"To Those Who Understand"

'twas but a rapturous night
filled with all the anticipation
of a thousand lives or more
palpitations running wild
the lights blinding
all for the love of...
what?
a mere mask, this facade
perhaps overwhelming at times
the melting perspiration
through layers of skin
the lies, this grown-up game of pretend
slipping so easily from your lips
a fantasy, a release
perhaps both
untouchable
except to those who understand
the pain, the joy
the wonder, the waiting
the craving
the sleepless nights,
longing for, living for
the curtain to rise, the world to appear
and for an utter addiction to ensue
feeding fervently upon the rush
that brings such incomparable bliss
and nourishes the hungry souls
of those who understand


"Jesse's Poem"

He floats along in silent splendor
Unaware that I am watching him
His movements are a melting rhythm
Coursing through my mind
I challenge my thoughts to conquer him
But he will not be extinguished
Jesse moving to the lucid daydream
That so many cannot find

Treasure cave of music soup
Brewing, boiling, in his dance
Jesse moving, slow and pure
Lost deep within a gentle trance


"Outer Chase"

Reclaiming the muse
She's locked inside herself
Drawing on a morbid silence
She's hidden on the highest shelf

The charter plane's about to leave
She's smeared her eyes again
Drawing on a subtle mood
To forget about her sin

And what do you know, Idaho?
She's gone off to outer space
Lost again from all the stares
Lost in the cosmos, she wins the race


"Monday Night, 11:30"

I'm just sad and lonely
So pathetically melancholy
Can you justify this pain?

My nose is cold
And my feet are sore
But I'll walk and I'll walk
Till I can't walk no more
Lost in the dreams
That you're tearing at the seams
I still believe my fantasies can come true
My sun still shines
And my skies are still blue
And in my picture-perfect world
I'm still in love with you

My shoes are thin
And my lips are numb
But I'll walk till these feet
Fall apart in the street
I can't find the magic
I thought was so near
And maybe I can turn being heart-sick
Into a life-long career


"Eulogy"

Misty, clouded memories
Like debris of a flood, strewn about
Water-logged with tears
I do miss you--all of you
This movie plays itself in my mind
A constant eulogy to dear departed past
Characters in a play long ended
I still hear the lines
Like music dying in my mind
Coats of paint try to conceal the secrets
That I shared too soon, too quick, too loud
So careless then, so spited now
I pass the message on dutifully
And drift back to my stage of life
Another character lost in the script


"Dream Dancer"

You waltz into my mind
Like a whisper
Ah, I knew you'd meet me here
I've pined away a million dreams
Of your soft, handsome face

These cloudy visions
They clutter the eaves of my memories
I see you there
Laughing, childlike and carefree
And your kiss still feels brand-new

We dance on a cloud in the sky
Where nothing matters but you and I
These nights are warm fantasies
That I've created
As silent music shudders by

Your angel wings flutter away
But I'll see you here another night
You'll light up my visions
You'll consume all my thoughts
You, my love, my sweet dream-dancer


"The Pinnacle of Me"

You'll know me by the smile I carry
And the baggage that I try to hide
The glitter girl who tries to be everything
Too much, too quick, too soon exhausted

I'm finding my way ever so haphazardly
So look for the girl wobbling on her tiptoes
Always wriggling away from the permanent fix
I languish in my own cloudy inconsistencies

Like a reckless wonder, I'll be the one that you'll avoid
Catapulting madly across the scene
With a twist, a turn, you'll watch the spectacle of me
As I'm blindsided by spontaneous inspiration


"Colossal Labyrinth of Misery"

The director of a silent symphony
Leading his own parade
Tendrils of water rivet down his back
As he lives a desperate charade

The gray clouds drift away with time
But this sad conductor still stands
His sentry post, a hollow shell
And time erased by sand

His stories are never important
For his history is always the same
Just a lonely musician for hire
Who doesn't remember his name


"Poetic Genesis"

Through the haze of empty daydreams
Lonely inspiration called upon the lonely poet
Two kindred spirits, bound by the faith
Of cleansing the soul with words
A pen, a notebook, a dark gray mood
Fueled by the touch of a starlit muse

Visions lost to the night, that fleeting genius
Blurred and botched by sheer improvisation
The illustration of life on paper
Brings forth the urge to slay the proverbial beast
In words; by the glow of hopeless dreams
The poet finds lonely inspiration among the reeds
Of a murky swamp traveled for ages

Tempestuous parodies of songs life once sang
Crude portrayals slashed across time's collective memory
Re-enactments of the poet's mysterious longing
The secret obsessions and the hidden pain
All kept masked until set free by time
When words become a method to survive


"Outside the Box"

I've waited and I've waded
Through the tears, the pain, the joy
I'd wandered far enough, I thought
To wipe my woes aside
But the scene remains immobile
And the streets all look the same
And in my fucked-up bubble of the world
My life's an endless game

>From this secluded seat on Broadway
I can see a city gifted with light
A rain of sun upon the walk
The theatre alit, the clock tower at work
A metropolis at life with silence unseen
But I'm blue like a poet and gray as the sea
This living quilt has lost its draw
And staying just isn't in me

I yearn for a place where the magic still thrives
And the sun's not a gift but a given
Somewhere that emits a brighter aura
Where the sea's really blue and the stars really shine
And artistic passion is more than just myth
A place where storm clouds won't encroach on my day
So poetic beauty may flourish unreaped
And my child of inspiration can once again play