Archive | November, 2019

“Cold Pink”

27 Nov

“Cold Pink”

Things could’ve gone differently forever

two rivers pulling out separately

in overlapping bliss,

rougher than a cat’s tongue,

welded to a serpent’s jewelry one,

alone to give me your grave

talons: your treasure chest of secrets

your spite of alleyway views

sirens in your destinies few,

a yesteryear full to the brim with us

but your waves goodbye

are fleeting as lives of pets

happier than my bikini burning,

last in her class, hold hands with your pink through a peach orchard,

past deep-sea rose gardens, tasseled, twin rivers pull.

Ladder Days

24 Nov

“Ladder Days”

Sinner:

You had it all:

wealth, taste, beauty.

Sin:

Every day I compare my life to yours: pursestrings, snipped parsnips, dirty roses, damned famine life, bleeding corsage: you made my night like a life. And the kicker of it all?

“Just Some Nobody”

21 Nov

“Just Some Nobody”

You love in a house down the road.

You live in a street down the road.

You live in a glass house.

You live in a glass slipper.

You live hesitantly upon the stair.

You live in the star of a gaze.

You live on the star of a gauze.

You leave your porch light on.

You exist in a breath.

You live hand-to-weapon.

You live in jaguar fur:

skin, bone, and gristle.

You live in that glass house

with glass curtains,

a glass leash.

“Wave Your Hair”

20 Nov

“Wave Your Hair”

These songs are for you

and you wave your hair,

in deeply unsettled joy

in scattered joy

a scream of ice enjoy

face to face with antelopes,

antlers, beer foam

dinosaurs to peer back from mirrors

and all your poetry is dead

top hats in midnight naps

of ghostcandle,

if this is mean enough for you in custard

we were harmed in cat’s claws

bruised knees and clothesline

come with us to rolling groves

and ropes above swimming holes

there are pallbearers happier than you

in cute communication

if there is compliance in death

wisdom will never be complacent

if poetry was kissing you.

“Turning Back, Turning Away”

14 Nov

“Turning Back, Turning Away”

So many times: used to us

to turn waves, to lop heads.

I’m so glad you survived

to be “there, there” in frosty windows

to talk to me that one time

and one hand: shuddering the darkness

and one flame:

turning back angel

alone in a basement, insect legs

shadows on the walls,

bitter is the blue in your sea green eyes

that masks security

that holds the waves, paper boy doll

you were in the prima donna of your life

you were stricken down

twisted as a spear

spit in witch’s magic.

“Poison Chalice”

9 Nov

“Poison Chalice”

There’s an empty space

full of your young lover’s knife heart

in sighs of celebrations

already past calendars

dweller of the cellar if shadows earn

caring for an urn if shadows yearn

licked clean if shadows burn

for edible handcuffs picked by fingers

rubbed bedroom slippers to lemon

coat of winds: creatures of the night

squeezed, bent against this cross

spoiled to milk by this whip of ivy

treasure chest and jewelry horns

we swoop in owl pellet skeletons

we feed for a feckless princess

on the freckles of your mourning

blessed willow hopes of swallowed rope

salty in the sunlight of sadness

one last lost gown to be worn forever:

regretted lace secrets.

“That’s What Katy Did”

7 Nov

“That’s What Katy Did”

I still remember your name.

I remember the street we grew up on.

Meeting your past is meeting a stranger

poster of the past, stronger

hearts beating too fast

the last passage and entryway

burned by a folding hand

a cloth napkin, beads dipped in spotting

around your slinky waist

and sparklers in the naive dark.

I remember your hairy pea coat,

the ravens in your hair.

I still remember you as someone new:

Sparkling jewel

knees dipped in honey

some caramel whisper

piercing ears with kisses

warning bells and panicked intake

to breathe in last inches of your clothing

to liquid bowls, reflections of cake

where laughter runs away from you.

“Who You Are Affects Who You Are”

5 Nov

“Who You Are Affects Who You Are”

Bitten by a miserable mouse

they who walk the hours

they who talk in spent secrets

kill me one glory of regret

trap rays of the sun for insatiable queens

inedible dreams, palpable dreads

walls forbidding to walk up

before you watch us, watch the ushering

and iron strike us:

no chalice for a tougher knight

money breaks us down,

leaves us groveling,

leaves form a scarecrow face,

miasmas milk the sodden firehouse

split feathers, warm spittle,

faces swarm the egg,

true in tune, and only you:

sandals remember your footprints

swimming with the tears

of cheap beast emotions,

fireflies form a raven’s heart.