darling, it's all a matter of
perception
how you see it

looking out from
parallel shores
we are glimpses
of more
in the distance
strangers to
burnt-out street lamps
and burnt-out sweethearts

darling
it's all a matter of
persepshun
how you feel it

vibrate in your
fingertips
dance upon your
skin with needlepoint
toes
bells resonating
in your ears,
a troubled storm abrew

darling, it's all a matter of
pearshipshon
how you taste it

another glass, more
*****, please
another burning trail
down your throat
the only kind
of warmth
we know

darling,
*it's all a matter of per-cep-tion

you said you wanted to see
but I felt it could never be


you circle scars
i circle


we've gone ways, love

i said




when they marched in

they saw
they condemned


could barely move a muscle


but the walls didn't hold
and the passersby

have just had it with us


and our airy tones
  weighed down


we couldn't help ourselves
love, let alone each other


we saw the skies bleeding red





*or was it just us?

We are intertwined
an intricate braid of
capillaries and veins,
arteries pumping blood
two heartbeats at
a time

This is not
Fate not a universal
design destiny has
no place along
our twists and
turns

We are unique
shards of broken galaxies
fallen to the earth
No two stars
are the same

But our trail
will light the skies
Distinct, Contrasting
Blues and Reds
woven into the fabric
of an unravelling world

The moon tonight--
I even miss
her grumbling.

have my colours
stained your lips?
can you still taste me
in pastel traces
of fingerprints that
ring your neck,
a collar to
restrain you from
painting over
another girl
with your corrupt
palette.

Damp eyes never meant us well
They're such an inconvenience
And passersby
won't fall in line
Step aside nor
slow their stride
But we'll ignore their careless eyes
Don't want to inconvenience

Cross streets, mean streets, it's
the blind leading the blind
And maybe we're wasting our time
'Cause the map in our hands
spells out misprinted boundaries and
Who can read smeared ink
Run off the page into unknown
territories dripping purple as the bruises
beneath our fingertips

If we hold on any tighter
Our travels will be
Etched into the other's skin
A directory of streets wandered by
the two of us just
a walk down route mother, please and
Round to relapse avenue
To sip champagne
in the light of
dreams forgotten

*but darling the lines in my palms
have always led back to you

the ocean of my bloodline calls out to me
from the sinew of my scars

we walk, strangers on parallel shores


the cigarette butts have been rubbed out all over my inner thigh

a flash there

another here

the platinum shackles on my ears and hand
betray my animosity

- this is no social call