write an essay,
the price of admission;
a registrar of old white men
looking for submission

write an essay,
police statement on permission;
men look the other way,
a fraternity house of perdition

write an essay,
but not on own volition;
assault a woman here,
essay counts as violator’s final sentence.

sunshine vessel —
sitting below flowered trellis,
next to where the ladies bug;
grass calypso plays,
as wind blows off a gusted shrug.

life blue waters —
held still until poured,
elevated flowers hang in wait;
their golden grail lifts up,
as the cascade conveyed restores.

renounce what’s past,
except for memories
that die last, buried in
the grave that we made.

lift off death’s mask,
denounce choices turned
too ash, darkness descends;
the light soon to fade.

turmoil whispers to ask,
“were all the troubles
left aghast, worth the
heartache you forbade?”

In these spaces —
they try to replace us,
with fascist decrees
& bright white imagery;
bleed out our needs,
to feed feigned
supremacy.

A reckoning,
we let breed;
on apathy & false belief,
convincing us we‘re
not allowed to see;
truth in fact —
we all lost something,
out of one
become nothing
but history.

embark —
equal light, equal dark;
summer sins fall apart
as both halves of
broken heart depart

settle in —
within autumnal start;
death winds begin
as warm colors flow
into artisanal art

maker’s mark —
dual nature imparts;
divine destination charts
as stars divide day
w/ equal parts dark

death to an interior self,
whose conflict says
“he’s someone else,”
someone that had
to be killed —
into mineshaft he fell.

covered by pain
& the hardship felt,
there lies his other self;
beside the place
where he once knelt,
conflict slain in name
of mental health;
he is now someone else.

We’re a flip book,
going through
the motions.

Drawn together,
we cycle through
acts of devotion.

Forming an illusion,
we thumb through
our emotions.

At book end,
we backflip through
the life chosen.