Author: lbstowe

We’re back to zero; I’ll have you know.
Don’t come at me with affections faux.

Keep room between us in company.
To me, you’re no longer somebody.

No one worries I’ll ever be cruel.
I will not speak…much less start a  duel.

If confrontation’s necessary,
I’m no pushover. I will parry.

Assume boundaries; respect each one.
It’s not about us, when said & done.

The point’s peace…& memories for them.
We are now each other’s phantom limb.

I see you there struggling just to get by.
That place is over for you. So, why oh why…

Do you give up so much just for an address?
Happiness could be yours for a whole lot less.

I know you see me. You can’t fucking miss it.
My auto-autopsy here on exhibit…

For every soul in our circular gamut.
My colors shared proudly with all, godammit.

Time to build together; we two rolling stones.
You’ve spent all your hope there & I’m backing loans. 

Marriage, sometimes, seems about choosing a captor.
Bound to in-house coercive velociraptor.

Paired with trusted manipulator unto death.
They’re inevitably brainwashed; heart, mind & breath.

Withholding of affection to assert controls.
So, it erodes connection’s core…collecting tolls.

Stunted loving; because it is rarely mentioned.
Acts are better when linked to words of intention.

For, I don’t see romcoms playing out in real life.
All I’ve seen is resignation twixt man & wife.

You see you in mirrors & you blame the glass?
Blame the room, the decor…but never your ass?

What is left when you’ve lashed out at all in view?
Will you shatter the sight ‘cause it still shows you?

What then? Stumble around looking for targets?
Breaking each reflection, like bulls in markets?

Where does looking everywhere but inward end?
You know it may leave you alone with your sin.

What happens when there’s only one finger left?
Seek reflection for truths of which you’re bereft.

Each age I grow stronger & know more grace.
I earn each gray & each line in my face.

Experience accumulates  with time…
As a crisp cold snow in a wintry clime.

So, the temperature plummets into freeze…
Fluffy ice flurries; showing shapes of breeze.

Layer upon layer settles on minds.
Drifts of wisdom bury & blizzards blind.

A perfect crust, a driven slush, ice melts.
Unique as the flake, like nobody else. 

No one said fighting to live would be fun.
Fighting is all that, sometimes, can be done.

Resist where you can; while, out-creating.
Choose courses wisely for revenge plating.

If you can afford, redirect cash-flow.
Spend on hope’s progress & defund our foe.

Wealthy & healthy of body & mind?
Grants & scholarships are evil’s rewind.

Resistance spending & progressive acts…
Now, need deploying where either is lax.

I am no good at insincerity.
Even in jest, I speak with clarity.

New strangers expecting my open arms…
Don’t get that, at first, I’m gaging their harms.

I’m also prone to stretching truth wholly.
I’ve gilded the facts with hyperbole.

Drama is a matter of apertures.
Accessible even by amateurs.

Truth from the left don’t resemble the right.
Is the truth of day the same at midnight?

Kernels of truth in an epic fable…
Shine thru eons enriching round tables.

For, lies told widely with evil intent…
Cannot muffle truth’s ring & what is meant.

Our every wrong is a chance to get right.
A hole in knowledge to fill in with plight.

Pride will rise ready to defend its own.
Let grace wash over you & cool your tone.

Just personal grace; nothing religious.
Self-sourced calm for proud bluster prodigious.

Gracefully settled, look for the lessons.
Your take-aways can fill that depression.

Don’t fear a gap in the weave of your minds.
Stuff it with facts while experience binds.

It’s unfair; this burden we each must carry.
This anxious worry that cruel will get scary.

The heavy weight that misdeeds lay at our doors.
Creeping cringe that knows they want us on all fours.

That glint of pure avarice in leaders’ eyes.
Stripping all things sophisticated & wise.

All for gain now…or the birthing of evil.
Their hate for my people is low & lethal.

Just the tip of the iceberg in every day.
So, keep cranking the heat till they melt away. 

Users & takers don’t give; they receive.
Any proffered warmth is meant to deceive.

Takers are not concerned with what you need.
They lap up your kindness with jowls of greed.

Users won’t worry about what you feel.
They are shopping you for what they can steal.

Yet, you have defenses built in for these.
Close your eyes & see their aura’s disease.

See blank, black & grey wreathing their persons.
Ignore your gut & all of it worsens.

Like vampires, they cannot get in with force.
Clock intentions & they’ll leave in due course.