in parentheses

You might find Arben Alovic somewhere on your adventure. He may be teaching at Laguardia College in NYC, or taking a nap on the Kamo River in Kyoto. Remember, there is no obligations to life. It is yours and yours alone, so do what makes you happy, without feeling the need to explain yourself. His work has appeared here and there, but what’s the fun if he listed it here? Time for a good one scavenger hunt. May you explore all the other lovely writers you find on that hunt! Till next time, may life treat you well.~

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“Bookshelf Memories”

I’ve always wondered what became
Of the poem I slipped in the book
Hidden away on the shelf of the coffeeshop
In an old alleyway in Kyoto.
Yellow with age, coated in dusted
Forgotten on the bookshelves
Of the dimly lit coffee shop, I
Sat in and collected memories from.
The roasting of the coffee
And the kiss, of my lover
As she said goodbye
Not knowing I wouldn’t see her again.
It’s been 10 years since that goodbye.
I remember
Waiting for her, as she crossed
In front of the window
And in a hasty, I hide my resolve
Inside the pages of a book
Whose title I’ll never remember,
But whose cover, worn, I’ll never forgot.
Somewhere, out there,
The love I promised you,
Lives on forever, inside a book,
That will wait
Endlessly.
For us to the return
To what was.
What cannot be.

“Somewhere In-Between”

Midnight cuts.
They bleed differently.
Less of a river flowing,
More obstruction. Memories clotting?
The sympathy Seraph
Drains me
Just close enough to empty.
This state of agony is honest.
I can scream loudly
Yet no one will hear me.
Not here
Not where I yell from.
I reminisce of the man I could have,
Should have
Been
But there is no one here
To judge my shortcomings.
Tranquil;
In what isn’t paradise
But where fires aren’t burning.

It’s so quiet and lonely.

“What The Moon Witnessed”

Slowly the moon
Drags itself across the sky
Careful not to disturb the stars.
A fragment of itself
Hiding behind its own darkness;
Why does it shy
From the world?
Or does it
Show me pity?
Solidarity understanding
Of the broken-hearted man
Who fails to find hope
Under blue skies.

How I wish
You wouldn’t feel sympathy for me.
I’m the villain of my story
And these hopes
I toss into the night
Aren’t kind.

May you help me
Disappear
Tonight?

Please beckon the clouds to gather,
The stars to dim,
The streetlights to weaken to a flicker,
And the world to a breathless quiet.

Let me cease to exist
Into the nothingness.

Please turn your watch away from me.
I want no witnesses
To my end.

“Endlessly Cycling”

I’m running
Until my chest caves in
My lungs explode
And I collapse
Crashing into the Earth.
Wasting away
Fading
Blackness
Into the ends of my consciousness, I discover the soul’s abyss
But it loops
Circling back.
The lights
Blinding
Into shock
My legs shake,
Awake
Breaking into a crawl, I escape this
Explosion of awareness
As from my knees
I break into a run.
As fast an escape I could manage
Until my body starts to shake
My lungs could no longer hold air
My legs buckle
And I crash into the dirt
Broken
Exhausted
Uncertainty
Of why
I can’t
Just
Disappear.

Why do all these days,
Just become like the last?
What is tomorrow
And when will it come?

Will it come?

I’m breaking.
I’m broken.
I don’t know
What I am
Anymore.

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