I remember laying out
Two stories up
On the roof of your house
In early summer
When the stars burst sudden
And the evenings are yet cool

I remember the stars
Dancing in your eyes
As you saw so much more than me
And you smiled at my wonder
Blowing a kiss to the constellations
Before we hurried back indoors
Shivering

Seasons, optional

Summer, endless

Laying out on golden fields

Holding on to the sunset

As a matchless fire opal

For eons in my mind

It's some time

past time

for the evening lights

to be lit.



The only sound,

the kitchen faucet:

drip

drip

drip

The only difference

Between you and me

Is are you less

Or more lonely?

Notes scribbled out on
last call napkins,
sometimes sharing space with
uncalled numbers,
tucked neatly away in
the little desk drawer,
nestled in with notebooks
either brimming over or
brand new;

All i ever manage are scribbles
but all i ever see is you.

my cousin is
an artist
of the highest degree

and tonight
another masterpiece
brings me pause
bids me see

how
oh how
i just wanted to be known
in these fleeting days
i just wanted to be known

i wanted it all;
days set aflame
to burn hot, untamed

but my words falter
and my steps bring shame

i still want to be known
lay these secrets out
let them burn in the day light
but i bundle them up
and carry them with me
through every taxing night

September has
Slipped in
Almost unnoticed

Soon the leaves
Will redden and dry

Let go their
Summer home

And play upon the
Fore-winds of winter

I saw you tonight

Perhaps it was shame I felt

That I stole glances of

A white spring lily

After I've so esteemed

Weeds littered on the sidewalk

3am is so unkind
to a lonely longing mind

How I long to
Savor a moment with you,
Of crème brûlée and coffee,
On the edge of a waking summer,
Beneath the shimmering stars
Of the final days of spring.



Saint Mary’s water
Is the envy of Glacier:
Icy blue, and
Scattered nearby,
Sunny wildflowers
As firecrackers frozen
Just as they burst.



We stopped our song short
Unable to hear the harmony
Of our notes combined



As a moth
I am drawn to the street lamp.
On a hazy cold night
I see a faint echo
Of ten million celestial lights
Humbled,
So my eyes may endure
Such singular wonder.



It is good to be unknown,
Sometimes.
I may sit silent at the corner of the bar
Secretly sipping chilled Lipton’s;
Pay my tab, and
Walk quietly away,
Without a single word.



I never knew the word
Desire
Until I discovered
The ways I could kiss her
I never knew the word
Famished
Until I learned
My plate was only empty
I never knew the word
Dead
Until I was invited
Into the arms of Love

A smile of innocence

Is a most dangerous thing

It astounds the heart with joy

And makes the soul sing

The highway din is much the same
At 3am as it is at ten
Here I am in an oversized bed
Probably subconsciously
Praying for an early dawn
A day ago I was
On the other side of this odd world
In a place where dreamers
Could fall in love every day
Now hastened back to this dreary place
Too readily reminded of this
Weight of loneliness

Sunday night

After dinner and impromptu dancing

My hand strayed over the zipper

At the back of her yellow summer dress.

Her eyes fixed on me

As I gingerly drew it down.

She pressed close to me when

My hand slid onto the small of her back;

Her skin as smooth as butter

As pretty and perilous as whisky.

She laid a tender smile on my cheek

Whispering ‘hurry up and kiss me.’

I delight in
the song of the meadowlark,
sonorous upon the fields,

And,

While I revel in
the rumbling refrain of the storm,
echoing on the hills,

I recall:

Though we were written only as
an alternate ending,

exclusive expression
delicately dotted
upon the utterance of
intimacy

I remember that night

Your kisses had bite;

Your hand strayed upon my thigh.

You poured over me

All your ecstasy;

I could only accept and sigh.

Would that I might

Yet adore your *******

With tender kiss

And attentive caress

I am struggling
To stay focused
To show restraint
To persevere
To accept grace

Summer slipped out sometime after midnight;

Left the door open wide.

I couldn’t convince her to stay

No matter how I tried.



Autumn arrives in elegance:

Her own offerings of intimacy;

But my skin still tingles from Summer’s bite,

And all the pleasures she gave to me.

i am desperately trying
to gather up every word
carved upon my heart
that only my spirit has heard

i am longing to share
this story flooding in me
but how i fear them all
who won't know what i see

i am desperately trying
to gather up every word
carved upon my heart
that only my spirit has heard

i am longing to share
this story flooding in me
but how i fear them all
who won't know what i see

I’m treading unsteadily
In between the plains of
Confidence and uncertainty

I’ve wasted much time.

I’ve given some **** good kisses.

I’m drifting right now
In these evening shadows,
As the sun sets down to sleep;
Drifting between heavy words

Like time,
And wait,
And cancer

What
Is eternity
But the
Disruption
Of all
I’ve worked
So long for,
In vain
?

I witness the sea and the shore

Their recurrent caress and sigh

I wonder if we too might make

Love as enviable as the tides

Time mantles us
in weariness;

years anchored
to our feet.

our souls may ever
soar and dive;

our bodies shall
to dust retreat.

What am I doing with my life?
     Looking through my past
     And all these little things
     The error of my ways
          What are you looking for?

The only one who didn't fold:

A worthy brother
Upon golden sands
The soul of a warrior
Like nobody else

A lonely innocence

just beyond

a veil of gold;

wistfully waiting

for frolic and jest,

of steady hand,

lover's lips,

daybreak's promise.

Soon after
Her vampire kisses
Injected sweet lust
Into my veins

She peeled apart
My aorta
Like pulled pork

And vanished
With the last fragments
Of
Whatever heart I had.

An unsettled life
Yet pens with such

Veracity

A sort of way,
          perhaps, we

All

Might hope to trek
Through these
Long and quickened years

How much joy
Can the desperate heart endure?
Weighed down with
Bittersweet
Longing
Gouged in to the soul

And no words
Can suffice

And great hope
Cannot seem
To weather this ache

Sunlight in your smile

though the world roils in dark;

Starlight in your striking eyes,

Steady and ever stark;

Ask me not to name

the colour of your eyes,

For they are resplendent

(beyond sheer brown or blue)

and strike me with surprise.

I feel myself at the
Edge of this great
Desperate
Chasm
Where the pebbles
Beside by my toes
Break away to
Hurl themselves
Into this fearful unknown

Four books at this bedside

It's not yet eight o'clock

But I cannot bring myself to
Crack any of them
Right now
To escape this weight
Another restless night

I am overwhelmed
This flood of reminiscence
And desperation
Pressing down and drawing out
The last air of these
Over-worn lungs

I can count names on
Catalogued fingertips
I can see faces, somehow,
In faltering memory



I hurl impatient prayers
At the ceiling of
This dark room
In hopes the Lord still
Seeks out sinners

Even those foul as me

Don’t resurrect my sins
To torment me

I’ve burned down
All my hopes and dreams;



I tremble in the dark
With weary heart and heavy sighs

For one day soon I must see
Either mercy, or justice, in your eyes;



I have failed
From my very first breath

And eternity looms
Just beyond my death.

even in the outlands

of this shameful world

wildflowers yet burst

in twilit hues

an earnest assurance

goodness cannot be

truly overcome

Five years
I’ve been begging
To forget;

Each night
Restores the gravity
Of my regret.

By her smile

She’s adorned in such a way

That silks and gems and

Polished gold

Have little left to say

My heart strives

This wistful day;

For all these things

I long to say

Ought be said

Behind closed door,

And simply stay

With whom I adore.

(I still hear (your)
Quavering voice,
As if you are yet unsure
Of all you may say..)

..But time flows on,
In only one way..

(And though wistful..
You might never again
Drift near me,
to simply stay..)

Her voice is lush,

Appetizing to my ear.

By it I blush, and

Discern my true fears.

I have
Only just recovered

Waking
To the splash
Of cold water

A shivering gasp
Some hours
Before dawn



My heart
Is wary;

Weary;

Worried;

What comes now?

After this
Long forsaken
Childlike awe?

The battle lines are drawn,

I know which side I’m on;

But I wonder to see

When my opponent is me.

I found myself

At World’s threshold

Screaming out obscenity,

While

God quietly pushed passed me:

‘Pardon lad,
But these folk have need
Of food and rest
And more of less
Of all your proud
Opinion.’

So fools fall silent

At his word

I heard you talk and wonder,
Laugh with a lilt,
Even curse in fearful anger.
But,
It was with a whisper,
Soft and subtle,
Sharp enough to split my chest,
You stole my heart away.