Strangers

Hey stranger,

you don’t look like you’re from around here.

I haven’t seen you around these parts;

it looks to me like you feel you’re in a strange place

and the strange stares you’re getting from everyone else

are the norm for someone we haven’t seen before.

We don’t get too many new people very often,

in fact its often a strange occurrence

when a lost soul wanders through those doors.

However, I could help but notice this strange feeling I got

when you walked into this place, into my life,

and there is a strange calming effect being transferred

between the strange looks in our eyes.

Forgive me, but I think there’s something here already,

something fiery, something subconsciously tickling

these long-forgotten endorphins into use,

something deep enough to take root in my brain and my heart,

something floating to the surface of my skin like a cold sweat,

except that I am enjoying nearly every second

of this stranger-than-fiction story that we’re writing

with our eyes.

I can see a bit of a glint in your eye, as if you feel a little

of this out-of-control, not-a-care-in-the-world feeling,

and strangers usually don’t fall into anything this fast,

but stranger things have happened.

There doesn’t seem to be a need for any more words,

because we’re both reading each other’s thoughts

like a book without a cover, the front page wide open for all to see.

I know we were complete strangers

before this time and this place,

before I ever had a chance to feel something like this

but give me a chance,

like I think you will,

and you might find

you like me a little bit more

than the stranger staring back at you in the mirror.

 

#266                                                                      09-13-08

Why

Because i thought i would have been back sooner.
Because that last one nearly took everything out of the sails.
Because I never meant to leave for so long.
Because this should have been here long ago.
Because i looked back and said to myself,
   “Where did all of that shit come from?”
Because half of me was fighting the other half
   that wanted so badly to connect the words again.
Because, maybe, it just wasn’t time to call it a day
   and pack it up and leave it on the table,
   unfinished and unread, unknown to a world
   eager for a grand presentation.
Because the fans enjoyed every second,
   while i detached myself from every word
   just to make it through the nights.
Because there never seemed to be an end
   to all the beginnings that came along.
Because i couldn’t go back and read it all,
   because everything came back to me when i did.
Because it almost killed me inside.
Because i can’t get away from it.
Because it’s a part of me.
Because I want it.
Because i can.

#265                                                          09-05-08