a grove unknown (welcome back craig)

what happened?
what didn't happen?
a grove unknown
you came home to a grove unknown
the face of the clock doesn't change
but the faces of your friends do

-

my name puckers her lips but not to kiss
the way lemons do
and that's ok

i did that

that was me

because the memories were fonder than the moment and still are
but they are there and they will stay there
like all those pictures

i remember most of them
we had plans to make me the most photographed asshole in america

we laid plans like eggs
that i broke and made her eat

the fate of so many young lovers carved upon the headstone or scrawled in the ashes of their life together

"we weren't any goddamn good for each other"
and it took me far too long to say

where are you? (2nd draft)

you are somewhere in the desert sprawled and clutching the earth backwards with your crooked fingers in the dirt
the night and the moon are washing you in the coldest blue the coldest color
the wind is scratching as it passes and the quarter moon is dumb and bright
is there no one coming to pull you up?
are those the footsteps of horses under gallant men galloping to your rescue?
is that the flood of the old testament coming to carry you off?
only the blood in your ears rushing through their capillary creeks
while the horses are in their stables and the gallant men are sleeping soundly
the waters are not rising and there still is no water nor will there be
your stomach is rotting
your teeth are chattering
the sun will soon come up and burn you alive
where are you?
where is this cold blue world?
and how did you get here?

the market for outrage

they should organize bookstores according to the emotion you want to elicit

or solicit

the market for outrage is booming
but the newspapers have it cornered

a cleansing outrage
ahhhh
that's nice

it's nice to know that what is happening is an exception
and that after this things will be back to normal

no more million dollar bonuses for millionaires
no more soldiers doing dirty things
no more children choking on carrots in day care centers

life will be as it should be
with old people dying in beds in nursing homes
teens getting into traffic accidents

and all that other stuff happening away from the prying eyes of the yellow journalists scribbling incendiary tripe in a push to create and exhaust the market for outrage

it's the clause in murphy's law for downward spirals
how bad can it get?
as bad as it can

all in

you go all in and
lose only what you brought with
you to the table

right now

right now
i'm thinking of the weather
i'm thinking of more than the weather
i'm thinking of the ideas i've had to write things and how much has slipped through my fingers and i have watched it do just that and not cared one bit
i'm sorry
i don't like reading
i'm sorry
i do like reading, but not always
i have been watching alot of television
i am uninspired
my head is a mess of empty boxes
post-it notes and things to do
all nothings
little nothings

i have buried my talent master

you gave me one
and i buried it

cast me into the outer darkness
i will weep and gnash my teeth