Tasteful decor surrounds her
Offspring celebrate life in song
Resonating off walls of art
arranged her way
Life now arranged her way
Worn out obligations
Lay untangled unused
stacked neatly upon
a corner table

Feelings hold no justification as the wheel of fortune turns
three eleven
two women, a man,
and an elephant in the room.
Three blades in the heart
and a cigarette tattoo.
Three dark freckles mapping a triangle on my wrist -
on the top was man, two woman at bottom, a fault in logic.
Circles scar as they trace their story down
to the ending you thought you would never
come back to.
I just wanted one lover,
my one lover wants two.

There is a story to be told,
either we should attempt,
together or keep it a secret.
Pain is the glue that joins us,
the story has different narratives
that won't converge, in all places
hence it is less than joyous.

Joys are but a rainbow till evening,
the rains of happiness are sparse,
                           we still are waiting
the drought destroys everything green,
love is a dying stream in between-
ego trips and never ending pain.

Let us tell the story in one voice,
let go the pain of lost choices,
you should be lying on my chest,
sobbing and I must be  consoling softly,
"Honey, don't cry, it's not your fault or mine"
still you are inconsolable in your grief.
              Then you see my eyes are
              two pools flooding in pain.

Roasted on face and knees,

they confront burning logs

and crackling twigs.

Morsels have been cooked

and eaten: night's cold wetness repelled.

Foremost thought rolls across

their minds — they must

smother the campfire

built with passion

that properly stoked

would last forever.

He has one more marshmallow to roast.

She fears flames will creep out of control

through grass and brush.

She wants to bank the coals

and let them die of their own accord.

He gathers a pail and heads

to the creek.

How do we extinguish fire

that fed our souls for a while?

Slap, slap of sandals on wet fountain steps

capture glances from eyes set for chapels and castles.

Children splash at each other

as floppy tees and frilly dresses

wave at passersby

who wish they retained the courage to play

atop the fountain and relive the dreams

trampled by lectures and sermons

that chaperoned them to maturity.

Where is my Pharaoh,
which fares me so well?
Over that hill,
sitting on his throne?
Wanting...
As the chair
next to him
wilts...
Shall I sit?
Or shall I wait?
Well,
A Queen is never late.

Shivering fingers, cradling a cold clay bowl
with dull roses surrounding the rim.
A Klondike bar cut like a grid on a paper towel.
My grandma used to let me eat one in the living room
"careful of the carpet"
on her yellow couches covered with sticky plastic.
She would play the Elvis Presley Christmas album,
To Ginny written in black sharpie on the sleeve
with a Love always, Mom underneath,
over and over again
while she hung bulbs of wood on the bottom branches
so her Welsh Corgi wouldn't break them with his paws.

Slate slabs with handprints
in purple paint every year for the holiday.
She'd set death aside in a coffin ashtray
to kiss my cheek.
Presley played in the background.

She'd rock
on the front porch in white wicker
coughing into the lid of a Pepsi can
until she'd catch me pressing my nose against the door glass,
tell me to turn around and sit on the couch.
It was too cold for me.
She'd only be a minute.

When we played, I'd hide between the two baskets
in the closet that held her hair products.
I could count all the bottles three times each
before she'd say she was too tired,
put on her coat, grab a white box, and hit play.
I always hated that album.