Opposite of East

Another city

another sleepless night;

suffocating in the saccharine air

of too bright lights.

Drowning in the quiet 

Loneliness 

of travel-size toiletries,

recycled linens—

Omnipresent reminders of

Impermanence.

This is the opposite of peace.

A version of me 

that is wavering & weary,

burnt-out & brittling.

Strung out

on transitory highs:

Ephemeral lullabies 

of a spirit sundering.

First Thaw

 

Unstopper yourself

take a breathe 

exhale the hoarfrost of regret.

Blink through the snow blindness

of cocooned desire,

the buried promise 

endeavoring to germinate.

Remember the first thaw:

the cracking & creaking

the fading permafrost—

the excavation of former selves

Root Bound

This place is stifling 

suffocating

Shine dulls

stars fall

It’s all a ruse 

Rose-tinted 

incompetency 

keeps you wandering 

the maze 

Strangulated roots

in a pot 

outgrown

Stretching towards 

zenith 

in slowly fallowing 

Earth 

In Frutigen

Bells tolling…

an Alpine symphony

replete with cow bells

chalet gables &

crisp Helles.

Lost amidst the valleys,

seeking the simplicity 

bestowed by neutrality—

to never fear the weight of inevitable 

Collapse.

If only it were as simple 

as untainted Alpine springs 

feeding the security of impermeability;

the World’s virulence as distant

as the three knells echoing across 

the Oberland valleys…

Depreciation

Time takes me places,

switches faces &

demands payments…

of younger selves

nubile in lies, half-truths &

pantomimes of sincerity.

Find me withered, old, saccharine…

A relic of times gone by—

soured lullabies of infinite vice.

We are a currency depleting:

cheeks hollowed, chins doubled

rewind time to prescribe 

the sanguine humors 

of atrophied youth.

Carapaces Anew

Cyclic is the vortex,

the ever-tempting gyre

masquerading as an Elysia

of poisoned promise.

Lured back in 

with gilded truths 

& gallow hopes

of greed renewed.

Yet Time bends memory:

turning truths septic,

dreams leprous…

Awaken to fractured fragments

Kintsugi mended; 

a porous cacophony 

of progress ebbing.

Collective Mediocrity

Collapse control

at moments rife

with tasks inane

Control curated 

to process orders

in eras inefficient

Cycles conforming

to mandates mediocre

for somnambulist minds

Common cures

for middling malfeasance

in echoing chambers

Constant complacency 

a disease endemic

with carousel cast