Failure to Stop

Failure to stop
may not be my biggest fault
but sometimes it seems like it is
control isn't control when you keep doing things that you know are wrong for you
like loving someone who doesn't love you anymore
or lifting yet another glass to your lips
or lighting another cigarette
to stop from being annoyed
not that it works
but you try
failure to take a moment to understand the situation
failure to relax
failure to meditate
failure to stop and think
failure to look before you take that leap
these are my faults
owning them, saying it aloud, they claim is the first step
what is the next step
someone tell me before I stop trying to stop

I'm locked and loaded
ready for a snow day
what did you say
forceful what?
find me an envelope
I have a letter to write
darn it all
I'm going to tell the story
of the day we met
go ahead and get weepy
you can't stop me
when did you grow that beard?
don't call me baby
I'm more abstract than that
whoa whoa
unh huh
go get my sweater out of your car
I'm gonna go for a walk
that roadsign points to Vegas
but I wouldn't go with you
up into mountains
closer to stars
I'm going to build an adobe cliff house
and open a brothel
no I meant hotel
who the hell cares
as long as it's far from here



all rights reserved, Sharlene Thornton, 12/29/10

I refuse to play the martyr
Woe is not me
I will not except anything less than Joy
and I challenge myself to always give joy away
because only with giving can you receive

so many firsts are gone whats left for you and me



found on the inside of a bar tab...counts as a napkin in my opinion
all rights reserved

love me better

you could have loved me better
you did in the beginning
you were magical to me

and then something happened
and the spell broke
and I broke

who will love me better now

Rolling Over
Suddenly Rolling Down!
leaving the earth
reconnecting with jolts and bumps
faster now
with no places for the eyes to focus
no object close enough to grasp,
air, then sky, then grass, then dirt, then air
then the delightful sickness!
and the laughter
and the landing
then brushing off and racing back up the hill
to feel the butterflies again


all rights reserved of course

You may not believe this,
but I'm thinking of you,
as rain pours down,
on this humid summer night,
my skin feels damp and hot,
and the feeling reminds me of hot summer nights,
not so long ago,
riding bikes under stars,
looking for ghosts in the vineyards and fields,
counting stones in country walls,
wondering who built them and how long ago,
tracing angels and epitachs in moonlit cemetaries,
skipping rocks on pools named Diana,
walking to the end of the road,
our road,
holding hands meant so much,
damp and dreaming,
still wet behind the ears,
amazed by breaks in the clouds,
that let us see the moon,
laying on blankets, in a field covered in dew,
waiting for the sun to eclipse the moon