Vaccination

*Sneeze*
Words explode into thin are - Like missiles from your mouth
Hit my skin like soap bubbles - Disappearing immediately
But diffusing into my epidermis - Headed straight for the heart
To sit
Latent.
Dormant.

I smile and play along - Unknowing and Naive.
You smile and play along - Finally freed of your
Heavy artillary.
The world is a rose - Until projectiles of
A passing
*cough*
Float like bubbles from your hand -To pierce my heart
A throng of thorns - Sent to waken the
Month-old harbinger.

I grasp the pain - And writhe all night long
Tears soaking the cloth of - My unemployed pillow.
Praying for rest - Not quite meant to be
Found tonight.

The sting labors on -Through the cloudy haze of
The morning sun - While exhaustion complicates
The torture.

The fever rages on - Until one moment catches me:
The phone rings
And I'm certain - It is the call of the casualty.
My hospital room -Is dead silent
Save for your voice
Ringing in my ears.

You ask:
Is everything ok?

The gun is raised
Ready to fire at will.
Either suffering patient
Could feel the blow
And the cold liquid
Flow in an instant.
My finger flutters on the
Trigger.
I open my mouth and...

*BANG!*

I open my eyes to see
Neither of us are paralyzed,
Lying motionless on the ground
As I had suspected.

The disease is dying - Set to plague my soul no more.
Herein lies the key:
your Truth is my Vaccination.

The Tale of Jealousy and the Victor

She slinks into my mind
Scantily clad, sexy and bitchy,
Everything I despise.
Still, her striking eyes,
Heavy with mascara,
Catch me
While I'm falling.
Says she's
"just what [I] need tonight"
As I sit alone.
Alone,
While the rest of the world
Parties without me.
I need someone.
And it just had to be
Her.
Jealousy.
In that shiny
Hunter green mini-dress
With all the fashion sense
I'd die for
And the jewels to go with it.
Sings in her alluring alto
To staccatto my pathetic state,
"Aren't you just sick of this?
Another call,
Another slow reply,
Another party
That you can't attend."
Her tone changes.
Demeaning and bitter.
No longer a song,
But still as captivating.
"What for?
Why not be like me?
I'm living life.
Unlike you."
My emotion latches on to this
One "kind" "friend."
Says,
"Don't answer next time.
Don't speak.
Don't let on to your soul.
Keep it all to yourself,
Just as you are."

Then the soul speaks up for itself.
Screams above the deafening din:
"Beautiful girl!"
"What...? me?" I slowly reply.
"What are you doing to yourself?
What are you doing to Him?
He's been standing behind her
All this time,
Crying out for you to
Choose Him first.
He's there, on your desk, to your right
Love notes in a shiny sword.
If you'd only look past the hatred
Welling up in your coal-black soul.
While she lets you tumble down,
He'll catch you and teach you to
Fly."

*I gasp for clean air*
Sit up straight,
Shake myself from my
Dejection,
Type this poem
So I won't fall again,
And remember what it is
To Fly...

Illusions of Living

I wish I could say it
I wish I could be it

Someone Else:
Someone dark
Someone stunning
Someone raucous
Someone fearless

Pangs sear through me
I'm the constant
The boring
The sickeningly sweet
The goody two-…
Why shoes?

A fish
Bored with table-top living
A fish
Pushes her
Glass bowl off of the
Cotton-covered table

falling
Falling
FALLING
The exhilaration is
Overwhelming

The crash - perception - freedom
The crash - reality - death
Can’t catch her
Breath
Gasping for air as she dries on the
Ground

Yes.
Shoes.
Choose to walk
Into
Death
Or
Life.

Which will she pursue?
The illusion
The Truth

The choice is yours as well.

No Sweeter Thing

“Love” has evaded me
Past nerves
Past points of no return
Past expiration dates
All elusive creature
Sneaking into dream
Heart
Mind
Tells me
He is “everything” I could ever want
But everything I’ll never get
No matter how I
Try
Push
Prod
& Cry.
But always “me”!
Not me
But Him
Seemingly elusive Lover
Who wants desperately to be
Found
Loved
& Delighted in.
Just like “me.”
Tells me He is all I could ever want
All I’ll need forever
And ready to be found?
Hallelujah!
Shouts of elation pierce through my
Heart
Once drenched in despair
Now covered with care
I have sought Love
I have known Love
And He knows me
There is
No Sweeter Thing

Cafeterial Culture

I sit alone
Spotlights highlight:
My roasted locks
Examine my singleness
Critique my
Impossibly blithe smile
In a room of solidarity
Coordinated schedules
Set to the same mixed music
“We belong!” they Scream
While
I sit in silence
Unwinding from the day
By stroke of pen
Yet I am not the only one
Sitting alone...

How does he feel, fork in hand
Does he crave connection
Loathe the loneliness
Or, like me
Wait patiently for a partner
Far from this clamorous café
Content to be caught
In a dream of distant days
The touch, the kiss
The hand I long to hold
The joy of my existance

What are we looking for
In the middle of the cafeteria?