My heart
Will slowly weaken
And flutter
From disappointments
When dreams
Are mere conditions
For love
Which has no pulse

As currents
Without their source
Keep running
On wired purpose
Through circuits
Bound to envy
What power
Is flowing free

In bodies
Bravely charged
By flesh
Of blessed feelings
With touch
Of rare conductors
Whose role
Is staying lit

Like lightning
Always strikes
At the core
Of open meanings
So the burn
Of honest passions
Are sockets
Soon to plug

Our wishes
Needing breath
Before
These answers fizzle
And fade
Beyond redemption
Allowing bulbs
This chance

Between
Their flashing death
And short
That’s coursing gently
Across
Such broken passage
Within
My faulty switch

To brighten
Burdens bare
As truths
Expressed innately
Stifled whole
Inside us
Since hurt
Leaves fate untold

Thanking youth
For choice
And faith
To never falter
Though time
Develops symptoms
Of change
Which darkens hopes.

– J. Pigno

I live for
Summer rides
Biding my time
At rest stops
Dropping
Cash at delis
Waiting
For crowds
To pass

Leaving
No trace behind
As shadows fade
Through ashes
Like sand
In August sunlight
Now bathed
Through hands
Of dawn

Across this
Jersey Cape
At the end
Of asphalt kingdoms
Where highways
Are those castles
Of fantasies
Near
And warm

Blasting
In the back
A sudden sound
Now wailing
St. Janis
As she’s praying
Her voice
A reckless
Ghost

Guitars
That sultry ring
Within this
Speeding cabin
In pursuit
Of lost directions
Where danger
Has no
Course

Near beaches
While we stay
With ghosts
Of lives
Once mattered
Grabbing hands
When passing
The pier
Which held our
Kiss

Vaguely
Spelling secrets
On winds
Of whispered
Daydreams
So memories
Bound to kill us
Reveal
Their final wish –

Hell
If I could care
As moments
Far too perfect
Like these
At Exit Zero
Remind me
How I’m
Home.

– J. Pigno

Accept me
As you will
For the fact
I cannot
Kiss you

Refusing
To relinquish
This white
And broken
Face

Without
That loving gaze
Which time
Has kept
Despondent

Where eyelids
Sagging gently
And mouth
Curved slightly
Down

Evokes
That empty stare
Of a tried
Yet broken
Figure

Cracked
Across its forehead
From years
Of sheer
Misuse,

Delicate
Though I wait
For the hands
Which seem
To cherish

And cradle
This lifeless body
To imbue me
With some
Soul

Despite
What questions
Sit
In a silence
Holding secrets

As the damage
Bearing answers
Is a closed
And static
Dream

When one day
I may speak
From the warmth
You long
To give me

And build
Our tiny model
With tables
Wood
And real –

Chairs
Made for
My joints
Immobile
But resilient

Reaching
As they suffer
To enjoy
Such hollow
Toys

Pretending
This small world
Will hold me
Whole
Yet fragile

Glued
Much like
My smile
And pain
You cannot mend.

– J. Pigno

Upon these
Broken railways
Is the train
Which chased
Old moons

Beyond
That gravel passage
With steel
Laid down
On top

Tracing
Darkened veins
Across
This empty
Landscape

Where paths
To absent stations
Are lies
Of phantom
Tracks

Across
Their eerie sprawl
Outside
What home
Is vacant

But lit
From silent visitors
Who dwell
Inside
Those halls

As wisps
Of lingering pasts
Within
Each restless
Vision

That’s bright
Yet somehow missing
Clear forms
And distinct
Shapes

Recalling
Days well lived
While time
Did not
Expire

When rides
And cotton candy
Were dreams
And fate
Enough

Enjoying
Daily suns
Like pleasure
Of staying
Innocent

Remaining
Barely hopeful
In the wake
Of outside
Worlds

Those shadows
Still their
Ghosts
Now cries
Pursuing vengeance

At the risk
Of seeming
Angry
Near abandoned gates
They haunt –

No zoo
Or quiet park
Can keep
One young
Forever

No theater
Built for leiusre
Will last
Like aging
Film

Despite
The ones who tried
Amused
By being
Clever

Perplexed
Their special
Purpose
Is immortal
To a point

For crowds
That came
And gone
Through an arcade
Missing buttons

Are the only
Relics standing
After learning
Cash
Claims all.

– J. Pigno

To you
This ground does
Breathe
As it pulses
With being
Steadily

Like a heartbeat
Pushing through
Pathways
Beneath soil
Which exhales
God

Drawing
Its fate
From our source
Where the distance
Between us
Narrows

Entwined
As these colorful
Branches
Of a living
And moving
Tree,

Where winds
Bear hues
Of our touch
And music
Assumed
From existence

Filters
Patterns inherent
Beyond
What lines
We might
See

So the hidden
But tangible
Charm
Of such clear
And present
Divinity

Imbues
Our limited
Transience
With a brief
Yet cosmic
Gasp.

– J. Pigno

I’m the only one
Who walks
Near the precipice
Of death

Staring down
My Maker
As each judgement
Follows suit

Believing
Angry moons
Which guide this
Golden silence

With light
From evening shadows
Down paths
That take me home

Toward justice
Sorely missed
For those hearts
I’ve kept abandoned

Through hours
Passing quickly
Under heavens
Made of stars

Twinkling
Just so fast
Their truth
Is somehow frantic

As radiance
Pierces sharply
What darkness
Settles fate

Like buffers
Holding clouds
In failures
Raining frequent

Upon my pastures
Sinful
Across these
Arid lands

Where mountains
Bearing cliffs
Assume
Their rightful stature

Above
Those wilted grasses
And meadows
Turning tan

Eroding
Amber stone
While ridges
Aging slowly

Determine time
That festers
Beyond
My final stance

Fading
By each breath
I gasp
Without redemption

Atop
My jutting pinnacle
Crying
I may jump.

– J. Pigno

Ink
Is how I deal
With the fact
This all means
Nothing

When feeling
Oddly empty
Despite
What dream
Insists

How hope
Is nearly fate
As it draws
From senseless
Wishes

And signs
In makeshift
Comforts
Along one’s
Dotted line –

That heartbeat
Slowly paced
Weak
And falling
Victim

To the promise
Vaguely conjured
By breath
Which bears
No name

As truth
Now given grace
Through agony
Made
Of reason

Where faith
And human wisdom
Accept
But can’t
Deny

Those papers
Stealing words
For crimes
Of lost
Distinction

Ending
As we’re always
Expiring
With our
Thoughts,

For pain
Is living virtue
From a hand
That’s merely
Written

Of the hard
And fleeting nature
Bound
With captive
Choice.

Forget
This whole
Charade –

Our cry
Is best
Unspoken.

My contract
Should be
Ripped.

I think
I’ve seen
Enough.

– J. Pigno

“You can’t live
Your life
With the lights off”
Is what my
Mother told me,

But what
If that bulb
Suspended
Has blown its fuse
Too fast?

Like pain
Which leaves me dark
And reminds me
God’s not
Waiting,

For a switch
Up there
In heaven
Can’t turn this lamp
Back on

Or brighten
All my ills
And reveal
Some hidden
Answer

Where currents
Cease
Their function
When power
Is facing fear

Near sockets
Left exposed
Begging
These nervous
Fingers

To replace
Each broken fixture
By using
My hand
Instead.

Electricity
Isn’t brilliance
But rather
A useful
Danger

Applied
As something luminous
Whether seized
Or fatally
Charged.

– J. Pigno

Hello
I’m a self-loathing male
Of which I deserve
Your deep hatred
For I’ve spent
My life
Disappointing
All the women
Who loved me
The most

Running away
When I’m scared
Rather
Than seeking
Their guidance
Or accepting truth
In those comments
Which prove
How my ego
Was bruised

Kissing
Then fleeing
The scene
Yet panicking quick
When I’m lonely
Seeking embrace
From a partner
Just to realize
My passion
Is dead

Empty
From fearing
The best
Of what this life
Has created
As a dreadful
Lie of exposure
Where feelings
Can signal
The end

Our cycle
Of intimate sin
Fortunate now
To be certain
That desire
From tangible
Instinct
Is a physical
Need
We pursue

Making it
No less
Wrong
Abandoning hurt
By rejection
And ignoring
Hearts
Staying open
Though judged
Superficially still –

Cause really
It’s always
Men
Using looks
As excuses
Or believing
Rage
Is a constant
Born of pasts
They create

As I struggle
To sleep
Every night
Engaging God
Seeking penance
Imploring Christ
For an answer
And hearing
Him whisper
I’m wrong.

– J. Pigno

In fact
It was always
Simple
This plan we seem
To destroy

With our need
For achieving
Something
Other than what
Should exist

Innately
As it is made
From ether
Unknown
To insistence

Of standards
Imposed
By creatures
Subject to will
Of their God –

That ease
Of inspiring
Ripples
Cast without
Intervention

Across
Such space
Everlasting
Beyond what fate
We redeem,

Incurring
Countless debts
As there are
New stars
Born among us

Finding truth
In their brightness
As we navigate
Dust
Over time

Imagining
Destiny waits
Where emptiness
Pines
For forgiveness

Forgetting
This cosmos suffers
Each moment
We waste
On success.

– J. Pigno