ROMA n tick

Embrace it all
Drown now back again
Cold clear stillness
Mad march outside
The way is back
But it’s onward now

End of the tunnel
Harsh light, steel fangs
Screams end none starts
Heart shock prods play
Blips breaths count down
Come n gone stillborn

Martial man long gone
Paternal plans undone
Troops n politick time
Fatherland motherland
Street-land paradigm 

Gun down nobody man

Marital man gone now

Shred metal driveway

Drunk Cadillac woes

Hacienda high eve notes  

Burn burn warm toast

Lullaby lit tree glow  

Puddles in mosaic land

Windows to sky high 

Drone bird fly by 

Suds chutes trickle drain

A wash in daily time 

Shit stains in ROMA

Close-her

These genial exchanges
How long has it been?
16 years and counting

I rode away that night
Knew it would all end some day
But not the way it did
Starin’ at a flashing tube
The words still tumble in me
“More than a friend”
How fuckin’ cliched can it be
Punchin’ the numbers
Counting the rings
Those endless waits
At the end of the line
All those epic mails
Amidst shackled ears
And desktop woes
Ones n zeros n broken hearts

Then the November day
When you got wed
I curled up on a cot
Manic man went berserk
Burn the house down

Do you still think
Of those shielded nights
Saccharine talks n mosquito bites
Fleeting touches n repellent fumes
Stories we wrote
On each other’s hands
Hugs n faint lip brushes
The day we kissed
Shudders from firework night
About a quiet little note
On how you bled
Laid out on a couch
When the lights went out
And you took me in
A first of many to come

The natural progression
Was it all a well laid plan
Or was it just about me n you
I’m still trying to find out
While you’re so lost to it all

The hushed up tangles
Behind painted car doors
On that fateful porch
Secret places and feelings
We just went on and on
Stains on stepped ground
Afternoons that throbbed
Ebbed and flowed, us in tow
With safe days counted out
Group studies and prayers
Chapters, pages and sex
Little worries and promises
Idols, pens and tests
The sweat didn’t bother
You were happy to hold on

That day still sees me
Knockin’ on doors
Calling out at windows
The lies that were within
Shown out with a grin

It’s all long gone now
Our days are lived
And new ones born
A snapshot here
And a quick word there
The facade’s held on
But not for long
‘Cause one cold night
The word comes out
An echo from back then
The door’s been open
For far too long
Pick up the pieces
Put it all to rest
Give it a name

...A closure song

Vignettes on rails

She’s got the socks on

I still contemplate 

Framed on a reflection 

Man to the left 

One to the right 

Drizzle pouring in

The frame’s a crowd now

A year gone down

Left a seed at my core

Split and multiply?

Stuck at a prayer 

She’s can’t know 

Or does she now?

One’s taken and

Another’s twitching

The arm’s taken me

And I’m lost to all 

To be let go again 

In days and trains 

And pints of pain

Shrieks, slides, exits