I

lamp heads, slaughterness, mistaken snakehounds

zapness, crudeville, old man nose

first time, last time, who knows realness

I forgot my face at the last ride and the carnival is winding down.

I’m in a race to find it so I can see with my own eyes…..what is real and not real

II

halfshank roadblock stinks of realness

I broke my foot on someone else’s problems

glass wedges between my toes and the spaces in my mind reserved for peace and quiet

toxicity oozing out of the doors I keep leaving open in my heart

but no one uses open doors, they just keep kicking down the ones I’ve shut and tried to lock

so I build walled in cities where no one can find me

multifaceted, multi protected to the hilt

and in the next breath, I beam a map with a big red “x” across the sky

dichotomy, two faced coin, which way will I let it land today:

come find me map

or

stay away wall

iii

softness=======

peace======slid-back eyes

======= breath=======clouds

=====fox in winter======breath

=====stillness======kept promise

======there I found it======

=====you can’t blame me=======

======for taking a breath=====

====but I bet you never thought=====

=====I would exhale======

===and find such peace====

======such answers=====

=====and the real surprise=====

====breath soft===== to find me===

====and then breath hard====and I found you