letter to brother sean
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you speak of an angel you knew under las vegas lights
nostalgia burns your nose smelling dice
but I talk of a nearby maned, mere stranger
closer than blood will allow, nearer than a fist-throw away
clinging to a God that separates us
I echo in a hollow near a brook in your backyard
if I could talk away the battery marks on the wall, bat splinters in the bathroom 
I would be taking away the intimacy that divides us
the smell of liquor too fresh in our skeleton closets,
change the pens of two angry iambic pentameter rapists 
"we write best of what we know"
I miss the blood that chased me down
spilling his verbal ironies, talking down my own self-destruction
I know he who has lived my red-eye
understand the longing for Mother turned sour
taking us out of time, space, God, and context we are in sync
flatliners in our chests shared in a hospital bed
dead to our desires to where we knew we would be
and where are your brothers tonight?
one in Africa translates "family" to "forget"
the other denies losing sleep a single night ago
step away, I define insanity: insane
you are the bloodline that connects me to myself
to who I knew to hate and abuse
looking at you looking at me, they see mirrors
me, I see familiar thoughts spinning two different extremes
ironically, I long to share a night of drinking for five
fear that only death can pull us together again
the boy's getting sick of the tapping at his door
and the old man's getting too old for the shit
thinking they're the center of my compassion
seeing you for seconds I panic towards familiarity

my cell gets painted with 
thumb prints inked on both hands
as long as the black fluid keeps your name local
as long as your's keep away from the white pills 
and even a shotgun if the lead decides not to find flesh to warm
since when did your words get so long?
did you forget the ones that sound like "phone him"?
i'm sure the pavement westbound gets harder and harder to ignore
but you've taken us two there before
proud I ink our name on my shoulder
proud I ask maybe try my unorthodox words on for a change
not half as tall as your's