21st Century Cruelty

Repeal and replace the lot;
blow for blow, overblown.

Vengeance is upon us,
but the impetus is lost.

All out downturn—
a fallout forever.

End on: never again;
the new era is served.

Come for seconds;
stay for eternity, yeah?

A-post-less

The world is a vampire,
and there are no gods
other than dogs. They
all go to Heaven. We
all go to sleep. Some
of the time, I forget to
straighten my angles.
Other times, I forget to
finish sentences or even
answer questions. We all
have our moments in hell.

A Demonstrable Order

Unfit for neutrality—
do nothing,
triage patience.

This is the way of the warrior now.

How many times shall we see chaos?

Civility doesn't just happen;
friction is the prescription.

A knocking,
a rocking;
railing, curtailing
the will of the frail.

A Sequence: A Reckoning

I am a man despite
myself, my friends.

I miss life sometimes.

I roll old tobacco
under a full moon
in Chicago, but I
can't tell because
the neons are too
loud for my holes.

I get away for spells.

I am still surrounded
by heist soundtracks.

A Week's Beginning

Drunk and lonely,
I slide through flats
like an otherwise
barefoot lush, and
I am going to a diner.

Cut the crust off my toast,
please and thank you;
sincerely, sincerity still
means something, and
I'm dying to know what.

Afflicted

Our acidic sun
sets examples
on both sides
of the world.

Shame sleeps
nowhere now;
but fear wakes
us all, basically.

Albino Crow (Dark & Stormy)

On the up and out
the door is like autumn
and uh guess that's all
there is to say about

the months before
the calming ice chest
that freezes generosity
even in Dixie swamps

now I'm no numbskull
but my face does feel
numb and I'm as sexual
as a high school mascot

Alkaline Tests

Blisters boil over
like stone soup
in the winter.

I'm not as cold
as you say I am;
I'm just so tired
of lighting fires.

Is it my liver
or something
else that's dying?

All My Days

I slip my sandals on,
but I'm going nowhere.

I see a cat and a dog
staring at each other,
and I know what it is
to have an enemy, too.

Stuck in life's noose,
shitting cigs on streets,
the current is right now,
and yesterday is slipping.

There is no tomorrow
in today's world here.

Alma Matters

Lost faith
Lost hope
Lost interest

Stolen wires
Stolen cables
Stolen network

Almanac, Shrugged

Black tooth, black toenail...

I sauntered into an Ozark Wall
on the way to Fashion Island...

Slipping grocery sushi,
barehanded by myself,
next to a pet cemetery...

This grommeted strip
slips my mind for now,
as my feet peel back
all the other lost hours...

American Vampires

I must have cried
at least three times
in that sandy alleyway
near the well-lit market
beyond the barbeque
after the sunburn phase
during the downfall.

And you saw the anus
of some young stranger
somewhere on the border
of dirt hills and pavement
somehow between India
and Indiana on a Sunday.

An (Edited) Education of Sorts

Desire, desire—
We all have desires.

Out of desire,
I'm out of desire.

I speak in assertions;
I speak with conviction.

But then I see the errors
that even out my audacity.

Sometimes apologies are
not as appropriate as the act
of making amends; does that
make sense, or am I just sorry?

Animal Planet

Palmolive
madness
on land
and sea.

These catfish
laws of ruling
got me wide
open to some
sort of dishing.

I'll put a fist in
a mouth, drag
cheeks against
the Earth until
they're as filthy
as their rhetoric.

Apothecary

Rub sawdust
and green tea
in my eyelids
so I can see.

Put peanuts
in my ears
and rub nubs
for sweat butter.

Lick my singed
and tongued
roof like moths
in the closet.

Touch stones
for good luck
and belly-up
the bullshit.

April, Scripted

Exhausted
of vampiric
outbursts.

Cat nap dreams
for dying dogs
left in hot sheds
to swallow days.

Bury zinc
in my blood;
the stream
is static now.

Wobbly screeds
on foolish screens
to bolster what?

Armature

I drilled a hole
in my right bicep.

I wanted you
to hear my heart
beat from over there.

I put a cassette on
behind the hole
to record it.

I recognize that
memories fail.

Ashamed of the Now

Discounted gluten,
disgruntled garden.

The state of the union
is like a flared-up bull.

Sowing wild oats
and shitting grins,
the future is cheap
for long intestines.

Hold onto your compass
and dig up your shovel.

It's going to be a shit show
for at least a few months.

Avatar in 4-D

Coconut as a scent?
How strange...

Klonopin as a diet?
How strained...

The postman sent
the wrong letter,
but the net never
caught it, post-transit.

The fireman set fire
to his own vehicle;
I was only really there
to film the performance.

"There is nothing to see here."

Awking Keeks

Sleeping like a dog
My dreams fog up
My chest windows

Pictures move our
Screens in winter
Warming faces
Like alcohol plus

Videos are cloudy
Beyond graphical
On the radar glow

Will you sleep on me
If only to keep me light?

Chasing you from afar
I beg for you to read me
I need you in my heart

When I wake up at dawn
For the sake of being song
I will sing your name along
All the diodes I befriended

Yesterday you were perfect
Today you were my friend
Tonight you were my bed

Will you live with me
If only for one night?

Bear Hugs

What is this wild Disney type of
relationship? Smoking beers,
eating ginger plates since I was
still a boy. The first time I met
this bear, I knew it was true
love. We sassed a bit outside a
hacky sack hall until it was time
to plow through Siberia en route
to burn other men with clusters
of festive feminists and a few
Unitarian Universalists. I had a
lot to learn, but my father's grit
and my momma's gist helped
me to always soak and plow.
This bear has grit and gist, too;
this is a lot of what I miss about
him now that his face is mostly
a memory and a reminder. Over
time, we have grown older and
farther away from each other;
but each year, distance proves
to mainly just be a nuisance
more than anything else. I know
that I will always have my own
private Jamaica. And he knows
that he will always have a full-
blown comedic spectrum of
neurotic observations at his
fingertips. And we both know
that we will both always try to
be personal saviors here at
home or abroad: counting each
other's many blessings and
embracing much of the world's
madness, whether we're out
strolling through Greenwich
Village in the sun or being cold-
proselytized in a Burmese diner.

Beer Soup

I checked the bottle;
I spilled the cheese.

This pot can only be
stirred clockwise
in such a progressive
kitchen, I told her.

You burn your candle;
you go soak up the light.

Are the bubbles be-
cause of salt crystals,
or does anxiety cause
believable muscles?

I threw away my old life;
I recycled the cardboard.

Being Sellers

Call it what you must.

It's a new year
with new rules.

Race on slow like,
you know, well,
bannerette style.

The mist is most
freeing when frozen
beneath piss-stained
street lamps (so shady).

And there is so much
to swallow; the acid
collects as I listen
to towels tumble dry
like wintry mixed weed.

Nobody is getting high—
not on this life, not now;
instead, we settle, flaking
on each other's plants—
dead skin, reaching far,
for the dirt that delivers.

Big Dog Show

Moths suck
the light
out of days
and spit
quinoa on-
to nights;
how will I
shiver away,
tampered?

Nurses call
the shots
from sunrise
to sunset,
and up
and down
the Strip,
blood lets
you know.

Lounging
on plaid now,
transposed;
I am still yet,
transfixed
like a junkie;
pawned paws
yelp away from
my limp limbs.

Goodbye,
digital world;
hello, life.

Biography

If I ever have a biographer,
I want this person to care
about me, but about all
people, too, because I am
nothing without everyone.

Black Metal Soup Line

In a vamping world,
the vein caves have
become so sacred.

Discard primal vanity;
seek electric standards.

I camp out in darkness
with all crossed limbs
and digits, too, waiting
for the psychic weight
to be lifted in metrics.

A freestone rolls to me,
smelling like summer
by the sweet salty sea,
and reverse engineers
romance; yet, we both
find consumption to be
savory and capitalism
to be as callous as a palm
read on sundry Sabbaths
out near that Cabazon shit.

Nothing is a true deal here,
or anywhere, for that matter;
you need to recognize when
something is an opportunity,
gamble, and accept your hand.

Look at and line up fortunes;
fate is merely shaken dates.

I enjoy plums and prunes
all the same—I'll suck
and swallow every part.

Bootstrapped

boil that water
with epsom salt
cook skin like pasta
& brace yourself until
you're brave enough
to free sentences
from platforms

Boundary Patrol

"The United States
is forever, not like
an ex-wife," says
the labor official;
I don't disagree,
but I find relief
in my ability to
escape before
the real dump
leaves me hard
on a stump.

Broken jaw
from the jab;
passed on
the arboretum,
and in the dew
of mourning,
I split the
differences
in half, or so
I think, half
of the time.

At dawn, I feel
like a gymnast;
at dusk, I feel
like a Bolshevik.

While neutrally stuck
in a handicapped
space, I hear shards
of a shattered guitar.

And the wet aluminum
of a burrito wrapper
smears against the
plastic ass of my
nationalistic car;
it gets so slippery
on slopes made
of electric tar.

Bowled Over

The grapes
have soured,
the bananas
have melted;
the fruit loop
feeds back
over again
until it ends.

Breaking News

There are no good headlines
after 2015, and that's a fact;
I try not to be so pessimistic
around my family, but they
are pragmatists —some of us
are just better with distractions.

Gyms and malls all smell
the same—stay fit, eat shit;
cycle through the neoliberal
dreamscape. An ecosystem
of fecal, fertile, and futile
whatever—all too familiar.

What is the point when
and where you finally know
how and why? I so rarely
feel; I so rarely feel united
in my state of mind—I am
a solo pilot in a flaming sky.

Airports don't need to be so
icy; temporary temperatures
are a hot commodity when
you've been given the cold
shoulder and your sweet chin
is drooling in the subterranean.

I'll fly as far away from fear;
capitalist punishment is here
to stay, but iron pumps through
me no matter the currently seen
conditions. Soft metal music
plays on the boardwalk scene.

Broken Record

SIDE A

Some nights
death feels
kind of right.

Mortality
has a way
of sidling.

I wake up,
ingest toxins,
and stare
at white adobe.

I turn in, and then,
it turns out nothing
has changed, really;
I just squint some more.

SIDE B

I sign other people's names
on credit card receipts
for things I didn't even want.

I have a name unlike others
except for that of my progeny.

I have life like many others
and that takes years to accept.

One day, someone says,
"It’s over now," and so it is...

Brookstone

I've got a head full
of black widows
burning bushes.

My toes are split
like jammed
logs in denial.

Three rivers of tears
can't possibly cleanse
these oily hands.

I go to work
like everybody
I've ever known.

Do you appreciate
what the electric cats
do for your pleasure?

Burdened

some prefer a rusted cage
some prefer a coal mine

some go speeding
on back roads at night

some just prefer the scent
of fresh apples before flight

the views from above
are as skewed down below

dreams shorten and sink
as we drown in the shallow

Buzzworthy

I skipped church today;
maybe I have cancer?

I feel shitty about mixing
messages with anyone;
I get pissy when people
curb my communication.

Pray for the pedestal;
I will come down later.

California Split (2017)

Grover

Westsiders
don't worry
about prices.

Water and oil
are taken
and given
without limits.

Assumptions
are made
for trade
on the Eastside.

Commas can
come and go
like bicyclists.

One-ways are
now no-ways.

I don't want to
forgive or forget.

I want to be brave
like Walt Whitman.

I want to be free
like e.e. cummings.

Imagine a world
without constraint
or restraint—how
would I drag my
self without guilt?

Bonobo

One day, I will fill
the shaved wood
the same way I do
with the air I steal;
I'll share articles
with amelioration,
as I peel particles
with such pleasure.

In due time, poetry
will become loving
like idealistic loafers
on Telegraph Avenue
or commies in dreams.

At some point, my words
will line up with my actions,
and I will be the control
in my semi-self-contained
experiment; but for now,
I'll continue to be obsessive-
compulsive about being
obsessive-compulsive.

Captive Calls in the Hug Zone

I wait deep in my mesh shorts,
hanging around my targets;
will the person I really want
provide me with what I need?

I'm told I look like I should be
locked up, but I'm no intern.

I'm told I look like I could use
a beer or whatever is left in life.

Remember how heavenly
it was when we watched
all of those Hitchcock pilots
fly in that Zeus production?

That was likely the last time
I felt safe in my circumstance.

That was maybe the first time
I felt surrounded by comfort.

Careless Docking

The thread nips the surface,
and then the milk white pour
anxiously explains privilege.

How mental is it when you
wet-scoop heaps of dog hair
and pile it into your mouth?

How wild is hummus and beer
on a relatively chill Sunday,
riding bleached summer pain?

The needle hits the canvas,
and the shallow gets pounded
until the message is received.

Carpool Tunnel

Red wine on the sand;
blue lights in hands.

I can only type
what's in sight.

My eyes and
the inside
of my dome
can go way
farther and
deeper than
my fingers,
crooked from
here, uniform
and deformed.

My chest thumps;
my ribs are undone.

The roads are hidden;
the engines, forbidden.

Caucasian Torsion

Why do I lay here
and listen to her
play me like I do?

Because I want her to.

I get twisted up
in sacked stories,
and press record.

Because I want to, too.

Centrifuge

I drink Rolling Rock
because I prefer
max transparency
in speech and poison;
I eat little most weeks,
because I am a nomad
in my mind, forgetting
the objective of my self.

I want to stand still
with the marble trees,
but instead, I am a wilting
aluminum petal, soiled
by all the local debris
floating between lily pads,
and drifting through weeds
in long-winded oil fields.

I spend my weekends
banging my brains
against salty bricks
like a crusted crony,
listening to robots
on a decrepit Android
after an extra long week
of derailing the details.

These roads to run are long;
nobody knows me, actually.

I am some kind of grouch,
but really only internally,
and I guess that's okay.

I drag all the world's anvils;
I'm sorry about the crumbs.

I still get carded at bars,
but only with company,
and I guess that's okay.

Youth is a myth we polish;
humans must rapidly rust.

Chaparral & Kibitz

Can I help you?

The flames wave like
stung hands sprung.

The bushes burn like
Old Testament orgies.

Got my core swiped
and my night gouged
by a lifestyle scout

& I stand parked in
a lot that sits still
for my very causes.

Too many stresses
on my inflexible shell
shocked vessel spill;

drop an ampersand
to the bottom cause
it doesn't matter &

spill coffee on my
new Biggie shirt
like a bodega cat.

I'm not exiting this here
hot seat until I'm chill.

I'm not chilling out until
the administration ashes.

Can I help you?

Checks & Balances

The end of painting
is to come at midnight.

Bells and whistles
will stop sounding.

Men must be silent
until the crust exits.

An eye for an ear,
I am here to listen.

Lobsters and crabs
now cuddle in comfort.

The world is a zoo,
but my bed is a zone.

Chronicled Times

There are no mistakes
if there are no stakes
in this world of pain.

Know your worth,
know your self.

(A to Z, 1-2-3, and in-between)

I don't know what
I am doing anymore.

It's imperative in this life
to make at least one mistake
every day until you're too weak.

Cinema Seeds

Skunks crawled in
through the kitchen window,
but I didn't notice—
I was busy itching
in the warm darkness
down the hallway.

Some hills have eyes;
the ones behind my house
just have dust and dirt,
slowly turning
into the greenish hologram
I was promised as a child.

Movies are illusions;
reality is a nightmare.

Circles Run Around

Quench
for the
drench!

This hearth
is a voided me,
wholly-massed,
encompassing
intrepid rage
begotten, yet
not forgotten.

Arrested
by the
aggressors!

Circus Linens

Some feelings,
like soft drugs
in the Valley,
are hard to sniff.

No time for dreams,
no time for dreamers,
no time for dreaming.

What is the point
of waking up when
staring at the stucco
gets you just enough?

City on Fire

I shot blank serum
onto my left thigh;
goodbye, health.

I cannot handle
the heaviness
of my integration;

integrity is so key,
my foot stays in
my mouth for now.

The Bic rolls down
the terrace, plainly;
my life stays ablaze.

Code-Switching

In the social club booth,
I've got the good views.

On the gilded stationary,
I've got depressing news.

My poetry is confessional
journalism, and everything
I experience is poetry—like
how could it not be, though?

But I am still worse at sliding
on the strata pole than one
might imagine, given how I
grease all my wagon wheels.

When I'm sipping dirty martinis
at the oceanfront cougar bars,
all the cardio dads stare at me
as much as the stifled swarm.

I ease in and out of situations
that get slippery when whetted;
windows and walls all look alike
when you're emotionally drunk.

In the social club booth,
I've got the good views.

On the gilded stationary,
I've got depressing news.

Coin Flips at the Value Market

Please refrain from being so
Smithian; oppression is tired,
and so am I. How are you not
sucked out from bone to skin
and back again? I read in a
magazine that exercise can
give you energy. How about
we exercise our rights for once,
and tips the scales in our favor?

I myself cupped my nuts whole
at the new demilitarized zone
while the main apple picker
misidentified some millennial
political jargon; I won't lower
my reasonable volume for any
twit. Old, young, man, woman,
and all the misplaced labels in-
between: we must roast until
the right side of morality rises
and the roosters quiet down.

Commitment

For the love
of one, we must
give in to both
wants and needs.

For the hope
of love, we must
not give up on
either and leave.

Community Guidelines

I wash my hands
in old holy water
and pine needles
to cleanse debris
built up beneath
fingered nails and
dead end particles.

Some white bitch
fucked up my life;
where my dogs at
when I need them?

Stop talking about
vagrants, vagabonds,
coastal concerns, and
whatever reminds you
of impossibilities, okay?

Thieves take our pride,
but only God damns us.

Crude Ashes

Bolting in Hollywood,
I forgot about the colts
my ponies now sprint
alongside with such a
look of en vogue desire.

My testicles are lower
than they were before.

My appendages cramp
like a stallion on horse.

I see construction cones
and wheels rolling along
great American freeways,
and I don't mind them like
I maybe should: word, life.

I'm as lucid as I can be,
floating inside my harbor.

I might as well deal myself;
ecstasy is getting harder.

Cynic's End

A cigarillo is stamped out
on the wet concrete
outside my adobe abode.

A few yards away,
empty cans grow
with the fresh weeds.

Stray lives sit and stare
at what they cannot have:
an incomprehensible vision
standing front and center,
strategically striking away
at peripheral threats, yet
not offering any head to toe
tangible solutions either.

We all want to be sensible,
but how can we know what
that even really means to us?

We say we need to see to believe,
but don't we need to feel things
in order to properly know them?

Feel with your hands,
feel with your hearts.

Hear with caution,
listen with virtue.

View everything
in and out of sight.

Sit tight and try to digest
all of the strained skepticism.

Smoke in the sky,
far and widely
considered a sign.

Draw in on the dried-
out pulses, lying limp,
limbs askew, holes agape.

Don't apologize for being.

Day Is Doomed

Pulling nails
out of every
micro density
fiber of bored
beingness be
cause why not?

In the low fare
home deposit
game I am no
where to be
found and any
ways I must be.

Deadbeat World

Who would dare
fine for survival?

The shitter is full;
no pots for pissing.

A slight crack
in the flat ass
called my life
is moistening.

Benjamin can be
so cold in spring,
like black India ink
in a bathroom sink.

Who would spread
wings off the hook?

I am done with Earth,
at least as I know it.

Deaf Reception

We're in helpless
times, coping
is crucial; copy
some type, face
the future—I know
where I'm going,
and I don't need
a semi-stranger
to botch my biz.

Stuck between
Chinatowns
and flimflammed
at the theater,
dusk settles
like resplendent
and/or redundant
correspondence.

Edit your editors;
lead your leaders—
they'll only let you
down, and from up
here, it looks worse
than it is, but intuition
tells us it's still shit.

Deep Dive Fiction

Noir like no other—
the fog tumbles
like kosher applesauce,
and the hash wears off
until I'm worn down.

My follicles bulge
at the follies of man;
no life is private,
especially not mine.

How sublime is the night
when it's just us two,
eating pizza like teenagers?

I am unaware of failure,
because I can't stop trying.

Demarcated Beast

rolling ankles
trolling angles

I can barely stand
I can no longer see

the night is not
what it seemed

Desert Philosophy

Kumquat,
come here!

Bathe on
this turf
with me
until dark.

After dusk,
I will eat you!

Detainee

Defusing scorn like
a sorry lobster stuck
to himself, scraping
inside a large mason
jar that now houses
peanut butter, I am
deserted plainly, next
to my old self; I age
and I rage, as I settle
beside battlegrounds.

[pause]
sip
[resume]

There is no war
that we can know,
except for the strife
we tackle, embrace,
or create ourselves;
yet, somehow, daily,
millions lose some
part of themselves,
maybe even entirely;
all secrets exposed.

[pause]
sip
[resume]

I feel shitty for every
time I forgot the name
of someone I previously
met, especially when
it was in the company
of friends; I do not fear
the changing of guards
or diapers, nor do I fear
missing out on anything
other than my freedom.

Dia:Grammar

Commas
between
commerce.

Dashes
among
gashes.

Puncture
statements
assertively.

Assemble
questions
markedly.

What
about
now?

Divinity School

Air guitar
Fun house
Mirror face
Casket days
Night clubs
Forever high
My romance
Man versus
We schism
Eye spies

Doggerel

Boxed wine, refracted in plastic!

Each of my limbs
are numb from the opioids,
and they are scarred
from before I climbed
the beacon of my youth.

I forgot the semi-colon,
I forgot the hyphen—
or is it a dash?

I lifted the wrong desk,
but I was a hunchback then—
the cleanest addict you've seen.

We are all refugees,
bathing in isolation,
proud to be alive.

Imagine Kirchner,
picture Kokoschka,
painting snuff films
together in a motel
off a planar highway.

Cue the swimming pool jam...

Don't Mess with Excess

The dairy sheets reek
on mourning wood mold;
egg cartons cave among all
the chicken-shitters of today.

I worried about my life
the entire drive to Joe's.

How can you relax at airports
when you know you're dying?

I'll take two cactus tacos
and two Lone Stars, too.

Anxiety is no type of hobby;
neither is sobriety, but hey,
if you write enough down,
you can get lifted on up.

Double Jeopardy

From seven
in the morning
until eleven
at night,
I am a
door.

Pass
through
me to know
where we stand,
and stand distilled
for just a moment.

Double Vision Standards

Paralysis is abundant.

I dropped seltzer
on my shoes—
they're cleaner
than they were
when you left me.

I was so obstinate
while you thought
you really knew me.

Impossible is possible.

I burned my back
with Turkish coins
on the road to runes;
now, I just read what
I write, smoke-free.

I don't believe I will
ever get to know you
the way you projected.

Separate is equal, too.

Down

You said you
were down
for whatever,
but whatever.

Months made
your nose
get as stiff
as my joints.

You began
to sniff all
the luscious
green and
liquid greed,
and your ass
sashed away—
dreams lean in.

I'm so drained,
I spilled costly
grains all over
my salty bones.

Downward dog
licked them up,
as if to say he
is down forever.

Dramatic Reading

The globe is a theatre
and we are just actors;
Heaven is hell for most,
but many believe some
thing to be better than
what we can all sense.

Fictional regimes
can attack minds;
realism is merely
an abstract idea.

We distract ourselves
with dogs and babies;
our depicted selves lie
cold on boxes sprung
to life by warm desires
in out-of-touch songs.

Drawl Out

As aluminum rusts
in cold desert sand,
privilege synthesizes
among the cemented
painterly blockheads
and into smoky winds.

Meanwhile, grotesque
whiteness boils over
near where slavery
now lives: in reality,
in reliquaries, still
emboldened by
boldly laundered
swamp rhetoric.

Dry Stream / Wet Steam

With a knotted stump
and these pelted shins,
I slide my soles across
the new mud stirred
about by some force.

Their intention
was to dig up,
but depression
keeps them down.

When I see loners,
I cross my fingers
around milked nights.

I see Jerusalem
in my daydreams.

No sand or dirt no more.

E-Zone

The hardest part
of being alive
is that nobody
ever says how
they really feel
about you
until you die.

Death cannot
be feared;
it is always
here or near;
it is with us
until it's against.

Above or below,
the living things
are bound to be-
come ashed cigs;
there is no order.

You can read
about death,
but it's unknown
until it knows you.

I have killed
so many bugs
on highways.

I exist online,
but live offline.

Oh, the webs we weave...

Early Retirement

I use a palette knife
to slice my apples—
red or green,
it’s always a gift.

Words never end,
you know?

They can dance
like fantasies,
like fetishized women
in modernist paintings.

Can I be honest?

I think I have
maybe seen
enough
Matisse motifs
to last me
until the Internet
really does break.

At that point,
I will baby wipe
my old books
and remember
why I ever cared
about art
in the first place.

East, West / Here, There

Every day,
I drink tea.

I wake up
in realism.

People
abstract
every
thing.

I do,
too.

We speak
in vagaries.

We act like
static screens,
begging to be
vagabonds in

a stigmatic rite,
merciless to will.

And like a prayer,
I bleed onward out.

Ego Hatch

In the time of id,
I was an it;
a superlative
other, wise
to the how...

crack now,
with the weight
of a queued-up
whistle punk—
grounded
questions
to the core...

an extra ex-vagrant?

Emotional Convicts

Muscle Milked Klan utters
have tainted the ordered
fabric of a generally lazy
populace; lately, rotation
is ever-popular in cabinets
and on the keg chain gang.

Strained social dynamics,
now floating on the foam
of a half-empty pint glass;
don’t take communication
so personally, unless I am
actually speaking to you.

Relationships rip through
days and weeks on end,
and to start, let’s consider
how difficult it is to love
under these conditions—
but we must find pauses.

Because without love,
fear prevails, regardless
of which way the wind
decides to blow; it’s so
natural to get caught
in the swirl, though.

Empath Curve

I was a woman
for the first time
last year and I am
never looking back

I was a more a metaphor
last year no surprise life
and I am looking forward
to learning limitless living

The most profound poetry
is unaware of boundaries
and only acknowledges
the feelings of feelings

Once feelings are felt
they can be enacted
at such high volume
silence embraces all

Enchanted No More

I want to find delight
in the charm and wit
of this modern world.

But these days spin
far too fast for me.

It's chill to be still.

Engorged Exposure

In capturing a sum of fruit flies
on psychic concrete love seats
under these peach-plum skies,
I am reminded of the first time
she ever spoke to me outside
the home I was told to build;
and it's not like structure is
as firm as you're informed
it is when you're still kind
of foundational, relative
to now or then or some
other form of time, eh?

Etiquette

Why would anyone
try to make me
swallow pig shit
to start off my day?

Why would anyone
put corn dick
in my lunch
without asking first?

I'm making my mind
up for tonight
and I'll eat alone
despite desiring you.

Evening Is Nigh

I supplied space above
my signature after
I traced along
my hand for
a stranger.

Time goes
by and I guess
I can be gestural
with my punctual
punctuation at times.

Exiled from Main Street

Shadowboxing must
be the national sport
of the United States.

I feel alone;
do you, too?

Slipping on hot marbles—
I've still got some residual
petroleum on the bottom
of my orthopedic shoes.

I'm so combustible;
I'm so spaced out,
some of the time.

I feel alone;
do you, too?

Falling Reigns

The earth as it is, as
it stands is still shit.

What belies beneath
is a compound poem.

I am an archeologist,
I am an astrologist,
I am an architect.

Looking at my feet,
looking fast forward,
the sky is transparent.

Filthy Rules

Adopt the dogged days
you wish could be yours.

Climb trees and survey
the swamp-ass life below.

My parents believed
this was possible,
because theirs told them
this was possible.

But they, like me, stand
in the sunken mud pile.

This viscous mess holds us tight,
and we wait for the dirt to dry.

Find Your Place

A broken clock
is an o'clock
at least once
a day, maybe.

Time is not kind;
but it is a flat draft.

Space lacks grace;
but it is not easy.

A map is a map,
and the lines
will still divide
no matter the folds.

Fishing with Keith

Fishing is sport, but it is also survival. We go fly fishing and we fish on the fly. We fish in solitude and we fish in groups.

They asked him, “Are you hungry? He replied, “I can always eat.” They said, “Well, alright then.”

Am I self-indulgent, or am I ambitious? How does circumstance alter perspective? Is that man going to get gout?

I never want to get too salty. Please save me from myself. And you do the same.

Flat-Footed Coffee Table

We live in one universe,
but we also live in our own
worlds most of the time—
reality is mainly a business.

War isn't merely a surface read
or a televised natural disaster.

The sanded isolation
of fear and forgetting
permeates everything,
and everything perverts.

Find solace in solitude;
feel virtuous in attitude.

The number of ways
an individual can thumb
their nose and thump
expectations is a wonder.

Truly, disappointment
is some achievement.

Fluxus Beach

Have a Coke;
have a Coors.

Shooting the shit
with leather turds
in San Pedro again;

you ask me why I
must engage them,
and I ask why not?

Meet a freak;
make a friend.

Fog

To capture and caption
the current madness
of this starry world
is to simply awaken
the dormant selfish lies
we tuck away nightly.

Form & Format

prologue

walking disaster
art syntax master

arc full of desire

drive into pain
window panes

epitaph

Foul Motions / Take Action

Dry shaving
on the 710,
I mirror all my
fine trappings.

A day in stride;
a year of strife.

Hey, I'm no stranger
to signed-in fiction;
I'm prefacing lines
for a real insurrection.

Gaffer Love in the Drain Game

I walked down to the Los Angeles River and asked myself why this wasn’t a river. My first thought was, “Hollywood must have drained it.” I mean, car chases are crucial for action films.

I want action. I want adventure. I want rest and relaxation.

I like the way So Cal seaweed tickles the space between my toes. I like the way that cowboy fishes nibble on my ankles, knees, and elbows. I like the way that beer tastes on the boardwalk.

Give me action. I’ll give you adventure. Then we can rest and relax, in LA or wherever.

Galaxy Quest

I left my mesh
in the home pile.

No woes in the dome.

I can still breathe
without my holes.

Ghosting

Stabbed
on a Sunday,
I pray for once,
but to whom or to what?

I am maybe more
spirited than I seem,
but not wholly so,
and so I kneel
in the shower
once again:
"Let it reign."

Glass Hole Mountain Top

I will not compromise,
thus I am jeopardized.

I sip a backyard beverage
and feel fried; these French
onions encircle me, leaving
me lonely, floating, fiending;
I am a patriotic zephyr, blown
about in this vaporized zone.

My cold ideals grind deep
into the shallow grains, and
I spot a young Steve Buscemi
shaving his dotty old jade tree;
his nine lives spill onto Earth
like resentfully plotted turf.

You are what you defeat,
lest you fear to believe.

Globalist Relativism

Alligators in handbags
are on trend, en vogue;

Crocs in the sandlots
make men feel rogue;

Ladies, do your thing,
let the ring tones blaze;

Witches burn in the wild,
I smell garlic at the rave;

Silver bullets, cash amulet;
gold and diamonds, no debt.

Go On, Lightly

There is a woman
who stands like
a statue and sits
like a satchel, and
I want to take her
wherever I go now.

Goodnight

A rum and soda
in Jamaica Plain;
a Budweiser or two
in Runaway Bay.

I'm thankful
for family;
I'm grateful
for friends.

Romance never
had to pay death;
it's love that kills,
yet lives in the end.

Google: I'm Feeling Lucky

It's okay
that I'm
dying now.

You'll take
care of me.

It's great
that I'm
better now.

You'll still
be my PCP.

Google: Street View

All of my days
are bending
like Catholics,
and I am broken
like a wet phone
with a limp charger.

Leaders are so pithy;
so why do we follow?

Go between cracks,
and slither through
all back alleys—
a pious pickpocket,
a penned self-portrait,
a posh porch on a poor house.

Government Gets

Too many pixels,
not enough trivia.

Lost in the ozone,
or is it the Ozarks?
We cannot come
back from trauma.

I fret over big, small,
and medium issues.

But today's drama
is much too much;
I want a reset like
government gets.

Grand Collision

The extended fire drills
on ruinous tarmacs
on brief layovers
between real life
and Hollywood
lead to fidgeting,
and backhanded
comments become
exhaustive to what end?

Growing

Eating
seeds
in
grass

until

days
sprout
into
death.

Gulag Slog

Time for tomorrow.

Oh, I always try to eat
the ornamental verbs
on some paltry, salty
adverbial salad wedge.

You thought I was
going with proverbial;
you thought I was
at least somewhat
prophetic, but really,
most of my parables
are just exercises like
Sunday slalom skiing.

I've got Mondays, always,
which is why I'm so rich
as a poet, yet also, poorer
than my hungry grandpa.

Eat, drink, and be miserable.

Ham On

This hood on my head
suffocates, like, for real.

I'm tuckered and tucked in;
my mattress is a coffin, in
which to cough at my own
jokes—death is only funny
to a few of us who are lost
already, and anyways, what-
ever, already. I'm still alive.

The aged twins catch me
in their web. I dangle, aside
from where I've been caught;
and while I'm here, I might
as well drink another beer
and roll on with the raccoons.

I say cheese with the moon
as it milks the good night;
I kiss the fickle pickle of life.

Harsh Silent Buzz

I don't miss New York,
or the shit life of death,
but I do have a new grip
on the reality I have won.

[harsh]

There are two dozen
grape tomatoes rinsed
in Clorox on the floor
of my humid kitchen.

[silent]

My primary backhand
is redder than David;
it's swollen like a scrum,
but I'm better than Ezra.

[buzz]

How urgent is compassion
when nobody cares at all,
and the stakes are lower
than ever before for vamps?

Healthcare

Republicans
are trying to kill me,
and no doctors
are willing to help.

I suppose I could
move to Canada
or commit suicide,
but those options
might upset some
friends and family.

I wonder how many
of them are Republican.

Heaven Knows I'm Deliverable Now

Pull weeds just to eat,
eat shit just to survive.

Push notifications
of mere existence.

The revelation will be
teleprompted for me.

Sleeping standing up
on days off just because,
and why not sleep more?

Slipping downstream
in a gutted gurney,
the grim life blisters.

Sweeping the shit
in a vacuum world,
onward and upward.

How much for next day air?

Heavy Metal Parking Lot (2017)

When you eat with
enough assholes,
shit starts to taste
all the same, really.

Red cabbage leaves
your sanity soaked;
white men mainly dry
up your very existence.

I'm high on the side
of a suburban bluff,
squeezing oranges
and hammering texts.

A hybridized golden egg
comes around the bend,
rolling tired like spliffs,
and I'm looking for luck.

But fuck, my empty hands
are sliced and bleached;
oh, and I've lost all my socks
in these Stone Age battles.

I have made a commitment
to myself and to my rocks:
I will stop apologizing for
the effects I did not cause.

Highlights Magazine (Purgatory)

The garden is leaking.

All of these days look grey,
even in Orange County.

Signs sliding by, euthanized;
somehow details always die.

I feel like I misread
a discernible memo,
self-prescribed, no
doubt. And now, it is
a vessel constructed
out of oriented strand
board and constricted
by the static of these
trembling Pacific days.

The descent is far from
this harsh mountain view.

If the sun can swallow,
perhaps I can follow.

I'm tired of feeling old.

Holiday Provocateur

I escaped the kitchen
No disruptions at dusk

I just slouch towards
Brooding loved ones
Like a talk show host
In the promised land

When the fruits drain
And grains all settle
I sustain the silence
Like a calm actionist

Domestic terror in kind
This isn't Canada people

Home Despot

Power up
in the buffer
scratch snow
with pro nails
screw in shoes
stuck in the fund
flake out of fear
since you know
there is nothing
separating you
from friends
or enemies.

Hourglass Figures

A safari
filled with
empties—

cans and plans,
supplanted, period.

The gears here
were all ground
into the earth—

bodies mechanized,
plummeting, in plumes.

I am tempted; we all are,
and it's impetuous, always—
the days become granite,
but the lives are just dust.

Hours On End

Cramps everywhere
and nowhere to go...

Scrambling eggs
in excess to occupy
space; my skull wallet
is emptied on tables...

What time is it, Internet,
and when can I just be?

Human Errors / Negative Pointers

I'm so Chicago,
by association.

You're modern,
you're manual.

I've never been one
for possessiveness.

I'm just particular—
god's dam to plug.

So thanks for all
the winged tips.

So much for hope
in this desperation.

Ladies at the market
ask me if I'm on or off.

I want to be dignified;
I want to be justified.

The message is half-
baked in the pudding.

The meaning is like
savory exotic loafers.

I lost my whiteness
at the loco lavandería.

I'm fine with forgetting;
I already have enough.

Humping

Abbreviated progress—
a midday drag,
slumped like a sandwich
left out overnight;

and now, I'm standing
by myself at Kinko's,
questioning the lag
in attitude, the lack
of staples, and lately,
the feeling of having
a crow in my throat.

The whitening of teeth
is an arduous task,
never considered before
trickle-down nonsense.

I am rinsing out my mouth
before I speak from here
on out, but in the meantime

I think I'll just enjoy this smoke.

Humping Again

A fissure,
a fracture;

Affect
the
effect.

A digital glitch now
three times over,
under my thumbs.

I am an
order
of one.

Obtain
and
abstain.

A measure,
a matter.

Hyperbole Free

Whipped cream dreams
beg me to remember all
my buzz bin memories.

In the evening...

I cropped a word,
but it read the same;
crazy message goes
sane, as you were.

In the morning...

I dropped a present
in your presence again;
you're the gift that never
goes past expiration.

In the future...

Future is as future does;
I'm thankful to have met
someone sweet as cake.

I.O.U. ME

Scraped the nape
of my neck while
shaving the side;

makes me wonder
where my eyes go
when paying you
all my attention;

a pocket on a person,
some raw dog skinned
like a carbonated cat;

will you reciprocate
without refunding me?

I, The People

When someone kindly
offers you a cigarette,
don't be a snob about it.

Stop sniffing the stench
of modern white elitism;
smoke what you've got.

Some folks lose their lighters
like a single dad loses socks;
wet grass always feels good,
and matches are comforting.

I walk barefoot when I must;
I talk flat and sharp in concert;
I prefer some dynamic options
to accompany my lyrical wit.

One-liners can be headliners;
substance can be the support.

Pennies are still in circulation;
even judges still go to court.

I Buy Old Horses

Why waste your time
on choreography
when chaos is just
around the corner?

Sleek architecture
never made anyone
feel good, did it?

We can stare way up
at the cosmopolitan sky
and think deeply about
scraping life, too,
or we can climb up
to the top of a building
and contemplate death.

The desert feels good,
and so does the beach.

Icebreakers

This mall rat is like the others;
his hair is boardwalk-bleached.

Buttery split vessels;
bronzed in an oil spill.

Slow-cooked dude ranch;
exclamatory renegade tacos.

His tongue is taunting trees;
more blood on the concrete.

Poison on the yoga mat;
candy crud, fielding calls.

Praying iron mantis;
black forest hammock.

No more bulbblegum bullshit;
no more fancy-ass pushcarts.

Another prodding sponge;
another arthritic nudge.

Porous loveseat for us both;
award season, space needed.

Egghead, bedhead;
belted whistles on par.

Death metal resurrection;
pastels look good on you.

Frankenstein foot in mouth;
this tombstone says nothing.

Genre trauma;
but wow, culture.

Idiom Winds

So I am cracked up
and broken down
from head to toe
and the sky is dark;

oh, omitted emissions
burn the soulless,
and Faustian soles
tear up with age,

yet concrete poetry
in the countryside
makes me feel like
somehow more alive;

but free range organic
art fare makes me
roll my eyes pretty
much all the time.

Impasse

I might have mites
battling in the marsh
that is my torso, but
how would I even know?

I might have mired
the insides of my life
exposed to everyone
I've ever known, but how?

In the Weeds

She forced me
to eat stone fruit
at a Whole Foods
in East Memphis.

She allowed me
to get political
with a refugee
withered by life.

I make my own
type of malevolent
consequences—

I take all criticism
with salt and pepper,
so when will I age?

Sorry for the days
of renegade style.

Thanks for renewal,
despite the stasis.

You taught me alien love.

But we're only humans.

Infinite Whatever

A sissy does not need
a spectrum to exist—
the continuum of what
is hung on a line of huh?

This conversation here
is likely going nowhere;
I like you regardless
of your lack of sense.

I lie, standing up, and
you lie, facing away—
from me, among all
others, don’t you?

I am a sissy, but then
again, no I am not;
I am a sissy, but then
again, gender is naught.

Instant Replay

Rip on my ass
rust on my breast
tears rest on my chin
no more progress within
the walls of Washington
no successors either
so what is the end
I mean who is?

Intimate Scrib

Clicking thumbs
against digits
outside of a 76,
I fondly recall sex
in foreign bedrooms.

The molten semen,
the muted televisions.

But I'm pumping gas,
and your pimping
yourself against
the mean streets
of a country in crisis.

Iron Chef

Cutlery pond
gone overboard;
are you bored?

Is that why
your hands
are so warm?

Is that why
the Formica
is so viscous?

Did you choose
to go the distance,
or did you just slip?

It Thing

Soak in suds
until the law
is disorderly;

reign in the game,
delight in the night,
stay in on off days;

ease up and go easy,
unless rough times
grind on the trade;

no more pressure
on the back side
of frumping slumps;

let the bed bugs
clog my ear drums,
and I'll disappear;

words swipe like
plastic or metal
at Whole Foods;

hungry for health,
tired of the fatigue,
over the underdog.

JCC (Jewish Catholic Compulsions)

Everybody is taking swipes
at each other out of boredom;
I’m trying to stay in my bed
less than in my Benadryl days.

I’m tired of being allergic
to every asshole I meet;
it’s therapeutic to seek
out the worst of seasons.

People have been getting colder,
even as conversations boil over;
as I live in others' hearts, I ask,
“This paradox is parabolic, isn’t it?”

On this scorched Earth,
purity is surely impossible,
but romance is most crucial
if we all want to stay calm.

The scarcity of mixed feelings
I can process in my now-shared,
cluttered kitchen is the precarity
of existing under these ceilings.

Vitamins tumble on discount tiles,
and dog hair becomes the desert;
batteries fall on my horse head,
and I fear riding alone at dusk.

I forgot about the werewolves
in my more mad-dashed years,
but I’ve been shot dead enough
to know I can’t swallow silver.

Jerk Table

Nothing smells better
than lumber yards
on a crispy afternoon.

Get in touch with yourself.

Information overlords
overwhelming us all.

Synchronized swampers
underwhelming us all.

Get in touch with yourself.

Take a screw to plastic
when you're bored
with the daily stiffness.

Jersey Devil

I was a shitty camper;
I drank all the booze in
the Delaware Water Gap.

One by two; split the difference.

I pitched tented objectives,
and deflated every desire
I sunk with scrapped guts.

Joshing

a message
a minute
for hours
upon ours

Judgment Report

I chime in
to the wind
of society
and then
chip away
at the wood
in the hood
like a drudge.

July 5, 2017

I killed a basin lizard
with a travel magazine
and weighed the feeling
of being trapped against
the desire to get away.

Krush Groove

I feel the weight of atoms
when I read news articles.

Too much Starbucks today;
too much coffee every day.

Strolling through Target,
I considered fluorescence;
what would a life outside
this insular community be,
and how do I make it look
like I want it to look for me?

At the pet store, I realized
that cats have super powers,
while dogs are just super—
everybody knows this, too;
some people have just chosen
to stay in their lanes forever.

I swerve in and out as I please.

I want to liquidate and then
solidify in order to purify my
ideas of solidarity, because,
well, as you may or may not
know, I have been known to
have impossible standards.

I want to take salt baths
on mellow drugs with you;
I want to smell your scent
and feel your molten skin
by the candles you lit for us;
I want to grow up with you.

First, I will share my past;
more stories to get laughs.

Untuck my shirt a little bit,
and show my world to you.

Kunst Metal

Art has been
killing me
since Virginia;
I burn myself
like Richmond
and melt steel.

Now I am but
cold aluminum,
now I am but
a veggie torta,
now I must be
come the ocean.

I showed up
to the bay
with my neck
stretched out
and lock cutters
in my Jeep.

I am a patriot,
but I am falling
out of love
with America;
you can't love
a loveless being.

In any case,
I push back
and push away
everything
that loves me—
goodbye, heart.

Landmark (Theatres)

Stop saying uncle;
and also, the man’s
name is not George.

[scene]

Be less of a coward
and more of a punk;
if only I knew Pearl
when she was crust.

[scene]

The patriarchy is killing
everyone I care about;
but men can be kind.

Left for West, Right for Us

Sometimes
you're a peony;
sometimes
you're a raging bull.

Sometimes
I'm a theologian;
sometimes
I'm a boulevard riot.

But always
you're in my thoughts;
and forever
I'm living in your dreams.

Less Manliness

I was a man
until I was not.

I became
a pretzel,
knotting
myself
into and
unto my
self and
god, how
salty I have
become now.

I was a man
until I was not.

Levels

My name is not Kevin;
how is my chest shedding
feathers? I'm much lighter
now than I was last fall.

My shell is dry,
but I'm still soaked
at the epicenter
of a slanted season.

I'm hungry
for authenticity;
I'm fed up with
Roman spectacles
and Swiss reactions.

Too many sausage links
and holes in the cheese.

Audiovisual hysteria is here.

I feel terror in my fingertips;
I steal twilight from the ground.

Gaudy simulacrum is near.

In the balding park,
I palm global technology
and suck on chemicals.

The shored-up storyboard
is no longer safe from censors;
culled sacks suffocate en masse.

To wit to who:
where and when
we're all complicit.

How I've watched the clearing
of such close ones like a room
after a windy garbage fart.

Now, I watch a bronzed baby
spin fables like a large Czech
grandmother at the market.

Being alone is a choice,
being lonely is a lifestyle;
there is nothing about lies
that doesn't lead to divides.

Live and die by yourself
if you'd rather not live
by the rules or, well, die
with those who are ruled.

Library of Digression

Italian job shook;
cover hand blown.

Holiday forever;
permanent vacation.

Curbed talk in valleys;
piss drunk in alleys.

No sweat in States;
no sleep for days.

License

An appeasing acquaintance
stole a couple of my commas,
and left a note in the morning.

Life as a Boner

These days, nights
are somehow bleaker
than sheets on streets.

Wet and wild
in a dry world,
these dreams
come and go
and get caught
in data banks
to return looks
with testy texts.

Cutting lines,
copying mimes,
pasting gluten
to the filthy stove
as dairy products
leak through cracks
from behind, and
my new light bulb
just went limp.

Filthy eyes on filthy minds,
but that's the best part—
I mean, what's a jerk, really?

Live Flipping

A nuclear cold mind
in upstate New York;
a dubious interview
reviewed in reverse.

I once tried being a vegan
while I was dating a psychic;
shit, smoking still looks cool.

But now I know how palm trees
are as shady as fists are chill.

It's fine to go into ghost mode.

All sheets get softer in spring,
while I still shiver like a larch.

Uh, blackouts are mainly like
subconscious hallucinations;
I mean, I'd say probably, right?

Oh, and motion sickness
on substitute trains goes
both ways below the belt,
especially on days off.

Lives

I don't know why
I cry anymore—
I feel far less alone.

When I'm in bed,
when I'm on sand,
I feel a steady hand.

I'm not religious,
I'm not vegan;
I am blessed.

Living, Loving, Lying

Living in America right now feels like being roommates with your first true love, who you have over time come to realize doesn't really care as much about you as you care about them.

Lock Angel Talk

My wings got clipped
at the nacho stand—
I thought of you when
I decided to try to fly,
regardless of my status.

An e-mail, vitamins, and
some conversations can
do a fragile bird better than
most vets might believe.

I wrote a poem in the dust
and dedicated it to Paris—
I am more grateful today
than I was yesterday; no
more whitewashed parties.

All turkeys must die some
time, but my time is not now;
anyways, my belly is relieved,
and I currently cannot grieve.

Love as a Thing

Breaking up
is hard to do.

Sleeping in
is even harder.

Every night, I talk
myself into thinking
comfort will come
in the form of reality.

Every time I walk
out my front door,
I feel like I lose
at least ten dollars.

Where are you now?

I jammed a banana
deep into my throat
and contemplated
the absurd gun laws
in America today.

I am where I am.

Can you explain
how the birth rate
and the death rate
keep increasing?

I hate feeling like
I have to say things
are okay when they
are far from okay.

Clarity is so opaque
in these dark times.

Expectations only
ever serve to fail us.

Marathon Man

No sweat for glory.

Trail mix vomit,
half-baked hobbit;
I'll hike the hills
to the hologram.

Howl at the moon;
wince at the sun.

Amulet vortex,
cabaret cortex;
I'll bike for bills
on the highway.

No end in sight.

May Day

Spilled fruit punch
on my chest while
running with dogs;

pounding my heart,
stringing me along
a short-leashed road;

there is blood under
the waterboarded
bleach boy basin;

it's wet on the floor,
it's dry in my eyes,
no tears for bitches;

don't you know how
nothing is beyond
itself in the rummage?

Me in Reverse

I'm shaking on tiles;
one thing at a time.

Intolerance after midnight?

Kids don't willfully joke;
it just happens, right?

Ineptitude in the morning?

I'm driving for miles;
one thing at a time.

Mentality

A brain is a job.

In the mornings,
I lose something.

I trip on my tongue,
and the temple turns
to crummy rubble.

Language is like oatmeal—
words are just mush
that can be dressed up,
but only if you want.

Mind Over Manners

Does it please you
when I thank you?

Just to be clear...

I am grateful
for every meal
you make me eat...

&&&

I am starving when
you leave me for
weeks on end...

Still to be just...

Does it please you
when I thank you?

Miracle Mile Data Scrub

My chest was tarred;
you gave me feathers.

I can fly like a Halo tweaker,
despite the wreckage below.

I try to be as articulate as I can
whenever I give myself to you,
even though, I'm learning I can
be as loose and lucid as I will.

The slippage of tongues is so
sobering, wouldn't you agree?

I'm not speaking in French;
I'm talking passion fruit, freak.

Motown Goth

It's cold outside.

My ribs seem angry,
and I don't know why.

Tourniquet etiquette:
I'm quitting smoking.

Come see about me.

At the hospital cafeteria,
I turn dials from AM to FM,
while I anxiously pick apart
kosher meals like a gentile.

It's cold outside.

I'm not afraid of death;
I'm afraid of a poor life.

Insurance should be free—
the assurance that we need.

Come see about me.

Murrieta Madrigal

Put all rules on our shared tab.

Your saxy fingers form a sober rake
that arranges all my corporeal pains
into a new Pangaea with invisible ink.

I have been negotiating trust
since I was first broken down.

Your soft face sturdily holds mine up
as we watch your flame slow dance
like blacked out bikers at Pechanga.

Don't forget to get the money.

Musical Stools

The streets smell
like a deli franchise
in these mighty winds.

God's piss drenches
the foliage, and now
I have the taste of kale
beneath my tongue.

Stories are getting spicier,
and I cannot stomach any
more of this roughage shit.

All hail a hellish ride now
to the gutter punk caucus,
and get raucous with the rest
down in these tweedy bowels.

Nature: A Scandalous Forum

Culpable commodities
spread across and strewn
about scrawling pages—
a scroll, a screed, nothing
that any of us actually need.

Flowers on bountiful tits,
like some pollinated pasties
for those without allergies—
the natural life is something
we seem to have forgotten.

Hands go unnoticed when
they have been shaken down
and feet can't click fast enough.

Make an extra wish for me,
so that I can stay here longer
than the doctor said I could.

Cold beds and warm bodies;
the natural life; what we need.

Neurotic Jet Strike

As the hills burned,
I drove straight to LAX
and drank four beers
in air conditioning.

(and)

America is sinking
in misguided revenge

(and)

hands poke through
the liquid info diet

(and)

here I am, up in the air,
indigenous to myself,
rubbing out olive stains
like a crusty who cares.

Nimby, Go Home

Teeth say goodbye,
and shit stains clothes
like an Irish car bomb
somewhere in Boston.

These dubious dealings
sustained on the Fenway
are just tea-stained sulks.

Local news anchors
shoot the breeze
and windy servers
cash out the cooks.

I guess you're hungry;
we all are, but most
of us are near starvation.

Karaoke coup d'état:
I'll just sing like Stevie
while I slit my fingers
with ceramic memories.

No Country for Old Ideas

Tell me about
the first time.

Not sex—
that's rarely
an interesting story.

Tell me about
the first time
you served
yourself a raw
deal, happily.

I want to hear
why you wake up
in the darkness
the sun casts
on us daily.

Your rhetoric
flows freely
like the Willamette.

I'll always devour
your fresh rolls whole.

No More White Lies

El Paso is a dreamscape—
a modern mirage—but she
stirred vanilla nightmares
while giving me the biz.

I am tired of the toilet people;
I want delicatessen socialism.

I walk on sandy streets
with my bandaged feet
and my blemished teeth.

How do you trust people?

I've handled hit and runs
I've melted for months,
I've been nothing for fun.

Now the last bandit I met
conspires with the one prior;
a filterless new model speaks
of house goblins, but for what?

The memories shatter mirrors,
and I need newer reflections.

No World Order

we have built
more lies with
nothing beyond
tongues maybe
tendrils mayhem
lost in plain sites

November Score

I am desperate for some sense
of progress, but Congress keeps
striking us all down with blunt force,
objectively speaking, in plain sight.

I am listening to old romantic protests
from foreign nations, explaining truth,
subjectively speaking, plainly, and now
I see what my mother and father meant.

Sometimes it takes a full lifetime of sorrow
to learn that love is the only thing that matters;
sometimes it only takes a decade of heartbreak
to learn that some people want to love, too.

I am thankful for New England
pub conversations, so familiar;
I am grateful for Korean Nouveau
prints encircling my periphery.

Okay! I am far more fragile and vulnerable
than I have ever been before, but I believe
this is undoubtedly the best state America
has to offer its citizens, so please join me.

Obtuse Legacy

I will write from the grave
like a graceful penman.

I will die on a switchback lathe
like a dashiki dude on record.

You hear that?

The old bebop line cook
scrambled his story again,
and now, my tits are fried.

What'd you say?

Motors are generally the same,
meaning there's no escape
from a gridlocked grip of land.

I'll repeat from the start...

I want to try to make amends
with every person I have left
or rightly driven away from me,
but amendments are ignored.

So instead, I suppose I'll die;
and while I'm high in the sky,
I'll force people to whisper
about like neo-political birds.

Okay, Mine

A feisty feline
crimps up
the crusty
life carpet
and rags on
the dogged
daylight drum.

On a Road

Some kind
of luck on
a guilt trip.

Askew,
eschew,
anew...

Our memories
go for miles
until they crash.

Orthopedic Current

I swallowed pebbles
in the parking lot
of the Adventists.

My back was bending
me to the surface level
like I was in a quarter
life crisis all over again.

I blocked a barge—
stet line items, tasked—
I blocked a barrage
of random inquiries
from a new wave bot
a few weeks later.

Stretching, terribly,
for good measure.

With each customary duty,
it gets harder to float
in this Neolithic strait;
wave on the wavering needs
of a meagerly waged war.

So long to all goodbyes.

Ounces

Adherence is ambivalence,

and Velcro tears at my torso
as bubbles rumble inside.

My belly is a bonfire;
there's no prep for hell.

So I suck on bottles
in the Latin club
to wash away
the stress of sins;
you know, nothing
is as simple as tacos,
and I simply prefer
nothing over you.

I feel the weight
of carbs and guilt.

I see the sorrow
in your closed eyes.

I think I'll close mine, as well.

Paranoid Park

I left my needles
in the trivial freezer,
and there's nothing
I can do but panic.

Oxford comma,
English diction;
semi-colonic, uh,
median Western.

Feminist architect:
what a-a-a narrative;
weirdo novel, man;
stretch like a mess.

[break]

God, I want to believe
in anything, if not you.

No more headlines;
no more problems.

Not true, not totally
false; not me, not you.

Parked in Pasadena

If we were dead poets,
you would be the one
with your brain in flames,

and I guess, in the grass,

I would be the one writing
about your weathered head
while drinking burned coffee.

Parred Course

Floating along
in a golf cart
so as not
to drown,
I hock loons
and protect
my white balls
from pro pawns.

Peace, Love, and Bread

Put an extra a
on the list—so
self-important.

Stress about
oven flames;
stress more
over romance.

Did I set myself
up for some heat?

Did I shrink the shirt
I'm supposed to wear
in front of the hung jury?

Friends are as present as
long as you let them pass.

We all need to rise
in order to love;
we all need a raise
in order to live.

Pentagram Ashes

So then I watched
a new old friend
snort Benadryl
at a reservoir
about an hour
after we both
saw a stranger
get arrested
after he bombed
K-Pop karaoke
at his estranged
niece's bat mitzvah.

He was a drunkard:
the annoying type,
who drinks fancy rye
and pukes in loafers.

She was a princess:
the annoying kind,
who describes islands
in terms of dimensions.

Some bitches will definitely
be clapping inner elbows
at some point later tonight.

Take a nap if you must
in order to kiss the dust
like a Boricuan cherub.

This grafted fire
is going nowhere.

Photo::Botox

Rubbing grease
on retina screens,
strolling through
scenes, the end
of the scroll is a
bridge to reality.

Water passes
under and over
with or without
form of consent;
the flow of now,
captured in time.

I need space
to inject, renew,
withdraw, replace
the wrinkled mines
I stepped on when
I stepped out of line.

This will cause pain,
only if you invite it;
in the end, artifice
can calm the senses,
and that's art, really—
the nuttier, the better.

Plastic Jesus Life

I watched the lush roses
wilt at a stark bat mitzvah,
and it wasn't so different
from what I might imagine
the death of a sea horse
in the port might be like.

All of these Manhattanites
and wannabe socialites
make me want to vomit,
and I hate when my throat
burns, which is why I try
to avoid whiskey lately.

I'm an old man at the core,
you are a sweet nectarine;
it's hotter than Venus today,
and I long for the short cold
grip of Uranus; despite your
stiff praise, I despise my skin.

I'll sip on this Old Fashioned,
I'll sit on this Old Appalachian,
and I'll slip into the new reality
of living alone into next year,
just like the handmade prophet
I wanted and failed to become.

Pose To Be

Everybody
is a caricature
in this life.

The world
is a linear plot,
supplanted.

The future
is no more than
every past.

Post-Gaze Spread

Repeat and recycle
garbled content.

The times get posted
infinitely, inevitably.

A conduit, a vessel,
a charged trestle;
we all walk above
and sink down below.

Glitches on the grind
keep toes on the line.

Professional proletariat;
no validation necessary.

Post-Millennial Blues

Days say goodbye,
months move along,
years go on forever.

The litter piles
like a cat tower
to see or be seen,
and thin lines blur
straight and narrowly
escape light cruising.

The world is deaf
and blind; no tone
in the shallow zone.

I am a plotting pauper
with a skirt for a prince;
I strive to elevate spirits,
despite the intercom
broadly screeching,
"We're going down!"

The lever is broken,
as are the latches;
fear is near or here.

Lock fingers loosely,
and linger on horizons;
let's be one and a half
together and confer
to no longer defer
for the sake of others.

Refrain from the "do you"
mentality that has done
us such a grave disservice.

Press the Thumps

a bitter kiss becoming
in a sudden blackout
dream of course I did
not think it would come
to this do you soothe
or do say you do for all
I can see now is my own
personal haze for days
and I still press on as if
I must because after all
must I not become one
with what I love so blunt

Privileged Pawns

Don't go on telling me
about refracted abstractions
that could be funneled
through the rosy pains
of a retro bowling alley
somewhere in the Foothills.

I'm not the type
to fall prey to some
Polyester hype.

Mediocrity
is synonymous
with failure.

Anyone who says otherwise
is merely a casual casualty.

Provincial Trauma

The thing about
this place here is
we all suffer we
all do it together.

Psalm

Sleep is private purgatory.

When I set like the sun,
when I rise like the son,
my throat is lumpy, and
my ears are full of wax.

Dreams are for bachelors.

Public Records

The racket,
the rubble,
and the rubbish
that blanket us
in a vitrine
of treason;

the accretion leaves us
asking what is the point
of somehow sheltering
the lamented ones?

Yesterday was religious:
I burned my fingertips,
and cleansed my sins
with an antiseptic rinse.

The fruit I swiped
from the gallery
was as infected
as the machine

that ingested
the paperwork
I claimed from court,
and now I must assess
what can lie out
in the cold desert.

Punctual Goth

Where'd my comma go?

I was typing so quickly,
I lost my typical pauses;
I talk like I walk, which is
at the necessary pacing.

The flow is so romantic.

I am my own private organ:
small, large, semi-colonic;
I eat my words on occasion,
but never after breakfast.

I also don't quit after dinner.

Questionable Vestibule

This night has been wrung.

Insufferable
or
intolerable?

An inquiry
is an entrance;
a resolution
is an exit.

Conceive strategies
for every new day;
heed all distractions,
take pleasure in desire.

Wake up as a dog,
run endless errands
for futile satisfaction,
and lose respect
for embraced servitude.

I am free of shackles,
but my car is stapled
to my forehead
and my chin
is full of rubble.

Reality Over Vanity

I need more than a screen;
I must go find more filth.

Mediated martini moves
are about as medicinal
as palm leaves applied
to torsos on weekends.

Talk about
the things
you don't
care about
through shit
metaphors
only you'd
understand.

The rapid and the vapid
plagues of the period
makes me need to bury
the lists in the shallow.

Circling the recoiled rims,
I reflect on wasted youth.

Reckless Caws

Focus on scooped dung,
if that's what you must,
but do your neighbors
some form of a favor
and wipe your chin up
with the filthy local rag.

Scratch that acidic note;
indifference is nothing
but a stopgap measure,
and the math is marginal.

Resistance requires more,
and persistence is more
than a preference; persist
if you insist, and please insist
if you prefer not to plummet.

Sharing is caring,
so ought we not care
about what is shared?

No news is bad news.

We must demand supply
in order to get the facts.

Recycled Gigs (Meta Data)

When asses
and club feet
smell the same,
games become
more hands-on
and waxed-off.

I listen to her rhythm,
and I eat the eggshells
I've solely been stamping
all over until supper time.

Now, at breakfast,
I greet my Jesuit dog
with a pound of lox,
and we slowly stroll down
old metropolitan lanes,
shielding the truck lot.

He's officially a poet now,
but he's been wise with words
since long before he recorded
them like a clerk on lunch.

We ride the bus to the last stop:
together, forever, and indebted.

Please don't cloy the boys
during happy hour, okay?

Remix

Boiling my ass
like imitation crab,
I grab some water
crisps to crush now,
but later is still for
ever, if you know
what I'm saying.

Revised Life

What is actually authoritative
in an age of authoritarianism?

What is clearly contemplative
when most lack contemplation?

I edit my daily life,
avoiding any strife
in costly measures.

But even the best
of owned efforts
can get sullied.

The air out here
can be so toxic;
the water, choppy.

I missed an apostrophe—
I don't mean to be possessive.

I fixate on parentheticals—
I don't mean to be obsessive.

Rhetoric

Words cannot be
ignored, after all.

Once they are said,
written, heard, or read...

there they are for us all,
to be used plentifully.

They are actions, themselves;
they are preemptive, just being.

Hanging around in clauses,
causing trouble at times.

In place of words, we have
nothing else to guide us, really.

Rivers Run Through Me

Humans walk their dogs and film their cats. Other humans say that our pets become us, but is it the other way around? Maybe we’re just cats and dogs—barking, purring, lounging, leaping. Or maybe we’re catfish or dogfish, slipping through muddy waters, aspiring for clarity, but instead, chilling on a lazy river like it’s a Michelob Ultra summer and hoping that we don’t end up with a fist in our mouths or a blade in our sides. Humans aren’t animals; humans are humans. We walk our dogs, film our cats, look for clarity, and sometimes swallow mercury whole.

Salmon swim upstream out of necessity; sometimes humans do, too. We do what we must or we do just enough. We swim out to the unknown and then we revert to what’s familiar. It’s not enough to create. We must be proactive. We must procreate. Each idea is an egg—a slimy plan to watch hatch. Lose your shell and be vulnerable. Life can be a grisly bear. Determination is key, despite the constantly floating destination amidst the constant flow of empty seeds. Salmon swim upstream out of necessity; what do you find to be necessary?

Rogue Nation

Cincinnati
is far too frigid
for a flexible mind.

Mind over master;
middle of the rope.

Slip...

I bend and mold
until I have no hold
on what is the now,
what is the never,
and what is to be
come of me when.

Belt over blister;
muster up misses.

Shit...

I burned my roof
like a careless
ceramicist.

Same Trip

You can't ever
possibly know
what it is to be
like me, and I,
the same, and I
say that's okay.

The world,
wicked one,
splits us all
in half-ish.

Spit like a llama;
cry like an emu.

Why so wild?

Scribing & Shriving

I'm breaking crackers
Like a crooked brother
Drunk on back sweat
In the Jurassic delights
Of hemi-equated nights

How Latin of me to sing
Sunshine in a dark age

I'm speaking archaeologically
Of course my tongue is bent

I'm not a cultural tourist
I travel lightly in the heavy

How Roman of me to think
Darkness is but a number

The palms are smoking
Once again and five times
The highest forehead now
Seeing double in the glaring
Triage of ghost progeny

Seasoned Riff

Embossed embassy;
debossed debriefing.

Colloquial conference;
benign bequeathment.

Okay, now...

Days are accumulations
of mistakes, so learn
to be grateful for those
who adore you enough
to accept yours on your
behalf, ungrudgingly.

There's nothing like
going to a wedding
in the desert to make
you reconsider your
future with a hologram
version of familiarity.

Even more profound:
metaphorically kissing
boys in parking lots
with igloo rigs adjacent
to remember why you
love art in the first place.

Okay, then...

People don't change
as tidily as the sea.

Ride positive ways
in the negative space.

Service Dogg

Crickets crunch beneath
my golden gateway arches.

I'm mildly Midwestern,
but I've never been
to St. Louis; I've never
even passed through.

I've had the blues
since I was thirteen,
but I like clear waters—

I'm like a fish without fins;
I'm like a guitar in that I
fret more than I can handle.

I sing songs of love and lust
in my head and chant leads
before I collect my thoughts,
though I reckon I'm thoughtful.

My hands are as jazzy
as a Brooklyn immigrant.

Set It Off

When I was a freshman,
I taught you how to say
the word Cuyahoga,
and we both have since
floated along rivers
that burn with desire
as we continue on,
suffering in liquid
metal adult lives.

At the discotheque diner,
you taught me how to be
fragile like the leaves
that fall and crumble
by hand or by feet;
your palm and soul
are still pinned upon
the bottles all gone,
missing with corks.

The cancer of life
has struck me,
and in darkness,
enlightenment
becomes some-
thing like an amulet.

Will we be allowed
to explode in time?

Never ask questions
when you're in crisis.

Protection is a must;
freedom is about trust.

No take-backs out here.

Shook Fool, Like How

shove pliers
into screw holes
and drive cars
into curbsides

find security
in television
while television
secures nothing

this abdomen
is in army knots
as this heartbeat
has paused again

not even the drugs
in West Hollywood
can lift present lives
for future moments

go on and get yours
go on get your eagle
America is nothing
without the dickovers

Shove It

Front porch:
a knot tied,
while paper
burns inside.

The dough,
though; what
about it, huh?

American dreams
are now a fantasy,
but I live in reality,
doused in gasoline.

Simple Sugars

I don’t like sweets,
but you make me
want to eat more.

I love every type of fruit,
but you are my favorite.

I drank orange juice
for breakfast today;
it had extra pulp in it,
so I saw a sobering film
alone afterwards, cried,
and wished you could
get tacos by my side
in the afternoon sun.

I ate ice cream
for dinner tonight;
it was taro-flavored,
and it reminded me
of the very first night
you slept in my bed;
but now, sheets are
cold, here and there.

Let’s dream of bungalows
and palm trees, together.

You don’t like to sweat,
yet I can’t help but warm
you up when I’m with you.

Simulacrum

Joints don't bend,
eyes are sunken in,
the wi-fi is dead.

Friday doesn't feel
like it used to feel.

Grease on the tires,
new lease on liars,
no truth on the wire.

Monday is the same
as the coming of age.

Weeks are months,
years are some lump,
life is one long stunt.

Skin Tears

There is nothing
sensitive or sensible
about looking up
at a nuclear medusa
or down at a dog.

Cut teeth and nails,
and paste headlines
in their vacuous place.

These dull knees
scrape their scraps;
these feet control
all their own traffic.

I am a man among men.

I roll up sleeves,
I elbow the grease,
and I get sick like
a celebrity's niece.

Nausea from denial,
a trial in the sun—
bring it all to light!

Toe to toe,
yes can mean
maybe, but also
most definitely
more like no.

Slippery

I smell oil
blown onto backs
like the breath
of an alcoholic.

Choking on menthol,
dreaming of mint.

My branches rot,
my brain is stumped.

Solitude is something—
winter is a land of nothing,
no matter the location,
and sockets tear all the same.

Sloppy Sentient

I feel nothing
now that I came
again—a rebirth,
unto itself; here
before, now there.

I sing poems
to you to see
what I blew.

I am a sobering
presence for all
my own tempted
fates; drunk on
spun tales, I lie.

So Forward

Back to now,
here we are.

The present
is a gift, left
at the door,
undesired.

No room
to budge.

Sponsored Cynicism

I smell a rotten apple,
but it looks good enough
to at least peel some skin.

I engulf one slice
and it tastes like
orthodontic paste.

Nonplussed headlines
deep dive into oblivion,
while the oblivious rage.

Robert E. Lee,
Hurricane Harvey,
Lee Harvey Oswald.

The Southern Levees
will rise once again,
and the Union will weep.

Sports Bra

the cyclops
stares back
every day
the sun
decides
to shine
its light
on my eyes
and cotton
breathes in

State of Mind

The only place
I have ever missed
is New Jersey.

This small, sprawling garden,
filled with gradient skin tones
and cities packed in
less than two hours
from New York to Philadelphia
reveals mystic delights
to only those
willing enough
to make an effort.

The parts move in place,
forming some sort
of deformed dumbbell,
lifting for others elsewhere
and getting sweat on
from all sides, really—
the armpit of America
is a hairy treasure,
perhaps luckily left alone.

Trenton says
they make
and the world takes.

This may no longer be true,
but the past due phrase
still wafts profound poetry
far beyond
the brisk Delaware current.

William Carlos Williams
studied ideas in things
like an inquisitive child
for no less than a lifetime.

I am jealous of great men,
knowing
that my time
can and likely will
come earlier
than most of them.

Yet in my youth,
in which I suppose I still
somewhat somehow exist,
I say
match ambivalence
with benevolence.

I want to live like New Jersey
where that is all that is required.

Stocked & Here

I am haggard
I am slovenly
I am comedy

I will be so dry
In Fresno freak

Moisturize my
Entirety please

Nurture me by
Merely existing

You are delicate
You are elegant
You are adored

Studio Lot

Get up to get down...

Reading notes;
writing notices.

Nurse your ego;
id needs a cradle.

The permanent kind...

Catch a bruise
after work—
9 to 5 swerve.

Ribs cave in,
palms held out,
I'm booked again.

Double-up the myth...

Pale ales
for pale boys;
this country
lacks spice.

Reggaeton
from car radios
parked up on
the stray.

Youth is just old litter...

Stuff (Things)

Hey, what's a thing?

A thing is a thing,
flung from above
or below, you know?

You know what you
know, and you go
where you go, but

a thing is still a thing.

Suicide In Tulum (To Boot)

Food is simple fuel,
and I am burning.

You were my beach;
now, you're a storm.

I am an instant foe
of the deft undertow.

The planes circle me,
engulfing my desires.

What is this stylish hell,
in which despair hangs?

The bloodletting of youth
is an age-old ritual, right?

Can I be spotlit in moonlight
until it once again feels safe?

Security is a chain link fence
without the barbed wire; God?

Sunoco Coffee Casket

The people I meet
say I'm a problem,
but mainly a good
one—is that just a
put-on? Is it, uhhh,
just? What do you
even want? Songs
fall apart—bottoms
of bells are not not
nostalgic. Give me
that hug you gave
me before we said
goodbye. Give me
that shrug I saved
because I decided
to choose between
death and disregard.

Sup Dial

"It's noon again,"
says the Lord.

Cold sores
and sting rays
give Saturday
a bad name.

Hey, in Long Beach,
I drink my ethnic
beverage delights
and double-down
on raised-up plights;
how quaint is sand?

I'm sifting through
life like a decathlete
without a Timex watch;
and now, I guess I'm lost.

Mondays are for dying;
Fridays are for living on.

Supine

Breath like citrus,
a bed to piss in,
and life is just, well,
the same as death.

I am privately eying
the golden years
I'll never quite know.

My body is forever full
of secrets, of course.

Bowled over; struck down.

Talk of the Towns

There's a mouse
in my house
and some rats
limp along Anacostia.

The cabinets
are full of lies
and broken limbs.

The floors
are filthier
than ever.

The grounds
were never really
so sacred, though.

Clean your life,
wash your lifestyle;
rebrand and reboot,
as the bodies rot.

Template

My spine is a nightmare,
bending with the world;
my limbs are as loose
as politicians' morals.

I double-down
on the XXX manifest;
by any means necessary,
I won't get any rest.

I've got a sink full of filth,
nails clipped to guilt,
and a week's worth
of semi-sorted sorries.

Damp floorboards,
frozen getaway,
reality television
in a surveilled nation.

The Age Range

We hold grudges
and let them linger
in our clammy palms
for far longer than life.

I crumple up printer paper
and sand it down to more
or less molecular particles.

Times New Roman poetics
in the New York Times like
snowflakes on yucca trees.

What do days translate
into when weeks just
become dusty trays
for obituary pools?

The Complete Writhings of Keith J. Varadi

Dogs need gods,
just like humans—
we must roam free
on this bitter Earth.

The pass is wide open;
I don't need the metro,
but I do need the cosmos.

Do you remember the time
we listened to no town's hits?

I chose to ignore the new wave.

I stared out at the stars
in that military dust
and semi-questioned
the quaint wholeness
of my mortality within
my aluminum bones
and knotted guts.

The California strain
washed about among
the Texan brain grain,
pouring and pumping
against silver linings,
as if I was a cube,
hollowed out, fully.

You wanted me to conform.

Yet I am a tool and dye man;
you need a suit and tie, ma'am.

I can get high like Orion;
I can be as depressed
as you want me to be.

But I swear to you
I am a good boy;
you can have faith
in my pious practice.

The Deep

My mom taught me love
My dad taught me respect
My world taught me pain

I wish more people cared
About poetry and poetics

I think life would be better
If people were less afraid

I want people to feel things
In a real way the way I feel
You are a real thing to me

The Labor of My Ways

I like real work
I like hard work

I like serious
investments

I like necessary
efforts extended

I like mounting
my mornings

like
like
like

Let’s go be bums
on a filthy beach

Let’s get labotomies
in the pickled dunes

My apologies for my
redundant compulsions

My need for assuage
is routine like Dunkin

The Opacity of Hope

Religion is for
the insecure.

Without love,
we are nothing.

Duct-taped antennae,
sagging like elbows—
I feel so old now,
so ready to die.

Let me list
all the ways
I don't care
about drags
in the dirt
that I still
plant and
plow alone.

No, I'll spare us all
the overwhelming
shifts in seasons.

Instead, you can be
the striking attendant,
and I can be the turkey.

There is no more sand
to pour into hands, and
the glass is bug-stained;
I'm bug-eyed, despite
being a bird, in theory;
in practice, I'm hopeful.

The Wire

Trust in nothing
Trust in no one

I was a workhorse
I was a unicorn

Now I am a preposition
Lost at an intersection

I got way too high again
With my dad on holiday

And we confused initials
Like shoes on the wire

Therapy Peels

Sit tight; don't let
the mosquitos bite:

Pork-flossed burritos
dug under a huge tree:

Vitamin D consumed
at CVS like it should be:

Sacred night crawls
become my sunshine:

I am not a useless item
stored in a Nordic kitchen:

You're more than a sitcom;
you're more than an award:

You're a quarter Catholic,
and I'm a full-on neurotic:

Love is some sort of mantra;
romance is a lifestyle, man.

Thursday Mourning

Black olives
and green ones
too swimming
in a Tapatio lagoon.

Spices and vices
tumbling guts at noon.

I got the breeze
from a coyote
after taking shots
at a Japanese saloon.

You can't rush therapy
when you're a half-loon.

Tiki Bar Trash

There are limited modes
of accepted existence,
and I refuse to accept
any of the pronged
options. Don't ask
me to convince you
of my position, as it
really is hinged upon
the door that was shut
on me when our house
was emptied like a belly
on a hellish holiday hurdle.

Today

An eagle struggles
in quicksand
as trains derail
in every town
that still runs.

[break]

A man named Mark
told me I smoke regally
as I looked into the sun,
with drip coffee in hand.

[pause]

A toad supports
itself among
the massive
towed line
stuck in mud.

Tombstone

Keith J. Varadi:
Lover of typing,
hater of typos.

Transience

I've moved around
from a bastardized lot
to a dunderhead confederacy
to a polished bodega
to a clueless filmic haven
to a most serene barrio
to some troubled hills.

It wasn't until I lived
in a hot yoga studio
that a tweaker turned
my passport existence
into a mild nightmare
while my backyard burned.

Travel, Lodged

The lush life
can be lush;
I hate being
late to begin.

I prefer the views
on moving trains,
but I am infatuated
with airport bars.

Holiday in reverse,
staying put together;
the swans swim on,
the martinis get filthy.

There is
so much
cocaine
roaming
on golf
courses
and ski
trails.

The aftermath?

Sand is smooth;
snow is bumpy.

I must confess:
I've never played
golf or gone skiing.

Trending Lives

A gypsy leaves
jammed doors open,
while Western worlds
close borders off
to those in need
of a comforter.

Meteorologists
are panicking
at the cold fronts,
now so ubiquitous.

Post-industrial beings
are collectively listening
to nobody but themselves,
taking family members
on a dark downward spiral,
spun out by accordion hands.

Metallic claps reign
like Great Plain thunder,
and we stand in the arena
of mortal bewilderment.

Twelve One

no preview
necessary
update die
and try living
again maybe
anyways man

Under Construction

Scandinavian bells
ring until they drown
and go south, but
that's okay; and I say
I'll stick with my rules,
golden or otherwise,
regardless of yours,
bronzed out in the sun,
copper down to the soul;
it's heavy metal on lock.

Unibrow Sunshine

a splitting of hairs
in the gaps of teeth
the moon will polish
all the tumbleweed

Unresolved Mysteries

The space between
slashes is life or death.

The space between
is an overused idiom,
unfinished on purpose,
somehow without any.

The space between
lovers—living, dying.

Unsaid & Oldish

My knees are knots;
my thighs are rotten.

My feet reel on stones;
the bugs beneath weep.

As I sit on a dock down
south of where you stand,
we definitely watch video
of each other, high, and
there is quite some mighty
elegance to this or that type
of natural observation I have
been trying to share with you.

You don't deny me or my
sparkling rosé glasses.

You smash them with me
after long digit pacing.

Urgent Care

Do other mammals
get acne or what?

The greased wheels
on the gossip wagon
smear up right against
this sullen leftist skin;
my lungs are smoked,
my ribs are smoldering,
as I listen to my words.

My ears are burning
because of Ken—
his doppelgänger
can press pause
on the shit blender;
my liquored soul
has already been
spicily squeezed
down in the grove,
also known as
the coping room
also known as
the citric squatter,
and that's enough.

Vague Train

I'm too tired
to stand up
for myself;
I'm too high
to squat on
slight angles.

Tomorrow
is a new day,
but life will
still move on
the same way
it did today.

Vamped Vex

Rising in disgust.

The lingering smell
of an asshole's stain
is quite burdensome.

How does one remove
painful memories at all?

Cocaine and Clorox
are to be avoided
while at a home.

I'm going to bed.

Varardi in Lepizig (2017)

I care about two things:
the now and the later.

I want to be great now;
I want to be greater later.

[pause] RESUME [pause]

Backfired narratives
thrown in reverse
for seventy or so
nonplussed years,
but who's counting?

One grave sight
to such sour eyes.

Three poured tastes
for more lapsed tongues.

Oh, but...

I'm nothing more than
a skeleton lucky enough
to have some things.

I eat, I sleep, I breathe.

On occasion, I say
the wrong word
or I act regrettably.

Oh, well...

Nothing can be corrected
for which I have no control.

And the best picture goes to
the one I created in my dreams.

Is it at all amusing to you
how much I torture myself
to be better than I can be,
or do you just wish I'd leave
you alone and leave, period?

[pause] RESUME [pause]

Is it fearful to you
that I don't fear death?

Is it reassuring to you
that I still feel fear?

Venus, Vegas

Stranger things
have happened
in a floored bed,

but I will embrace
it all—every thing
you want to give.

Crumbs of love,
unspoken but
dusted aplomb,

just so; just so
we could taste
more of what

we are at night,
or in the morning
light, how queer?

Very Wary, Very Weary

I am peanut brittle today,
buried beneath and between
cotton types—the claw looms
like a Reagan-era mistress.

The sweet stuff is siphoned
until all that can be tasted
is salty; this is no way to eat,
this is no way to feel, period.

How many years must be
elliptically elocuted in order
for us to snap back in question,
or moreover, in exclamation?

For now, on this grey morning—
the second day of the first month
of a new year—there are two options:
tread heavily in dog shit, or lose bones.

I’m not prepared to do either, really,
but how does one prepare for anything?
Practice does not make perfect, as you
know, and perfection is naught anyways.

Virtual Reality

I screw crooked nails
into concrete floors
and lose moist socks
in dusty piles of weeds.

You stain protection
with technology in hand
and keep secrets on hand
for when the head fails.

There is a hump
on the homestead
and the hill must be
traversed in tow.

There is a dip
in the desperation
and we're both so
desperate to know.

How do we go on
from here when all
the plagued words
have already left us?

Vitality

I am an anorexic tapeworm
trapped inside my own body.

I am a patient surgeon
at an urgent care facility
in a strip mall not so far
from downtown Vegas.

I am the fluids on the floor
and you are the loving mop.

Walking on Water

These millennials
keep on drinking
these old age drinks
and then forgetting
time by the time
the half-open bar
has close to closed,
and it's oddly like
how do you even
have the money?

Washing Space

Chalk balks
outlining
steel hearts
in ruins out
of grace
and smog
with wit
and mercy
and wolves
devour raw
burger plates.

Weakened Grease

Obstructed justice
in the time of survival:
reality wasn't won on air,
for it is a shell of the game
that only it plays within.

I am merely a stranger
away from the abyss;
I am just one day of seven,
flipping out, turning in
on the precedents.

WebMD

I woke up
boiled over
like a bad egg.

I caught paranoia
like a babushka
with a flyswatter.

I feel like an indoor cat
who just wants to play
with the dogs outside.

The soil is salty,
the rain is acidic,
the daze is fervent.

Computers are
pulling triggers
without warning.

But we're animals,
and animals can kill
computers if we want.

What A Week

I wish I could have my body
back, but it left me grave
in the mind long ago, pal.

You extracted the other
from our experience—
it's okay; I won't judge.

I'm trying to be a new
type of friend lately—
malleable, spontaneous.

I'm trying to be a new
type of person, too—
humble, wise, forgiving.

A stranger tipped all my
bookshelves at home;
I double-tipped a server.

I hope she treats herself
to romance; we all deserve
to feel love and to feel loved.

When A Thing Is

The icebox
is unwarranted,
and the stank
of the corridor
is arresting.

The roof is on fire—
dawning circuits,
burning winter.

Repetitive motives—
embraced and enacted,
crushing and melting.

Sandy hair adhered
to the fringe focus,
coughing up ashes
scattered on sponges
used to clean perception.

While Flaking

Are you
sick enough
to try to clean
your half-baked
ideas out of ovens
and correspondence?

Drain your brain load,
empty your accounts,
move out to the desert
and stop drinking water.

Our bonfire is raging on
like a blunt object
cheekily applied
to surface level
support shells,
wilting inside.

Whistle Pig

Casanova is quoted as saying,
"Marriage is the tomb of love."

I got a pre-divorce once;
it was the best solution
to the worst decision
I think I had ever made.

As my joints become
more swollen, and my
back becomes more
folded, my heart sags
like a trash bag full
of maladroit maggots.

I'm as malnourished
as those slippery white
larvae—a metaphor
for myself, but also
a reality; and it's hard
to grasp how reality
is so hard for others
to hold onto, lately.

Groundhogs come
and groundhogs go,
like Midwesterners
trying to make it
in a city; they say
something about
the weather, but
whether or not we
feel the difference
is inconsequential.

The wind currently
blows wherever
it wants, whenever
it wants, but I'll stay
put—I'm as resilient
as any functioning
alcoholic, but I'm sober
most of the time; in any
case, I'll drink at least
two pounders to test
my trivial knowledge
of human nature.

White Pigeon Ticket

The miracles
of vacuums
are boundless.

I continue
to suck up
my sadness
and remove
as much filth
as possible.

Days off
are still on;
the sun rises
even when
you don't.

This week
wound down;
Saturday
came around,
and I went
along with life.

Walking the dog
as a metaphor;
consuming carbs
as a necessity.

Moving on
with madness...

I told the princess
at the taco shop,
"I'll have coffee
in my coffee."

My gothic friend
eyed me like an emu.

What is contemporary,
anyways, like, really?

Rainbow prepubescence,
Vietnam wrapped in a bow,
water towers and water taxis?

I received a mall massage:
"This is how we do it."

I received a mauled message:
"Honestly, fuck you."

Everybody deserves
a second chance, right?
Except for those who don't.

Winded in G Sharp Major

Generic salty crackers
crumble in cold dish soap
as fingernail clippings
scrape against eardrums.

Used garments get torn up
in washed-out arguments
as intellectual properties
sell themselves out to see.

The death of a salesman
could not be embraced
any more than it is today.

That Previa over there
can fit three generations
from its head to its tail.

Taxi to tacos during the week;
kimchi jitney on the weekends.

Don't throw metaphors at me;
literally throw me under a bus.

I am nothing more than dust...

Ask yourself what you must.

Witting Self

Obsessed
With leaves
And drugs

Elvis joints
Are too hard
To pass on

I'm a proud boy
In a grey jersey
Forever man

Too stubborn
To succeed
Too big to fail

Womp Womp

Every Monday,
I feel like a genius.

Come Sunday,
I feel like a Juggalo.

Materialism is king;
I am a dragging jester,
bankrupted by courts.

Now, paralyzed;
the artificial will
surely take us all.

You, Anew

I want to be beautiful
like you; I want to be
impossible like myself.

I want to ride a tandem
bicycle from the boardwalk
to the beach, but please
don't ever think I'm bored
with our walks; I just would
like to try something new.

I so want to be objectified
like I like to do to language.

I so want to subject you to
another tall tell tale, okay?

I just want to try you anew.

You Know

Don't advance it
unless I demand it.

I’m a homie;
not a hussy.

Bring madness.

Come to me
with the creed;
I will karaoke
in your dreams.

Sing sadness.

I’m a homie;
not a hussy.

Don't advance it
unless I demand it.