Crepe myrtle blooms, pink like the blush of fever
roots growing from the broken bones and spirit
but drinks from the lingering passion of past lovers.

Your footsteps are the creeping of violets throughout
the garden, yet I can feel your touch on the air as it rains,
your memory like the wood smoke from across the street.

I lick my lips, apology and sin, at the tip of my tongue.

Lavender and sage drift in waves of smoke
soft and subtle like your ebony hair flowing
through my fingers as my lips brushed yours.

Blood rushes to my cheeks and I gasp still-
fever overcoming shock as you touch me,
siren on land waiting for the tide to come in.

Once a hesitant explorer, meekly tracing your
beckoning curves and scars I now salivate-
wet with hunger to devour you inch by inch.

But we are little more than bleached bones,
memories grinding into dust with one foul move
blown away in the wind to feed new life.

I look under I for immortality on a trip to the local lending library,
but find a Ghazal under G two shelves in front of me
I can see this is going to be fun

On the isle of an aisle

I pick up a book clearly marked as Essex which to my eyes signifies
Extra Sensual *** uality, haha just me being clever at that I see
it's a map
book
which doesn't really interest me.

The librarian looks at me warily or it could be she wants to be wearing me
I look again under I for idolatry
I might be a god after all.

If life in its enormity is
simplified in the dictionary
and the library is a home to me
I could live there
very happily.

Wish I'd known that as a juvenile
before delinquency interfered with
maturity
I'm as sure as anyone can be
that things would have turned out
quite differently.

People come and go
just like the rivers flow
So what happens when
the rivers all go dry
Is it the day
that we all die?

Remain complacent and confused
Content to be lost
With a heart that stirs
In the permafrost
Run on through the empty streets
Hands open
Eyes closed
Breathing in the cool air
Growing numb from the cold
Still don't let your heart thaw
You'll feel one beat and then another
Warmth so different from the frost
Just the thought it makes me shudder

I was burnt once before
Dark hot fingers scarred my soul
If my heart goes warm again
I fear it'd shatter
Leaving holes

Run into the unknown
Seeking a freezer for a heart
Before it's beaten by the world
Forever covered by it's marks
It's grown so dark you'll never see
But do not dare to light a match
For if you do you might feel warmth
You might consider turning back

Magpie
For dark hair
and light eyes
And rugged charm
But so are they
For red hair and red lips
like baiting crows
With shiny things
Waiting for ravens
with colors in their wings
The play of colors
like dancing flames
Makes all the difference.