Lost River

Phantasms fill the spaces
Of my dreams a haunted place
Chatter chatter clatter breaking
Shattering the cold chains
Undamming memories of childhood
Lost, torrents of pain lay bare my banks
Of deep rooted trees
and tossed my sanctuary asunder
Dragging me under  
Until
I sputtered and gagged on thick muddy memories
Until
I could not
find a dry place on my pillow
Until
I moaned a lullaby
A dirge so cheerful I wept no longer
behind the heavy red curtains of my
Private place,
Lest
I
Wake
My
Wife.

AD

Nerves grind sharply
as freshly drilled teeth
A rotted ghost of old
Haunts in my sleep  
Warm acrid bile fills
The back of my throat
As Love soft peals  
Erases all my hopes
Peeling back the moist corneum
Of my eager flesh
She exposes the throbbing source of
My distress
Her soothing glare
Renders my bones of fat
And lays them bare
My Mistress, My Mistress!  
I have lost the will to
Resist,
You
Wonderfully
Cruel
Evil
Saintly
Dainty
Thieving
Adulteress
Who surrenders me
No rest.


~AD~

Sleepy moon beams kiss the morning sky
Goodbye, as they slip  into the cerulean on
High.

I’d been walkin all night, the morning air
Unwinding the curls from my tangled hair.  As I drug
My emotions through potholed streets.

Tires crunching sand the sweepers missed,
Sliver boxes clicking the lights from green to
Red, steam clouds rise in a royal ascension
Bathing passers by in a ghostly hue.

Pulling my coat tightly I slipped though
Their procession unnoticed, ears pressed to phones,
Eyes lowered to ground, hands gripped on purse straps.
I sit watching the wisp of early risers become a
Thunderous herd or late risers walking nowhere.

I’d been walkin all night, the morning air
Damp against my face, cool and electric
Condensing on my cheeks, dripping down
My face where my tears should be. If I
Won’t cry for myself most certainly  the morning air
Will do it for me.  

AD

Proud evergreens  shake their shoulders
Shuddering in the cold winter’s night
Tossing snow flakes to the ground
Each one sparkling in the Hunter’s
Moonlight .


~AD~

Sipping espresso, double affogato of course, topped with cream and
Chatting with Miles, I saw Calliope sauntered in from the rain.
Her dark mascara limped away from her crystal blue eyes
As she waited for the barrister to turn his head.
And when taking her cup,
Somewhere between Bird’s schizophrenic riffs
And Blakey's syncopation.
I fell in love
As I watched  her lips purse and
Blow casually at the lid, cooling the
Fiery liquids inside but igniting mine.
I decided to ask what brought  her in from the
Rain.
My words  queued in my throat as I stood
To speak.
My knees cracked, testifying to the years I stood on them.
My heart tapped out a cadence as I strode
Over to her  table.
I could smell spice and ginger of  a perfume I knew so well.
Her chestnut hair fell in damp tendrils across her forehead.
Extending my hand with a napkin on the end I said, “ I would love if you joined
Me for a biscotti.”
With a sparkle in her eye her painted lips slid across her teeth,
“I am waiting for a friend.”
Walking away I sat dejected but not rejected because as she
Conversed with him she peeked at me
My Calliope
And all was well.

~AD~

Whispering
In your ear, I make a request
Only we can hear.
Stealing a moment of your time
I request you a character in my
Play, a *****, a vamp, a *****
***** or maybe a damsel who
Is without distress but dislikes
Her dress so she leaves it at the door.
I implore a response at once.
A nod, or a wink, will do.
What say you?
Can I be the villain, pursuing you
With peach marmalade on a wooden
Spoon?
Can I blindfold you with  blue silk
And caress your skin with lace?
I make this request partly out of
Fear and haste but all you can say
Is no to my request.
Now, I solemnly promise I won’t
Stain your bustle with oil and I will
Leave the jasmine dust alone.
(We remember the sneezes of old)
I won’t tie you to the door and shame
Your cheeks with kisses ridding on the backs
Of lascivious lips .
Even though you held those cheeks up high.
I won’t chase you through the house
Like A lion after a mouse
Rousing the suspicions of the tenets below.
Even though they would never believe
Cause, our gray hair and bent backs often deceive
So, what say you?


~AD~

I Walk my walk,
A strut, in time, with a distant Metronome that tick, tick, ticks
away the seconds of my life.
But I don’t care
For I am impermanent,
Enlightened, amazed at the
Cells when they divide by themselves
And know when to quit.
I am impermanent,  
A humble specter draped in flesh
Slavered in fat and minerals
Borrowing the very air I breath
For my time in the lemony sunshine
I Walk my walk,
A strut, in time, laughing and loving
My way to the finish line.
  

~AD~