Heroes of Old

Hiding in the Comics Exchange on Chapman,

waiting for darkness to fall again, to hide me.

The back room is cold and dark, with only dirty light.

It’s enough to read by.

All the heroes I knew in my youth, in fading pages.

All the mighty ones who fought evil, fought and won.

Once under shade trees in summer I read of them.

Now it’s winter as the dead walk.

So much blood drained back into the ground.

We turned on ourselves when the dead came back.

We fought against ourselves, everyone desperate, afraid.

Now it’s winter, and the fires are dim.

As night creeps closer, and I can go out to scavenge,

I dream of those heroes of old, of that childhood light.

Can we be like our heroes, in a world gone so black?

Now it’s winter, back can it be summer again, someday?

Can we love again? Fight for others again?

Can we be good again?

Ayers Hall Tower Interlude

The lights out, the stars are bright.

Our bodies frail, cold and slight.

Under jackets and sweatshirts, warm clothes,

under thermal sleeping bags, time slows

and the nights goes on and on without sleep

and we stay close as the stars above slowly creep.

Up in the tower, safe for awhile, as the dead shuffle.

Every dream of paradise, every sound we must muffle.

We are spoons, side by side, hoping for warmth and peace.

I know not where to go tomorrow, how to shelter my Lanise.

I kiss her head, I breath the scent of her, she is still warm.

We are married, though no priest was left, the rites to peform.

I fall asleep, for awhile, dream of daisied fields and sunshine.

I awake, and she’s looking out over shell of campus, singing a line:

“Be the sun, and be the moon, and be the distant starlight hope.

Be my lover, be my man, and be the perfect love, and we will cope.”

The naive lilt in her voice, echoes in the dark, of things already past,

and I feel as if, maybe morning is worth it, that there’s a reason to last.

Hunger and Instinct

The Fort is empty in this early morning.

Everyone’s keeping quiet, hiding away.

The sun’s not here to reveal the faces

of the zombies crying in the darkness.

The sun’s not here to reveal me to them

but the sound of my breathing will anyway.

The dirty streets and run down buildings

are free from the booze and the parties now,

the party’s over forever. I just run to stay alive.

The zombies are ever hungry, ever waiting,

gotta keep your head down, keep quiet

keep your finger on the trigger of your rifle.

At least with zombies, it’s never personal,

just hunger and instinct.

Not like the living, who hate and steal

and will do it just because.

Let me die by hunger and instinct.

Don’t let evil catch me. Don’t let the devil win.

Shroedinger’s Cat

Shroedinger’s Cat

The cat in the box, neither alive or dead, is waiting for you too look.

Neither alive nor dead, until you look, that it said in a science book.

So as the cold winds bully around the house and I shiver under my blouse

I hope that, as long as you’re not found, that your alive, not in the ground

and not frozen in the snow, after what they did all god would ever know.

If I don’t look, If I don’t see, you’re all right and well and will come back to me.

My heart is broken into shards, cast about the snow in the neighborhood yards

where you laughed and played and from we’re you ultimately strayed.

If I don’t look, if you’re not found, you’re alright, warm, safe and sound.

If I close my eyes, I can belive in a surprise, that you’ll be here, right before my eyes.

Absolutely Free

Absolutely free, there by the glittering water so blue and untroubled.

In that bright bikini and with bright eyes so full of the sun.

With that boy you just know is the one.

Run and laugh in the sand and hold his hand and feel the sun.

These days don’t feel like they’ll ever have an end.

A kiss can set the universe on fire.

And as the stars turn up in that soft, satin darkness,

you hold him close and conspire in passion.

Laughing, you walk up the stairs to the apartment.

Absolutely free, in days and nights where morning never comes.

Heartbreaker In A Hoodie

Heartbreaker in a hoodie, face hidden, a show of dark hair

on this rainy January morning in Tennessee.

Are your eyes closed in thought, in dreams, in wishes for something better,

are there any thoughts of you and me?

The back of the bus, first on, 6 am, I sit opposite you, just to be near you,

see that downturned face coming up the aisle.

Headphones a must, we’re doing time in a place that is not our own,

just hear those song, and forget for awhile.

The sun creeps up in the cut open sky, the clouds haloed by all that bright blood.

The golden blades of sunlight shimmer through your hair.

To say hello, to tell you I am lost in this world, with only dreams to keep,

to ask to talk, if I can stand by your side, I don’t dare.

Not communing when souls have never touched, by I dream your ghost into my arms,

in these quiet moments, this sweet winter quiet.

We hold the galaxies in our eyes, the angels in our hearts, the blood of life in dreams,

though our downcast eyes, and silent lips belie it.

The school comes up now, 7:30, the sun still a gentle friend, distant and golden,

that drab brick building where we spend these strange days.

I want to squeeze your hand, say we can make it through it again, make it out.

But I just watch you go, following like penetant, unsure of his ways.

Little Star

Little star, so far up in the cold night,

I wish for you light to keep me warm

on this night where I am all alone,

all alone with bitter, rampaging thoughts.

If I could climb your starshine into the sky

and see the wonders of your brilliant spires

and the angels that light ever light in heaven,

I’d know I’d make it home again and be safe.

Little star, the devil is in the tower; he calls me.

Whispers in my thoughts that there’s no hope here.

Fills me with visions of all that could go wrong

and all the endless fuck-ups I can’t fix.

Little star, let your starshine warm my lonely soul

if not my frigid and untouched skin, in this night.

Light my soul’s feet that I might make it home again,

and live to laugh and dream and be loved another day.

Innocence and Memory

Girl with a lamb, it’s wool white,

her sweater grey, her eyes green.

She whispers to it, strokes it’s softly,

holds it close to her, and it is content.

Girl, still loving witout a thought,

not knowing what lambs are raised for,

holds it close, like it were a child,

a child she was charged to protect.

Girl and lamb, in the first of winter,

in the coming darkness and cold,

can innocence and memory, keep us warm,

keep us clean, keep us good, in the night?

The girl nuzzles the lambs head, squeezes it

and the lamb is happy. In this moment, they are happy.

Bikini Atoll

A warm sun above,

a feeling mixed up,

some lust, some love,

aided by wine in golden cup.

Waves crash on white sands,

blue water indvisible from blue sky.

No talk of wedding bands

and tomorrow we’ll die.

Her sunkissed skin glowing

and her blonde hair so bright.

Into hell the innocent are going

and we’ll burn in the night.

Skin on skin, soft kisses, a laugh.

The morning the second sun ignites.

Her heart the sum of sacred math.

Her passion the choir of last rites.

And the second sun exhausts it’s flames

and our paradise is burnt away to ashes.

Humankind and it’s death wish, blames

not itself for every Eden it finds, trashes.

And we knew, me and her, this would come.

No more for us, only bones, black glass beach.

The second sun has torn us out, made us dumb.

Innocence is never outside the devil’s reach.

Dani

Winter has come not a moment too soon.

Left us with a whole world to call our own.

The rusted swings and derelict slides.

The frozen puddles that were dug by little feet.

The summers that have passed from memory.

Chasing and tagging and laughing in the cold.

The world is passing, but that’s alright for now.

Our ragged breath breaks into laughter.

Bright eyes glow with warmth.

Grey clouds burn purple, bleed black.

Then all light blinks out of the sky.

As we walk side by side, I know, I know,

if you take my hand, I’ll never be left.