Pain

Pain is so close to pleasure.

Bull shit.

Pain, is pain.
It hurts.
Burns.
Scrapes.
Screams.

Your skin is flayed.
Your blood spilled and burning.
Twisting in your belly.
Nerves splitting in two.

Usually you think about the
Explosion bringing release.
What if it didn't

What if you were curled up in a bed,
Two, three times a day for six years.
What if every step up and down stairs,
Was a jab of pain.
Your back full of knives when you bend over.

Pain sucks.
Pain is horrible.

There is no desire in pain.
Only a cry for relief.
The desire for 'not pain.'

Pain doesn't make you appreciate living.
It just hurts.

Winter Urges

Your body seems silent.
Quiet for the long dark.
In truth,
Your heart beats harder.
Pushing the sap like
Crimson blood to the furthest
extremities.
Your insides burn just
To bring a slight warmth to
Your fingertips.

The inner heat becomes
Something else.
The embers and white hot
Soul coals
Burn,
Yearn.

They are a hearth.
Deep and warm,
Welcoming.
Calling out.
Insistently reaching into the
Winter winds for someone
To come and sit by its fire.

Your body aches and tenses.
Hands itching for
Another.
Your fire crying out to be
Stoked.
The flaming logs wanting
To be turned, loved,
Given attention.

It years for flesh.
To warm.
To consume.
Protect.
Ignite.
Transform.
Draw in,
Make a place for it.
Give it a home.

You are dizzy with the power
Of your winter urges.
You smolder from within
Watching the snow.
Waiting under the bright
Winter stars.

Bright Food Shop

Dark green pozole,
Spicy Hispanic waiter.
Beads of sweat bubble
On the bridge of my nose,
More on my brow.

Welcoming host,
Kindness in his eyes,
Arms and smile.
Knowing.
Alone on the eve of
Thanksgiving.
No pity there,
Only understanding,
And a gladness
That I chose to spend
It with them.

The red head with the
Coffee and the smile.
The old man who
Remembers Janet Reno
And her girlfriend
Sitting where he is now.

Quiet, comfy, full of smiles.
Homey.

My Letter of Resignation

Dear America,

Thank you for the opportunities to grow and succeed over the last 31 years. You have given me the chance to learn, develop, make choices, form ideologies, debate, vote and so much more.

I regret to inform you that I must resign from my position as Patriotic Citizen. The recent leadership has given me doubt as to the sustainability and dependability of this country. I have watched and protested as you have taken violent action towards increasing capital interests for the elite and systematically worked against the rights of many American citizens. The sense of loyalty and patriotism you instilled in me during my childhood is lost as I have seen you wrongly and prematurely adopt war in the middle east, ignored jobs and economic failure at home, and supported legislation that dehumanizes me as a gay man. The very principals you taught me, fairness, equality, and justice, are the ideals I have watched you abandon, squash and ignore over the past four years. I had hoped that these wrongs would be righted, but now I see that it is not just the leadership, but the very citizens within your borders that disappoint.

I wish you luck in the future. The resources, intelligence and passion you hold should not be wasted, and my dream is that you will recognize your faults and work to correct them before you do more damage. I will be focusing my time and efforts elsewhere.

Thanks again, and good luck America.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey V. Lindquist

Patirotic?!?

A tear in my eye,
Just from checking
A little box.

Who knew!

I think I'm a bad ass
Cynic.
I'm such a softie.
My well
Of emotion released
In the tiniest gestures.