing the painting
through a palette of dissociation

won’t you disregard the residuum of mother’s machinations
molding minds into masses of crass martyrized masochisms

don’t forget the fleeing father
foregone by the crux of ego
deafened by the primal fears effectuating mis-conception

get over the degradation flagrantly inflicted by them
sweep this ruinous existence right under that ragged rug

brush off all the ashes gathered
falling from the burning bridges
walk the void left by their voices
flourish in the conflagration

show me a conflict of interest
that depicts one reason why life is to be something
only justified by fantasies of false ideals

let’s just be real
in vying to compartmentalize the emotions of which life is comprised
we are denied our intrinsic right to simply be just what we are
mere humans moored by massive stars

this fibrous weft weaved by our wands
will not support our wonted ways

through worshipping a golden god
we foster lives formed of facades
which denigrates our precious souls
and this, as much, is what is known

These Mementos

one can linger
for a lifetime

transfixed
in a moment winsome

akin to the impossible prelude
of mountains mending karma

on this plate
precariously poised
are we

with passions urgent

witless passers-by

together, melding with the sun

somewhere
in this coiled caprice

there burns a conscious conflagration

do we let our hearts surrender?

are we not allowed to live?

i submit this writ of pause

forever may we summon forth

all the worlds
our loss would suffer

vivid by the moon’s requite

locked within the winds of fortune

these mementos
deemed foregone

One Self

i swallowed that pill
and became a pole dancer

divided i stood
desperate to understand

a consciousness cleft in twain
transfixed by twilight

and glowing trails
vanishing into thin air

the strangest occurrence
of doppler diremption

plays to the infinite sprawl
of our solitude

desert roads lined

with the odes to lost destinies

where the wind stings with sediments

remnants once relevant

whittled away
by the truths of their time

hapless are we
in our human dichotomies

striving to transcend
a nature unknown

surrounded by mirrors
reflecting our absence

through semblances seen
as one self, realized

Wish for Death

one cannot wish
the world away

i say this
for i know

a prism does not merely end
in sloe

its visage
have i given chase

upon this wintry floe

beckoned by my troth
whence i arose

ere i caught the ire
of an arbitrary breath

amity besought the sateless gods

oblivious
as i, once more

does legacy elude

now, as pithless
as my wish
for death

Fold Me Within

my voice yearns for hearkening

though my thoughts writhe
recoiling

in the wake of i

having been witnessed

my wish is naught more
than to warm hearts born weary

which is to say all
forms of life in its myriad ways

alas, like a fool
left to tend his devices

adrift, i lay hapless
aloof to abide
by the casts
i have thereupon molded

by god’s own forbidding
i fall to the earthen floor

awaiting its fine fate
to fold me within

Bane and Boon

this heart is leaden

dead inside

for whom it once bled
has absconded

where into the wind
she wandered

i have not
the will to know

so it is
as it has been

a boundless maiden
bearing burden

born amidst a burning brood

abandoned by its absence
unheard

branded as a bride
aberrant

bane and boon

gone is the moonlight

henceforth
shall i roam

denied the gloaming
of her pallid lure

Grave Unraveling

as reality unravels

revisiting the void
at once i shunned

i look to see the serpent
has ensnared me
and siphoned my last ounce
of sympathy

as joys of yore
extinguish seriatum

a seraphim is severed
of its wings

in sorrow
i had sought out desolation

for respite
did arose a desperate plea

but destiny absconded
with the daylight

whose defeat was suffered
at the hands aneath

no more shall mortal mire
henceforth remand me

this soul will shed its shell
and sing reprieve