We’re all a little bit broken, from time to time
When the bad days stack up, like the dimes
We don’t have to pay the bills, we stay behind
Wishing for a break, praying for peace of mind
Anxiety rings louder when another bill arrears
And we dig our way out or dig down, deeper
All hearts beat, despite daggers of despair
Always, dearest remind me, handle with care
5.25.21 - Watched you leaving before you walked away
Lost in places we’re supposed to feel safe
In dark spaces, time spent tempting fate
Looking for despair in low corner of self-hate
Dreading looming disasters in nights so late
Marriages tested before honeymoon phases
Lost count of worthless evenings, wasted days
Miles between pillows, bridges retracted up
Dreaming of only one person’s touch, so much
I see it before you do, then, and always
Wander far, through unfamiliar hallways
Prefer distraction since it’s easier to avoid
Anyone’s company is better than noise
Starved for attention and unladen affection
Disappeared for days, unanswered questions
Alone in our empty bed, math adds up poorly
Ain’t real if it takes a drug for you to love me
4.16.21 - Diets of Distraction
Rome was not burned in a day
It suffered an agonizing decay
Pillars raised in golden streets
Finery and art, exquisite treats
Fattened off the backs of masses
Blind prophets cried of salvation
Wastewater wage middle classes
Starved, practicing diets of distraction
2.20.21 - Perseverance and Pathogen
Jailed for preaching the gospel of Aristarchus
Galileo’s agnostic legacy tarnished as heresy
Digital bits mined from spilled blood of prophets
Gambling, not pot, legalized by Wall Street
Scientists gained control of Mars this week
In an alien lake, our machines dig deep
Ancient truths sleep, hidden far below
But, Republicans broke Texas with snow
Oil banks blamed a few windmills frozen
Snake-charmed by Don Quixote’s poison
Inoculated against scientific truth, prose, or
Earth’s omens- tempests, a decade before
Neil’s moon-dust Apollo boots exhumed
For blind Inquisition in evangelic Senate
What holy wars await behind golden doors
If NASA finds signs of ancient life on Mars
12.17.20 - Pandemic Poetry #3
Made up stories to keep warm countless nights, wasted lives slinking into other skin,
All grown men, turns out, are really, still just boys dreaming of being a race car driver.
We look for ways to distract ourselves from these cold grey days, walling ourselves in
Frozen lakes of silenced quarantined promise, praying this spring thaw will revive her.