Felt so long like Eros sat in prison,
let my blood pale from crimson.
Until you cast your shadow to my sun
made of all sweet smelling things and neurolysin.
Undid my braid
every tangled knot, and auburn strand; one by one.
I could not define safety, until with you I laid
and showed, to my temple, the steel of gun
see now, even fear is manmade
as the legs of fate's circle on run.

Do you know what it is to feel complete
and still sing the lonely song of sailors?
As your darling walks with slow feet
what thoughts of me, will you savor?
Would never need to see another sky - by makers
so long as I could look into your eyes so blue,
so sweet.
I wish I could say I love you
but I am so new and weak.
So I sit, and stir, and tear up papers;
wait another rosy day for you to speak.
I wish I could say I love you
and you would repeat the words, caught between cheek.

awaken
to white shroud

unblemished page
from pregnant sky

sieved silence
in languid waltz

to sigh to glass
punctuate the scrawny

exclamations
of a naked tree

as though a blessing
enamel acceptance

you're in my head
i can feel you coming on

you're in the blood
that rushes to my lips

i know when you're near
i smell you in thin air

and did you know

the connection is
Inherently like trance

when

you say something profound
and it falls through the air like
a poetic dance

of
mental happenstance

i'm captivated

you are
what the sound of a
beautiful prophetic whisper
would look like in my dreams

it's enough wonder
to ignite sparks

that would
uncover hidden
sequentially driven

unparalleled stories
of infinite wisdom
universe has written

listen

A flashing light
and a painted
Elvis gyration

flippers
a silver ball
and the sounds

bing bing
bing **** bing
bing bing bing

Brother

I think about you often
how you were bounced
back and forth

between homes
schools
happiness and sadness


and the short stack
of quarters you turned
into

free game after
free game after
free game after

free game

Cherry flower



Falls-

Leaves
Grieve and
Grow

Somehow

Maybe next year I'll tell you
I love you, the platonic type,
the words light from my mouth
as though constructed from bubbles
and you could be there, set to let them
pop against your tongue, maybe reciprocate.

The other type, I've heard, resembles falling,
but does that feel like floating, your body
when dancing, suspended in air for
a cluster of seconds before caught
by your sequinned partner, all smiles,
or is it more sinking,

we did this at primary school a few times,
the chilly, barefeet-plastered hall floor,
told to close our eyes and gently melt,
pretending we're chocolate in a microwave,
every boneless portion hopeless, floppy
until our teacher revived us with her sound.

Otherwise, it could be a tumbling of sorts,
a trip-on-the-first-step-smash-every-limb-kind,
skin blotches that gasp in agony with a touch,
your mistake stains in violet tones, or,
if executed with a more Wonka flourish,
just lust in the blood. Perhaps you'd bleed pink.

Like I know the feeling anyway.
If the words in my throat are
painted with truth, I'll say it, mean it
and breathe or let embarrassment
crush me in its reptilian silver claws.
You might even say it back, platonic or not,

even if I don't know you much,
even if my bedtime is your breakfast
and you handle cutlery better
and don't mind my eczema if you ever
see it on a fuzzy screen or body to body.
Even if my lips have never known what to do.

Eberwine

     I was walking a path in the woods
When I came upon a peculiar pine
It had a warning of no trespassing
Order of the Kingdom of Eberwine

Nothing else looked out of place
And I became overwhelmed with curiosity
So much so that I couldn’t control
The persuasion of my impetuosity

So I entered through the gate without a
Fence across the boundary of Eberwine
And suddenly I was whisked through
A portal to another place and time

To a world within our world where everything
Is unimaginable but so very real
My heart was racing and I had much anxiety
Beyond what I ever thought I could feel

My eyes gazed upon a huge mountain
That no human could possibly climb
As I pause to take in the beauty before me
In a near distance I hear bells begin to chime

I realize now that I may never see home
Again and I may be stuck here in Eberwine
From the mountain a water fall cascades
Into a river as mighty as the European Rhein

I’m sure out of the corner of my eye
I saw a large creature of some kind
But I’m no longer sure of my reality
Eberwine may be playing tricks on my mind

As I’m walking I notice strange wildlife
With unfamiliar and familiar traits
Like horses but they have camel humps
And one seems trapped and in dire straits

As I was heading towards him to attempt
A rescue on my shoulder I felt a poke
Startled I turned around to find a four
Winged Owl and I stopped and he spoke

He said you don’t belong here and you’re
In great danger, didn’t you read the sign
Warning the other side of trespassing
By order of the Kingdom of Eberwine

I said yes but curiosity got the best of me
And there appears to be no danger here
He said that’s the problem nothing is what
It seems and you’ve yet to see what we fear

When night falls all the gentle beast
Become evil and are fixated on the ****
There’s nothing we can do to fight it
Though it’s the opposite of our will

Our days last five times that of yours
And our nights do too so beware
This is the first day but we must find where you entered, we must get you safely there

He added there’s also the creature of
The trees who is swift with his doom
But his weakness is that he loves eating
What we call the sleepy time shroom

Even though I feel compelled to venture
Further to unravel this mystery
I must leave this strange enchanted place
I know that I must cease my inquiry

The gentle beast all know I don’t belong
Here in their place and time
So I said my goodbyes and thanked the four winged Owl, and I’ll never forget Eberwine

Written By:Charles Kean
Copyright © 01/23/2022
All rights reserved

Beneath a banshee cloak fog
The dying year shifts in her harrowed sleep
tussock hair splayed across December
The ancient ash of her bones
particulate jewels
against the lingering eye of the sallow moon.
The languid turn of the world
Moves with her
the last song of solstice
Hummed a breath above a murmur.
In her brittle, oaken fingers
The last quiver of hope waits
for the ****** year’s spark.

Read grandmother's books
Found passages underlined
She lived once again

can i tell you a secret?
some days, when the sky is its darkest hue
and the clouds are a light gray-blue
i write poetry.
it's all about you.