Strips of gray , alabaster and black brushstrokes streak across my confused sky .. Howling , relentless zephyrs hammer fledgling Oaks and softwood Pines ..
Curious leaves and needles clamor beneath the canopy , searching desperately , running for shelter ... Cardinals and Thrashers witness the exodus , their curious chirps drowned with each gust of late February's
Winter fury and banter ... The wind is a young child this afternoon , testing her Mothers scorn , running free throughout the yard intrigued
by the other side of the road ..  Storm clouds are in juvenile mindset as well , threatening rain with their mind on Carolina , tempering my welkin today and gone by tomorrow ..

Your lips are coloured fresh---
sepia in slow motion,
downsome petals lilting
grave whispers for me.

Heliotropic eyes---
Emerald irises blossom,
Spilling funeral psalms
to lilied cheek and tongue.

From ethers to earth
your perfume traces vines
from god to sacred dirt---
where our roots entwine.

I have buried them alive---
the tatters of malformed thoughts
squelched at the root of my tongue,
wrought by murky fingertips in dreams.

Still, they bloom in me---
beyond my grasp, beyond all wisdom.
I cannot blot your poetry from my eyes,
Nor one gentle glance, nor untouched cheek.

If I say I love you, I will burn---
What I bear will be indelible, uncrucifiable
An incantation to raise the spirits of my sins,
irredeemable black curses to cast me from eden.

And should gardenias creep to my lips,
I will ***** them out, and plant acacia in my breath---
I will swallow the roots of their hearts,
and eat your fire eternally.

i have a face cut from ice
a heart pierced in a thousand places
so to remember
always the same voice
the same gestures
and my laughter
heavy
as a wall
between you and me

the ones who are most alive
seem the most still

behind the milky way
a shadow dances

our gaze climbs toward the stars