Blackness

steals my breath

Clawing

Sliding farther into the abyss

Soul decaying

As my hope begins to fade

No longer standing

As the tears stain my face

Pills and poisons

Consume this empty shell

And every morning I awaken

Is another failure

I have achieved

So tonight

I will quiet my thoughts

With medications

Prescribed to me

Knowing full well

The tendencies follow

Hoping tomorrow

Will no longer come

So farewell

And sweet dreams

I look forward

To eternal sleep

I stepped outside to watch the Sun crown the Earth in colour,

at last.

For these daunting yet trivial feats will one day haunt me.

Be it by my own hands or chance.

I cannot shake these lucid dreams-

I can no longer resist them.

It's as though with every slumber I awaken evermore encased in glass.

But how I long-

To step outside instead of only

peer into the world nestled behind it.

What appeals to me,

is to slip away slowly like a caterpillar stirring in it's sleep only to awaken as a butterfly-

while the world watches.

Vet pays homage

to laughing gargoyles

atop Harold Washington library

singing spring time in downtown Chicago

dreaming disturbed nightmare fire fights

eating daily rainbow cocktails

prescribed by psychologist

continues his dance

in living room park

next to loop train station

lodging complaints

through fatigues

telling dog walkers

soiling his green carpet,

clean that shit up

who do you think you are

leaving rice paddies’ children

begging for candy bars

hiding hand grenades

exploding in his head.