are you sleeping?

are you sleeping?
what a ridiculous
question

a poet is required
to keep watch over the night
while you sleep

my brain is a
lightning rod
capturing all bad dreams
before they get to you

my writings are a
monologue
coercing all madness
out of my system

before the dawn

there's nothing
going on while
you slumber

but i'm here
just to make sure

my fee is doritos
and a good episode
of mash

pass the sprite and
dash on to sleep

(creep)

assurances

it's all right
for you to desert me

i can learn things
on my own

it's all right
for you to stop talking
to me

i can hear nothing
so much better

it's all right
for you to forget me

i can be my own
memory

and no matter how
faulty i get

no matter how
foggy it seems

no matter how
forgotten i grow to be

rest assured
i'll save a chance to dream

even if the scene
is just my demise

nice try

(fly)

haikus to found cloth

scrap of cloth i found
red like the end of the sun
nothing more profound

where did i get this
is it part of wedding dress
torn from great distress?

i once had the hands
that made shelter for my soul
now emptiness reigns

jellyfish

sometimes my memory
is too antiseptic

i'm too pathetic
for my own dreams

when i wake
i'm in a suspended state
of belief

there's no relief
when i open my eyes

just the white of
the ceiling

and the underlying feeling
of grief

i strain back to
a forgiving time

when all the rhymes
were plentiful

i woke to
the surprisingly calm sound
of snoring

there was no boring
in my open gaze

just the hazy
blue of the morning

and the overwhelming warning
of bliss

but i digress

(yes)

container

stuff it all in 
forget to hope
too many blanks
too much rope

keep it down 
hide and leave it
make no sound
don't grieve it

it wasn't alive anyway 

(go) 

too far

i asked
too much
for you
to answer

i was
too much
for you 
to handle

i wished
too much
for you
to grant

i walked 
too far
for you
to follow

sorrow no more

(go)

headache

i've had a headache
for days

i know it's not because
i think too much

or is it?

i know it's not because
i have no brain cells

or do i?

i say i'm not smart
to keep me humble

but maybe i need to
say i have more to learn

and the capacity
to learn it

rather than
hold myself down
with words

crap
now i've got a bigger
headache

oh well

(sigh)