|A|ddiction ConstaNt
in th(e) foRmula of Us
Only (x) changEs
-amdr*
Photo: Professor Edward Frenkel in ‘Rites of Love and Math’
Check out the tags to find the (hidden) meaning and mathematical symbols in my haiku. Have fun…I sure did!

This crimson tell
I know too well
Crawls quick
Across my chest
Unwilled
It always starts
With a skipping heart
Stripping secrets from meat
Just to surface my flesh
Blushing
Too powdery a word
For this all too human
Trait disturbed
Sanguine anxieties
Splattered and splayed
On my neck and face
Naked
I cannot escape it
This chronic tell
I know so well
Will color me true
Until my grave
-a.r.
Artwork: Moonlit by Angela Kennedy,
Pennystamper on Etsy
All of life is carried in an echo
With my ear pressed against the border
I can hear the whole of it
A Morse tap in a metal tub being filled
Our playful yelps across a canyon, to no one
The return of whale whistles in the sea
Just the right spot in a naked room
Grieving mothers, fathers, on battlefield streets
That first step in an abandoned stairwell
Laughter bounding back across time
The popping of corks, balloons, celebration expectations
A beast at night beckoning to be let in, or out
Or simply for the sake of it
The screaming of tattered lovers finally falling apart
The clinking of chains across oceans
“Mommy” from the mouths of babes in need
Chirping from a ready pot of tea, or coffee
Whispers of words we shared louder than we thought
Plumbing, garbage trucks, busses, responders
Clanking, groaning, squealing, siren songs
Rescues of a modern age from chaos
Speeches from leaders and villains, or both
The roaring of crowds in response and revolt
Clicking of keys and keyboards and screens
The ticking of time wound tight but slowing
An empty shovel clinking against packed stony earth
The musical memories of this world we share
And what we chose to make with them
-a.r.
Photograph by Emir Ozashin
Reposted for my little echo on her 10th birthday…may your own echoes carry advocacy, humanity, ferocity, creativity, and compassion.
Beware of regressive nostalgia
You may have “the way” figured out
But then, a new day comes along
And soon, “Get off my lawn!”
Becomes the sound spilling quick from your mouths
-a.r.
Painting by Jessica Foox
The inability to change with the times, to see new ideas, to have the courage to step outside the system, will inevitably leave you behind. You may be comfortable…but you will be comfortably archaic, comfortably obsolete.
I let him in
Because she lead the way
Bringing him as close to me as I could bear
A corner stare
He does not dance
But waits, as if we both have time
To afford me this with her while I am able
A minuet of heat too soon unstable
His chill will have its way
One day, his steady slow approach is set
For now she keeps me moving, feigning immortality
As if his ghastly grasp is not already hovering
You see
I had to let him in
To watch, so at the end I could say
I also let her have her way
-a.r.
Reposted for a Twitter friend, who dances with life while death hovers closely…keep dancing with her my friend…he will approach soon enough.
My skin it does not want me in it
My flesh now rejects me outright
My bones they are being rebellious
My guts are refusing the grind
My brain is parading the reasons to care
My life-force compels me to fight
My story seems written regardless of choice
My breath; she pauses these things with her sigh
-a.r.
I miss the sea
Her brine in my sinuses
Clearing, cleansing, leading me
Towards her lace, chasing
The weightlessness that lingers
Deep in my brain and bones
After floating free in her belly
The taste of her tears on my tongue
Disguising the saltiness of my own
Crystals glinting, coating my flesh
For hours after I have left her side
The tiny grit she leaves behind, tangling
My hair reminding me to let her stay
Thick, unwashed, and wild
The ache from who I was, unburdened
When I was with her
I miss the sea
-a.r.
Painting: Married to the Sea by Clare Elsaesser
Much too fast or way too slow
The felt sense of warm days I know
Family time and travel soon
My skull and skin with shrinking room
Outcomes stick in salty air
My stuff piled here as thoughts fly there
I’m good to go or not enough
This summer’s self-talk-shit gets tough
Packing and unpacking fears
Shared space distorting in the heat
With shoulders bare I carry effort
My shadow self in sunny presence
Whether I burn, or pale, or peel
The rub is that it’s up to me
-a.r.
Painting: Young Woman on the Beach By Edvard Munch
This is an edit of a previous poem called “Seasons Greetings.” That one was written in a colder season, but the shit I carry with me somehow stays the same.