Are you the answer?
Can you mend a broken heart
with your melodies?

Can I believe in you?
Or will you let me down too?

Will your chords caress me?
Staccato kisses
echo in empty rooms.

I dream of stroking your neck
tickling your strings
with gentle fingers
and a strong soul.

Reams and reams
of tears stream.
I collapse
on the floor
and scream.
Why oh why
did you do this to me?

You broke my heart
You shattered my joy
You stole my “I”

You promised to
walk with me
into infinity.

We agreed
to be a team
to build a
collaborative dream.

Goodbye!

Sly suit guy squirms
adjusts his tie
and slips me a knowing smile.

You found a better box
with more dollar signs?

Nope…
hasn’t even crossed my mind.

He squints his corporate eyes.
“Seriously? How will you survive?”
“I won’t. I’m going to thrive.”

And just like that,
I walked away from my nine to five.
no longing willing to live
according to someone else’s design.

See yah later budget meetings,
timesheets and deadlines.
Bye bye beige box
where creativity
goes to die.

Six figures isn’t enough
to buy my smile.

a simple mind
is easy to please

quench your desires
with the space in between

gaze at butterfly wings
and forgotten pineapples
in the street

see the beauty
in everything

scruffy kittens creep
along jagged walls
and cracked concrete

why on earth
did I need
all these things?

more tv
isn’t the answer
for me

wasting time
observing a
false reality

I’d rather listen
deep inside of me
connect with new friends
learn to sing

I’m ready to
let you go
Dark, sad
Tales of woe

Who’s to blame
And so and so

Who did this
And who did that

I don’t give
A rat’s
Ass!

You will not
Stand in my way

Turns out
I had
selective
Memory

Time ticked by
As I cried and cried

Gardens grew
And troops withdrew

And still…
I held on to you

Change my mind
Change my life.

Did I ever even have
So much strife?

Memories fade

As palm trees sway

The time has come
To break through

To start again
To amend

How I see my past

Actually, my life’s
been a blast!

How did I
Forget all the
Smiles and laughs?

Dark clouds dissipate
As I change my
Mental state

Sunny skies ensue.

What the fuck
Am I going to do?

I’ve racked my mind
And sprained my brain
Chasing
after paper
In vain

Green notes
Evade my grasp
How long will
My savings last?

I need a plan
I need it now!
Where is my
Elusive
cash cow?

I know!
I could do what
I’ve done before.
Park in my
comfort zone
Where’s there’s
money galore.

I could live
Forever in
laptop land
Clicking keys
In lue of
Chasing
My dreams.

I could keep
Climbing the
Corporate ladder
I know the way up

Or…

Maybe I’ll take the
Curly slide down
Then parachute
out of town.

Over the sea
I’ll flee.
Take time
To just be.
Skip and dance
And sing with glee.

Maybe I’ll
Meander…
Laugh and play
Take some time
To find my way.

34 times
Around the sun
I’ve spun
In all that time
Look what I’ve done!

Have flip flops
Will travel

No license
Solved with a bribe
A small price to pay
To see the countryside

Blue roofs
Bamboo shoots

No white faces around

Can’t read the signs
Never mind
You’ll find the way

Follow the crowd
Observe,

Hypothetical problems
Don’t deserve solutions

Rubble

Meep meep
Means
Welcome
To our dinky town

Beep beep
Watch out
I’m coming around

Unexpected connections
secret admissions
emerge over frothy drinks.
Passports irrelevant
Borders erased
International amigos
are easy to make.

I want to dance naked
on a sailboat!
Feel a horse
between my legs
gallop away into the sunset.
Tight pants crush my balls
on international flights.
I’m afraid my wife will
leave me
He says

You’ll never know
true happiness
until you push
out some kids.
You haven’t met the
right man yet.
Unsolicited advice is OK.
Actually, I haven’t slept
with my husband in months.
I miss my friends and me time.
She says.

No man to fuck!
She screams
As we scoot
down the street
laughing in the dark.
She craves midnight KFC.
Is fried chicken
better than dick’n?
I eat to fill my emptiness
She says

I absolutely love hookers!
He says
I’m friends with his wife.
Is she clueless
about his hobby?
Why does he trust me?
Almost falling off our chairs
chuckling about an asshole
mural on my birthday.
I’ll spray paint a penis
on his face tomorrow
He says

I just got out of jail
Caught street fighting
Not enough money for bribes
paid with my time instead.
4 months was long enough
to learn how to play the guitar
He says

I killed my best friend
by mistake
a heavy metal singer laments.
Tears hidden
behind sunglasses.
My dog is the only one
who listened to my stories
for seven years.
Sometimes I sleep with my
helmet on and wonder why
my head is so heavy
the next day
He says

What would people tell you
if you shut up
and listened?

Wallowing in a pit
of worthlessness

Will to survive
diminished

Alligator tears
define my time

Searching for the
purpose of my
continued existence

Straight-up stuck
in a mind fuck
for many months

Until I met secret me
She is everything
I ever dreamed I could be

You little shit
With a dirty hat
and cool rims

You think you
know me
But you only
know yourself

A quitter
a small thinker
you’ll probably
never go
anywhere

Keep playing
at that lame ass bar
with no customers
See where you end up
in a few years.

Run away from
possibilities and
challenges.
You aren’t strong enough.

Just as I suspected
Something came up
It was unexpected

You can’t come now
No money
No time
You changed your mind

“Maybe later” you drone
Can you please postpone?
Can you withhold
Your desires
Until we’re old?

Sorry,
I’m in the zone
I know
You’ll never be ready
I must go alone.

So many
songs up
my sleeve

Infinite
Stories to weave
Into a beat

Words wobble
Overflowing drabble

Flows unto the sheet
Need notes
To be complete

My heart
skips a beat

its hard
to breathe

stomach
sick from
fluttering wings

have I completely
lost my mind

is this
the real thing?

how can we
live our dreams
with no green?

I didn’t think
I was looking

for someone
with crooked teeth

drifting through time
sitting on the street

spontaneous
strums and hums

eternal hugs
full soul

can I be satisfied
with a simple smile?

I want more
d minor

I’m your garbage bag.
Dump your shit
into me.

I’ll share your
burden;
set you free.

I wasn’t there.
It wasn’t me.
But I’ll take
one for the team.

Sometimes I feel like
you are behind me
or next to me.
But you aren’t.
It’s your absence.

Can you feel the
opposite of a person,
the hole they make
in the universe
by not being there?

Like a poof of place
that someone
forgot to paint
on my canvas of life.

I can feel you
not being here.
Maybe just as strong
as when you are.

I feel the same
micro-gravity
pulling my soul
towards yours.

Maybe I can
be friends
with opposite you?
Maybe he is cool too?

Maybe I am
opposite you?
Maybe I just miss myself?

The part of me
that wants to be
more like you.

You and me.
We.
Infinity.

Guard your art
With all your heart

Bleach your true colors
So they are out of reach

Make your voice
A whisper

Until you are
Only a shadow

Who put you in
this jail?

Tame your toes
Squash them in shoes
don’t let them move

Bind your fingers and thumbs
Shhhhhh
Don’t hum or strum

Trap your voice
You have no choice
Or do you?

My pineapple’s too pointy
my room isn’t square enough

I’d like my egg with a triangle yolk
please tell those chickens outside to shut up!

buck buck buck and cluck cluck cluck
I’ll start my day when I want to get up.

the sun’s in my eyes
these nuisance flies!

can you tone down the spice?
can you heat up my rice?

rain drops ruin my hair
why do the taxi men always stare?

wipe that smile off your face!
can’t you see
the world’s a terrible place

in my world there is never enough!
too much of this and too much of that

can someone clean up these fallen flowers?
they have no right to decorate my path

Destructive
Thoughts drift by

Should I still try?
Am I doing it right?

Why do you
Continue to fly
Through my mind?

Go away
Fuck you
No thanks
Take me off your list
I know your bag of tricks

Bombarded
By bullshit

Self sabotage
Is the most common form

Mango man
Sasyhes towards me
Mind and spirit
Wild and free

Keep going
He sings
Don’t give up
on your dream

You’re my
my pineapple girl
Sweet and spiky
Full of soul
You are here
To inspire us all

Twist your hips
Tap your toes
Tempt me
Tease me
With your song

Spank your bass
Swirl around
You’ll end up
On higher ground

Mango man
Sasyhes towards me
Mind and spirit
Wild and free

Keep going
He sings
Your dream is
Closer than you think

When you get there
Don’t forget about me.

serendipity beckons
impromptu soup
avocado swirls
a tiny table appears
wiped clean
just for me

bean bag
chairs on the beach
who knew there
were bean bag tables too?

sleep in the sand
white saucer in the sky
shining her rays
on the wet stillness

sneak into a hotel
at 1 am
no one there to let me in
just turn the key in the door
and jump in bed

no towel
no problem
wrap the blanket
around my head

welcomed by a family
bamboo piano rings
bing bing bing
ching ching ching

baby girl plays
the keys escape
her grasp
tantrum appeased
by a pink balloon

should I stay or should I go
down the coast
or wait for the dolphins?

water pounds down
cascades from the mountain
what a great way
to wash my clothes
the coffee stains
are long gone

art zoo
every corner
smothered in color
silk screens and statues
guard the coast