I was thinking, partly listening. I was nodding, but deep in past.

You were talking. I know it’s shocking. You were thinking this can’t last.

The balance is fractured broken. . There’s a movement in the air.

All that talking, and no listening. Spinning stuck in, ‘I don’t care.’

She came out of the smoke…

It was always the same.

Beauty flawed.

I couldn’t get enough. So it couldn’t last.

It’s odd how we find the way. The strength.

I left her there. It’s what she wanted.

I see her in my dreams. Always the same.

Beauty flawed. She comes out of the smoke…

I was blinded by the beauty.

You were there and truth be told.

There was this chance that felt like duty.

I had the hand that wouldn’t fold.

My heart was in a flutter.

My dick was in my hand.

You were soft and hard like butter.

I was hope with nothing planned.

I was shunning the excitement.

Fell in love with being bored.

All the reading and enlightenment.

Fell to faith and was restored.

There’s a moment in the ether.

Like a clock forever broke.

You just relax and take a breather.

And watch the past go up smoke.

I am taking in the stage play.

From this perch of breezy cool.

There’s a maiden and a horse Thief.

With few Kingdom’s left to rule.

The neighbor took to drinking.

And then fell into a rut.

Following the appearances of deep thinking.

Then, got all bloated around the gut.

There were moments of rage and ranting.

Followed by hours of hot debates.

And in the sparkling twilight hours.

Where so many mapped their fates.

He went out without a whimper.

I swear he didn’t make a sound.

And fell into the ether where…

So many before have drowned.

He was staring at me in that way that has a tendency to make one feel uncomfortable.

The streetcar was crowded in the way that 2 o’clock in the afternoon is, and there was nothing between us but the empty Isle.

“You have a problem, friend?” I asked quietly.

“I’m not your friend.” He snapped and stood pointing his finger at me… He was bigger than I figured. 6’2″, 200 pounds. “You want me to kick your ass?”

“Be careful what you wish for.” I answered and continued. ” I jump over guys like you to get to a fight.”

And that’s when the trouble began.

“There are 32 ways to tell a story, and I’ve used everyone, but there’s only one plot, things are not as they seem.

Jim Thompson

He was looking for the answers.

Not for money, nor for fame.

Not brought down by love or cancers.

So informed by guilt and shame.

He lied about so many things.

Just to keep them on their toes.

The rich, they yacht. The poor they sing.

The lies are everybody knows.

Some said he was a poet.

Some said he was insane.

But they could never know it.

What was running through that brain.

He was looking for some answers.

Not for money or for fame.

Not brought down by love or cancers.

Not informed by guilt or shame.

There’s such a quiet in the morning.

It’s just a silent cooling still.

It’s hard to know what is a warning.

When you’ve calmed that urge to will.

Dennis Mantin

She had a look all business, that some mistook for cold.

I charmed my way into the dark, a sort of drama did unfold.

She said I lacked commitment. That she would change me from within.

She showed me all her prowess. How and where I could begin.

I was looking for an exit, a strange light outside appeared.

I made my way I don’t know how, like the seas a path was cleared.

This story has no moral except somewhere else I did arrive.

Unless she’s here and in my dreams, then I made it out alive.

She was toxic in that good way.

Like main line heroin.

She could sense my disappointment.

And then gently glide it in.

I was looking for some answers.

Truth; I was looking for some trust.

I was sentenced to her beauty.

I gave it all, then all went bust.

I broke free but not in spirit.

When I’d sleep, she’d find my dreams.

What looked good at the omega.

At the alpha distance screams.