Paradox Twins: A Poem in 5 parts

An Introduction

Lively and restless, imaginative,
They push and pull,
Back and forth, back and forth
One is Dark, the other is Light

Conflicting and complimentary
Carpe noctem, Carpe Diem
They seized the Night
They seized  the Day
Living in that bewitching half hour,
They’re loving in the dusk
and living in the dawn

They play their Gemini games
Worse than Chess,
On a  sunbeam and moonshaft  
checker pattern  battlefield
Complex moves and simple motives
Victories are drawn with pure, raw emotions
But strategies with an ice cold logic


It’s not easy to remember they make
a pair
but you cant forget they were meant to be
working together, fighting each other
like the rook and the pawn
two puzzle pieces that fit by coincidence,
accidently an answer
a paradox of sorts,
a masterpiece at odds with itself

I.
The first friend is beloved
Like the alabaster of Michelangelo’s David
Like an anorexic figure of Picasso’s  
Like Madonna Enthroned, a mother hugging her child

The second friend is broken
Like glass bottles smashed on concrete in the pattern of fallen stars
Like looking down on the Grand Canyon  as if it were a fracture on an x-ray
Like orphans flown out of war torn Somalia


II.
My friend I have a wish for you,

If I get my way soon,
the color sea foam green will be everything
except the clouds,
cause they’ll stay
overcast gray, like your eyes
faded bruise and charcoal afterthought gray
like slate
but everything else will be the color of
crushed mint
Just so you’ll always smile
Because your favorite thing is all around

My friend, I have a confession to you

I am jealous of your words
And love them
each and every one
you’ve ever said or written
Their beauty is in their simplicity,
You write so elegantly  
And speak so fluently
Your words flow like springtime on the beach,
And springtime breeze and rolling noontime tide
I love those words with a love that is something
More than love  
but
not more than anything cause
sometimes I fall in love with your hands or
your eyes, and not the whole boy
sometimes just your jawline,
other days just the scars
nubby under my fingertips
and snaking on your chest

I have a secret to tell you my friend,

I really like the way you know
That sometimes when I’m smiling,
There’s something furious screaming on the inside
and you just let it go and act like I’m normal
even though I know you can feel the pain,
bad like I do
and worse too,
cause yours comes with an aftershock
of anger at whoever caused mine


III.  

I love it that you only lie if I secretly want you to
And so lately I’ve  decided the only truth I know is you
and plus,
I’m so empty,
There’s not much left to lose
And even if there were,
I’d put it all in,
For you,
Cause life is like a poker table,
We all go round and round
And  play the hand we’ve been dealt
And plus,
You never call my bluffs
So with you,
I’ll always win




IV.

Let’s play make believe
Let’s pretend we’re
All grown up and making money
And making happy
If we could really, really
Truly, truly,
Gladly, gladly,
Grow up and
Turn into whatever we wanted,
I think we’d be free,
Free and violent
Or free to be violent
We could be a gun,
I think I’m more of a bullet,
Fast. Efficient.
And you’d be the trigger,
Cause you’re always one pull away
In the wrong  direction
And a too tight squeeze
From snapping

V.
Wrists go pitter
Chests go patter
Pulses feel like the
sound of raindrop rhythms
as my world falls apart,
you’ll have to stay strong

If you have weakness
And regret
Then don’t let them find you now.
Don’t let them find you now.

Cause you’re looking like you really care,
Just like you really care, really care
And its in your eyes like your honesty is all there

So when the horizon starts to buckle,
And the earth begins to crumble and the clouds
Start to melt,
And all the prettyboys and badluck girls
Start to crackle and fall to bits,

You’ll be there
Looking like you really care,
Just like you really, really care
And all that honesty is all there
And you’ll still be here