Blood and Tattoos

Black ink like my heart
Covers my skin
Covers my scars
Brings me back again
To all those dreams
That became my lies
Another day
Another life

Blood and tattoos
Whiskey and you
The pain it hurts
But it keeps me true
I'd try to forget
But I can't undo
This blood and tattoos
Whiskey and you

The years have passed
And your still there
In my mind
In my stare
I drive all night
I drive all day
I try and I try
But I can't escape

Blood and tattoos
Whiskey and you
The pain it hurts
But it keeps me true
I'd try to forget
But I can't undo
So it's blood and tattoos
Whiskey and you

The birds they sing
Of a brighter day
So I get them tattooed
To carry me away
But not to you
Cause I know the truth
Dreams they really don't come true

It's blood and tattoos
Whiskey and you
The pain it hurts
But it keeps me true
I'd try to forget
But I can't undo
This blood and tattoos
Whiskey and you
Yeah it's blood and tattoos
And memories of you 

Whiskey Blanket

I'd like to drown in the shadows
But the whiskey keeps me afloat
I wish you weren't in every god damned thought
It's its own darkness
It's my own curse
And every day it just gets worse
So I drink to stay alive
Drink to forget
At the end of the day, the drinks all I get

Cause I yearn to live, but long to die
With every drink, I try and try
To drown you out, but still I sink
Cause about me, you no longer think
So I return to the one thing that I know
My whiskey blanket that keeps me warm

The bottom of a bottle is where I'll be
But please don't feel sorry for me
Cause I paved my road
I made my bed
Someday soon I hope to make my amends

And I yearn to live, but long to die
With every drink, I try and try
To drown you out, but still I sink
About me, you no longer think
So I return to the one thing that I know
My whiskey blanket that keeps me warm

Now I awake, cold and alone
My head hurts and you're still gone
So I drag myself back to the pub
Knowing now, that I fucked up
And one more drink, is not enough

Now I yearn to live, but long to die
With every drink, I try and try
To drown you out, but still I sink
Cause about me, you no longer think
So I return to the one thing that I know
My whiskey blanket that keeps me warm

Desert Love

As the leaves quake
A wind whispers across the sky
The sunrise takes shape
Reds, yellows, oranges
God's paintbrush, man's passion
Dreaming beyond the horizon
New lands, new sunsets
Forever moving forward
The stream flows until it is dry
The savagery of the desert consumes all
But life flourishes in death
Darkness gives way to light
And all begins anew
Like me and you

Current State of Affairs

Years of fear have brought us here
Anger grew to hate
No one listens, no one talks
Now we fear our fate

Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles
We're all torn apart
Everything we're supposed to love
We somehow have forgot

Until we listen we will not know
What others talk about
Stop the brain stop the pain
And listen with your heart

The walls must fall that divide us all
That keep us far apart
Bridges heal, bridges grow
Give us a new start

So stop the tears, and stop the fears
We need something new
Building love, building trust
building what is true

So take my hand we'll march together
Fight to live a new forever
Here for you, here for me
Here for all those that will be

And when we win, they will know
We fought with all our heart and soul
Fought for justice, Fought for life
Always fighting for what's right

Happy Birthday

June 9th 2000: The Devils win the Stanley Cup! 
Garett’s carrying a keg above his head. 
This place is CRAZY!

June 9th 2001: Twenty one! Limousine! Downtown Denver!
Avs beat the Devils in the Stanley Cup!
The Hungry Strangers are born!

June 9th 2002: Wow this year has been crazy!
Joined the Army, 9/11 happened, Went to basic
No we’re in Germany drinking at O’shea’s for our Birthday

June 9th 2003: Kosovo, this place is hell!
Cold in the winter, hot in the summer...
What the Fuck are we doing here?

June 9th 2004: Damn, I wish we were back in Kosovo, Iraq sucks!
130 degrees outside...
And guess what, getting shot at on he birthday! Fuck!

June 9th 2005: Been out of the military for 9 days. Should I be happy? 
My grandmother’s in the hospital and is going to die.
Why don’t I feel anything?

June 9th 2006: One more drink to help me forget
One more pill to kill the pain
Fighting for the numbness, that I hate so much...

June 9th 2007: It gets better, if you let it.
It gets better if you try.
Begin to put the pieces together and remake sense of everything

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This is a poem I wrote in 2013 at a Warrior Writers workshop and it was published in the Warrior Writers 4th Anthology.