macabre

in order to
fully live
we must
contemplate
the macabre
being and not being
begin again
until the end

gist

There’s a lot
I don’t fully understand
but I get the gist
and it’s this

Life is hard
and everyone
no matter
the metal
of the spoon
if their mouth at birth
has it rough
one way or another

So be kind
and if it’s hard
try harder

allege

you do not know
and I would not
allege such against
another without cause
but that others would
in such great voice
should at least
give you pause

diligent

it's always the thing you forgot
that you thought you thought
that leaves you overwrought
your diligent care to dot
the i's and cross the t's for nought
target mistook when you shot your shot
you don't know what you ought
to do, put on the spot
suffocating cosmonaut

parvenu

a little slip of hope
a daydream bought
for a dollar or two
I know we’ll never win
but I love the quiet dream
of what we could do
as some lottery parvenu
me and you

sublimate

small mercy
that purrs are
just sublimated
desire to devour
the hand that feeds

lackluster

my fear
that desire
outshines ability
my performance
lackluster despite
preparation and design
thank god for wine

euphoria

revel in
the rare
perfection
euphoria of
a task complete

outlandish

my mind
creates scenarios
outlandish
and I spin
into the fog
of anxiety
it catches
in my throat
like smoke
from the burning
embers of my hope
and I tremble
with the dream of
phoenix rebirth

nurture

take a little hurt
and nurture it
grow it to a grudge
mark every little slight
and write it down
in a little book
note everyone
who ever took more
than they gave
and at the grave
pretend revenge
cold served
'gainst those who
never knew remorse
or met regret
if truth be told
the one who hurts
you most is you
you cannot stew over
what others do without
worsening too

bonhomie

sleepless I spin out
joie de vivre distressed
bonhomie tested by
inconsistency insistent
in sinister refrain
my smile diminished
by worry unfinished

dauntless

the world
will affront you,
assault you, abuse you
frustrate and confuse you.
in matters great and small,
it will help you rise
just to watch you fall.
there is no mistaking
that living's painstaking
and progress hard won
by inches not miles;
but still, worth your while.
be dauntless, my child!
blaze trails through trials
so the people behind you
face other denials -
that they'll then upend
again and again
until inches are miles
and the distance you've
traveled is unmistakable.
and you, tempered by fire,
have become unbreakable.

intercalate

amongst the
cards and pictures
pressed flowers
and yellowed letters
I shove a ticket stub
intercalate in the strata
of tangible memory
so I might someday
unearth this day
and relive sweet melody

vicarious

books
are magic spells
that read
allow the reader
the chance
to live a million
vicarious lives
to dare
to dream
to strive

tontine

a scarcity mindset
either
makes one avaricious;
inherited wealth
the tontine of the rich -
a twisted bet born down the years
rewarding hoarding,
or thrifty;
make do and mend
so material can transcend
one time and place,
yet last,
in a way that enriches too
but without undue disparity.
a prosperity for posterity
built on charity and kindness
instead of small-mindedness

hirsute

built for long winters
we'd hibernate
like well fed bears
hirsute and sleepy
unkempt but dreamy
i'd curl within
your arms and charms
to while away eternity

artifice

in nature's face
is artifice consumed
the moment being
beneath a seeming
pretension forgotten
in fire, drought,
flood and storm
we are destroyed
but if we survive
we are reborn

lily-livered

the ones most jingoistic
parrot a parody of patriotism
conflating stridency for strength
expediency replacing morality

their pride a mask grotesque
to hide their obsequiousness
lily-livered face down they slither
prostrate to a puffed up popinjay

they cannot see above his feet
but like his shiny shoes
which is good because they
will be ground beneath the heel

which I suppose is better
than the wheel of the bus
he'd happily throw them under
should their opinion from his vary

glom

that one
already
with more power
and money
would glom upon
what little I have left
by intellectual theft
makes me burn
and yearn to defenstrate
to sate my rage
or else entirely disengage

weal

scales seem unbalanced
the weal of the world
outweighed by its woe
kindnesses are small
and cruelty enormous
so we must as best we can
revel in the little joys
and multiply them
until by sheer numbers
equilibrium restored
and maybe some fine day
tip the scales our way

convoke

witchy world
convoke your covens
and chant your incantations
whatever recitations
to cast whatever spell
to pull us out of
this communal hell

elixir

poison yourself
in promises
drink every elixir
from every snake
oily apothecary
for just one breath
of perfect peace
success and joy
and health increase
before your heart
will cease

belated

our vision
short-sighted
responses belated
we chase a solution
by tomorrow outdated
chaos spirals
in fractured fractals
and we hold on
to a sigh in a hurricane
we burn and we drown
in both fire and rain

surfeit

grief upon grief
into a heap
into a mountain
made of snippets of news
made of snarky reviews
of stranger's side-eye
and governtment lies
and systemic bias
and all that would try us
and unsaid goobyes
and unanswered whys
a surfeit of sadness defies us
and tries to minimize us
but agonize or mobilize
be buried or rise

dragoon

this
is not
their fight

dragooned into a war
they never called for
they only want to survive
to be allowed to live

we destroy the earth
we destroy their home
we destroy the air
make the world a tomb

their fight
is not
this

agrarian

city birds and bees
do their best to please
but they're simple not the same
as country cousins of their name
yet i cannot leave the town
for life tethered to the ground
because here i scrape the sky
and a million other reasons why
but mostly i'd miss the bustle metropolitan
in a life agrarian

permutation

we may not always
be able to change
the pieces of our lives
the matter made solid
as pieces on the board
but we can lay them out
in endless permutations
to change the presentation
and alter the picture
until we finally find one
pleasing to our eyes

mendacious

how anyone could believe
a single word
from their mendacious mouths
is absurd
I never was one
for conspiracy theories
but these

foible

if the things
I've always
thought were flaws
instead, in truth,
were cause
to find me cute
to the more astute...

than have I
been humble
or dumb
or both?

might my foibles
be charming
instead of
disqualifyingly alarming

and is recognizing that
what one might call...
growth?

cosmeticize

lives long longed for
were never lived
what we share
derivative
for instagram
cosmeticized
by honesty
paralyzed
sins of omission
omitted
life unvarnished
not permitted
lest the world see
our vulnerability

redux

not quite all
but almost every one before
felt like the redux of
the ones that went before
but this is something more
which leaves me hopeful
if unsure
and marginally less insecure