Storm Warning

draw something like a warning

on the sunrise

in the morning

washed up

the way waves do

on the shores of the mind

carrying shards of memory

like shells

and sharks' teeth

long since given up

Andrew

You're a South Carolina soul

and I'd forgotten

until just now

I hope you don't mind

or take issue

as I unwind

my memories of you

trying them out

in the beach weather

to see if they sing stronger

than under a

northward sun

Next of Kin

are you my

next of kin?

shocker

I'm hawking your

mind

on a market

that can actually

afford it

or so they think

let's drink to possibility

discrepancy,

philanthropy

old lies and tea

drawn out and dried

pool side highs

that leave you lower

than you can go

on your own

even when your zone

implodes

something shows you

which way to go

what flows out

from in

what's gold, what's silver

and what's too thin

to rely on

no steel, concrete

no reason for the

madness

nor lesson in the sadness

nothing beyond

fine walls

bathroom stalls

and stagnant air

were you there when

breathing ceased

when these

became those

and a person knows -

it's all in the game

if names mean anything anymore

who you know, not what

but rebounds

and ghost towns

are all around greatness

emptied less

than they were before.

truth tells and you're

still in that

fine-drenched hell

I put you in

when we first began

to wander off course

no return tonight

is in sight -

just long lines

going nowhere

short tempers breaking

everywhere

emptied, somewhere,

out there -

sullen, angered air.

dislocation

there's a curious

dislocation

of time

and place

lost in space

hardly anyone sits

downtown

in the family section

anymore

d i s c o n n e c t

it's a viable

hallucination

Two-bit Romance

This is a romance

in two parts

it starts with tears

and finishes with sunshine,

small waves and promises

that probably won't be kept

but when they're made

that won't matter;

romance is atmosphere

not action.

Butterfly

I will pretend

you never asked

so I can't be

disappointed

when nothing comes of it

but for a short time

let me tell you -

it was the sort of question

that I needed

to turn my chrysalis

into a butterfly

Run

The next time we run it'll be on a beach

under hard sunlight

where water flows freely

and people wake early--

possibly too early

for when they sleep.

And there will be the silence

of an early dawn--

built of wind whispers

and wave songs,

speckled with foot falls

and heartbeats under

heavy breathing of light air.

When we run again,

it will be under the sun.

A story to tell...

I've got a stroy to tell,

and I know I've said it before

claimed magic in these words

but this time in truth

I've got a story to tell.

I've got a story to tell,

true enough and you'll see

it's not pure imaginings this time

there's something to it, now.

I've got a story to tell.

I've got a story to tell

but you probably won't believe me anyway,

and if you do it's a game, or pretend

but that doesn't matter now because

I've got a story to tell.

I've got a story to tell

about a slight man and the spirit of chaos

drenched in a foggy day of rain

with promises to make it happen.

I've got a story to tell.

There's something of light in delayed darkness

something of faith in blind sight

a sampling of insanity in the sanest voice -

and words that have forgotten

just how to tell the truth.

Rewritten

Do we rerite these moments

as finales -

memoirs composed

solely of farewell

each meeting

a prelude to an ending

every hello

the advance warning

of goodbye.

If I could craft a life

based on what could be,

not what is,

I'd take away the finish line

tangle the strings

until no one could separate

or leave

interlaced

twisted together

the way life and lives

should be.

A locking puzzle

with no solution

the freedom pieces

welded together at first meeting.

I'd collect all the helicopters

from one maple tree

and let them grow up together

so close

branches entwine

and trunks crush together

twisting upwards as one unit

to a brilliant sun

while below the earth

their roots hold hands.

If I could rewrite the laws

of this cosmos

I'd let the good memories

never die

and keep the bad ones

from taking root

I'd cross out all the

disappointing moments

cancel reality checks

and throw out the towel

so no one could throw it in.

I'd make more time

for the seconds that count

and decrease the wait

between one moment

and the next.

There would be overtime compensation

for waiting on someone good.

No budget for your happiness,

or his

or hers

or theirs -

and especially not ours.

Everything's in,

anything goes -

the sort of deal

shop-aholics orgasm over.

But with life

not clothing

and unnecessary furniture.

Can you believe that we taste the stars?

Word of the Day - Root

And the root cause of the problem was to be determined at a later date.

Which of course meant that the committee never actually reconvenied to decide.

So I got off Scott-Free.

Which is to say, I left Scott behind to take the blame, in case they ever really did look for who was responsible for setting the tarmac of the Lakeside Parking Lot on fire at three twenty-six in the morning on a Wednesday.

THoZ - 3

Just to get her to relax again, and laugh, that carefree way she'd been before they ended up outside, walking back from the dimly lit bar with smoke in the air and lights that danced above drunken men and women, conversing in tongues and with tongues, swapping secrets directly into one another's mouths.

Total: 15354

Word of the Day - Muse

Your name is a nickname for a name that means "memory" in the old language, where my name means that I'm not supposed to fall over my own feet. Your name is a name that makes me wonder, because there was a time, not so long ago - if a year isn't long - when someone like you, some memory, like you, was my muse.

And there were two of them, then - a dark and a light side to chaos, singing words to me that only I could hear...and they're silent now, though I wonder if the light sent you to free me from the dark.

The House of Zodiac

"S-s-sorry," Leo said.

Virgo broke down crying.

Taurus looked deeply uncomfortable.

"S-sorry," Leo said again. Less of a st-stutter, but still there.

"You killed her! You're why she's dead!" Virgo screamed. Then she ran.

Taurus watched her go, then looked over to Leo. "I hope that's just an emotional accusation," he said. "Because if it's not…"

Total: 10255

AugoWrimo 2011: The House of Zodiac

The girl was short, and dressed like a doll, in a mini sundress that was far too blue, like one of those powder blue dressed one might see in a magazine. Something that should not have been possible. And it was, anyway.

She was smiling and laughing and running around the merry go round, all alone. But she spoke to the open air anyway, as though there were other children there with her. And when she stood on the bench she spoke down as though there were an invisible woman sitting there – a mother of some sort.

Total: 5020

Word of the Day - Amuse

You amuse me.

The way you smile, and the stories you tell.

You make life interesting.

I just wish it would last longer, y'know?

I'm leaving on Sunday - and I still haven't gotten your reaction to that. I wish I had the guts to tell you face to face....

But while I can scale a building, run from the cops, eat spicy food and laugh while doing it... I can't seem to face not seeing you, again.

iTunes Meme: Behind The Hazel Eyes

RULES: 1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?

The Call

2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Neverland

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
100 Years

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Jealous Enemies

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
White Christmas

6. WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?
The Ugly Bug Ball

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Midnight

8. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
The Rocky Road to Dublin

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
I Sho Do

10. WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Take That Look Off Your Face

12. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Liv Tonight

13. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Out On The Weekend

14. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Night Ride Across the Caucasus

15. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Edelweiss

16. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Welcome to Rainbow

17. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
You'll Be in My Heart

18. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Mo Ghile Mear

19. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Tennessee Waltz

20. WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
Nada

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
The Needle and the Damage Done

22: WHAT WILL YOUR BABY BE NAMED:
Over

23. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

Behind These Hazel Eyes

Word of the Day - Band

She had a band around her wrist. I saw it, just briefly, just long enough to know that it was her - long enough to see the red fabric, long enough to catch her smile, flittering about on her lips, the way it used to.

And then she was gone, eaten whole by the shops, and the people, and the smoke and fog of the city... I wanted to catch her, to rescue her, but sometimes...

Sometimes such rescues aren't warranted.