Another time
in another city
when I was
someone else

And she
she asked me
“what do you want?”

And I
I had no answer

Now here
in this town
I being me
and all things equal

She asks me
“what do you want?”

And I
I answer
“everything”

To which she
she has no reply

And I
I am left
wondering
why this question
keeps coming up

(D. James)

exhausted
by talk

empty words
without action

said again
and again

until there is
nothing
but sound

like shadows
in fog

smoke and mirrors

leaving us
nowhere
with nothing

(D. James)

piece of wood
in hand

broken chair
broken heart

throat
raw
screaming

glass
everywhere

must have been
some fucking point

I was trying
to make

(D. James)

And I will
rip up the night

raise hell
for the hell of it

ride until the
road rolls up
behind me

until my tires
burn off the rims

and the sun
comes up to
stop me

dead
in my tracks

(D. James)

why
is the word
try
in poetry

is it because
it is
at times
a trying task

or because
we try
and try again
to write
a good one

perhaps
you should try
and let me know
what you find

(D. James)

crushing waves
of sadness
crash over me

and I am afraid
of being sucked in
by the undertow

and though
I know
this is temporary

I wonder
if this time
I won’t survive

(D. James)

moments of
overwhelming
sadness

unwilling
to go forward

unable
to go back

I sit here
in this pain
of my own
making

wondering
how to fix
what I’ve broken

(D. James)

we retreat
to opposing
corners

lick our
wounds

meet again
somewhere
in the middle

fight it out
all over again

both of us
defensive
trying to be
right

both of us
losing
looking
for a way
out

(D. James)

this night passes
through me

like a black
knife

no way
around it

I must
stay up

’til dawn
breaks me

only then
will I fall
to sleep

(D. James)

I hold tight
the reigns
and like Atlas
with the world
on his shoulders

I struggle
and raise hell
above my head

to find my
flat blackened soul
laid bare

would if I could
pick it up
but I’ve not
a hand to spare

(D. James)