no joke

It's weird 

That point when a boy realizes he's a man. 

Strangers eyes searing his flesh

Fooled by his years gone by. 

It's funny

How he feels in that moment. 

Self-aware like never before

Still waiting for his chance to stop hiding and show its face. 

It's crazy

That he, that they, expect so much

Warped by the weight of his own assumptions

Frightened to go and earn it for real

So why

Does he 

move on like a child

Thrilled by things until the thrill's through

So many lessons he's still yet to learn

Wondering if he will open himself

void.

Cozily nestled in their warm dens of solitude
They spin their vicious webs with reckless indifference
Their goals unclear, motives guided by naivete
Obliviously dumping sludge upon her shoulders

Loved ones abandoned, no tethers restricting
In a virtual chasm, slipping farther from reach
They delight in the comfort born of reckless abandon
Intending to hurt, but unaware of the damage inflicted

But fields wither, time can't escape this furnace
And so we shuck the veil, peering into their eyes
Two lonely, waning pools, reflected with guilt
Laid bare, naked atop the scorn of the world

What then will become of their useless aggression?
Whose source knows not its ill destination
Broken as we are but stripped of a net
They drift farther from the reaches of compassion

Hope still cradled in the palm of my hand
Can't wait for the system to be rearranged
Lacking the power to make these men change
We push forward with the art that speaks volumes
Endowing the daring with wings of brilliance

yours

I'd fall if you wanted me -
deep beneath the slipshod crevices
I'd rock this aching soul to rest
Breathe for me.
I'll break myself.
Just turn me into what I crave.
Eat the grapes from my
seasoned blossoms
and bury me out back
beneath the old stone wall
Seep deep into my pores
Dissect this fickle flesh
and know that it is with you
and you alone I'll stay.*

*this poem was written at a urinal while peeing

sure

I can console you in times of distress
Give you my heart, though you ask for less
Let's wet our hands and pave out a road
Later gaze back at the seeds we sewed

If it's funny you want, I can deliver
But will I embrace you as you shiver?
What will I think when I look in your eye
Praying to god your gaze doesn't lie

Tell me your secrets, spill me your guts
I'll promise it stays between only us
Just don't disappear into the dark
Can't bear another return to the start

Yes let's dance, yes let's play
Live so much that we lose our way
Let's you and me go so far
That it's hard just to raise the bar

But all the while I'm drawing near you
In a way I used to fear too much to
I realize this is how it should have been
I just didn't see that way back when

For once it seems natural, like it should
Never realized shit could be this good
Let's build slowly, lead with support
Til nestled souls resemble a fort