Poems

Pennies Per Play Statement hits my inbox with a subject line that tries to sound upbeat“Great news, you’ve been streamed worldwide” with numbers that almost make my heart beatHundreds of thousands, maybe morelittle plays stacked in a rowScroll down to the payout line and feel my stomach drop below. Twelve countries on the breakdowncities I […]

Orbit Verse 1 Underneath the field of whitewalking on the ground, Your hand acts as the anchorthe only steady sound. Moving through the open spacethe steps fall into line, In the center of the darkyour shadow mixes mine. Chorus Sky is turning, sparks and fire, In your holdwe climb up higher. Every step, a gravityPulling

Old Tree Nuts Verse 1There’s a crooked old tree on the edge of townroots cracking through the clay and prideAnd a man in a flannel, half falling apartcalls that twisted shade his brideHe’s got three nuts in a rusted jarclaims they hum when the moon burns whiteSays they whisper of gods and weather and sin

Nothing Gets Done Today To-do list on the fridge like a ransom note demanding pieces of my spineCall this person, answer that mailfix this leak before it floods my life down the lineI walk past it in slow circlesopen the door just to stare at condiments and cold airClose it again, sit back downand pick

Off Key Hosanna We never learned the hymns the way they printed them in those cracked old books with the thin paper and the tiny black notesWe learned them sideways in the back rowmuttering harmonies that didn’t matchhiding dirty words under our breath inside cheap coatsWe came in late, left earlyrolled our eyes at sermons

Not Every Thought Is A Fucking Prophecy You wake up already braced for impactheart pounding like you missed some cosmic alarm and the world’s about to slide off its axisCheck your phone expecting death notices, fired emailsbreakup paragraphssome digital avalanche of taxes and bad praxisAll you see is spam, a couponone meme from a friend

No Windows On This Shift Clock-in screen glows pale at the gate while the sky’s still holding a bit of dawnBadge hits the readersteel doors swallow me and then the outside’s goneInside it’s concrete, conveyorsforklifts whining down the aisles in tired loopsSupervisor with a tablet counting heads like we’re just parts in the troopsWe stack

Nosebleeds Verse 1Homeroom clock clings to the same minute for a little too long while the fluorescent bars above the whiteboard flicker in a rhythm that feels like a seizure trying to remember how to startand you already know this is one of those days where the world leans hard on your skull like a

Night’s Hush in the Moonlit Vale Verse 1: In shadows vast where soft sound flows, Under the moon’s pale light that shows, A figure moves with quiet pose, Through valleys where the darkness grows.Chorus: Listen closely, soft and deep, Where silver moonlight vigil keeps, And hidden things the evening sweeps, Are known where the wind

No Cash, No Change Table seven wants refillstable nine wants fries no saltManager wants big fake smiles and every screw-up is my faultThey’ve got cards and apps and watcheswaving plastic in the airBut when the screen asks “Tip” they just stab the smallest number there. End of shift I count the damage in the back