Did you know, Alexandros,
that when you chiseled her hips
you cast aside the confidence of her sisters?
That when you decided she would be
just that much thinner,
you held a century's breath
and cracked ribs with corsets?
Did the name of Venus
conjure lust in your soul?
Is that why you tore off her robe?
Did you know, Alexandros,
that with your steady hand
you changed the shape of beauty?
Did you wrestle it from the hearts of homely mothers
and press it down to fit your mold?
Or did you steal it from your youngest daughter's smile
and replace it with vain ambition?
Did you cry when she told you she was ugly,
that your sculpture had transformed her to swine?
Was it then that you fell into your lover's arms until they broke?
Did you know, Alexandros,
that stone is a poor canvas for beauty?

I locked eyes with the street last night
and it dared me to turn away
turn from the injustice
inequalities
ignorance
move on to some romantic scene
that lives outside the grey

I wrapped its cold wet skin
around my neck and began to shiver
as the rocks began to scrape
scratch
slither in my veins
as one hundred unknown faces
paddled their way down river

I tasted grief and empathy
and the mix was all too vile
more bitter than any sympathy
symbiotic
synergy
gears were painting machinery
cranking out disquiet and bile

It was then I found its corner
and the music it seemed to breathe
and despite my hesitation
hysteria
hellish intent on fiction
The asphalt smile began to grow
and pave my mind at ease

I’ve worn escape in my eyes
From time to time
Disguised as lost sleep
I abuse

Watched foundations lapse
Into sand
Framing old dreams
In towers crumbling beneath

Spoke to sensory ghosts
Lacking heads
In silence they remind me
All passed is dead

Waking to black silence
I witness the death of alternate selves in writhing light
Gripped at the throat
Leaving breathless bodies
With little struggle left

Wicked gaze draws the life
To blossom bright through too wide eyes
Overexposed, like blowing bulbs
They crackle and crack
Leaking dead hope

I’m still surprised by change
Of half a dozen deaths
A crooked spin towards new age
With dying cells, replenished skin
And if a body can be replaced
Does the same apply to the mind?
Are you gone completely?
Or do you relapse from time to time?
To a person I know
With yearning touch and softer eyes
Remembering our lost lights
Suffocating silence with muffled love
Hasting the future
Stretching reality thin
I’m gone so far from comfort
Forgive me
Forgive me