A rich bird in
a golden cage
Saw the bars
& was enraged!

She couldn't fly
up to the stars
So beat herself
against the bars!

Again! AGAIN!
For all her wealth
She could never
free herself!

She wouldn't stop!
Would not sing...
Finally, she broke a wing.

With one wing
she went berserk!
She knew her methods
didn't work...

But she upped
her frenzied tack!
Finally, she
broke her back.

She looked up
as she was dying
from the floor
where she was lying

She saw the sun
and sky sublime

the cage door...
*open the whole time.

And what of ghosts haunting ghosts?
I see her dancing when I close my eyes
She twirls to the thrum of violins playing themselves
Spinning, twirling
Until the bones peek through her feet
And her skirt has beaten itself to tatters

I dreamt her as a child
And I wonder at that feat
I saw the future then, when now
I see nothing at all
Just the world spinning beyond my eyes, dizzier for my life
Twirling, endless
The music is endless
I am not.

I remember when she finally stumbles
Her ribs, her collarbones glisten pale in the lights
And the music tries again to drag her to her feet
But she is beyond its reach

Her corpse, cradled in Death's arms,
knows peace
I dreamt this, a child
The past living in circles
A prophecy, almost
That ghosts will come for ghosts
And that only corpses are beyond the music's reach.

I'm tasting sugar on my eyelids
Syrup on my irises
Sour on my heartstrings
Bitter in my arteries
But we are more than corporeal
Meant to fly
And cross the boundaries
Transcend the frames of nature’s canvas
Spill our colors farther than the physical
We invent what we do not discover
The horizons and the realms of our future
And I am just like you
A mess of senses that
perception blends into

once we were human
in each other's arms
we were shown mysteries
we could hardly fathom
and we held them to our hearts
now we’ve lost the music
and sold our souls to the stars
what ever happened to the thunder
and the calling of the true
in static water
i saw my own reflection
in moving shining waters
i learned about the essence

sentence me to this willow tree
and i’ll be bound for silence
swallowing the marrow
you neglected all the violence
sister of the wilderness
sister of the sea
respect the aging waterlily
and tie your hands to me

come now what are we doing
forever running around in circles
i am choking upon these words
its not their fault
wisdom is stolen
and made to fit in a box
our hands are like flowers
eaten by a fox
we cut off our clothes
to make room for the world
and disguised our souls in nothing
feelings suspended we rear-ended the world
stood upon bridges waving at girls
shreds of starlight
reflect the falling carriages
sadness and birth are beyond our marriages
same story told throughout the eons
our personal feelings are diluted in the sea
just as we could no longer hold on
our shadows found the ground
and we floated down to safety

i slide honey into your coffee
and slip sugar into your tea
a little taste of cinnamon
and in ecstasy you and i will be
this love potion is ancient
as rare and old as time
i’ve kept it close to me for centuries
and by now i'm pretty sure it's working