Adventurus

Tomorrow's tenure arrives on the back of today, whether we swim or tread. The island is beautiful, yet lies uninhabited. Unplug the wires running forward to eternity, remove thyself from the oaken table. A comfortable cell is still in a jailhouse. Hold fast to chains that lie in your path, pull, pull, and pull. You may find their rusted hooks embedded in your lovely eyes. Some call it focus, dedication, but it’s a winding path leading nowhere. Don’t look so surprised, you saw them when you weren't looking. Weed the garden, uproot the tree if the fruit is strange. Put it down or turn the page. What will you lose? What will you forsake to be free? Inhale the aroma of liberty and press onto the precipice of dreamt mountaintops. Only one thing remains. Hearken to your decision and hasten your movement, for tomorrow steals today as a thief; coming only in the dark with eyes closed. Adventure awaits; lying in the promise of the sun. Don't let it set! It's out there, blooming in the fields of hidden promises. Don't forget you. Don't forget who you are. Forsake the float.

similies for lost boys

"like me," he said shrill,
as the shards of yesterday

baked into a pumpkin pie

leftover from Halloween Jack

seen in the dim light

you left behind with your

face-book-friends and Isabella.

i can't remember the

last time we were this lost,

like the being found 

on the curb

clenching brown bag

white knuckles telling tales
with blood for you and your two faces.

in a heartbeat all their own.

"like them," i replied dull,
as life in a suburban town
faked into minted coins

leftover from pity's politic
so as now to this day;
i cannot reply 

to lost boys.
I have confounded

the word for that love;

like a summer picnic,
in the plaid and rain.

like a weekend revival,
and a tent torn wind.

like a majestic bird of prey,
being struck by a truck at the crossroads.

Superman

-->

There’s a little girl with a superman cape that needs me

Her chocolate eyes melt into tears of disappointment

As I turn my back and open the door.

Her cries echo in my footsteps

In the creases of snow

and I hear her in the jingle of car keys

the creak of the door

and the hum of the engine

I see her eyes in the headlights

as I wind through banks mislaid automobiles and crippled intersections

I feel her lips tremble as my hands shiver off the cold

And I kiss her goodnight from miles away

With a dragon’s breath

Warming the world with my life

Pushing the winter back

Before sucking it in again.

"The Colossus' Glass" Diner Scene: Part Three

Angus and Benjamin enjoyed a moment of silent inner relief, Benjamin letting out an audible sigh, while Crispin lit his pipe.

“I daresay you’ve found him! Though depending on who you expect ‘him’ to be, it may or may not be me at all. Time will tell, I suppose.” His eyes glimmered at Benjamin as he paused to take his first billowing puff of the bittersweet-smelling tobacco. “So, traveled a good distance, you say? Whereabouts are you gentlemen from?”

“Jenningston,” Angus replied.

“Well, what’s left of it.” Benjamin added flatly under his breath.

“Jenningston! Hmm, I haven’t been through Jenningston in… now let me see here… “ He took another long drag on his pipe as he counted in his head. “…Well, a very, very long time.” He chuckled to himself. “From what I’ve heard it has become quite the booming little metropolis in the recent past. Well, that is, until--“ He paused mid-sentence, looking across the table.

As he spoke again, his voice lowered, and his next words struck Angus as deeply sincere, almost fatherly. “Well, there is nothing quite so disheartening as the loss of one’s home, is there? I am sorry.”

At this, Crispin set his pipe alongside his plate. “But do you know what I’ve always found to be an island of anchored hope in the midst of calamitous grief?” He picked up his fork. “Breakfast!” Just as another of the peppers on his plate burst into a tiny flame, he scooped it up and, blowing out the flame, took a large bite, eyes closed in blissful enjoyment.

The boys picked up their forks and continued to eat, not sure where the conversation would go from here. Once you’ve found your medicine man, what were you supposed to do with him? Were you to ask for healing? Or wait for him to offer? Would he perform some miraculous healing right there in the middle of the diner? Would he invite them into his… healing chambers?

Angus grew nervous again. “So those peppers you mentioned,” he said, “why won’t other places serve them? Are they too hot or something?”

Just then, Jenny returned to the table. Benjamin’s ears went pink under his shaggy dark brown hair. He didn’t look up.

“Oh, Jenny,” Crispin said, “Our young friend here would like to know if these peppers are hot.”

“Reapers?” Jenny laughed. “Well, let me put it this way. There are only two people I know who can even stand to touch the things. Crispin here, he gets them every day, and Oliver.” She gestured toward the kitchen. “He’s our dishwasher. He brings them in from his garden at home. They’re not even on our menu. Our cook has to wear a mask and rubber gloves just to cook them. We wouldn’t do it for anyone else,” she smiled. “Just Crispin.”

“And I am so thankful you do.” Crispin beamed back with a smile.

Angus felt Benjamin shift in the booth and clear his throat. “They couldn’t be that bad, though, could they?” Benjamin said, in a voice that Angus thought sounded unnaturally lower than his usual tone. “Could I try one, sir?”

“Ben, no.“ Angus saw what was coming. He knew his brother all too well. Rash, impulsive, though well meaning and deeply caring, Benjamin wasn’t one to think things through. He had once thought he heard a man hurling insults at their sister from inside the next door neighbor’s house. Before anyone could stop him, he had ripped off the screen and pried the locked window open with his bare hands. As it turned out, it was an old woman’s radio dramas playing at high volume.

Hoping to thwart what he knew would come next, Angus interjected. “He was just kidding, sir.”

“Oh, come on! Just a bite. I can take it. I mean, I love hot stuff.”

“Ahh, Benjamin, is it?” Jenny cut in. “They’re really strong, I’m not sure you’d--.”

But Benjamin was reaching his fork across the table. Angus felt him move and reached over to try to stop him. It was too late.

inner beauty pageant

her?

i beam

last night at
1 thirty
a m

i ran
i jumped
i grabbed
i beam

i flipped

and it was

awesome

A Toast Over War

With torch lit, you call out to the dark

Crying the proposition I am wrong

Strike true, wielding a troubling remark

Still can we not dance and sing along

Found in harmony harnessed we march

Hand in hand as stride finds stride

Conflict blossoms grace in the arch

Unity blooms in the death of pride

Forgotten qualms in barren tombs

Pressing on with the company of wisdom

Rest with peace nestled in the womb

Cry clearly, cry victory, cry freedom