Poetry Archive

Shadows     Even the wind was somehow hot and thick that June evening. Standing in front of the old bowling alley, my favorite old dirty Misfits t-shirt glued to my back with sweat, the oppressive night air seemed to somehow diminish all thought and reasoning, almost as if these record high temperatures were melting my brain. Finally, after enduring this for hours, I decided that I’d had enough and was going to do something...

The year they took our pennies away I watched goodness die In an Ice storm. It blew across the country, Spurred on by frozen hearts.   In the year they took our luck away, So that they could nickel and dime us To death, The ones who warn us against hell Unleashed it in our cities.   In the year that Abe Lincoln Went out of circulation, He was replaced By a lily-white frost That...

I couldn’t see the snakes. When they came at night, Puffing and hissing around my bed. I slept on the ground Without a light Other than the stars. Glowing softly over my head. Beauty above. Death below. To sleep was an act of faith. Closing your eyes When well you know That fangs are coming. And sooner or later, you have to pee, Wearing chains.     Such a life does something to you. It...

Freedom covered me in bubble wrap To protect me from life Because that stuff would surely kill me. It took a while before it was safe to feel again. To look at my face in the mirror and count the bruises. It took a while before I believed That smiles were not a disguise To hide evil.   Freedom didn’t come with a map To help me find my way back home, Or to navigate...

Your voice to guide me Your arms to hold me Your love to carry me   Through the turmoil & the strife The joy & laughter Home is you

A thorn in my side My brittle thoughts Weighing me down Drowning me out   Bury my fears Until moss hides them away

Untethered, I float Buffeted by the winds of life Never feeling grounded

Love Remains I’ve heard it said… That even if a man came back from the dead We still wouldn’t listen to a word that he spoke We’d tell stories about him around fire and smoke We’d call him a ghost So we’d haunt ourselves with old memories instead And leave his ghost to grow lonely inside his own head   I once knew a man They cut off his hand Buried it in the African...

There should be a word For the open road   You’ve been tailgating others around This town where you were born An impatient game of pac-man Where you are the hungry ghost   And everything you know of others You learned from their bumper stickers While wondering how the activists And theologians Would ever even see you behind them Through the decades of peeling vinyl Sometimes catchy Sometimes funny Sometimes true But who are they?...

All of this is for you   Every star in the sky That you followed out of your own personal Egypt All of this is for you   Every stone you laid your head upon To watch the angels ascend and descend All of this is for you   This stable outside of Jerusalem This feeding trough This bed of hay The smell of the blemished beasts That sustain the lives of your people The...