The Ruins.

by William Pauley III

My cigar smoke breath whispers no more
Steadily I twist and bend
Perfecting my bullshit design
And yours
Since you gave up years ago.

These teeth do not construct smiles
These teeth bite into meat
into flesh
and tear from the bone.
Your tears only waste paper
Incoherently, you scribble down thoughts.

We're just a blur, you and I
a flash of light fading before the eyes of millions
and somehow we still manage
to have a good day
now and then...

but we're losing.

All I need to know.

by William Pauley III

Coffee black.
Sugar for taste.
I never trust a man who drinks his coffee black,
a taste so bitter only the tongues of the wicked could ever enjoy.

Sitting again in this broken down café
Sifting for life… in the eggs,
in the bacon.
in this dirty coffee mug.
With any feeling of love, hope, joy as burnt as the side of toast.

I watch as you mindlessly stir your oatmeal,
Your bowl runneth over,
With your eyes hopelessly glued to a hanging television flickering visions of oil and war and death and greed and terror, terror, terror.
We’ve let it get to us, babe.
We’ve allowed the darkness into our lives.
I miss you.
I miss us.

I look again at my untouched plate thinking of the day I’d be too old to eat a meal this hearty.
I pick up a knife and apply a thick coat of butter to the black toast.
I take a bite.
I look at you.
And with a mouthful I say, “I love you.”
You turn your eyes to me.
You say “I love you, too.” and smile.

And that’s all I need to know.

I kill it.

by William Pauley III

I now know the reason why people do bad things.
why good people become savages.
why a man would kill another man.
I now know.

I’m full of fear and hate and ash and death and blood and fists of rage.
Most beg for redemption.
I kill it.

I now know the reason why people hate.
why cancer spreads.
why winter is cold.
I now know.

I can feel the pressure of my black heart damn near beating through my rib cage.
I just want to let it out.
I kill it.

I now know the reason why terror roams free.
why forgiveness is lost.
why hell burns so hot.
I now know.

The End of the World.

by William Pauley III

As the sun goes down, it illuminates the black curtains I have hanging over my bedroom window.
It may be the last I'll ever see of it.

It was warm today.
We are going to have one hellish summer this year.
Insects will be doubled or even tripled in numbers.
Plant life will be overwhelming.
The sun is getting closer.
It's so close, in fact, that our mountains are melting into hills.
Our hills into plateaus.
Our plateaus into valleys.
And valleys into rivers.
A world of water.
We should expect it soon.

We should panic.
I especially should be worried.
But I have what I need.
And she has me.

We're ready.