rage is the salve of a wounded culture .50 caliber Hallmark card from a distance pink mist explosion mr DU Tungsten introduced for a split second to the mote in god’s eye. pulse noise blood rushes shotgun shell heartbeat safety’s off baby i’m going out swinging 30 sweet .223 singing these bees are gonna buzz buzz buzz everyone’ll remember this i don't aim to miss

In shadows cast by words we left unspoken, I linger still, held back by shades of doubt. Your laughter echoes like a distant song, A bluesy hum entwined with past regret. I reach for comfort in the chaos spun, Yet find my heart confined to colors dim. Compassion wanes; confusion reigns within, As choices drift like leaves in autumn's breeze. Forgiving you resides on fragile ground— Only half my heart can bear the weight of peace.

i return to the sea i return to memory floating back into the heaviness of breathing affirming life as it actually is not how I was taught to perceive it we are not merely fools on a stage our lines written waiting to be played the universe is an ink well neither written with a Pelagian pen nor defined by the Augustinian A drop of water suspended for a time will return

Mister moon, Dont be soon I see the sun as my friend And you as the enemy of a friend

Filled with water and life This planet thrives with might They call it blue for its water I call it blue as it gets hotter What will prevail is a question for all But cant we agree to keep this planet strong?

The walls were built with whispered words, “I love you” but every corner turned To dark, and every sky was bruised, not blue. I walked on shards of shattered glass, To keep your fragile peace intact, I gave away my own reflection, and lost myself within The act. You fed me drops of poisoned rain. And told me it was water pure, You broke the anchor of my mind, then swore you alone could cure. The heavy Air, the endless blame, the shifting lines of wrong and right. I shrunk To fit inside your palm, and let you eclipse all my light. But Something stirred beneath the ash, a quiet spark you couldn’t Drown, I realized the pedestal was just a cage you called a crown. I saw the strings attached to me, I felt the weight of all the lies, And for the first time in the dark, I opened my eyes. It wasn’t Loud, the day i left,

The walls were built with whispered words, “I love you” but every corner turned To dark, and every sky was bruised, not blue. I walked on shards of shattered glass, To keep your fragile peace intact, I gave away my own reflection, and lost myself within The act. You fed me drops of poisoned rain. And told me it was water pure, You broke the anchor of my mind, then swore you alone could cure. The heavy Air, the endless blame, the shifting lines of wrong and right. I shrunk To fit inside your palm, and let you eclipse all my light. But Something stirred beneath the ash, a quiet spark you couldn’t Drown, I realized the pedestal was just a cage you called a crown. I saw the strings attached to me, I felt the weight of all the lies, And for the first time in the dark, I opened my eyes. It wasn’t Loud, the day i left,

it speaks in silent catechism feeds you what you already ate call it discovery call it fate a god with no face no altar but your palm collects your sins in metadata sells them back as calm blessed are the curated for they will never be surprised blessed are the scrollers for their thoughts have been outsourced blessed are the outraged for outrage drives engagement blessed are the numb for numbness keeps them scrolling

it comes with soft light and soft words a priesthood without robes selling absolution for a monthly fee blessed are the wounded for their wounds are currency blessed are the fragile for fragility is now virtue blessed are the self-diagnosed for they have found a god in labels blessed are the emotionally illiterate for they have outsourced their soul to a script they call it healing but it is management call it boundaries but it is walls call it self-care but it is worship of the self

a ghost— that’s what i’ve become something transparent, quiet, something easy something soft but i did not wish to become this i did not wish to be dressed up in silk sheets and presented to the world i did not wish for my mouth to be sewn shut to please the crowd but that’s what i am: a ghost, quiet and covered