The heat we made lingers and I ache. Love is supposed to make the world better. It’s not love. It’s not love. And it’s not a waste of time. No, no it’s not a waste of life. When I was a child, I was blessed by an un-light, Taken into a family of One, Then led through fields and forests and swamps. Through the quiet country and the monstrous places, I roamed across a broken land. I am man of peace Standing at a barricade Screaming: love everything, goddammit all! But screams are soldiers’ sounds And I am a man of peace. True to the universe that took me, I will wander every room, Aching when the warmth Touches my cold, tired bones.
poem
The Way
lights out
time passes
summer close
i gotta sit down
i gotta find my friends
they have forgotten
the fairy tale ending
an open door
understanding
earth, my soul
never feel so good
as when i’m wonderin’
what i might be missing
the night
lonely star’s light
underneath it all
everybody knows
we’re gonna burn
fire, fire
in the darkest places
i know the way
Forever and ever, everywhere
There’s a crack up in the sky
Forever and ever
I been everywhere
Since you said goodbye
All those salty tears I cried
Forever and ever
I been everywhere
Since you said goodbye
Remember times are changing all the time
I feel so insecure when floating blind
There just ain’t no fortune tellers that I trust
There just ain’t no fortune tellers that I trust
Will I ever let it go
Forever and ever
I been everywhere
Since you said no more
Left here to rest my head
Forever and ever
I been everywhere
Since you said no more
Down Turns
I was trying
to find someone to take
me to the hospital
because my hands
were so full of stuff
I couldn’t drive myself.
My neighbor responded.
I was admitted.
My neighbor waited
and gave me big hug
when I was told
I could have the surgery.
We turned on
the room’s TV
and it said,
“Hi, your name is Broken,
and do I have a story for you.
After surgery,
you are going
to have no money.”
I was many flavors of nervous.
I was like, “My god,
I have got to get this done,
despite the TV’s warning.”
It was really tough.
In the end,
it was no problem
to do the surgery
and to be able
to take a picture
with my neighbor
afterward.
I got the medical help
I needed that allowed
me to grow
into a professional
that manages other
surgery-helped professionals.
I got my job,
but that TV’s words
hung over me
like a cloud of cat piss.
Soon enough,
the world started
to take my money
and I didn’t know
where to go for more.
I traveled from bank to bank, and asked “Where is my money?”
They said, your money is here,
you just can’t have it.
I traveled from crypto mine to crypto mine and asked, “Where is my money?”
They said, your money is here,
you just can’t see it.
I stopped traveling
and turned on the TV
and it said,
“Hi, your name is Broken,
and do I have a story for you.”
I stayed up too late
and called in sick
to work the next day.
Going Places
Take me to the bright sky
Tell me what I should know
Take me to the burning heart of the sun
Take me to the ocean
Show me how to stay low
I wanna be the only one
Sometimes it seems
We’re on opposite sides
Of this infinitely long dark hall
I keep my bags packed
I keep my shoes on
I will be ready when you call
Take me to the mountains
Teach me how to run fast
Push me past the edge when I think I’m done
Take me to the forest
Hide with me forever
I wanna be the only one
The Embrace of Silence
We never talk until we change
So there’s reason to worry
‘Cause if things change too quickly
We’ll never shut the fuck up
And if the silence arrives
We’ll share it together
There’s so, so much pleasure
And it’s ok to be scared
If I drop here a line
About how we are falling
And the need to blame gravity
It’s only because not all falls are bad
I’m not the seer of your eyes
And I know not to ask why
I stopped thinking things though
I know not to ask why
I stopped thinking it was easy
And that made it all easier
Took a kiss for an answer
Now we’re waiting and waiting
I’m slow but you’re patient
I know not to ask why
Haiku for Shellfish
Mutilated lips
All through the parking garage
Gonna be all right
Not a Pure Thermal Phenomenon
I had what it took then, honey honey
To take it straight into the sun
Get it – get get to me
Get it – get get to me
Get it – get get to me
Get it – get get to me
Honey, honey, it’s a minute past our dew point
Swim in time like water and I get this
Wet grip liquid reality
Waiting to inflect/intone oh no
Can you hear heat in my voice?
Yeah, No way, sugar sugar dumpling
I tell a truth: I am a truth
I had to live and had to care
I got an unfair
advantage
I got a big ol’ swollen belly
And this multi-colored tongue
Hallelujah! Gawda’mighty!
When I watch you touch your inner thigh
I’m kissing all these angels
In the endless white hot sunshine
It’s so hard – it’s up to me
‘Cause I ain’t leaving no one behind, no
I cain’t leave no one behind
Shadows Under Moons
I’ve been walking through red forests
where desperate winds blow
against my every step,
trying to force me off the path.
The moons float far above the trees
and the night weighs on my shoulders.
The trees begin to crumble right before my very eyes
and the moons don’t say a word, too far away, too high.
The night keeps pressing on my shoulders.
The trees keep crumbling to the ground.
Why do I care about the moons so high?
Why should I care about a moon-soaked sky
when I’m standing on loose soil
in the shadows of red trees
that shroud me from light mystery?
I’m thinking how the stars that you have stolen
for your eyes, your mouth, your smile
no longer work to give you face
but have begun to melt you in your place.
Yes, I’m still standing here
in the shadows of red trees;
in the white-hot glow of your night eyes
dreaming how this comes to be.
Is It Real or Is it _______?
I should have asked you home with me
So bold of me, “come home with me”
Where we would’ve done just what we’d do
(And we’d do them well, those things we’d do)
Instead, I dream of you now in verse
And write my heartbeat next to yours
In these lines, I render false memories
Of kissing up and down your neck
And singing soft songs of sweet abandon
These are open and imagined spaces
Shhhh, don’t tell me anything
I don’t want to hear anything
about anything at all
Just put your hand in mine
And never ever go away
Please, never ever go away
Jason Preu 
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