Five years old and they
   could not hear me in the backyard --
   I called out, the gate was locked and
  the screen door, mesh frayed at the handle,
  was locked too -- I could see it --
  and they still couldn't hear me and I
     was afraid and the mesh
     was frayed and my little finger
         just barely fit through and then
             aunt Lucy came and made sure
                 that I was punished.

(The reward for my fear was
the most frightening and humiliating
experience of my childhood)

                   I hid.

"Get out here!" my father yelled
and his voice made me flinch and
trembling I unhid.

       my uncle and aunt watched
as my father spanked me
harder and angrier than ever before,

       my uncle and aunt watched
the shock of every blow
reverberating
through my tiny body
                                    until

       my uncle and aunt watched
everything let go
and I ****** myself on the floor
in front of them

weeping and violated

I do not remember what was said after

they left the room and
I was alone with my shame
while the sun fell the walls
faded blue the ride home
was silent --

-- all over some torn mesh
      and doors they should not have locked.

There's a mouse in my room,
she's silver and white,
mom's chased it with a broom
and the fella's put on a fight.

From the kitchen KABOOM
did shout one cold Christmas night,
dad was the bringer of doom,
he and his shotgun's great might.

Turns out our little mouse
slept in our house

with her husband and kid
but hungry they came unhid

by father's twitchy right eye
so they met his gun and goodbye,

our mouse friend is forever now
a lonely Christmas night widow.

Morning, Nine-five,
To the tiny flowers in your garden,
And celestial ongoing bloom.
To the cadence of the sudden
Bird awakened in the noon.

Morning, Nine-five,
To a drop of light that slithers down
Down the smooth of shins and to your ankles.
Morning to the heedless way it gowns
Tips of feet unhid,
Naked toes uncovered by your blanket.

Morning, Nine-five.

The walls won't come tumbling down
There's no horn player from Jericho
The fortress took years to build
And more scars than the stones let show

You chipped away at the barrier
You really, truly did
For a while some interior was exposed
The fortress' contents unhid

But danger is ever present
Some entrants will be foes
And castles have no filter
The drawbridge is either open or closed

And even thought the door was shut
You swam across the moat
Fighting to be let in
Not realizing the futility of your hope

In the end you will not win
No matter how strong the advance
The guards are strong and the castle cold
You never stood a chance

However, you left something long lasting
Something that cannot be taken back
You left a crack in the fortress
And maybe one day the walls will collapse

Super Moon:  If you were beside me

If you were beside me,
You would believe the unbelievable,
The Super Moon fills our bedroom cup with whiteness,
Light, a sky-delivered invitation to walk on the water
Upon a path illuminated that commences at the dock

If you were bestride me,
You would feel the majesty of
Our union in a new light, bathed in
Sweat and glory of nature's triumphant
Marking our bed and home, its nestled place in nature

Alas! Your potpourri of sleep noises,
The purring, the little yells, dream induced,
Signals that tho beside me, you are somewhere else.
The Super Moon, disappointed, has marked your card,
Marked it absent, but marked me, your lover~brother in arms,
Tasked, incised, upon my body, your homework assignment

Moon:
Gaze upon his eyes when you rise,
Touched and filled with the history of your lover's
Encounter with the Man in the Moon this evening,
Study it well, memorize, these words, I have
Inscribed thereupon for you to read

When you next intimate, I will be there,
Whether in these words or his eyes,
No need to estimate my light,
It's safe, stored, so that the dawn's plight,
Vanity attempts to compete all will fail,
For I am, you are, the light unhid, in his eyes**


3:00am
June 23rd, 2013

One year and one day ago, the Super Moon filled the night and I wrote:*

If you were beside me,
You would believe the unbelievable,
The Super Moon fills our bedroom cup with whiteness,
Light, a sky-delivered invitation to walk on the water
Upon a path illuminated that commences at the dock

If you were bestride me,
You would feel the majesty of
Our union in a new light, bathed in
Sweat and glory of nature's triumphant
Marking our bed and home, its nestled place in nature

Alas! Your potpourri of sleep noises,
The purring, the little yells, dream induced,
Signals that tho beside me, you are somewhere else.
The Super Moon, disappointed, has marked your card,
Marked it absent, but marked me, your lover~brother in arms,
Tasked, incised, upon my body, your homework assignment!

Moon:
Gaze upon his eyes when you rise,
Touched and filled with the history of your lover's
Encounter with the Man in the Moon this evening,
Study it well, memorize, these words, I have
Inscribed thereupon for you to read

When you next intimate, I will be there,
Whether in these words or his eyes,
No need to estimate my light,
It's safe, stored, so that the dawn's plight,
Vain attempts to compete the daylight,
All will fail,
For I am, you are,
the moonlight unhid, in his eyes


3:00am
June 23rd, 2013

I only stopped to claim my sword,
Adorned with royal rose hips.
I tried to run to the castle.
I would swim the moat's ditch:
Brave the monsters of the waters,
to shorten my frantic trip.
I would have climbed the tower walls,
I would have scaled the steepest cliffs
to keep the snow within my globe:
To keep my wife beside my hip.
The man's laughter flowed, chortling,
Over lacerated lips,
As he watched me run a fool,
Stumble, stand, and slip.
It faded from my ears,
but from my mind it never did.

There before me, I saw a figure.
It appeared to be unhid;
standing in the thicket,
as though the forest where it lived.

I stopped and slid.

The path beneath my feet
betrayed my stealth instantly.
How must have looked my face,
when she turned to peer at me!
"What do you in this place?"
I asked, fumbling visibly.
The child, when she spoke,
could be no older than thirteen.

"Know you the queen?"
She asked, happily.
Her teeth were white and clean.
Her face was fair and even.
Her body: strong and lean.
Her eyes were closed and bathing
in the sunlight's warming beam.
"I have come from lands unknown here,
it does no service to name my king.
I carry presents to this land;
Rumors of bells ring.
The marriage of true love
is occasion for all to sing.
I am a seer, and glimpse the future,
and the peril that it brings.
I'm here to grant a single wish
to a prince who is charming."

Because I could stop for Life—
She kindly stopped with me—
The carriage held not just ourselves
but all mortality.

We promptly drove; we knew of haste—
I didn't put away
my labour nor my leisure too
for Her civility.

We passed an industry where workers worked—
At midnight— in the room—
We passed the fields of gazing grain—
We passed a megamall—

Or rather— they passed us—
The cloud unhid a paintful ray—
For certain cotton made my clothes,
my plastics only pay—

We paused before a house that seemed
a miracle in the air—
Its use was scarcely visible:
A trick of tear and wear—

Since then— 'tis days and yet
feels longer than the aeon
we first surmised the turning sky
were toward Temporary.