Street Lights

i tell time by street lights
not the sun, the moon, the stars
or the shadows in your eyes-
street lights.
evil eyes that hang
high about the highway
laughing at my lack of direction

but at least i know where i’ve been
and i know where i want to end
i just lost the connection with the gsp in my head
the street lights are still mocking me
the sun is shining orange on the horizon
a beautiful reminder that i spent another night
creating tension between me and my bed
but why sleep when i dream all day
lucid, whimsical, political, and bold
about a place where people know not
of original sin, of ambivalence, of hate, and of intolerance

where the pendulum of love
sways in the static
during the in between hours
that creep after midnight
distorting the glow of street lights
and all the people driving
stop just to watch it swing
as if it were something to fear
like love was some great big novel idea
or a time bomb approaching zero

well i’ll tell you what makes me
tick tick tick boom
i just want to know why so many people assume
that what happens in the privacy of a bedroom
is up for the media to consume
well i’ve got news:
love should not be a political matter
take a few steps down from your secular ladder
your view of normalcy will not change me
this is my time
our time
i know because
the pendulum still swings in the night
by the glow of street lights
not the sun, the moon, the stars
or the shadows in your eyes-
street lights.

morning mist

went for a walk in the midst of morning
contemplating the decree of desirability
the silent seduction signaled by your eyes,
clings i cannot decline,
watching my clothing unravel at the seams
independent from my mind, like it were never
meant to cover my body or hide my desire

and in the morning when i finally turn in
i reminisce about the way
mist was falling to waltz silently with the heat rising
from deep in the pores of my skin
and it made me miss they way we’d talk
about the first kiss, we knew it could never be
still, the minutes just before dawn were ours

morning breath, i still haven’t decided anything yet
tangled up in fleece, drifting away from a dream
forced to wake to another fifty pages of nietzsche, cold air, soar throat
blank pages, blank  pages, this is my reality,
no words can pass my lips

the inability seems fit

Marin8

Race barriers are being broken
while politicians are seeing Russia.
This nation is excited for change
and overflowing with hope
meanwhile. my rights to marriage are revoked.

Let that marinate.
Let that stay out on the counter in a home of a california family
who voted for Obama but not for me.
Let that hang from a tree for all those in arizona to smell and see
in this so called free country.
Let that seep into the sunny hearts of change in florida
who want to shove my love into the dark.
Let the parentless children sleep on the doormat of Arkansas
rather than inside with a loving family.
Let that pour over every mormon who believes that
the separation of religion and state should not count for me.

Because america, we may have come a long way
but we still have prejudices to scratch
from the skin of this adolescent country.
Which even in its youth
is dry and rough and flaking red
and let the quantum skin collect the floor
like the shredded pieces of our history.

Make of it what you will,
try to freeze it and displease it,
but you can’t take my will.
Can’t scare me to fake who I am
and it very well may be my fate
is to stand up against hate.
March in picket lines
build a life based on the idea’s behind the peace sign
and hold messages of love above my head
to honor those who’ve previously lead
their fellow human in this toil for equality.
I’m asking you for nothing more than to stand up and follow me.
Stand up and follow me.
Stand up and follow me.
No, I take that back
stand up and walk beside me.
Prove to the cynics, racists, sexist, chauvinists, and any other ists
that having equal rights is not a fantasy.
Let that marinate.

Imagine a world
where a closet was a place to hang clothes
and not identities or old bones.
Where the night was a time to dream
and not be chased by a an imaginary fiend.

Imagine a world where love was celebrated
regardless of what it looked liked.

Imagine a world where war was just an experiment gone wrong,
left within the pages of history books.

Imagine a world that put the importance of love
above everything else.

And did not let anything get in its way.