Alphabet Oxygen Soup

words untie the noose
tell right from wrong
pull down the curtain
last longer than breath

We must fight sickness
ghosts in the machine
hopelessness
God killers

does your skeleton possess the key to the lock
walk through walls unscathed
believe in magic
understand we’ve been sent
not abandoned here

words tie everything together
are closer to me than my next of kin
I wore an oxygen mask for the first thirteen years of my life
then I sat down and began to write and have not once looked back.

Charles May 23, 2007