I Prefer Not To.
when I tasted
the ground
my world
was no longer
for what I had found
was stronger than death
when my face
grazed the earth
my sight
torn right from me
I gazed at my worth
were life not a freedom
the crashing of bones
knees, elbows, and skull
would fall into silence
upon urgent moment
the brashness of one
fleeing from the lull
appallingly useless
for all, consequent
dispatched
to the hungry umbrage
spindly wraiths
spill ruination
arms athwart
absorb nullity
boots and RIFs
soon disavowed
whistling timbres
so precise
held brimstone fists stripped
knuckled white
waried faith
lest bullets showered
dulled the Duster pastorales
plucked like florets
bare and breathless
strafing nightly
saw them felled
prowess at imperil’s onset
sweat poured down
a poor man’s brow
loud as telegraphed
impressions
dispossessed
like wingless flies
birds took to the sky
in errant
bursts of aril
none were spared
crimson horrors
void of rinsing
from the hands
of shellshocked minds
blind are days
since hell became us
land of freedom
man as god
sadist thieves
left grief besotted
rotting leaves
pinned to dead air
a poem is but
a restive cluster
grasping
onto pages
with our frantic
fears conspicuously
calling out
for rescue
meticulously poring through
decrepit thoughts
of hoarded visions
kiss to tryst
to triste
in a blissful
dissolution
before sediment
comes nigh
where sighs undress
our destitute descries
calculated coalescence
pandering our pride’s
priviest imprints
curling chips of paint
exposing throes
of yesterdays
sacred cruxes
born before
our burgeoning bereavement
from whence all
embarking destined
for a distant hearken
poised to be
impartially presented
in pretentiously penned
appropriations
parsed
to pierce our peers
appetition
to sate this
untold inquisition
ere i walked the shadows
of a shameless life eschewed
i sometimes talked for hours
on the telephone
’tis true
attending to the inbox
which would hold my correspondence
until one day i stopped
having become too despondent
seven years have come and gone
and still i have not looked
nor listened to my messages
not even on facebook
this plague pervades
most every aspect
of my adult years
i since have lost the respect
of my family and peers
for they can’t see the reasons
nor the logic of my plight
its tragedy is lost
amid the inference of their slight
presuming that it must be
that they’ve somehow drawn my ire
some say i’m maladjusted
others think i have retired
i cannot help but panic
upon hearing rings and tones
instilling in me frantic feelings
reeling in my home
truth be told i have disabled
every last alarm
and push notification
for they only cause me harm
and should you try to reach out
with an intention to touch
you’ll not invade this redoubt
that has long since been my crutch
and if you are to know me
then you first must understand
even if you are the homie
you can talk to your own hand
i thought
that you could see me
through the lens
which rend your heart
the foment
of foreboding heed
that sought
to play your part
with every waning
flaxen tide
thus waxing
unquashed tears
comprised
of unseen sorrows
as they fall
into arrears
this blood yields not
to yarrow
‘neath the fields
of monarch sky
the piercing
of your arrow’s wound
seals fast
our love’s demise
once
i walked
a lone procession
in the blossoming
wake of a cherry
bloom daydream
lost
in thought
as threnodies
cried peals
of Zeus’wrath
helpless
in a gaze
transfixed
counting down
each drowning
footstep
tread upon
tremulant flesh
yet shone anew
as our minds
fell behind
racing hearts
failing
to bridge
the frigid waters
on that day
when i long held
truth
as the subtle sky
absconded
with your song
whatever
i have known
in thought
through observation
has trickled
through the
hollow holes
that hearken
solstice winds
in shapes
and sounds
from profound
to mundane
demanding
their address
effortlessly
spent
like pleasantries
appeasing
pastime purpose
presently
with serpent’s tongue
through absent blessings
fed to flames
then cleft in twain
on the overhung edge
of our sanity
dissimulated
arid mist
of rhapsodic
waxing
long sought
to dismantle
the essence
only to reveal
its Gestalt
assigning
attenuous tenets
composed of pretense
to valence
resigned
but love validates
existence
through open commune
of fluid mind
with trust
respect and
shared silence
nascent intimacy
airs triumphant
while astute observation
inherently deferent
endures
for these are the matters
of consequence revered
is it so uncouth to ask
for thee to stay thy tongue
and not disturb the black damask
enshrouding ablutions
for there exists no merit
to be found in such affronts
doth no one wish to hear it
underground nor in the sun
have we lost all decorum
at the cost of decency
to air in public forum
matters begging secrecy
instead we see the plague
of people primitively prone
to posting private pictures
posing on porcelain thrones!
pray not let us devolve
into unsavory savants
with thoughts left to revolve
around our basest needs and wants
one mustn’t attend charm school
to find value in mystique
we’ve no need to defend fools
when they’ve failed to be discreet
thus, i submit we gather
every vulgar philistine
and banish them to exile
to the isle of shrillest screams
for it is of their own accord
to wax on chamber pots
therefore we dare not spare the horde
an expeditious plot
of funerary provenance
for actions crude and crass
for devotees of elegance
i speak on your behalf
why is it
that only upon leaving
do you voice
lament
fleeting amid
sentiments
and sudden
things to do
promised hours
perish
in a flash
of wistful
alley light
scarce
your words
remain
as token trials of hope
since lost
hanging in denial
are faded smiles
and fusty
mothballed coats
in the closet
strung like latent
trysts
listless
and long forgotten
Max, or Not 
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