star-crossed epitaphs

love
digs graves
all around the world

but
i used to
kiss you like
i was never going to die

Sunfish

sometimes i look like
i'm flying

the most marvelous things
happen when you're afraid

but
what seems to be a wing
is only a tail

what seems to be a miracle
is only a fear

sometimes i look like i'm flying
but it's only because i have a shark
on my ass

Goddamn the Deaths I Die Every Day

i keep coming back

just when ya think
"there
is
no
way
danny
makes it!"
i do

it's not for lack of trying
i'm just bad at suicide

a heart forgets to stop beating
i wake up wounded
out of breath
afraid

the impression of Azrael's palm
against my cheek

death touches me every day
but its scythe never slices my skin

why?

i've taken too much
enough to put down horses
but i keep getting up

i keep coming back

and i am so tired of coming back

The Girl Who Cuddles with Coffins

i tell her

she might have a monster

living under her bed

she smiles

and tells me

to trim my toenails 

i try to convince her

that there is a ghost in the walls

but she insists it's my singing

vampires outside

she says i put too much garlic 

on my pasta

corpses under the floorboards 

she says i fart

too much

there seems to be no shaking 

this girl

but just wait until i tell her

i love her 

Sunday Morning Comic Strip

the front pages

always reserved

for war

and other 

horrors

what if a giggle was worth as much

as a murder

if a smirk

was as popular as bombing 

smooth detectives

awkward engineers

and that one family

witty office-types

wise-cracking animals

black and white

full color

together

it doesn't have to be

this hard

not if we're on the same page

Boys Don't... Quote Cure Songs

i.

when i left
or when you left
or however either one of us tell people
it happened

it
hurt

i wasn't shocked
i kind of expected it
but it still
hurt

and i still think about you
when i play Sisters Of Mercy cds

and i still smell you
anytime Joy Division comes on

and i regret it
and i wish i could do it over
and i wish you were the girl i never let go
and not the first

but
you
were
and i gotta suck it up because
Boys Don't... quote Cure songs


ii.

any ol' way
i just wanted you to know that
kissing you
on the stairs of the Milwaukee Public Library
doing laundry
in that place that used to be next to Comet
dancing
to my first retro-night at Mad Planet
and losing my "virginity"
well
it was special

it wasn't amazing
and that's on me

i was scared
inexperienced
inadequate
insecure

but
it was just like it was supposed to be

it wasn't like the movies
or the poems
or the Depeche Mode record you were playing

it was real

anything else i could say about it would be hyperbole
and it was better than hyperbole

so i won't say it was
just like a dream
because
we were
awake

and i won't say it was
just like paradise because
that shit doesn't exist

and even though you looked like an angel
i won't say it was...

well
boys don't quote Cure songs


iii.

that was a long time ago
and i've written more about women and regrets
than either of the two
alone

i'm not trying to say that you're the last girl i loved
or that i've ever really loved any
just that
i
do remember

and it's hard to
forget

and tonight
as i creeped through your
facebook photos
i'm reminded of a night i creeped your
myspace photos

it's been two social networks
three presidents
four cities
five times in, and back out of recovery
since i let you go

but
i've been looking so long
at these pictures of you
that i almost...
forgot that boys don't quote Cure songs

Sad Tales of the Sea

a shark will burn its mouth

for a fish that swam in volcanoes

Heartless Robots Attacking Planet Earth: Part One ~ The Kiss

she cries when it rains

or
does it rain when she cries?

i stopped being able to tell

under the canopy
of the pharmacy
i should have been the one crying

she should have done it
at another time
another place

bad form
y'know?

she thought she could make it better
with one last deep one

as she pulled her warm cheeks away
from my frigid rock of a face
she was frightened

she finally saw me
for what i am

and she ran away screaming

Nevermind Me, I'm Just Looking for My Breath

it was there
when i woke up
alone

it was there
when i did my stretches
alone

it was there
when i showered
alone
got dressed
alone
checked my pockets to make sure i had my keys
alone

but
as soon as i stepped outside
it blew away
and everybody laughed
as i chased something they couldn't see
down a dirty street

Strong Legs

if you are chopping down these trees

thinking you can build a bridge

that no one will cross

well

that bridge will fail

beneath the weight of it's own emptiness

at least try

to reach out

because if you just keep

your arms at your sides

you might as well be in a grave

the foundation for the bridge to you

is weak

but the same bridge

crossing the other way

has strong legs

Roads

i.

let's say
you're trying to go somewhere

who isn't?

but let's say
you never get there

maybe
that's your fault

you
might
have been going in the other direction

you
might
have been driving the wrong fucking way

you
might
not even know where you're going

but
maybe
you
do!

and it's the
road
that's misguided

and it's the
road
that's not right

and it's the
road
that's lost

ii.

a sun-dial doesn't do no good
if you slept all day

the stars only work
if they're not spinning

time only exists
if you give a shit

iii.

for so long i was holding my own breath
for so long i was folding my own flag
for so long
i was so wrong
and so cold
that every moment i longed for death
and every moment i carried a white flag

iv.

there's something to be said about a man
who is always ready to surrender
but
never does

One Thousand Roses

they may not be perfect
hell
they may even be ugly
but
i grew them
and they are roses
nonetheless

a lack of sunlight
means they did not blossom as every rose blossoms
but
there are still petals
there are still thorns
maybe too many thorns
but
they are roses
nonetheless

i would happily give them all away
just so that someone can smell my roses
but there is no one that wants to

and
that's okay
because they are still
roses
nonetheless

i would garden a thousand roses
for two, or three noses
and be fine with that

The Unabomber

in 2007
i was dating Harmony
and working at the call center

during downtime between calls
i used to read
but never anything too dense

usually comic books
Bukowski poems
or library magazines

one night
i ran out of reading material
so i asked a supervisor to print some up

she asked
"like what?"

i said
"uhhh, The Unabomber's Manifesto?"

so that's what i got

it was the first
and last time
i ever read it

now
the guy was nuts
that's no surprise
but what i wasn't prepared for
was how spot-on
and brilliant many of his observations were

we're talking real next level shit
here

that night
after work
Harmony and I went out for some drinks

first
i told her all about the manifesto
and after i told her
i told all of our friends

i hijacked entire conversations that night
talking about the Unabomber

i think Harmony even thought it was kinda cute
she liked that i was unusual

but the next day
the whole world seemed different
everything seemed fake

i felt fake

this wasn't like when i discovered Bukowski and Fante
which were pleasant discoveries
that made me feel less alone
in my contempt for human matters

this was a boat upside down
miles out from shore
and the shore was full of shit
anyways

i felt uncomfortable

we went out for drinks again that night
and again i controlled the dialogue talking about
The Unabomber Manifesto

Harmony hit a breaking point
"you HAVE to stop talking about The Unabomber!"

"yea
but...
we're all automatons...
it's all a live-action program...
we're just playing are parts...
yadayadayada... "
i replied

"okay"
she said
"but you sound fucking crazy!"

"yea
but...
yadayadayada... "

"so
what do you want, Danny?
do you wanna go live out in the woods
alone in a cabin with no indoor plumbing?"

i puffed my chest a bit
and said
"yea, i kinda do!"

Harmony then asked me
"do you think you're going to get any pussy out there?"

and i never mentioned The Unabomber Manifesto again

I've Searched, but I'm No Detective

i can smell a clue
about as well as a rock

and if you're waiting
for me
under a rock
you're gonna be waiting a long time

i've never had a hunch
even if i should have

if the evidence was
right there
i'd step on it

if the perp was
right there
i'd say
"get this jerk outta here!"

i am always trying to figure a few things out
but
i
never
do

faitH

dressed in city streetlight
bodies rest on shadows

two moons keep blinking
two billion stars become halos

shining
through
windows
of cooling devotion

don't let the sun rise too fast

don't let the night go to bed
on an empty stomach

the only difference
between us and a sky
is how close you believe
we are