The nuns did not have much
But they valued all
And truer, fuller days filled with chores
Passed the sun-moon-suns
Some nights the mountains
Were cold, so they gave her hot coals
Their bodies thin and fragile, impossibly resilient
Winter; cup of animal fat
Thirteen years, cooking for twenty peers
In lessons learned foreign tongue
From her alien education, taught too

She passed her blue-star-blues
Painting sweetened hues
The elevation and scene in dripping sweeps of brush
Nepal became even more
Beautiful on paper
And behind thoughtful eyes

A tourist hands a wood carver
Several years salary, is this
Enough?
Masterpiece etched given free petty possessions
Empty handed back to hungry mouths
Fulfilled and satisfied

At night the unpolluted bright
Reflected off the lake; God smile
Rocky range round in isolation
The wind, for once
Whispered truth

She inhaled the honesty, and reunited art
With canvas
The Earth shook, no one else felt it
But she knew
And happy filled a forgotten face
In wise silence

We danced drunk on the bridge
You held me safe and
Liked how I smelled, arms protective

It had been years since we’d
Loved each other
We were alone, so we didn’t have to worry
About the way out

You wanted me to go with
But I felt I had already crossed the line
In head
So I said no

And then

You gave me the
Look, for the first time
The same look
You gave me when I was
In the bus, leaving
For the airport

It was the most hurtful
Gaze I have ever seen

I think it’s going
To haunt me forever

In pocket a postcard
With this bridge upon
But I cannot send

Tear to shreds and
Empty bottle stuffed, dead

The conditional form makes me sick, I don’t
Say goodbye forever, or maybe
I do

Even a bad rock
Skips with a good toss
Not everyone is born
Flat and smooth
If holding a bumpy one
You just have to
Throw harder
And meet the water
At its level
Splash
Splash
Splash
They glide too

The flashlight, we explained to the campers
Is so captivating because it brings light
To dark places
Combining the positive
And negative within, you can
Bring enlightenment to the world
One circle of clarity
At a time, illuminate your
Path, or that of another
Step by
Step

Under flickering streetlamps, tongues and soles
Slapped happy paced on concrete in retreat
All around the Shadows tore limbs from quaking cores
Panting, sweating, exhausted,
The Adam ducked by a moaning body
A blue, authority stripped as he suffered in a puddle
No one, he croaked
Is safe
The Darkness leaked from his wounds
The Adam ran again before he faded into night

Cars were totaled, stranded smashed and broken
Exhaust still polluting from dead engines
The roads in ruin littered with expensive empty things
Crunching underfoot as The Adam waded weary
Abandoned, the city crawled with ugly sin
Black creatures feeding on human remains
Plucking victims from the excess
Grinding, punishing teeth gnashing

Some ran, but the
Onyx ones caught them eventually

Junkers injected their Coal colored chaos
Until the Ebony jones snakes slithered
Into their hearts

Seeking sanctuary, The Adam heaved a rock
Through the window of a school and climbed through
Scratchy glass
The carvings in the board stole his sense of safety
****** nail art
“It starts young, the long night”
More of the Tar creatures made raging racket on the
Door then and The Adam ran again
Leaving the malleable minds in their stinking now-done coffins
Full charge down the hall, ram head collision
Teacher turned raving loon the kook grabbed
Him in a vice
The Evil ones had removed most of his face but his
Intact eye focused, and cave shouted
“The only infinity
Are space and
Mind, all else will
Meet its time”
And with that he did

Sick and alone, The Adam wished to escape the pain of
The outside world and spun run spirals to the roof
His beating chest ached and tore, he shed tears no more and
His cavity unleashed
An Obsidian dragon emerged, massive and
Violent upon the night
The stars cried themselves to sleep as
They were eclipsed by Umbra wings

The beast burned the city
Down while The Adam wept
And drifted the darkest demons
Live within, why run

Omnipotent master, not in ocean
But the raindrop
All heat shines spectrum through; illuminate fluid cohesion
Several shades of wisdom painting picturesque arc
Sky high miracle hiding in cloud fall
Pure white of light
Containing color
Water divine
The children catch them in their mouths
Drizzle bringing smiles
A message dripping down
I am with you
Wordless feeling

I stared into your universe
And watched our father
Blow the candle out
The wisps of smoke are haunting
Your warm shot intravenous for
Ever pretty picture

There is no such thing as death
Dog is love