Reverb

there’s a special kind of sound 
only found in concrete 
rattling underground echoes
barreling down old tunnels

in the meantime, 
​I made a crown from burnt grounds 
so I could pretend I was the king 
of subway station singers

busking for a breath of fresh air 
but mostly breathing in 
fluorescent spray paint and
cyan cigarette smoke

living underneath mountains of steel
dotted with nylon pine and runoff rivers of eroding oil and grime

overflowing trash cans and train cars 
packed in with baseball fans and businessmen
short-haired girls and long-haired boys
swaying back and forth and
eyeballs following brass maps 
to rooftop graffiti eulogies
streaming comfort food into 
compressed personal space

process poems through a fish-eye lens
pay rent through venmo and make
leftovers out of old records
fall in love with words with no meaning 
find songs in steel strings, handshakes
half asleep jaywalks, and 
prerecorded public transportation

Self-Aware

mixed metaphors ask me what am I 
shadows get stuck under my fingernails-
polish my palms with sterling silver lips-
stick to what you know you can make-
upbeat all day but can’t meet my eye-
liner notes detail mistakes in strands of hair-
tied down to a dull razor blade in the 

shower with lights off 
speaking with stutter 
spinning backwards
don’t look at me 
just listen

I forget to breathe
I leave sleep to chance
dreaming about green
and alternate realities 
and half-assed attempts at personalities
I read about death
and self-fulfilling prophecies
and contradictory self-aware identities
I never received

  a list for seeing a - point of view, all disassociated 
to mist, pouring a - drink for a conversation starter
   this morning’s a - metronome, ticking
     clock hits 4 am - sleep is a misnomer, headspaces 
insist on soaring a - bove this dissonance, but I’m obsessed
with this boring a - symmetry, searching for synonyms
     for exploring a - wasteland, making ends meet 
   while ignoring a - subliminal
   discourse, feel a - nerve ending pinch 
    it’s an ordeal to - consider the null hypothesis 
              or lease a - new apartment. At least,
                                 I think
        this forest of - contradictory thoughts
                                 is not
            dysphoria;

Freewrite (3/24/19)

idolize finite points, they make noise
in fake vinyl, they breathe life into
low-flying error messages
breathy saxophone ringtones
repeat phrases you sang before
that shit’s comfort food
writing until I’m out of moods
rim shot dim light comfort zone
alone in a bright white room
pan fast left to right
modulate and emulate
chords like flight

Comment Section Love Letter

this song’s an open letter 
to your neon lights 
burning dancing spots into my 
eardrums , reflecting back into my
marinated mood nights

this open letter’s a song 
and i got colors to sing 
all full of chromatic tension 
ever since yesterday when you 
slipped out my fingers and
tie-dyed my socks

this song’s an open letter 
to the way your fingers dip into
paint cans and fall like 
piano keys
watercolor chord changes 
run yellow and blue, and
i keep playing songs in the key of 
clashing hues, chopping up sentence 
fragment paintings 
saying “i love you”

i’m writing this below a jpeg 
of a freeway covered in kudzu vine
freedom in anonymity

this song’s an open letter 
to the expanding sound expounding on 
the feeling of being solemn but not lonely
the tall embodiment of a small town in fall 

this open letter’s a song 
singing the same shade of heartbreak 
to every high school poet with 
emotional synesthesia
(emphasis on the “emo”)

this song’s an open letter 
piecing words together to speak
a melody meaning nothing to nobody

this song’s an open letter
to the ones that matter 
the ones sharing stories of heartache
and confessions of color

stringing together choruses hung up to dry
on clotheslines with hooks and bridges defined by
a lack of resolution
just a pixelated cadence
authentic 
distorted
emboldened by nighttime
when any old symphony or shade of green 
takes on new meaning 
to me 
and all the rest
of the heartfelt usernames