Dark Poetry Prose Poetry April 22, 2003 Dark Poetic Prose

4-22-03 tuesday 8:47pm brick NJ

what once were verses are now only fragments of a passion i once had. all that i once held fast now steadily slips from my grasp. and the stars don't care what wishes we send. they can't even hear them. and the moon doesn't notice when the tide overcomes our castles. life has no loopholes in its contract. and its commandments aren't obeyed they are embedded.

if the words come too quickly. if the pages arrive full of sadness. it's just the poet in me. if i ask you to listen it's just wishing. cuz i could never speak. for if i could there'd be no need for the writing. if i could say i'd have no reason to write at all.

if late at night my rhyme tug at your sensitivities i appreciate your willingness to appease me. but it's just the words. it's just the poet in me. if i could ever speak i long since would have. so i write and sometimes send. but when it comes down to the final question. i don't have an answer. i can't even get myself to ask it.

those who were friends supposedly don't often last. and those we suspect are sometimes the most trustworthy. it's their honesty that causes such doubts. the truth has always hurt and i guess it always will. but lies don't just hurt they cripple you. wounds will heal. but once you're crippled there's no mending that can renew.

he said so clearly. so often. from the earliest of my youth to the oldest of my broodings. wine is fine, but whiskey's quicker. suicide is slow with liquor. he said it clean. he said it well. he said because he'd seen the result. in friends and in himself. but all lives don't follow the same line. all lives don't know where to go when the bottle is empty. where else to go but the bottom of the next one. some lives are able to find a reason to save themselves from drowning. while other lives just wait. wait for it to happen.

there's no explaining. and if i had a reason who would believe me. who would understand. if i offered up my explanations you'd all scoff at them. so why bother then. all lives began at birth. but not all lives end at death. all lives have the opportunity to live. but not all lives have the strength.