Eigenvalue Equation 10/24/13

Your soul must contain
the Identity operator
because you're an
Eigenfunction
of every heart that's
ever operated on you:
you take something
but Remain unchanged.
I can know you
and anything else
to Arbitrary precision.

Degradation Ceremony - 10/23/13

Wipe away the smudged make-up
that I ruined
before I ever applied it;
cast aside
clinking jewelry
crafted from discarded mementos;
strip;
peel back flushed skin;
scoop away viscera,
my liver poured out on the ground;
knot veins,
burn bones,
break heart and lungs;
penetrate cells,
shake off electron shells,
split protons down
to the jeweled quarks and gluons.

Then put me all back together
with a poem
and your favorite song
and your anecdotes about
your cousin
and your repeated
adventure stories
and your bitter rants
and your blushed cheeks
and parables about
physics equations.

Consistent Field - 10/22/13

The effective energy
from your presence
perturbs this system
beyond analytic solution,
computational approximation,
any sort of tidy answer
that I can pluck
from this situation
and apply to another.
I've made estimations
based on every single
previous confrontation,
yet the next never
coheres to my models.

Bottom Quark - 10/21/13

Bare beauty
like the fields between people
blinking out of sight
in the cross hairs
of our gaze;

what particles
transmit our
conversations
and shared glances?

with what metals
would you sculpt
the solutions to their
transcendental equations?

Adiabatic - 10/20/13

Not a brush of skin,
not a hint of sin,
get nothing out,
put nothing in,
better begin
to retreat,
keep your seat:
there hasn't
been any
transfer of heat,
not the slightest
insight
to your condition,
no disturbance
to your momentum
or position.
Suppose it was
just a rehearsal,
but it still
ended up
irreversible.

There Have Been Times - 10/19/13

You should know
that there have been times
in my life
where I didn't want to
run and hide
when confronted with conflict,
when I haven't licked back tears
and kick back fears
to be calm and collect.
There have been times
when I have been loyal
but not to a fault,
when I have been polite
but not to a fault,
when I have been quiet
but not to a fault.
There have been times
when I have scream.
It's true,
I can be loud, too.
And I can laugh,
really laugh,
not
whatever way you described it,
"held back."
There have been times
when I couldn't contain my smile
and when I wouldn't
hide my glares.
There have been times
when I have been unapologetic.

I know there have.
I just can't remember when.

Digital Realism and Unfinished Business - 10/19/13

Spiders
and the
BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH
have a special place
in the part of my mind
that obsesses,
contrives conspiracy theories
and researches
how Facebook orders my chat list.

So I should stop drinking
quad-shot mochas
and staring at flickering screens
and checking my phone.
But I should also stop riding
bikes without brakes
and going for walks at night
and avoiding my friends.
And should stop watching stories
and start writing them
but I want to know your story.
I want to hear your song.
I want to watch her and her soul mate
make eyes at each other
and smile
and reminisce.
Give me the answers
but don't make me
ask the questions.

I won't open that chat bubble
no matter how long
that green light is on.
I promise.
I'm trying.

Even I - 10/14/13

Even I can't fall in love with the moon in the sky,
even if I try,
not matter how I try.
I can't pull the stars out every night,
not with all my might,
no, not with all my might.
I can't turn a scream into a lullaby,
that would make you sigh,
that would make you cry.
I've got nothing up my sleeve,
nothing up my sleeve,
anymore.
I've got no more parables
to keep you warm,
to keep me warm.
Even I can't fall in love with the moon in the sky,
even if I try,
even when I try,
no matter how I try.

4am - 10/14/13

Bridges I've never crossed,
streets I've never passed,
people I've never spoken to
or will never get the chance to,
movies I've never seen,
poems I never wrote,
dreams I can't remember,

and nightmares that won't
leave me alone.

Sulfur - 10/14/13

The lilac sky
around midnight
tricks me into thinking
it's a fair time of day
to run away,
so when the lime lightning strikes,
I'm out of sight,
out of mind,
out of the line of fire.

Yes, I'll be far enough away
to taste the sulfur rain
on Venus.