A Thank-You Note

I could write you a love note
But I don't dare
For you'd only feel embarrassed
And tell me, "I'm nothing special"
Which only makes you more

Simple chance, and chance again
Was all that it took to illuminate
More serious similarities
Of soul and body and laughing spirit

Hazy days of hot smoking summers at the window
And dreamlike meetings on the carved rocks
The beginning ended quickly
And the rest of time began

So many single entities that embody you
Kind and gentle
Strong and clear
All good words and all good reactions
That confuse me, I don't know how to act,
So instead I am myself-
What a strange engagement

I say yes more now
And there are slips of comfortable truth
That I don't doubt
But I still must only be myself
As you are yours

No awkward verse could translate reality
Which may have no definition
But this existence is made sweeter by you-
I know my own worth
And suffering is turned to passion and joy

Monarchy

No head may be higher than the king's
Who kneels down before all his concubines
Prostrate with folded hands and a sly glance up


Lay on the ground with me, my queen
For I cannot bear your face so far above me
Ever-present as a distant god

Become human so we may share souls
And hold my eyes with yours, face to face
Here on this cold marble floor

I would do anything to keep you here with me
How can I rise to your height when I am made of clay
And your shining face cures my form



Let me tie a string to your leg
Let me plant a garden in your meadow
Let me shield you from the world, for you are my sacred idol



No queen may be higher than the king
As we play the parts of mother, sister, lover
All-powerful with bowed heads

I See the Wind

Late-Summer wind is sweet and warm

And powerful as a dragon

The current wraps ‘round my limbs

I am floating in the universal amniotic sac

My soul heaves against the gates 

I would fly if I simply fell into the life-giving ribbons

For my body cannot be ruled by gravity

While my soul flies beyond 

Still I am sturdy and free like the dancing limbs

Of the honey trees breathing in the breezes

The tingling of the stained glass chime

Marks its discordant tempo to the air’s melody

Unbottled liquid courage

Filled with scents of far-off-lands and adventure

My lungs cannot breathe deeply enough

The dancing molecules that sing so loudly

They block out the sharpness of the stars 

And I am left single-bodied and complete

September 11, 2016- 12:30 am

Wax Statue

She is never sure what the others see

Beyond lacquered lashes and ruby mouth

Circling the looking-glass

That leads to her twisted soul

Tied up in knotted ribbons

Sampson’s hair wrapped round her heart

Woven thread by thread

More decoration to soothe her flushed flace

Withered from tragedy and despair

Reborn through youth and beauty

I am a harlot beyond the bible’s reckoning

Collecting gems of sideways glances

Given freely yet stolen by my avarice

From willing grateful victims

Art collectors

Unaware their gaze is my only muse

Hold still as an ancient petroglyph

You might unkink that curled hair

Or snap apart that smile

Used to put strangers at ease

Cochineal lips and fringed eyes

Like a painted bisque doll
You are a perfect mannequin in the mirror
Made opaque from a lifetime of reflection


August 13th, 11:44 pm

Untitled

Do you know how I’d like to die?

I’d like to drown in the big blue sea,

Tossed on storm-beaten frothy waves.

My body will sink down into the still and dark

Where monsters can eat the flesh-

Deep as a whale’s carcass.

The frozen northern ocean could preserve me -

An ice cold cocktail of potent spirits

To numb my mind and catalyze

Fear’s release, hardening every vein

And every fluid-filled cell.

May the current take away the bones-

Hide them from land-locked funeral procession.

I’ll lie under silt and stone and shadows

So that nobody views the decay

Of my pale and bloated soul.

Friday, August 12th, 3:25 pm

2:45 am

I once said that it was you
That kept me from sleeping
With your shaking and twisting

Deep dreams and tired protests
Which flung me into a dark pit
Where I sat sad and lonely

Now I lie alone
In a bed too big for one body
And still I cannot sleep

Today's Sunrise: 5:49 am

Early light, one more time
I am wide awake with a sweating soul
After days of gluttony
No rest when I must drink in
Every drop of hope that can be found

The paling sky shines softer
Than the faded moon,
Prophecy
To the anti-lullaby of of birds,
And I wait for the first stirring
Of true day

Past the crickets' cacophony
And the vague creature sounds
Beyond the forest's door
The first bird-song breaks open
A bell ringing like a waterfall
Sudden and sweet
And gone before the first note has finished

Echoing into all my memories
Of anxious nights
And new dawn greetings
The sudden tears brought
In telling my own truth

As the birds join together
In ceremony, speaking in tongues
But worshipping together
The same new day
That now taunts me with its innocence