I saw the golden-handed man again today.
He was sitting on a park bench, alone,
all ragged and grey.

I'd been to afraid to look before,
and so had missed so clearly
the look he always wore.

A gentle smile beneath kindly eyes
and wrinkles that crinkled and creased.
And it pained me to pass him by.

So when I left work for the day
I went back there and explored
this man who'd been so ostracized.

Shadows skitter on
hardwood floors, beneath dancing
unaware figures.

Sometimes, when I shriek into that endless abyss that's been dug in my backyard
after hours of my frustrations and unrequited love pours from my lips,
the softest echo creeps its way back up from the darkness.
Barely a whisper,
but somehow carrying a lifetime's worth of acceptance
a verbal embrace from the eternal and unending.
It's not in a language that I know,
but somehow I understand.
The sounds trace my edges,
discovering me
memorizing me,
before disappearing again into that darkness.
I can't stop going back now.
Just in case the owner of those words
decides to pay a visit.
I swear,
they get a little louder every day...

We glide across an ocean of darkness
my oddities and me.
We're a menagerie of colors
rescued from unappreciative worlds
and arranged and celebrated as the marvels we are.

​Admission is free
I won't charge you for a glance
or even a day of observation.
Each time you look,
you spot something new.

Some of my friends are a little shy
but if you're patient enough
they might let you catch a glimpse.

Be warned,
if you look too long
you might find yourself within our ranks.
If you do,
I can't tell you what will happen.
If it's a future you,
well I'll see you later!
If it's your past,
then it's been to long, old friend!

Whatever your experience,
enjoy my oddities and tell your friends!
I always love new additions.

Water drips
pools without end soak
trudging feet.
Unending
your journey towards something more.
One day, you will drown.

Take a breath now.
Let the softness of the air fill your lungs
make you weightless
until the earth itself cannot hold you.

The ground relinquishes its claim
and the unknowable inside of you awakens.
That bloodshot eye will open in the center of your chest
and survey this world
bright and ready for devouring.

That voice inside of you will speak with your tongue
although you cannot comprehend the words.
It will speak of oceans of madness
calling them to smother the sun
taint the world with spite.

You will watch all of this happen
but not understand.
Not until it invites you to join in
and your mouth grins wide with too many rows of teeth
and your fingers grow long with talons and barbs.

Then you will stalk these shores with the unknowable.
They will be your companions for the hunt.

You will be insatiable
and every soul you sink your teeth into
will only grow the hunger gnawing at you.

By the time this world has become desert and dust
your power will have grown to match the others'.
You will move on to the next living world
and your hunger will only grow.

​This is the beginning of how infinity ends.

I can feel it in the thickness of the air,
massing all around me
and pressing against my skin.
Incidents of great importance
waiting just around the corner,
their breath heavy fog from chapped lips.
But every time I walk the path
and look for these the keepers of my fate,
there are only shadows hanging in the chill air.
How hard could it be, to find these creatures?
I search day after day, and my reward?
A glimpse of a heavy dark cloak
that's actually a garbage bag
carried by the breeze.

Where the snow fell last night,
powdered drifts spread and scattered,
dulling all sound,
like cotton stuffed into your ears.

You can barely hear
the soft crunch that your feet make
as they break the surface.

The ground is no longer smooth now.
Black breadcrumbs lead back
to where you began your journey.
A force undeterred by the chill
and stillness.
Ready to explore this strange
pale world.

It's only now that you notice
that with each print you left behind,
each step that you carefully made,
clawed, deep prints have misaligned with yours,
as if they'd passed through a dark mirror,
traveling back the way you came.

As you left your quiet home and quiet family,
that beast that you know far too well,
that you thought you'd banished to die
in the wasteland outside yourself,
in the dark frost,
crept back, right beside you,
to that haven of warmth and comfort.

And it's hungry.
You know its hunger,
its needs,
and now there's nothing you can do to stop it.
Because as you turn back towards that cozy cottage,
a muffled scream skips over the frozen earth,
barely reaching you.
Now, there's nothing to return to.
You are alone
​with the beast.

Lay me down atop the cloudy sky.
Let me laze upon midnight air,
to the songs of nightingales.
All I want is relief from
the rushing winds inside.
Please calm them for me
so I may rest.
And fall fast
into
sleep.

Tic-toc-
won't you stop
the damned ticking of that clock?
It never halts to chime the hour,
and never has needed battery power.
The ringing in my-
-tic-toc-
ears won't stop
as long as those hands mover 'round the clock.

I took it off the wall today,
to no avail.
It continues onward, without a halt.
But I'm determined to
-tic-toc-
destroy the wretched thing tonight.
Through fire- or water- or a really big rock.
I'm going to silence that evil-
-tic-toc-