Predator, You Made Me

I am

Exactly

The predator

You made me

You taught me

How to be

Selfish

Vindictive

To approach each line

As though it is the beginning

Of a hunt

So let me place two fingers

To my lips

And blow you kiss

And you will become

Dust

For that is all you were to me

Because I am the predator

You made me

Sip

I will sip

This life slowly

Remember you

By Friday

With each carbonated hiccup

Your face reminds me

Of brightly colored wrapping paper

Always loud with a mouth ready to be opened

So I will collect this life

Into a chipped tea cup

Slightly jagged edge that nips my lips

With every sip

Like our conversations

Gathering up tidbits

Of current events, laughter, and insults

Pour them across the table

Come Friday

So I will sip

This life slowly

Calico

Switch my patterns

Each day

Turn this world over

With each blink of my eye

Dangle you from a thin thread

And I will bat at you with my words

You seem so eager

To define me

So it must be very frustrating

That I don’t quite fit

Pity you are too busy whining

We might have had a good time

But when you are trapped in your own gaze

It is easy to be blinded all the time

I will switch my patterns

Every day

Dangle the world by a thread

Tease you with smile

Watch you drown in your own dissatisfaction

Stray Thoughts

Jangling coins caught in a pocket

Are these thoughts

Clamoring loudly against my tongue

So maybe I will spend them

Speak them

Throw them out, throw them away

To useless ears

Broken unable to listen beyond own voices

Shift me into repeat

So I can stutter out a rhyme and maybe reason

For still standing here

Downstream from constant dial tone

From flapping fingers and clicking tongues

So let me tuck these ideas in my back pocket

Like a few stray quarters

For it is laundry day, and I have plenty of thoughts

I need to wash and dry

Awake

Capture tomorrow on the tip of my tongue

You tell me I say you name sweetly

As if each letter is your own lullaby

I only laugh and try to remain balance

Teeter side to side along a brick wall

For walls are the only things keeping me up

If I reach up on my tiptoes

I might be able to grab the sun

You try for me and I watch you struggle

Clawing at the brick watching me with wide panicked eyes

As though I am falling and you are trying to catch me

Or maybe you see

That a part of me is fading into the skyline

For dreams deserve to float and fly

So I close my eyes and tilt my head back

Arms open, pondering maybe this is the time

For me to learn to fly

I can’t rely on gravity to show me the way

Can’t rely on you to be the best option for me

Maybe it is time for me to redefine these boundaries

I can hear the roar of your complaints and pleas

Rocking on my heels, I feel the sky pull me back

You hit the wall and crumple to the ground

I tried to tell you that lullabies are meant for sleeping

And I am ready to be awake

Unruly, I will be

Unruly, I will be

As if you expected any less of me

Why should I swallow your words?

When your mouth is big enough to eat your own ego

So I don’t sit and beg

And if you remain blind and are unable to see me

Then I will be prone to trip you

Let you stumble over your own actions

You see I am tired of trying

To get you to see the value in me

As if I should write my life story under a minute

Fill it with bombs and blondes

High speed chases and impressive acrobatics

That I would tell you I could conqueror the world

For your entertainment

Unruly, I will be

And as if you should expect any less from me

Why should I fill my hands full your requests?

When you have two functioning arms and legs like me

So I won’t sit and beg

And if you remain deaf and unable to hear me

Then I will be prone to push you

Provide a helping hand to someone so eager to fly

You see you are no better than me

If you are unable to see the value in me

I won’t be performing tricks or providing treats

I will simply tell you in a hundred words or less

That in life, you ponder your own fate

And you will not dictate mine

For you are simply

A waste of my time