Friday, December 18, 2009

Unfortunately, Dreams Do Come True

All my life I have wanted nothing more
Than to be wanted and desired. I dreamed
Of lusty gazes launched like bombs in war,
Exploding as they land on me. It seemed
The day when I was longed-for would never
Arrive. But then it did, and now I know
The heat of hearts that will do whatever
It takes to feel my fire and share my glow.
Now that my greatest dream has come in bloom
I'm finding its fragrance acrid and tart,
Because when someone wants you, you assume
The power to deny, to break their heart.
     So please know, when I deny you this kiss,
     I never wanted it to be like this.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Set It Free

Oh, the pure power of your potential
Pulls at my heart and stirs a strong sly smile
On my face, 'cause I see your essential
Excellence and envy your so-sweet style.
I know that you've yet to bring out your best,
That you've been dazzling us with mere play.
I want to see your skills made manifest.
I want to see you blow us all away
With wonders falling from your fingertips
Like confetti too numerous to count,
And there will be poetry on the lips
Of everyone as they try to account
     For what has just transpired, the majesty
     You will unleash when you set your self free

Friday, December 4, 2009

Heros Need Victims

I have a healthy and well-earned distrust
Of all those who want to be a hero
There's something sinister inside the lust
For "knight in shining armor" status. No,
It's not that I'm against saving the day,
But for you to be a white knight there has
To be a damsel in distress, okay?
Your glory springs from her danger, and as
Honest as your motives may be, you're still
Hoping someone else is put in a place
They can't escape without your help. So will
You let selfish fantasies die and face
     Reality? Those you would save become
     The tragic victims of your idiom.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Exchange

I want to change your world, to make magic
Out of ordinary occurrences,
My alchemy always arriving quick
And ready to delight all your senses
With wonders that will take your breath away.
I want to be your source of spectacle,
To bring you buckets of smiles every day
To toss with careless glee at the fickle
Forms of fate, fighting a losing battle
To sink our sky-high spirits. So come claim
Me quickly and continents will rattle
With the force of delight found in your flame.
     I want to bring you ceaseless jubilee
     In exchange for the joy you've given me.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Great Love

In the lonely moments of misspent youth
Much of my quiet contemplation was
Turned to the topic of love and the truth
Behind a question that gave me much pause--
What makes a great love? What thing separates
The spark shared between two souls from the flame
Found between two others? When you look at
It, is great love something you just can't name?
But the years have taught me much about fires
And now I know greatness so very well,
'Cause a great love is a love that inspires
It gives freely a desire to excel.
     It's why we are here, it's why we create.
     Ryan and Amy, what you share is great.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Nice In Theory

Let me make this as clear as humanly
Possible--Guys, you aren't getting turned down
Because you are too nice. Oh no, you see,
When she says "You're a nice guy, but..." just drown
Out that part, it's filler anyways, and
Listen to what comes next--"...not interested."
Those are the words that matter. Don't demand
Some explaination. You weren't arrested,
You don't have a constitutional right
To know why. If you don't eat casserole
Does casserole get to bug you all night
While you try to pick up a sushi bowl?
     Let it go, remembering this advice--
     If you're annoying, that's not very nice. 

Friday, November 6, 2009

It Is an Insidious Effect of the Patriarchy That a Heterosexual Male Feels He Has a Right to the Attention of Any Female He Finds Attractive

So let me say, first of all, that this is
Based purely on your visual appeal.
Your sense of style and lean lithe form says
That I should approach you and start my spiel.
Not that this is rehearsed, I have no plan.
I don't know your view or your politics
(God I hope you're not a Republican.)
But your brown eyes are enough to transfix
And make me want to fill in the blanks
For all of the things we have yet to share.
How loud can you laugh? What makes you give thanks?
What makes your happy? What makes you despair?
     I want to get closer and feel your flame.
     But I will just start with--What is your name?

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Sugar High

I'm so sick of this stupid sweet sugar
Syrup sticking soft on our lips. I hate
The half-hour high and your perfect purr
As the rush lets us pretend we relate.
Climbing up up up up up as if we
Don't realize each meter we ascend
Will contribute to the velocity
Of our catastrophic collapse. Pretend
That come-down isn't inevitable.
Pretend we can fly on these weary wings.
I don't want a sugar high, unstable
And without nourishment. Bring me the things
     That will stick to my ribs. I will sink my
     Teeth into the meat and tell you goodbye.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Like The Sun Loves The Moon

There is a road marked by your footprints, sole
Stitches running up its length, binding past
And future together, making them whole.
Flowers blooming where your shadow was cast.
There is a place where only you have been
A secret spot that let you be reborn
Soul glowing like a luminescent skin
Giving you the smile that you still adorn,
A constant reminder that you've been blessed.
Oh god I want you. I hear your tales and
Feel them pierce my heart. I'm a man possessed
By a desire too great to understand.
     But I cannot follow where you have been
     I can only pray that you will come again.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

What I Am

I am a blind man with a burning urge
To paint the sunset I have never seen.
Fumbling with these brushes, trying to purge
This image from my mind, to make it clean
With the unknown things I think that I mix
On my palette. Making a royal mess.
I'm a boxer, throwing punches at bricks.
Striking hard blows and moving with finesse
Against an opponent I'll never knock
Down. Bleeding through my gloves, my knuckles swell
And burst. Hands stay up, remember to block.
Keep fighting, no one's there to ring the bell.
     I cannot be what I am and have what
     I want. Truth so sharp I can't feel it cut.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

She Moves

Trying to capture her beauty in a
Photograph is like trying to hold the
Morning breeze in your hands, or putting a
Crashing wave in a paper cup. Boldly
She manifests magnificent motion
Existing entirely between the frames,
A cacophony of calm commotion
She shows us joy with a million names
Spelled by the small cyclones left in her wake
Winding air weaves wonders from fingertips
That will give as much pleasure as they take,
And then these words will echo from her lips...
     "Don't just stand there and talk about beauty,
     I want to know what you'll do to move me."

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Spark Me

Find me a spark that will set me on fire.
I want that deep down immolating lust
Like living light bursting from our desire
Until we spontaneously combust.
I know that you're ready. I see you're soaked
Through with accelerants, prepared to burn.
Your meticulous architecture choked
With anticipation of all you yearn
For being unleashed, causing your collapse.
What will it feel like to be so consumed?
Agony? Ecstasy? Or both, perhaps?
So let's light a match and call ourselves doomed.
     We'll create something we cannot contain.
     And when we're done, only embers remain.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Chicken

I feel like a chicken, desperate to fly,
Furiously flapping wings while waiting
To feel the kiss of the air under my
Feet. I spend every second hating
The trap that is what I am, and the form
That keeps me forever tethered to dirt
And rock and grass, unable to transform
Into the beautiful creatures that flirt
With the clouds overhead. So I'll just crane
My neck and cast my eyes up to the sky
To watch your brilliant colors entertain
The sun, so far away from me, so high.
     I know what I am. I know how I seem.
     Just know that I fly with you when I dream.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Revolt of the Plastic People

The plastic people are in revolt. They're
Fed up with your sanctimonious shit.
Now they're pulling back their fabulous hair
And marching in their platform boots to get
Back at every single normal fuck
That maligns and mocks the great glitter urge
And the disco drive. They will run amok!
Fake-nail fingers squeezing triggers to purge
The streets of all the false sincerity
Authentic brands will burn up in the rage.
Plastic peoples' purpose has clarity
And there's just one way to stop their rampage:
     Even though they're plastic, their hearts still feel,
     They'll stop in awe and bow before the real.

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Hanging Dagger

The ornate dagger hangs in the great hall
And over the years it has been witness
To beauty and wonders both large and small--
The humor of the jesters, the fitness
Of the acrobats, the power of the
Royalty that gather these things to them.
Countless gazes have been fixed when they see
The dagger's splendor, hypnotized by stem
And blade, the life's work of its creator.
On its plaque, the dagger has one question
In a tongue for which there's no translator:
"So I, the most beautiful possession,
     Will never know what it feels like to cut
     Or pierce or slice, so I exist for what?"

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Becoming We

I want to mature in your aperture
Like light landing lovingly on your eye
Becoming, in your mind, a sight so pure
The whole world fades away in one deep sigh.
Then all that there will be is you and me
Exchanging energy, inventing our
Private paradise for pleasuring the
Mind and body, heart and soul. We devour
The sweet sunlight reflecting on our skin
And sleep when we are sated, holding on
To each other until we wake up in
Reality again, to smile and yawn.
     I will learn your smile like a holy song
     Sung in each other's arms, where we belong.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Franco Don't Surf

On my return, they'll throw a grand parade,
A celebration of my victories
Like the triumphs of old Rome. My crusade
Of purity will excise the disease
That has for too long eater at our core.
To save my people, I must make them bleed.
Oh, I will do things that they will abhor,
But they will know that it is what they need
And after each campaign I can be sure
That I'll return to another parade
From my subjects, so frightened yet so pure.
I won't care that it's become a charade
     For my hears is small, and my sins are vast
     And when I die, they will all say "At last."

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Last

Our kisses were like a chemical bond
Building, binding us together on a
Molecular level. It was beyond
Our understanding. Then it was gone, a
Flash of heat followed by separation.
And now what was so close is so obscure,
Like the signal from a distant station,
Buried by static, completely unsure.
I still crave you, and what we used to share.
I know because we still kiss in my dreams.
Building that chemical bond, unaware
That when I wake it will be to my screams.
     Don't wonder how I feel as you review
     The last sonnet I'll ever write for you.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

After Good Bye

The power of her absence amazes
Me. I feel it like a vacuum in the
Center of my chest. Like empty gazes
Cast into the abyss. And now when she
Doesn't appear in my dreams all I feel
Is that sick sense that I'm missing something
Important, that I'm not able to deal
With a terrible truth. My ears will ring
With the silence of her voice not speaking
To me. My flesh will freeze from the cold lack
Of her touch. And I'm not even seeking
To fill this void. She's never coming back,
     And no one else could take her place to me
     So part of me will always be empty.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Pursuit

They say a man is nothing if he is
Without a quest, that it is the drive to
Fulfill some goal that brings purpose to his
Existence. Now I don't know just how true
All of that is, but I'd like to recruit
You for an experiment: to see just
How fulfilling the true reckless pursuit
Of pleasure can be. Now as is discussed,
I must throw myself into this task with
Focus and intensity if I'm to
Make this night into the personal myth
Of struggle, triumph, and struggle anew.
     The look of bliss you'll wear is my treasure.
     Tonight, I exist to bring you pleasure.

Friday, July 3, 2009

As Far As You May Roam

I've let my anchor drop. I've found a fixed
Position in this world and I'm prepared
To stay a while. So though I sit transfixed
At all the tales of adventure you've shared,
And though you see tears betraying my eyes
When you begin to sing your travelers' prayer
And though you feel my wanderlust arise
Like spirits with passions too great to bear,
Do not ask me to join you on the road,
'Cause it will break my heart when I refuse
And say I've found the place to lay my load.
But I will keep it well for you, my muse
     So that you know, as far as you may roam
     You will always be welcome in my home.

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Self-Immolation Blues

Despite my best efforts, my will crumbles
Under the rule of this enigmatic
Reaction. My mind-blank-body stumbles
Like a corpse running on automatic
Pilot to the unknown destination,
To the fate unforseen. I am compelled
By some strange secret communication
That speaks to me in words that can't be spelled.
It speaks when molecules accelerate
When energy is transformed into heat.
I have become a fuel to desecrate.
I am no longer man. I am it's meat.
     The fire burns all, and nothing can remain
     And with fire--ev'rything is new again.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

For ST

I want to make a masterpiece for you.
I want to reach inside myself and grasp
Some spark of pure emotion, burning blue
and white, the intensity of an asp
About to strike, the depth of all the dreams
You can't forget. I want to take this spark
And polish mere matter until it gleams.
I want the centuries to know its mark.
Let schoolchildren in three thousand and nine
Write sleepy essays expressing their views
On the great work that will be this design
And the love you gave that would be its muse.
     I want to create legendary art
     To show the world the joy you've brought my heart.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Advice to the Heartbroken Young Woman of Austin Whose Relationship Has Just Come to an End.

I know that you feel sad, but don't succumb
To grief before you face all of your trials.
You have one week before you become chum
For all the the sharks who flash their fang-filled smiles.
These former friends will find when you're alone
At some social function, with flatteries
Like bold bludgeons they'll try to knock you prone
And have their way with you. Their batteries
Can only be recharged with energy
From broken hearts making a compromise,
New blood for incestuous synergy.
They'll strive to touch your heart between your thighs.
     They'll work the angles like you were a square.
     So know what lies before you and beware.

Friday, April 24, 2009

One Hour

I've given myself an hour to write
A proper sonnet in the English style
Of meter and rhyme. I'd like to delight
You with a cunning couplet that would dial
In to the very center of your mind
And provide the proper dénouement to
The well-laid setup that I have refined
Over the first mere dozen lines. So view
This hastily assembled string of words
And tell me if you think I got it right.
Will this only work for poetry nerds?
Or will others sympathize with my plight?
     I gave myself an hour for this rhyme,
     And now I'm done in only half that time.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Competitors

I wouldn't really say that we're lovers.
That word misrepresents the thing we share.
No, the term "competitors" best covers
What we are in the heat of our affair.
We face each other like athletes on the
Playing field, prepared to push ourselves to
The very brink of our ability
To come out on top. And so with each new
Encounter our minds flood with endorphins
As breath comes fast and hard. Our skin is flush
And sweat glows from your face as your mouth grins,
Wanting to see who'll be the first to gush.
     Remember, when you play this game with me
     Don't stop until you're screaming "Victory!"

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Fat Lucifer

It's not going to work. No matter how
Much you want it, no matter how hard you
Try, you've set your sights on something that now
Lies too far outside your grasp. So see through
The absurd lies you've been told all your life
And recognize that there is no reward
For all your struggle, there is only strife
And minor victories to be ignored
By all the souls on Earth--they too must face
The failures that come every new day.
Give up your quest and abandon your chase.
Kill the ambition you choose to obey.
     You'll learn the truth when all your hopes shatter
     For when you fail, it won't even matter.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Test of Time

How will our passion stand the test of time?
Will you still want to rest your head on my
Chest and drift into a sleep so sublime
When you've woken so often to a sigh
Of contentment escaping from my lips?
Will we still roar and fuck and sway our way
Through our thousandth night just like when the tips
Of each others' fingers were an array
Of explorers, making maps of the sum
Total of the pleasure found in their quest?
I can't speak for the weeks and years to come,
Life's far too short to turn into a test.
     So take my hand and prepare to ignite.
     We are ready for the future tonight.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Glow

If there's one lesson I've learned through the years
It's this--Always say "Yes" when you get asked
To do something by the girl who appears
At the party well after midnight, masked
By the wild flash of dance-floor lights on her
Designer dress and carrying a whole
Rainbow of pills with names that are a blur
Of consonants and numerals. The sole
Reply that must come out of your mouth if
You should see this rarest of specimens
Is "Sure, I'm down for that." And though the cliff
Diving at dawn may trash your camera lens
     And Tokyo raves may be tiresome, go
     Fearlessly into the dark night and glow.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Your Mirror

Your mirror tells you lies of omission
'Cause it can't quite capture what I see when
My lips are on your neck and my eyes an
Inch away from the wonders of your skin.
No, your mirror doesn't show you how the
Thousands of soft hairs sway slightly under
My breath, like blades of soft tall grass as we
Watch the wind bring in the distant thunder.
Your mirror cannot show the stunning sight
That I behold in the moment before
We kiss--our faces close, your eyes closed tight,
And your lips a new country to explore.
     In your mirror you become brilliant light,
     But in my arms you become pure delight.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Heartbeat

The way she danced to my heartbeat made heat
And steam rise to the heavens, and my pulse
Pumped breakbeats that shook the walls and made feet
Move with the power of pure white impulse.
And she shined singularly on the floor
Moving like melody to my rhythm.
Our eyes met and she saw I was the core
Of the night's strange sonic algorithm.
And so she took my hand like a clever
Thief grabs jewels, escaping out the door.
Outside, my heartbeat was loud as ever.
Frightened, she wasn't dancing anymore
     And my whole world is rattling apart,
     'Cause I don't know how to turn down my heart.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Pet Sounds

I call you 'honey' and you call me 'pet'.
Those soft sweet terms of endearment flowing
From our mouths in whispered tones that have yet
To tire as our affections keep growing.
When passion overwhelms your history
And past heartbreaks seem only to abet
The rough new thing that is our mystery
I'll just ask you to keep calling me 'pet',
Because I'm not entirely sure that
I qualify as human anymore,
Curling up in the spot where you just sat
After I've lapped my shame up off the floor
     So if you hold me, I will be your pup.
     'Cause I love you, and that's pretty fucked up.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Jill 1

Every time I hear the word 'NO', I get
A little bit more desperate to hear
Someone say 'YES'. I feel the growing fit
Tug on my mind, the pressure in my ear
Building from being denied what it needs.
I start to consider asking someone
Who I know won't deny me, and like weeds
The sickness spreads through my head. I'm undone
Quickly (my defenses mere illusion)
When I reach out to him. I'm disgusted
At the pride he takes in our brief fusion;
But he said 'YES' and I'm maladjusted.
     Now I'll say 'YES' to these pills and this gin.
     To sleep, and to never hear 'NO' again.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Poet's Hypocrisy

I can create a lovely song of joy
To describe how I feel when you are near.
I'll scribble notes like a nervous schoolboy,
Then sing them out for everyone to hear.
A seduction in verse, employing all
Of my verbal tricks, every metaphore
In my arsenal firing up the tall
Towers of your heart, knocking at your door.
And you reply, with composition and
Skill, that my efforts have won your day. You
Sing your song of joy, beautiful and grand.
But that is not what I want you to do.
     Actions, not words, are what keeps my heart fed
     Don't tell me you love me, show me instead.