My Carousel

The stampede gallops rampantly
Laughter whistles around the wind
I squeeze the reins tighter to tame my fear
Leaky eyes half open-half closed
Trying to view the blurry world
As the dizzy menagerie spins
Inside my carousel

Black Chandelier

In her quarters she rests, dear beloved Camille

Preserved and kept in solitary time

The latent dust never rises, settled still

In her silent asylum she lies

She dreams of dancing under darkened skies

Where the moonlight adorns the dead

If she still had lids she would open her eyes
as he sits at the foot of her bed

He cradles the corpse with a temperate lift

So not to puncture her porcelain sphere

Into the ballroom the candles are lit

As they dance under the black chandelier

With her feet off the ground she moves with his pace

Until the dawn exposes the day

You can almost remember the smile on her face

Before the skin slowly rotted away

Patient Camille, all she has is time

She waits for him to appear

She may be dead but she feels most alive

Underneath the black chandelier

Wasting Time

Wasting time

I plan to unwind

I'm in the kitchen

pouring my wine

Skipped work today

Drinking away

The hours will go

But the buzz always stays

It's nice to kick back

Just sit and relax

pouring glass after glass

As the time seems to pass

I sit on my ass

Wasting time

Ship in a Bottle

Secured inside a turbulent sphere 

Pulled to the left and pushed to the right

The water tilts me back and forth 
into an endless wave of oblivion

Where's the captain of this ship 
that has been too long at sea?

I hold on for my life even though it's never been mine

And I go wherever the current takes me

A Fundamental Lesson on the Importance of Loose Change aka Orphan Candy

Demi spots a nickel on the dark deserted floor
A dim-lit sparkled copper coin for Demi to explore
She's been collecting  "orphan candy” every day for years
With hopes that one day she can buy a ticket out of here
The other girls will laugh at her and call her "Desperate Demi"
Cause she seems to find a glimpse of hope in every lonely penny

There are girls here Demi could call friends but that word is just so fleeting
There are girls that would annoy a saint and girls that need a beating
They come a dime a dozen with the same hopelessness in them
But Demi stands out from the rest, the one inside a million

It's rounding nearly Ten O’clock and Demi skipped her dinner
Each month she loses weight and every week she's getting thinner
But she pushes on collecting candy even though she's weary
And by her 18th Birthday she starts to see things clearly

Demi wakes and packs her things wearing a smirk of freedom
The other girls astonished since they thought she’d never leave them
She’s liberated now and loosened from the chains of yearning
All the pennies she had saved were pennies she was earning

Gift

The way to my heart is under my skin
My truth is tied up in veins 
Concealing me tightly like wrapping paper
My gift is yours if you can find it
Underneath the sticky glue
Masked in tape for my protection

There once was a heart in a box
Knotted in strings of red satin
I left it there for you to have
But it still hasn't been opened

The Poet

The poet wears his heart on his sleeve
while all the chambers leak
Sonnets, prose, and verses bleed
It ills the poet weak

The heart's a thumping rhythm drum
The beat composes time
But when the music tangles love
The heart calls on the mind

The mind in thought consoles the heart
The conscience heals the vein

But it hungers for the beating drum
To pump love to the brain

Dependent Mind, you need your Heart

Don't let them see you show it

Lock all the chambers to preserve

The secrets of the poet