The Poetry Marathon

Children in raincoats

Eating steamed tomatoes

And putting frogs in jars

Innocence is a mystery.

The population diminished rapidly

For babies could only be created by pure, unconditional love

A love one could not be taught.

Or tricked into. Or manipulated by.

A love that was more than a fuck.

A love, like a long lost language that nobody quite understands.

Everyone is having sex.

Nobody is making love.

I needed you to hear me when I was quiet

I needed you to calm my soul when my heart began to riot.

But most of all I needed you to need me the way I need you.

I needed you to see the worth of all that we have been through.

I know there is always someone prettier than me

Someone a bit smarter and kinder and easier than me.

But I also know she will be less in every way that I am more

You don’t find this kind of love on the shelves of a grocery store.

I long to put into words
Exactly what i experienced
On that pretty emerald island
But not even my imagination
Can attempt such creation.

If we could agree on a nice shade of grey,

The world would be a much better place.

Spiders

Fuck it,
Let them burn,
This house will be a house
No more.

I knew It
This was it, Certainly
No matter what he was or Wasn’t
This was Love
But
He only wanted me, not We
His ego, my shoulders Carried
Love and duty are not one in The
Same
His touches left Scars
Bruises and Contusions And
Sometimes
I miss the way That
He thought this pain Is
The best way to be Close
Enough

Beau Taplin’s Close Enough

You could never fill this void.
I’ve consumed enough lovers to realize
That some people will never be made whole.

Who taught you to flee before you fight?
Who taught you that monsters only exist at night?
Who taught you that respect was a basic human right?
Who taught you “I love you” were words you just recite?

The only thing I was guilty of

Was giving you too much,

Now all that is left of me

Will never be enough.