TITHE

(Richie)

you’re my dark angel
sleeping beside me
my willing temptation
i let inside me
you’re my patron saint
i slide into
my religious experience
i give tithes too
bow down
sex is sacrilegious
this is sweet-fucking
and it’s fucking prestigious
i let you have me
and you taste fucking delicious
my new religion
nothing is gonna come in between us
you’re like a bible ready to be cracked open
spread your legs wide
i got a testimony i am ready to share
get devoted and come ride
tag the confessional
with wet graffiti
i give in
to what you choose to gimme
i choose faith
so blindfold me completely
take my heart
and come crucify me deeply

PAIN & BLISS

(Richie)

it’s that constant fork in the road
and we have to stop and ask
which path we gonna take
i just go with my gut
there may be no road ahead
but i am goin to keep goin straight
there is no visibility
or way i can break
this could end dangerously
as a fucking mistake
but i want that thrill
of having everything i feel at stake
over the edge you keep pushin me
and i just accelerate


pain & bliss
holy shit
this is
passionate lust
the kinda babe
that grabs your heart
thru ur motherfuckin nuts
the kiss that makes
you go dirty
cuz he got your trust
it’s an open fist
and his words are like
dust
you’re the one gettin sweet
he eyed the field
and cum to harvust


i get off on the tension
between pleasure and pain
like throwing my body
in front of a speedin train
it misses the killing blow
like the roaring wind ate my name
i’m getting owned
by an attraction i can’t explain
i just hit the fork in the road
and i go straight again


pain & bliss
this is playin with my heartbeat
erratic
you got that grip
on my rock so tight
i almost had it
you’re gonna bleed me out
and cut me up
your kisses roll down my back
and i’m your virtuous slut

LEARN 2 HUNT

Dedicated to G.M.
(richie)


sniff sniff
the hunt is on
wolf growls
his feral song

you say u used to be good
at this shit
but you lost your touch
i say fuckin reclaim it
it means too much
to own a man’s sightline
they can’t keep their eyes off your mystery
trying to figure you out
why you is, what you is, with no context or history
it’s cool to own that moment
when you know they want to rock your jock
i say take their gaze
confiscate it,
burn it
into the hands of the clock
tick tock
tick tock
until their dreams are wet
with the pants they wish you’d drop
but you know when to start it
and when to stop

learn 2 hunt
why wait for him
when you know what you want
i call it wonderful
i call it fuckin cool
i call it the confidence a real dude flaunts
and the posers daunt

sometimes a boy
doesn’t deserve a triple x
he is just gonna get an “o”
that’s cuz
he was the hottest play
of the evening
which equates to
hoe
hoe
hoe
but i think you know
like i know
when a guy holds the interest
for longer than
a really good blow
it’s time to shift the game
hunt is on
wolf is roaring
get it get it
go go

learn 2 hunt
learn 2 pounce
learn 2 make it
till he knows there’s passion that counts
heart in teeth
and lust fresh against your skin
swagger on
u caught your prey
he’s your boy, not your men

ARM CANDY

(Richie)

i am goin out just because i want some public attention
i am a carnivore with an exhibitionistic appetite
i feel like waxing superficial like madame tussaud’s rendtion
i want to grab the neck of the night
and bite
bite
b-b-bite

gimme arm candy
so i am well armed
and pitbull doesn’t bark tonight
i feel like playing
so gimme something sweet
so i don’t pull out and fight
aiight

i was holed up last night and chilling in seclusion
flashing my neighbors for a cheap thrill
i liked granting myself the wish of self delusion
that having social lubrication goes against my will

gimme arm candy
you can jus be the pretty gun
by my side all evening
and when the night is over
and we are sloshed
we can take it home steaming
if cumming home
is the price to pay
for keeping the dudes off-jock
then i am willing to pay
loads of appreciation
on and off the clock

i don’t like sweet things
they make my teeth ache
and fragile playthings
they tend to break
the more they try to make sense
out of what you want to make
they don’t get this is one night only
and not something you set up stakes

fun is candy and i spit it out
when i am finished sucking
but if you got my interest
take my mind, take my heart
and start your fucking

INKED

(Richie)
For V.R.


into life i welcome change
and discomfort and even pain
remind me i am alive
and why i can not stay the same
babe, in this significant time
i want to spend it with you
you are like black ink
marking me like a tattoo

the other guys
are trivial flirtations
more like exercise at the gym
i stay on top of my game
but i pass through them
like a superficial whim

you are like a pillar
of intimidation
i want to grind against
you are like an invasion
of my mind
after a night we just spent
you are breaking
the playfulness
and making me think harder
it’s why you are
still undefined
but your presence is growing larger

i should be feeling angst
but instead
i have a smile on my face
it’s like god pulled you in
to existence
from some unknown place
i am trying to
understand your language
and speak to your heart
but i am inexperienced
and i find comedy
in how i fumble in the dark

the intentions are there
to pull you in closer
i know you have to
at least recognize this
it is transparent
in my face
or when you’re sleeping
and i have to give you a kiss
i have a mad desire
to protect
and for the first time
not to direct
i want you to be you
when you are with me
i want to chill
and relax completely
how do i let you know
how truly different you are for me
that it freaks me out
but for me
the unknown fills me with excitement
and shreds a need for doubt

TAME: CONTEXT

when i left to study in france, i remember telling my mom: "I have to go."
she was like: "but why?"
and i responded: "to find myself."

sometimes to get to the basics of who you are, you gotta step away.
i stepped out of the scenes, out of the excess, i simplified, i stuck to a tight circle of core friends who only brought me positivity.
and i got my shit together.

the concept behind tame is born more out of random conversations with diego, vic, greg, wilma, tameka...
it's not confined to the idea of dating or being social...
it's more of an observation...
that when you do get your shit together. when you truly are solid. independence is not a façade. it's a reality.
and it's an attractive force.
that naturally pushes you back out into the world.
a superficial messiah.
it doesn't take much time to fill air with nothing, texts that say nothing, rendez-vous avec xxx that lack substance...

if life is a continual pursuit of self, and what defines self.
then i know myself well enough to know that i will love again.
and i want to.
but i realize that that someone is going to be someone with the intelligence and foresight to tame me.

TAME

(Richie)

you got me filling my calendar
to socialize my nights
it’s war on
getting my star on
pitbull will bring it
if he has to bite
getting a snarl on
and dressing to the nines
i got tommy on speed dial
and a date to the guggenheim
lush trips with nick planned for hedonism
sun bathing with alex in fervent nepotism
it’s not difficult
to occupy my time
but wouldn’t you want to know
when i wanted you to be mine

i find being a socialisto
is second skin
to a superficial
nature
i can talk about nothing
all night long
i feel nothing
i will never hate him or her
but i will be seen
and i will create some scandal
if i need to be on tips of tongues
who needs to climb
to the top
when you can fuck minds
on the lower rung

i just want to be tamed
to think this is it
drives me insane
when i taste more
in certain moments
that better explain
attractions
passions
that i can’t contain
but hold my attention
enough
to say
get your leash out
and restrain
i am too independent
for my own good, so break me
and start to train
i could be yours
i can be tamed

THE TRUTH: CONTEXT

it may be the kinda poem that only resonates with me...
but when i wrote THE TRUTH, this song by James Morrison was playing called "Broken Strings."
and the writing just flowed out of me...

it was last week, prior to going out with the boys to celebrate Greg's last hurrah as a 30something, that I had this strange but potent realization: I AM NOT A GOOD GUY.
i mean that is too simplistic of a statement, but the idea is right on.
i realized that i WANT people to think i am kinda pure.
that i am sweet and kind and altruistic.
but my actions speak louder than words.
i am NOT perfect. i am NOT good. i am actually pretty bad in some instances.
maybe i am more hedonistic as a single guy... or finally cool to date and be open with someone, that it brings out a more interesting (to me at least) dimension to my personality.
all i do know is, i don't have the desire or compulsion to be so pristine and "perfect."
not only is it unrealistic, it is fucking boring.

the truth is about recognizing the devil on my shoulder and being at peace with him hanging around.
and about wanting people i let close to me, see me transparently. the good and the bad.
i don't want to skew things in my favor anymore in that sense.
i know how to say things to manipulate my "brand perception."
and i am not into that at all.
i want you to know i have disrespected my body, my mind, my friends, my family throughout my life.
as much as i have grown from my dark moments and have the confidence to show both my light and dark sides.

THE TRUTH

(Richie)

there is nothing more attractive than the confidence
to let honesty be the only clothing you wear
no armor, no protection from the brutality and bliss
of a world you are strong enough to bear


the truth is i am not as sweet as i want the world to see me
the truth is i am not as bad as my christian roots plant me
the truth is am not as giving as i seek to be
the truth is the truth and i want at least that to be what defines me


i know like bees to pollen i have become a lightning rod
for smiles, for stares, for french kisses, and sloppy nights
i realize there is no rationale for this gravitational pull
other than if i were nighttime, i would tell you i am dark as night


i tripped into masquerades like a fool desperate for attention
but too insecure to really let myself be seen
and i don’t when it was first that i could look into a mirror
and see something unique in what i could mean

some will want to love me.
some will call me fugly.

some will want me to crucify.
some will never meet my eye.

some is not the sum of my parts.
some is not the acknowledgement of my light and my dark.


the truth is i found the most peace
in accepting i am not a perfect man
i do things, i say things
that cast the aspersions i should be damned
the truth hurts
as it is my saving grace
to pass on the mantle of the good son
takes me to an entirely new place