Hollow

There is a gaping wound in me
My chest hollowed out
Carved and scorched round the edges

As all manner of life shifts throughout and around me
I carry this necrotic emptiness

In every halting beat of a vacant heart
In every choking breath of insufficiency

Resounding in waves of unfulfilled longing
No sign of satiation
No spot of satisfaction

Only the absence
Only the wound
Only the whistling corridor
Echoing still a single note

I clawed out my heart
And set it aflame
Passed the ashes to the breeze
Carried to a distant shore
For my love is gone
And I don't need it anymore

ART

I saw/heard/felt/smelled/tasted/believed ART

Can I obfuscate as prettily as a blues user
Or am I damned to be a loser choosing excuses for obscurity?

I wrote/sang/sculpted/baked/painted ART

Is it more or less pretentious to pretend without defenses
Or offend as many senses then contend some pent up inner essence?

I fucked/shat/engorged/reviled/ravaged/shredded ART

Is vague for vagueness sake a fugue removed from loose intrusion
Or do shoe strings infuse more truth than gold rings and corporate collusion?

I called/texted/emailed/dm'd/notified ART

Can the violence of our heroes silence ones and zeroes
Or has the success of more is less infected our incessant intersection?

I liked/loved/lusted/longed/lavished/laughed ART

And so...

Hybrid

Like a crack in the glass
Like a hole in the hull
Like a ghost from the past
Like a blade that's gone dull
Like a bench by the marsh
Like a rock by the shore
Like a turn of a phrase
Like a heart wanting more

I will empty
I will sink
I am haunted
I am pointless
I sit quiet
I stand beaten
I sound hollow
I ache on

Sitting

Sitting at the laundromat
Trying to wash you out my jeans
I'm flipping my last quarter
Wish I could climb in the machine

Sitting in the shower
Trying to wash you out my hair
I'm running out of hot water
Wish I could fog up with the air

Sitting in a dark room
Trying to wash you out my mind
I'm drowning in the silence
Wish I could tape my heart on rewind

Vaguely

You don't owe me
But you must not know me at all
If you think abandonment
Could pass so easily
For self respect, and I

Gotta hand it to you
How can you ever stand to let them
Reduce you to less than you are
They can't understand
What I see so clearly tonight

You are more
Than the flaws that they'd define you by
I'm so sure
That you could be anything

A million galaxies spin
In your eyes
At a higher spectrum

Flag on Your Grave

I watch on the news as you ship out to prove

That you’re some kinda man

Give the proper excuse for your brainwashed abuse

You’ve got blood on your hands

A hospital bombed, holy war that we’re on

Gotta follow commands

This dictator we set up, guess now we’re all fed up

But it’s part of the plan

And I guess I just don’t understand

More civilians have died, I pray you’re alive

Hold a fist full of sand

You set out to serve, but death got the last word

And they did all they can

How is my freedom saved by the flag on your grave

Hear the guns and the band

And you did what you did for your wife and your kids

By blowing up homes in a faraway land

Now try to make them understand

They don’t show on the news what the winners all lose

Some coins in a cup and the ghosts in your head

The shirt that you wear doesn’t mean you can’t care

Who will sweep up the dust once the world is all dead

And I hope someday, your mind finds release

You can call me naive but I still hope for peace

We’ll let go of our hate and we’ll reach out our hands

And at least for today, I’ll try to understand

For A Reader Who Probably Won't

There are no simple people

But we let our simplicity be enough

Not just in roles but in the holes in our story

"Assume no one cares and you'll have less to worry" 

Even if it's not true

The truth is just a tool 

And no one's been building 

Even now just storm shelters

And what I miss most is not missing you

When you were there and so was I 

And there are no simple people 

But we try