This Is Not New

It never hurts less. It never "goes away" faster. 

The gnawing knot burning in the bowels of the belly
Is that where the heart has fallen? The heat of the unrequited effort
a molten lava organ
searing its way down to the epicenter
of the soul
the stomach sickness
the churning and twisting
the absolute agony
of every memory
every sweet word
every cherished fingertip graze
half-smile
soft snore
cute quirk
all are sharp echoes
stabbing
and
stabbing
and
jesus christ am i bleeding

it never gets easier. familiarity does not bring speed to healing.

the emptiness a hollow of a wound deep and dark with no suture available
or even capable
the gaping pit heaving and undulating, whimpering and whining
crying and spitting
and hands grasp the outer folds
trying to bring it shut
clasp it together
self-soothing
tears in the darkness
while scrambling for anything
to seal the cavernous
maw of pain
so indescribable

fading in and out
how pretty the haze
it helps
remembering when
remembering when
remembering when

head on the lap
a quiet afternoon
the swell of new love
the surety
this is it
we were lost
we have been found
we are everything.

late movies,
staying in bed
curling bodies
big spoon little spoon
face to face
interlocking
unyielding closeness

the screaming and ripping torment of sentimentality brings everything into focus immediately.
but had it stayed that way...

had it stayed that way.

this is not new, but i wish it was.
i could fool myself into thinking
"it will be over soon."








Minnie Sans Moskowitz

The faint,
niggling itch
which began
at the root
of my
subconscious desires
wriggled its way
ever so more insistently
up its stem
fattening
its leaves
attempting to
unfurl
perfumed petals
hungering
to
fully blossom

i stood
wanting for the sun
of you

instead

that un-scratchable
annoyance
still persistent
unrelenting
and now
becoming the bane
of my muddled
existence

the itch
i
could not
scratch

always
just almost
always
never there

you
will never know
that you
are the tickle
upon my
goosebumped flesh

the elusive
almost
the resigned
never

your touch
is
a memory
kept
vibrant and hidden
fertilizing
the soil
within my soul

i look towards the east
but the sun
has since set

i miss being your bloom










Commiseration

We were both lost and broken
And had given up hope when
we met one another

Tequila told the truth
As we conversed in that booth
and got to know more of the other

The more we chose to share
Of life and love being unfair
The closer we soon became

The bar lights gleamed bright
What to do with the end of our night
Both of us the lonely same

We ended up falling tipsy into bed
But became better friends instead
and it's been oh so nice

You've since asked what of him I've missed
Was it the way he and I kissed
His heat melting my ice?

Was it his smile or his charm
the ease in which he disarmed
my defenses - one two three?

The way he unmasked my disguise
sturdy shovels for eyes
digging down to the deep of me...

I gave it thought, honest and true
I'd not want to lie to you
my newest cohort in loss

I tried to put into words
The tumbled thoughts which occurred
And all I could say was -

"The ease in which we spoke
the stupid silly jokes
I miss his sad rueful grin.

The way he made me feel
Seen, accepted, and real
My qualities and my sins...

I miss how he made me believe
in forgiveness and reprieve
That I had been absolved.

But mostly, I miss my friend
I miss what could have been
How we could have evolved."

With commiseration you gave a sigh
No more talk for tonight
Quietly we took our leave

I can't help but think of him still
Against my best wishes and will
I remain unrelieved.






Imprisoned

Pouring regrets,
mistakes,
guilt,
into this
rocks glass

*neat please*

it’s the way…
the road
to perdition

a constant
hell
of one’s own making

exoneration
is a
pipe dream

as lucidity fades
culpability
becomes
a
faint tendril
disintegrating into
the dawn

forgiveness
teasing
with the
rising
of the sun

self-delusion

as it
diminishes

returns
to the
blurred
and sloppy
self-loathing
as the
exhaustion
of BEING
becomes a dense,
thickened, hairy
weight
on the
soul

all that is left
for respite
is sleep

only to
repeat
on the morrow

The Bottom

Drowning
Gasping
Swallowing gulps of
Desolation

I had a life jacket
Ripped it off
Was so
Constricting

It kept me from swimming

Who knew

I just needed to keep afloat

Now
Sinking to
The Depths

Eyes glazing
over
Pulse slowing
Heart faltering

I will never
See
The Sun Rise
or Set
Again

I did this to myself

Smeared

how wretched this predicament and how stinging the pain wrenching deep down into the place where i would run to be happy – to find an escape from the seduction of agony and her silky wiles of indigo blue dank

she follows it follows
and i might finally be done

not yet

i convalesce

how gorgeous this spot becomes – i just never before noticed the velvet of the violet hues – so vibrant – and how strange that this isn’t really my place anymore…. it has transformed into something completely different

in the corner a crumpled mass of sorts – what a marring sight to the dark beguiling magnificence of my secret grotto – beige and malformed it taunts me with its ugliness but i am too distracted to approach

besides
i don’t want to know

how completely in awe i am that i begin to spin and spin and spin until the blues and purples become nothing but a hazy canvas and i am the center or maybe the circle on the right – perhaps the ? on the bottom left

i am everywhere and anywhere – nowhere – and i collapse into a pool of crimson that i soon realize is nothing but a deep puddle of my perceived and actual failings which have collected into a quicksand pit around my feet and i begin to sink and sink and

the beige mass – crumpled deformity raises what i think might be its head but i can’t see past the thick of the deep maroon

all i hear is silence and my breath as it rasps swallowing my gargled delirious sobs

i am
home

Note To Self

I’m not fond of it. And it’s something I can never put my finger on. I can be having quite the innocuous day – somewhat pleasant, fairly uneventful, nothing out of the ordinary will have occurred – when I am just dealt the most sucker of punches to my emotional sternum. I feel my mental legs buckling beneath me, slipping into the wash of melancholy, muddy and oppressive.

I am hit with the Sad.
A Bushel of Blegh.

You could lay at my feet all the smiles and laughter that had just been bouncing about, deliver happy chirps of well-meaning pick-me-up cliches, wrap me in the Tomorrow Is Another Day positivity that you keep handy for occasions such as these…

They will all be shunned.

Not because I don’t want any of those and more.
Not because I enjoy the depressing descent into Debbie Downerville.

No.

I will ruin every last bit of bright and shiny you give me. I will dejectedly demolish every grin and chuckle with my clumsy clompy feet. Accidentally muffle and strangulate the once vibrant twittering of good intentions. I will shred to pieces the shawl of optimism, never a chance to warm against the shivering dankness of the dark.

I would rather you keep those bits to yourself. Keep every last piece intact. Protect each one from my awkwardly ambling slippery with the Sad self.

I may be a dumpy mess, but I am not a monster.

The Russian

I woke up
after having seen you in my dream

I awoke
and
It was with such
longing
A desire to
really have been so close to you
sitting there
across from your open face
your crooked
happy smile
those eyes
so very nearly
gray

This wretched dream
I remembered
so much
You would leave a peck
on my cheek
while I slept
sprawled and tangled
in the sheets of your bed
Barely a stir
until
Consciousness piqued by the
smell of toast
and your favorite
ramen

I
stumbling out
into the shocking
brightness
one eye open

Your outline
fuzzy
but voice
clear
And I hear you
gentle and
sincere

“Sunshine”

*****

Those memories
brought to surface
by a ridiculous
dream

What I’d give to have kept
sleeping.

Crawlspace

with bated breath
i have waited
gave my mind to death
thoughts cremated

with eyes tight shut
i fell and fell
bruised, banged and cut
otherwise well

asleep with fists
fighting my thirsts
oh how i would miss
being this cursed