An Assortment of Words

Poetry and fiction.

[versatile-nightowl]

Biting

If it's not my skin,

it's my sanity

my inner sanctum of sound

where a column could drop and I wouldn't even care

because nothing can disturb the peace

I have cultivated for myself

to move from, with grace when

I am met with expectations

I am not ready to meet

Set me up for success,

not for failure when I don't meet your best

version of me you've envisioned to manifest

but I am the Manifestor, I move when I move

spare me the suggestion unless it is asked

and don't leave too soon or you'll miss out

on the leafy grounds sprouting life

to breathe into you, be your safety at night

be a place you call home to return to

a snake den in a dark send to burrow through

the lifeforce bubbling from underneath

that keeps you going, drink to quench

breathe to inspire, ground to root

and listen to feel peace

[versatile-nightowl]

When I thought I knew you

Was when I thought I knew me

I saw my own reflection

And eventually wanted to flee

But I can't escape myself,

Or quit commitments I have made

Just because it's darker in

This canopy of shade

I hang myself to dry after

Soaking my sanity in vague

Projections I've been deflecting

Am I the chicken or the egg?

Hungry for what I've been serving

On an empty, fragile plate

Starving for a few garnishes to

Sate the appetite you helped create

I look forward to moving past this

Wading through the muck and mire

But solitude is what we both need

To allow deeper connection to transpire

My hope is that it sparks rebirth

Of well-intentions and burning desire

Instead of dousing the flickering flame

And leaving us to expire

[versatile-nightowl]

Late Haikuesday November 5, 2024

Even magic won't

stop the prophecy of what

is to come for us.

[versatile-nightowl]

SXSW is canceled Business is closed Don't bother changing from yesterday's clothes There is no timeline to this A time that nobody knows A time when close contact is killer Stirring all in repose My life is on hold Just when the momentum was strong Stagnating my work goals That kept me moving along My drive to earn more money Now placed in park Stuck aimless at sea On Noah's first ark I'm not considered an essential Which is contradictory When physical tough is necessary To aid in more dopamine Sharing what now feels like a cell I was accustomed to call home Has warped into something I'm forced to face My own personal Hell, alone To keep sane, I walk I write, I ride my bike And see others in the same boat Confined to the neighborhood grounds, these empty streets -- a stagnant moat The cognitive dissonance pervades When doors open again I can touch your back, but can't shake your hand All in the name of capitalism

[versatile-nightowl]

The leash is a tether from you to me My four-legged responsibility I guide you in this world constructed for humans but designed for our natural instincts to marvel at Life all around Yellow felled leaves blanketing the ground--the dwellers residing high, scurrying through trees kicking up dirt with paws and feet living through the senses catching furry scents of freedom unleashed--entering the designated space for zoomies You are boundless, excitable energy though you know not your own internal savagery Two creatures living their designs But only one lives hooked to a line Seeking its own joy in life interrupts the flow of one so nascent A shocking realization that my responsibility cannot be controlled in a life so free So, tethered you will be

[versatile-nightowl]

Men Ain't Shit

Immature, classless

just on the prowl for asses

Tasteless, chasteless

can't keep a fucking date set

full of excuses

I don't need you,

you're useless

can't stand my attraction

just want a man of action

as rare as I am, black opal

forever staying hopeful

consistently disappointed

by someone solution-oriented

can't fix what they started by

sending money for the broken hearted

too soft but firm for they're hands

I'm exhausted doing this dance

Keeping my boundaries strong

to those that wanna do me wrong

the ones inspiring this song

I just keep trucking along

They fear their emotions

can't recognize real devotion

taught to stay tough and provide

living a life in hiding

lying to themselves

so they lie to everyone else

masking through their traumas

that they gained from their mommas

shit, we all got problems

so you gotta talk about 'em

bottling up just hurts you

like coke and mentos, it will burst you

Go to therapy, my G

work on yourself internally

put down the weights and get off IG

I don't care about your body

Be fucking real and vulnerable

or you'll die alone with no love grown

[versatile-nightowl]

Pinnacle

I want to go where the elevation’s high

Where if I just stepped off the edge

I will die upon impact

But relive my life again in stop-motion

and cloud my lungs with clouds

as I drop through them

eyes welling so fast with tears

they trail behind like rain

evaporating before the pain

can be expressed

an escape

where I may

rest

[versatile-nightowl]

Haikuesday from January 28, 2020

Setting boundaries

means respecting yourself so

that others may too.

[versatile-nightowl]

Haikuesday from July 2, 2024

Visibility

The ability to see

What's in front of you

[versatile-nightowl]

Haikuesday from July 16, 2024

Wading in shallow

waters because the deep end

begets depth and breadth.

[versatile-nightowl]

I'm a Manifestor I'm writing to acquire strength, perseverance a life to inspire

My strategy to Inform In a way that prepares those that I value to move with awareness

When I stifle my desires, Contain my needs It builds resistance energy without ease

To begin anew all over again in a fashion of waves and bursts sparks catch all around from blazing the way of many firsts

The power to move mountains unconsciously, and the power to change the world with intent

Attuned with the divine meditating to align all my centers during the appropriate time

[versatile-nightowl]

I fall in love so easily

I should call it walking

It's not just the contours

of your anatomy or the

pigments from you that glow

but the purest form of

your unique expression

reverberating with my own

a harmonious hum to bump

in the warmth that is 

a centripetal cyclone

Spinning until destructive

to my own psyche

I fall in love so easily

with your consonants

touching my ears

echoing into vowels

ringing past my lips

Your hand parting the fallen hair

in front of our eyes

into the window of your soul

The storm of you rolling in

To water my thirsty garden

[versatile-nightowl]

Haikuesday June 6, 2023

Remain Open with

Your Self, Your Heart, Your Mind, and

Happiness you'll find

[versatile-nightowl]

Sound the Siren

The rhythm has finally changed

You never expect it so soon

Suddenly neither one cares

When one has an open wound

From where it came matters not

What steps will you take to heal?

Disappearing in the imaginary abyss won't help

unless coming back with something real

The winged sap wades alone

equipped with a razor sharp edge

only when she flies does it dull,

softening to become fully fledged

Singing to herself across the break

as she coasts closer to the peak

Time passes by another week

Another long time and still no sounds

And in that silence, she drowns

[versatile-nightowl]

I feel this is going nowhere

And I'm just here for your ego

To know I'm still a fish on the hook

For when you're ready to eat

You make no efforts of security

Or curiosity, and preached about depth when

You're standing in the shallow end

I should know your plagiarized speeches

And your fake woke phrases

The grand risings happening are the realizations in my head

That you use your mouth for talking but not giving head

The energy faded as soon as you had your cake

That post-sugar high come down

Spoiling your appetite for something sustainable, savory, and fresh

The only thing you're craving

Is the sweet taste of flesh

[versatile-nightowl]

A Tough Pill to Swallow

I’m not special like you told me like my naivete allowed me to believe I’m just like everyone else in your eyes attacking the heart on your sleeve A decade of memories filled with firsts flying fists along the seas succumbed to imploding via isolation and independent responsibilities The hills have eyes and I’ve always seen the falling out with other beings yet I thought I was protected by genuine words because that’s all I’ve ever served and instead I’m perturbed by the veil of honesty when the dark goddess herself showed me differently The human condition to act superficially and burrow deep into their trenches to arise and melt from their own sunny sabotage pretending like the pretentious It still hurts to part with what no longer serves and to believe that it goes both ways significantly so during the end of the world I can only believe in better days

[versatile-nightowl]

Emotional Impermanence

Allowing the dust to settle

And the hovering mist to part

You can't live inside of my mind,

There's more space for you in my heart

I keep myself busy to stay aflame

While the world slowly turns

I'm sprinting through days that blur

And suffering through the burns

Toggling between elation and insecurity

Emotions aren't permanent, only temporary

Experience has taught me everyone goes eventually

Resilient to adversity shrouding me

In its tethering web of prickly hairs

Mourning the nascence of elation

And all of the splendor it bewares

A cocktail of hormones straight to the dome

Nostalgia hitting in waves

Dragging me back in time to those hopeless romantic days