Naked you are simple as one of your hands;
Smooth, earthy, small, transparent, round.
You've moon-lines, apple pathways
Naked you are slender as a naked grain of wheat.

Naked you are blue as a night in Cuba;
You've vines and stars in your hair.
Naked you are spacious and yellow
As summer in a golden church.

Naked you are tiny as one of your nails;
Curved, subtle, rosy, till the day is born
And you withdraw to the underground world.

As if down a long tunnel of clothing and of chores;
Your clear light dims, gets dressed, drops its leaves,
And becomes a naked hand again.

1537

Candor—my tepid friend—
Come not to play with me—
The Myrrhs, and Mochas, of the Mind
Are its iniquity—

the feeling of peace and calmness
seems to come at an unavoidable price
like killing brain cells or losing an arbitrary piece of your memory like the
details to a scene in a good film or the exact measurement of cream in a recipe, but then you question why these things would matter on a deeper level than common small talk between occasional acquaintances who may never care to bring it up again. So you just continue to inhale that good ****.

-a.lorraine

I was once serenaded
by a love of mine
who
as a boy
put frogs into
his maiden aunts' beds
and caught bats
with a net

who
as a young man
broke his back on LSD
and had to learn to walk again

who tried to rescue me
when I was in deep shock
fought for me
followed me
then
after a period of eight years
remembered my birthday

a man who always
made me feel safe
and loved
and
nearly always
made me laugh

a man who worked for the homeless
where he caught
Tuberculosis
had a stroke
and sadly died
of lung disease
all within a few years

His love of music
and spontaneous laughter
will ever be in my heart

I miss him

First to arrive
I should get a prize
said Broghan

At my Dancing For Parkinson's class
we were asked
to write a poem
about
'Wild Within'
and "Wild Without'
which I have yet to do

We went to Grange
for a change
When we got there
we enjoyed the sea breeze
and the warmth of the sun
on our knees
while sitting on the wall
of a new cafe
having lunch
The dry spell of the last few weeks
had changed the environment
and we needed some rain
When we got back
I had enjoyed the change
and I enjoyed the rest