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                          It was there heating
                                            sloping cavernous craniums

                         It was there illuminating
              marble hallways

         It was there immolating
                              witches at stakes

                                     Its fierce essence
                          frightens wilder-beasts

                                   Its mesmerizing radiance
  lures moths to annihilation

                       When in love, we often become
             both wilder-beast and moth

                As children, we learn
             to leap back from the flame

                               When old, we are rolled
                 into iron incinerators

                                    And every day between
   We are encompassed by suns
                       We are consumed by flickering passions

                                  We set-off firecrackers
                           for amusement

               We light candles
                                     to measure time

                         Veladoras to whisper
                                 to gods

                                          Fire is Life

                                      Something in us will
                                            forever burn.

Oh, you got your politico pals
Posting stuff about them blues-and-reds
Oh you got your new-age pals
Posts about their chakra dreads
Oh you got your pervy pals
Posts about their whips and spread
Oh you got your journal pals
Posts about their EX and meds
Oh you got your comic pals
Posts of grumpy cat in bed
Oh you got your trendy pals
Posts of food and celeb weds
Oh you got your gossip pals
Posts about what so-so said
Oh you got your music pals
Posts of bands on every thread
Oh you got your mother pals
Posts of how their babies fed
Oh you got your nightlife pals
Posts of each local they’ve tread
Oh you got your righteous pals
Post of what you need instead
Then you got your artsy pals
Oh someone shoot me in the head!

I don’t get feminism.
The term, that is.
When they ask, "Are you a feminist?"
I reply, “Sure.”
They nod in bobble-head approval.
“I’m also a childist and animalist”
A confounded grimace glazes over
“Huh?”
“Of course. Aren’t YOU a childist?
Aren’t YOU an animalist?”

“Uh. What do you mean?”

“Well, don’t you believe that children
and animals should be treated with love?”

“Well, naturally.”

“Well. There you go. You’re a childist
And animalist.”

"Besides,  you would extend this love
To all sentient beings, I’m assuming?”

“Ummm. Yes...”

“Well, then, you’re a masculinist too,
Just like me!”

This is about the time their cell buzzes
Or their double soy frap is ready

They whisk away

“Oh, I’m also a worldist!” I belt out

Before they exit

As I resume reading
Remaining clever, and

Alone.

I want to be the bed covers
You wake to
That your restless limbs
Have smothered
That your emanating body
The fabric
You have tossed-and-turned in
8 hours hence
Imprinted with your scent

And the mouthwash
You gargle
To swoosh-and-splash
Along your tongue
To be in you
Like a liquid ache
Sloshing
Waking


I want to be the fork
You pick your eggs with
My metallic spine
In your slight fingers
Your demure  hands
Scarred sustenance
Yolk sun

I want to be the comb
Tangled in your frizzy hair
Your wavy hair of smoke
And shadowed lakes
As soft as lint
Cascading

I want to be the cig
You light on the corner
To warm the brick morning
I want to hang on your quivering lips
Like an autumn leaf from a branch
I want you to inhale me
And let your body loose
Feel me utterly
Then exhale...

Let me evaporate
Into the nothingness
I was before

You

Let me scan your pretty face
Your wistful eyes and ebbing hair
Your youthful floral air
I distantly embrace

It matters little what you write
I’ll like whatever gibberish
You post, sober or feverish
Morning afternoon or night

You crave fans, and I oblige
You desire compliments
Hits, and shares, and comments
A digital mirage

To reinforce, who knows?
To find one who can comprehend
Truly, more than family, friends?
Love through a computer’s glow

Or escape whatever misery
Whatever flesh and bone
Has left you this alone
To log away to fantasy

You hum to yourself by the river
A low sad steady melody
But from the shaded woods, I see
Your pale visage shiver

So I approach, naughty or behaved
Like a wandering troubadour
Serenading mon amour
To save and to be saved

I’ll stream you instant endless praise
I’ll shadow your every move
It will approximate love
Unmerited as grace

So, let me frame your pretty face
Your chic angular air
Your parted lips, cascading hair
Forever fall through my embrace

Stick it with a pin
And I will yelp

Twist its arm
And I will cry for help

Strip it
And I will seek cover

Kick its groin
And I will double-over

Punch it
And I will bruise

Slice it
And I will ooze

Stomp it
And I will ache

Slam it
And I will break

Drown it
And I will choke

Burn it
And I will smoke

Skin it
And I will peel

Flog it
And I will kneel

Bite it
And I will heave

Kiss it
And I will leave.

I see you in your black corset
    Shiny as a raven’s claw
      Your hair
         Hips swerving
   Sipping a stiff drink
         In a dark corner
          Mascara thick
              Lipstick full
        In crimson bloom

        Plump lips - glazed eyes
           Fishnets and stilettos

                     Swaying

         Unto the dance floor
      Becoming one
  With the music
While unraveling yourself
       From our mortal fetters
                    Bone fingers
         Reaching, beckoning
      As you are enveloped

By the strobe-lights and fog

             Evaporating

   Only your pale silhouette remains
              On my tongue