Megatons and major-broads
and Cincinnati firing squads
lined the street
with punctured feet
and shot the skies with mushroom eyes.
Art and Dan and some dead man
hid inside a garbage can, while
gold platoons
with silver spoons
lowered down the has-been town.
The grill and bars and several cars
burned and sparked and crashed and parked
as life, so frail, went straight to hell
wrapped up in the ceiling war.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 7:11 PM UTC
The old shoestring
Ragged and frayed;
Age showing in each
Interwoven thread
Finally, after years
Of stress,
Snapping into a
Short, useless
Stub.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 7:09 PM UTC
You are the fourth nail
dull, crooked and corroded
piercing the watery heart
pushing through the spine
splintering the wood
delivering the poison like
a Golgotha adder
dancing on the stone and
kicking the crown
Your rituals are performed in
robes dragging the ground
The work of your hands betray
you like a ***** bride
The children starve while
you eat the lamb
and lie with the calf
I never knew you.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 7:03 PM UTC
i can see you
i can't
as you stand
there
not in front of me
where are you
now while i
caress your
body days away
and kiss
the distance
on your lips—
come
go
st ay
a rriv e
dePar t
hold on to
my hand
tightly
centuries
in the
future
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 7:02 PM UTC
You, traced in red,
thick paint outline
grasping for her,
a specter in
the emerald vapor.
What is that look—
pleasure or
grey death?
Mirror sisters
in ashen gowns
hanging loosely over
translucent skin.
A bond deeper than
skeleton— love
and hate passed
through haunted
touch.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 6:49 PM UTC
If I could slice
a still moment
out of moving life,
I would carve
an ample piece of
that one time
and place it under
a crystal dome—
gazing daily
at its deliciousness
until temptation
finally cracks me
and I burst it
from its detention,
devouring it
like a brown bear
at a honey tree.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 6:46 PM UTC
I release them. Fledglings
pushed from the nest,
thin-skinned and chirping.
Constantly on guard for
the cat and coyote.
Skipping from tall grass
to bush until there is
enough strength to fly
and feed alone.
They build their
nests in hidden hearts
of those who discover them
and sing sweet songs
to the ears that hear.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 6:43 PM UTC
When she carved the pumpkin
her hands sunk deep into it
and, as she scooped the flesh,
she thought of the ******
how the face went soft,
yet wide-eyed and open-mouthed,
the stringy seeds spilling out
onto her dress
as she twisted the knife in;
his body thrusting forward
not expecting the delivery
or that she would fight back
and now a pile of damp pulp
on the old, wooden floor was
all that remained to be cleared
before the celebration–
her steady hand putting
flame to the candle
and placing the toothy head
in front of the house
as a beacon to those who
would come knocking
that night.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 6:39 PM UTC
The next evening,
cicadas gave testimony
in their lazy accent—
your Judas kiss
from the dugout
next to Barb’s Burgers
under the periwinkle moon.
That empty ball field,
a barren beach.
Wind blowing red clay waves
over third base.
The summer air
weaving your breaths
into a scarf of deceit,
your hair in pony tail
until he slid
the band off,
releasing the bundle
of buff sea grass
down your neck.
The kiss, a shy,
soft shell crab
burying itself in the deep.
You’ll say “we need
to talk” but no.
My heart will drown
with the stars
you watched fall
into the black ocean
of last night’s sky
with him.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 6:27 PM UTC
The hurdy-gurdy man’s monkey
snatched your only dollar
and you clapped
then turned on Thomas Avenue,
and scaled the front steps of
the brownstone.
Your lonely third floor silhouette
pouring a *** of tea
in one cup.
Lamp darkened like a stranger’s hope—
corroded fire escape
leading up.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 21, 2020 at 6:25 PM UTC