When Dreams Get Ugly

It is just a step
that is all you need take
though your legs tend to wobble
as if they would break

Crawl if you must
whatever is needed
to move farther from
what has maimed and impeded

Drag what is left
into a new space
Claw, scream, and fight
this is no time for grace

No matter how much
you have felt it and bled it
this is not the end
until you have said it

Regression

As the swallowed sun turns the light to dusk
And the day slowly sheds its crackling husk
The dark sneaks swiftly, glaring so
like a rasping beast at a mortal foe
Threatening the peace of a well spent time
Where alone and afraid conquer reason,rhyme
So your breath draws quick like a slicing blade
and you think the thoughts that your mind forbade
For the madness took so long to heal
and your smiling face hid the things you'd feel
But the ink of night edges closer still
'til it crushes light and it strangles will
So you curl up tightly and tuck your head
And you cry what tears there are to shed
Then your body gives and you find your sleep
though your certain still that the monsters creep
Any moment now your skin will be shorn
but your opening eyes show a rising morn

Destination

A peak so high there seemed no top
and yet he still would climb
He never showed a need to stop
He never had the time
The clouds that ringed the precipice
Were ones he could see through
His arms would ache, his aim would miss
Yet his distance grew and grew
The path he used would peter out
He'd pause just for a minute
And with an effort and a shout
He'd find his footing in it
Though slips occurred he never fell
We'd watch him as he rose
His hands would bleed, his feet would swell
But his eyes would never close
He knew one day with certainty
The peak was his to claim
And at the zenith he would see
The peak did bear his name

Broken open

I once thought I was broken but the truth is I'm broken open,
That nerve that screams from the slightest breeze,
The skinned knee that means adventure,
That succulent orange freed from it's rough skin ready to be devoured,
That snake that now shows a new skin, more vibrant then before,
That boring rock that hides earths lustrous treasures,
That sentence or sound that you could never let slip,
the one that could end everything or begin the healing,
That present that you never knew you wanted and now it is the best one you have ever received,
I am unwrapped, I am exposed, I am naked, I am raw,
The useless discarded,
the substance within ready to be tasted

Clutch

Squeezing the meat of my arm

nails dig, knuckles cracking with strain

the flesh breaks, the blood runs

I wrench and squirm, 

but the hold is fast and tight

brutal and laden with pain

The grip has a safety

a comfort that cannot be denied

but it hurts more then it helps

it burns more then it soothes

it mocks me with a brutal contempt

I fight harder, loosen it's grasp

Finally the hold is lost

Finally I am free from all

Finally I am away from all,

alone.