the empty spaces in a bed

can wear a person down

to a hard shell of a thing

a profound haiku

placing my heels down

on cold morning linoleum

what a boner-kill

Afterburner

In your voice you

capture what evades the page

           a phrase 

               raised again and again

                      the pitch rising 

                 the stress of your diaphragm 

      gives physicality

I cannot.

I am confined to this leaf

for to write a feeling 

is to contain it,

and to sing it, 

shines iridescent 

makes it seem

worth something more

than an off-hand scribble, 

crumpled paper, folded twice. 

Shall I put it in your pocket, or throw it out

forever lost?

I cry, so hard, but to you it’s all pretend. 

unpopular opinions

a black flower of resentment

blooms in my chest when you yell

across the plaza

"that score is a piece of shit"

and i must restrain fists

curled tight

nails carving pink moons in my palms

because i can't respect you

if you hate

trent reznor

New Englad, you

close up the sky to me

I want to stand on mesas and see

the history of myself

reflected in that view

Pedro Killface errata

Saw Chance in a grocery store, it was Smiths. he was bent low with pale green circles in his ears
We were in Socorro, his dad, my mom and thought
Jesus fuck Christ thank fucking God you're alive, bro.

He cut off all his long beautiful hair.

Iowa boy

six feet tall in your construction vest,

with teeth in Aryan white and

hair a color straight out of

a cornfield a little west of

here, Iowa all-American boy,

how did you get to be working

at this airport in this shitty job

with no benefits

you keep your own high-school yearbook

picture framed above your bed

someday you will talk about your "glory days"

for now you will sweat as you take out the trash

it's a longshot
he says
and circles all the right numbers
in dark ink pens

sometimes you simply
run with it
let the odds
work out of your favor

Cigarette Haiku

Sell yr clothes
100mph, 5 hours long
Cry twice, Smoke 10

foolish

i am existing on

potato chips

coffee

and the belief

that i'm going somewhere.

i haven't left the state in months

the country in years

and dreams only take me

two hours north;

standing in the doorway of your room.