George Bush

Every nightmare that has ever haunted,

all the animals with fangs or men with torches,

every nightmare ended at his fathers funeral.

A runt left looking for a mothers tit,

a child, pissing their pants at a birthday party,

a nervous church boy at a middle school dance,

a frequent masturbator,

insecure lover

or a dog, whipped by a mans belt.

Afraid of his nightmares, so he sleeps with a stuffed bear.

Takes it on school field trips to D.C.

Doodles pictures of it as a Congressman,

arguing with a government of spoiled kids.

Woodland Shadows

Elementary park

where a couple walked

and wood chips talked to Bacardi heads.

While the full moon watched

a kindled spark

two groundhog hearts

exposed to wind.

It was April, and it smelled like Spring.

Maps of the New World

Forest berries,

muddy pond.

Met the neighbors,

when they saved my son.

Feeling restless,

shootings stars,

scratchy blankets,

in the Amazon.

Counting cannons

pressing on

The first night I prayed to a new God.

By the Will of the Neon Sun

I am Jupiter,

a big fish in a small sea

or Saturn, unwilling to give up my rings.

I am the moon,

avoiding an eclipse,

no matter the cost of men or sunken ships.

I am a prince, rowing through Partridge Creek

bringing back for my people

the perfect Christmas tree.

Leapfrog

I think 2012 will be a good year for me.

It took until my senior year, three full years, to get good at high school,

and the fourth year of college is the only other year that can compare to the 2003-2004 school year.

Four years before that, seventh grade, I started kissing girls that year. That's pretty monumental, right? The only reason a middle schooler ever goes to a high school football game is to hold hands with or maybe kiss a girl. Seventh grade - the year I stopped being a child.

Four years before that, third grade... There was a huge fish tank in Mr. Vickery's classroom, that's pretty cool, right? Stacey Wilson and I were 'homework buddies' that year. She was the first girl I ever wanted to be around because she was cute for gender reasons. The crazy part is I think she felt the same thing. I may have started 1-for-1 in having that little extra mutual admiration with a girl, but that would not become a theme in my life for many, many more years. Third grade - the year I was no longer an asexual child.

Four years before that, six years old, right? It was a good year. I was a six year old, and there is no such thing as a bad day when you're six. Even six year olds secretly know this! I was beginning to develop some sporting abilities. Running, swimming, basketball, catch. I had pretty much learned an entire language at that point, and it was pretty clear that I was not born with any form of retardation or gross physical defects. Six years old - I had conquered the basics of being human, and was ready to seek out friends.

Four years before that, two years old, I had survived my first year on Earth, and I had survived my brief time in West Virginia. I'm happy to have moved before picking up their accent. It makes me happy when I'm on vacation, and someone asks "I could tell you were from around Michigan because of the way you speak". Two years old - I moved to Michigan, the state that I love so much that I'm having just as hard of a time moving away from its borders as I am moving away my family.

Four years after college is 2012. My grandma thinks that the world will end that year. I hope that death doesn't start to become a part of my life in 2012. The only part of me that is still a child is the part of my heart and psyche that have yet to be chiseled away by loss. Kelsey dog was the most loved thing I've lost in my life. After that, Dan Strung, and then really no one else. The six most important adults in my life and my brother are still alive, and they are the most important things in the world to me. Maybe something amazing will happen in 2012, and I want so badly for all seven of them to be healthy, happy, and with me when it does.

It took until the fourth year of high school to find my stride, and really, the same goes for college. 2012 is my fourth year post-grad, and I think it will be a good year for me.

The Biographer's Book Signing Tour

Jack was tricked into thinking that his gift would make him better off.
There weren't enough people around to tell him to stay grounded;
Or that success sometimes happens to people who aren't ready for it.
Most people aren't ready to be even mildly celebrated,
so it's rare that it happens to those who are best fitted to it.
You know I thought Jack was starting to adjust really well,
but sometimes, death too happens to people who aren't ready for it.
And there are places, where as a child, both success and failure will bring you death.
Jack was from one of these places,
and he got himself about as far away as he was comfortable.
So far that a lot of people were wondering if his character was actually designed to live...
but we all knew who the radio was talking about when it said
"At a hotel just north of Vegas,
there is a child star,
dead."

Army Ants

Army Ants by Bowlesbr


We were all army ants
marching into foreign fields
patiently waiting for our first winter away from home...

Is there somewhere

we can stay tonight?

Is there somewhere

we'll be safe tonight?

LIONFISH

Sheena told me good luck just before I walked in.

Aalyah did too, and I fucking felt it.

I walked into the casino with my chest puffed out, grabbed a craft beer from the cute girl with fishnets on, and walked into the Motor City Casino & Hotel game room.

Black hit 7 of the last 10 spins, and I played Red for every single one.

The Craps tables were all filled with ingrates and scummy men...

Red hit twice,

and Green hit, its only time all night, the spin after I played a 0-00 hedge combo.

I wanted to be a gambler.

I wanted to swear loudly with the grey hairs;

curse so loud that all the security cameras would all look at me...

They would see my stack of yellow chips with black writing.

My chips looked like bumble bees. Bee - like my dads nickname.

I was going to laugh with the slick middle eastern men standing across the table from me and the chain smoking black grandma who hadn't said a word since sitting at my table, but looked disgusted every time I would yelp with excitement or dispair.

I put chips on 3, 11, 25, 29, and 30... 30, meant nothing to me, but the monitor said it hadn't hit in over 250 spins, long before I got to this table.

Everything else I had went to Red or Odd.

Fuck Black and everything it had done to my stack.

I was up and playing with house money!

And fuck Evens... just fuck them!

Everything I had was on the Roulette board, and that little white ball landed on number 8, black, goddamnit.

This is Detroit, wy is the craps table full this early on a Tuesday night? Don't these people have better things to do?

I should have bet 8, I knew that. It was my baseball number that year I hit a baseball like a freaking pinata and over the left field fence.

If this place had a sports book, I bet I would have won...

The ACC doesn't match up against the Big10 this year.

Vinny Chase would have bet black.

I'm stealing some matchbooks and grabbing one more beer.

I have the best parking spot in the casino garage.

I bet someone would pay good money for it.

Good luck Sheena and Aalyah, Its early, but its time for me to go home.