i tried, tried

an education of ranks and stripes

some lessons can't be taught.

the price is greater than the cost.

if the prize is someone else's dime,

i don't succeed.

so i tried, tried to find a reason that was mine.

raised by the falling bar

to be shot down by the stars at night.

oranges and pinks over the beach,

evanescent condensation and steam

designer express control

too massive to exert a weak force,

weedy, intrusively mistaken particulars

as ripples radiate from center,

troughs and peaks on the water.

the allegator has teeth,

spraying words with a bite and snap.

the chaos is still the same,

awakened to modest awareness,

only the perspective changed.

expectations, desire, and hope -

threads of the same rope,

weaving through singularities in continuum,

nobody makes magic alone.

one space between two or more things,

the devil disguised

as two ducks taking flight.

as you lose the goose at your side,

golden, silly, and wild,

gratitude, civility, and disobedience.

i tried, tried to find a reason that was mine.

success is about how i feel inside

and the value of things i can't buy,

sabotage and qualicide;

confused for romance until it burned

less like passion,

more uncomfortably like fire.

Waldo found himself,

and Jesus says hi.