Golly, goodness,
My oh my!
You can’t leave yet--
It’s barely time!
What do you mean
You’re to be married?
How scary, oh --
Say, where are you going?
Don’t run away!
Look here, my darling
I cannot tell a lie
I’ve a baby in my bedroom
And he’s not a little guy!
Oh, god, he’s drawing near
Come quickly -- or else
I might become a leopard's feast!
Ah, yes-- one moment --
There you are! But
Don’t be angry, dear,
I needed you to
Drop on by. Let us go
Now, off to auntie’s
In the quiet countryside!
You might be late,
But I’ll be sure you arrive
Oh -- goodness, me oh my
We’re filthy animals, silly
So take this towel and
Rinse on off! -- Oh?
What’s that?
You need your clothes?
Oh dear, I sent them off to town
To be ironed and cleaned
Sit pretty in my robe and--
Oh! Dear oh me,
Here comes auntie!
We must hide baby
But he’s run away
Where oh where,
My oh my --
Now we’re in jail
What am I ever to say?
You see, I messed it up
Your plans, your night,
I dragged you here
To help because
I quite like -- love you!
Oh, what have I said?
What a fool am I,
I’m sorry for the mess
Sniffle, hm? Oh-yes?
You’ve something to say?
Oh tell me now, do confess
Y-you love me too?
Oh darling, this is too good
For it all to be true!
Let’s have another day of fun
But I promise, this time,
We won’t go on a wild chase!

In a black sea
Of mourning bodies
I stand quietly in
Pale chiffon. My
Heart is dark and
Lonely, cloaked in
Sorrow as I bid thee
Time goodbye

For years I’ve seen
You suffer, lose your
Life and luster with
Each passing breath,
Our love was once
A blooming garden,
Bright and lovely
Before it succumbed to death

Letty Lynton,
Let me in,
Pretty little
Girl within
Kiss me kindly
Dapper dame
With your beauty
And your fame

Stomach plummets --
Cold blooded fear
Expressionless eyes
Open wide, mechanical
Blinking -- quit thinking
Go about your business
Don’t even nod
One foot and the other
In a perfunctory march
A slip and it’s over
They’ll turn and then stare
Raise up a finger,
Eyes bugging, mouth hanging
Expectantly before it comes:
Loud distorted ringing
The sound of your demise

We were bonded in birth
As we will be in death
I sealed our fate with a gun --

I took your wardrobe
and buried my past
in your grave --
Made a sacrifice so
I could have another
Chance at life
Struck you silent so I
Could ****** your voice,
Felt no sorrow
When pondering my choice

I laid my debts to rest
With all the ills I faced
Revenge is sweet and
Triumph better -- perhaps
Because I was so bitter

I stole your name
your mansion too: but was it
Really stealing, my dearest love,
When the whole time I was you?

I go through the day,
Putting forth a happy display,
Living out my life
Like it were just another picture
To be made and played
By fervent, cheering crowds:
Only it’s my own reality
That I am not allowed

Tears and tequila sloshing in her stomach
She’s a turbulent maelstrom, violently
Pulling and pushing people in and out
Of her suffocating grasp

The ocean calls out to her, whispering
“We are one of the same;"
Tugging and strumming the strings of her heart
As they wail to the violins

Shattered glass and swirling gales
Lure her to moon white sands
Her body moves unconsciously,
Gliding smoothly toward the tides

The waves crash at her feet and
She is salt water -- the teasing temptress,
Singing siren, luring men to certain death,
Spitting limp bodies back to shore like seaweed

Foggy eyes drip brine into the ocean
Essence fading with each step forward
Shallow waters embrace and murmur
“Welcome home,” her last moments
Preserved in the crashing sea foam

Little girl with wide blue eyes
Dreams as boundless as the skies
Surrounded by dust and dead ends
Waltzing in a land of make pretend

Freckled, fervent and coy
Twirling past the neighbor boys
When she moves, she slips away
Lost in a smile and a happy place

Left to wander the desert dry
Alone and forgotten no matter what she tries
Looking for affection in an empty well
Fading echoes of forgotten church bells

With her reveries she swiftly dropped
A leap of faith and the whole world stopped
Warm blood and dampened grass,
A mangled foot and a binding cast

In dark days she prayed for help
Wanting to step and perform
Not ready to give up her last chance
To take the stage by way of dance

Ten years later, she's swaying
and twice as stunning as before
Sculpted cheekbones and brooding eyes
Grabbing audiences by surprise

She's reborn a star of the movies,
With a new name and tiny waist
Pretty young flapper with a striking face
The little girl has finally found her place

Darling, dearest,
Come out of the dark,
And into my heart
The sun has set,
The crowds are gone,
No longer I ought to pretend
That you’re only just a friend

Cameras flashing in rapid succession
She’s reunited with the lights,
Descending from heavens above
She throws herself to the wolves
Wrestling crowds and wrist cuffs,
Drowning in the spotlight
As she’d always dreamed

I found God
In the gaze of my lover
As we lay still on the water
In the stupor of fear

I found God
When I fled alone to discover
I was trapped with no other
Until he appeared

I found God
In my haggard reflection,
Torn dress by the ocean
Wondering if I was in the clear

I found God
Watching lost men die free,
Succumbing to clarity
Thinking my time was near

I found God
When I lost all hope
My heart was breaking on the waves
And I didn't know how to steer

I found God
In a longing embrace
Finally feeling in my place
Knowing our time was now and here

I used to get anxiety over androgyny
Because it’s the grey from which I run
But darling, as I find myself,
Two opposites make one.

I am no girl
Nor boy, nor child
To squeeze my being
Into labels
Is not my style

Clarity crashes --
A car wreck clears her conscience
Conflicted, careless girl.

Tightly wound,
Strung around her fingers
Tense like your muscles
When she climbs atop you

Tongue-tied and transfixed,
Tender kisses and cracking whips
The ground shakes beneath you
As your life begins to slip

She’s hollow and wicked,
But conniving and fair
In her clutch you falter
Smiling while gasping for air

Charming vagabond with a smile so sweet
Sweeps her suitors off their feet
With a twirl of her skirt and a flash of her thigh,
She’s climbing the ladder, wooing lovers to the skies

From rags to riches
With no in-between
How’s a girl to live
When true love’s yet to be seen?

Five thousand miles
Wandering the desert dry
Yearning for purpose
For some venerable way to die

Grinning gal with silver dollar eyes
Head lost in endless reveries
Searching for a way out
Blonde hair rustling in the breeze

Two paths entwine
Haphazardly passing by
Sore souls searching
Answering each other’s cry

Talking for hours,
He ignores her every plea
Mere inches between them
Each one the other’s tease

Through smoke and gunfire,
She grabs him tight
He’s gunning for the end
To go gently with the night

Pedal to the floor
She prepares for flight
The roar of a gunshot
Ends the lady’s plight

Down city avenues and dead ends
We unravel together,
The knots of our hearts
Tearing us both apart

Two sighs and we capsize
Into shallow water beneath our thighs
Tossing, turning, tangled limbs
Your parted mouth and passionate cries

Darling, you’ve let your secret slip
Through the holes in your eyes
Speak no more, I know your lies
Let our bodies do the talking
And have all our truths realized

It’s raining bullets,
Blood and tears
Smoke and mirrors
Dampened fears
Stale air ****** down your lungs
The dead girl’s song is left unsung

Blinded by the ring
Of a gunshot, deafening
Silence swamps her life.

It was I who dealt our hand
Not fate, as you would have it
You didn’t fix me in this chair
I sit resigned to sulk and stare
Sister, sister, won’t you listen?
Close your eyes with open ears
Please let go of these falsified fears
All this time and it was I,
Please now, listen, don’t you cry,
I was driving on that night,
Foot on gas and headlights bright,
I slammed into the metal gate
It was you who quickly ran away
Pinned for crime as I’d pinned my legs
Sister, darling, I’ve held regret
But now I’ve spoken, breathing yet
Our sorrows drowned in the ocean waves
You smile and dance as my story ends, asking
“All this time, we could have been friends?”

Honeysuckle queen
Charming, stinging, so serene
Royal subject I will be
Your venomous kiss
For which I plea

The voices in the halls
Echo cruelly on the walls,
Laughing faces distort and
Whisper but no one else can hear;

Arches stiffened to perfection
Spinning round in all directions
Violent tremors spewing forth while
Talons clutch and claw

Lose yourself in pure delusion
Don’t give into the confusion
Bleed your heart out on the stage and
Let dancing take your breath away

I've loved from a distance,
A picturesque place
Where nothing can harm me
For I leave no trace

Broken vessel,
Stalwart beauty
A work of art
Standing alone and bereft

How many voyages
Has she failed to complete?
Starting off so strong,
Only to taste defeat?

Young bright thing
With inexplicable rust
Something broken,
Something bad
A faulty error, a fatal bust

Salt water tears,
So bittersweet
Knowing her cargo
She cannot keep

Turning back for shore
On her final try
Fighting her hardest
Not to cry

We wrestled once,
through tangled sheets
You on top, I beneath
Leading lady and her little sheep

Late into the night we stayed
Secret sapphics stowed away
When daybreak hit and eyes could see
Our heat rolled off with the tumbleweeds

Twenty years and the birth of sound
Laid your name to rest
Forgotten and forlorn,
An artifact of years past

Supernova collapsed into itself,
Swallowing time and temperament
Perpetuating the past in an
Isolated pull of gravity

Your fame is facade
Consuming, convincing
An actress in her greatest role yet
Maintaining character until the day
You’re taken away

Deviant daughter,
I’d give it all and more
To have you knocking at my door

Satin drapes, silver knifes
A furnished mansion to
Start our lives anew
Oh, my darling,
I’d even **** for you

Click, hum. The phone line dies,
The ghost of rejection tickling one
Ear as it floats across the other. Her
Breath goes with it, a short exhale
Of frustration and grief.

The room is now silent, save for the
Shallow breaths of the aging dame
Grey mascara rivers running down
Thin crevices, inexorable lines of
An inevitable future. No makeup
So fine and polished can mask: she’s fallen
Victim to the times, pushing and straining
As far as the limits of her youth will allow

Cold remnants of an untouched meal
Watch from the corner, stale, unwanted
collecting dust and fleas,
Waiting to be disposed of, bound to be forgotten.
She pauses, blinks. The pit of her stomach
Grumbles in understanding -- two hands
Jump to grasp a cinched waist.
Open bourbon, brought in anticipation of good news
Teases:  no cheers for the old hag!

A fist and a table, an empty glass soon
Filled as she pours herself a bitter dose
Of panacea, just a little something to take
The edge of her face, to knock off a few years and
Quiet the pain.

Fifty and forgotten, candle in the wind
A name that once drew the largest of crowds,
Full theatres and a demand in the public eye,
Now brings nonchalance, indifference, or
Worse -- ignorance! Who?

The young starlings, bright, eager doe-eyed
Little things: they are the new pull, the desired
Flavor and choice eye candy. She trembles, but
Blames the alcohol: after all, it whispers,
*Who wants to look at you?

Crazy ***** laughing bitter tears and
crying cruel laughter, curling like
a millipede thrown to the ground,
fragile, writhing creature of pity
reduced to sobs and shame as
one hand trembles toward the screen

skin meets glass, she punches, hard,
but the barrier absorbs her woes and
holds its rigid ground. No,
she can’t be touched,  cannot touch,
They won’t let her -- she screams. muffled
white noise to the world, no one hears,
who would care? bells ring and crash in a pounding
skull, she contemplates smearing her brain
across the glass but her neck is locked in place
poor puny marionette left to hang without a will
in a world of which she can’t be a part

Can I be your late time lover,
Part time darling in dark skies?
Would you call me pretty, my love,
Could I be your favorite surprise?
I’ll gladly be forever yours even if
You can’t be anything of mine,
By day I’ll be a face in your crowd,
At night our lips shall entwine

touch me gently through the screen,
grab me fiercely in my dreams,
take me up into your arms and
twirl me into a land of make believe
tell me tender love is true
in our tiny world just fit for two
timeless beauty,
how I weep, for we’re apart
till I find sleep
how I pine throughout the day
to commit to slumber and
hide away

She’s soft and smells like rose petals
Yet she scratches and scrubs
At blood red skin even though
It’s been washed a million times before
Tired eyes meet their match
In the silvery visage of their oldest friend

Crimson lips part, then furl
At the reflection who’s no longer a youthful girl
Auburn hair tumbling out of place,
Aging actress falling far from grace,
One clenched fist in a lace white glove
Eyelids dripping as she screams above

Bittersweet rain falls
From stormy eyes
Like sour candies
On your tongue

The stream is steady,
Warm, serene
Leaving dark footprints
On flushed cheeks

Salty lips faintly
Muster a sound
But it’s swallowed --
Strangled shout
Succumbing to the shadows

It’s hard to breathe through
choppy waters when your
head bounces like a hopeless buoy

if only you could sink and drown instead
of being anchored to this
miserable, isolated purgatory

Don’t wake me in the mourn,
I’ve lost my self and mind
I’ve laid it here to rest with me
Eternally, where life is kind.

My heart is ripping
Thin-skinned, hot flesh
Echo chamber shaking
With an isolated wail

Blurry vision stumbling
Over bodies and buildings
It’s all the same;
I testify to all

Relent, repent
Breathe -- beat -- bruise
Boxed, stop. You’re in control--
Regress, repeat
Hurt -- maim -- abuse
A wheeze, help. One silent cry

Exercise and
Exorcise but all the noises’
The same, stubborn stones
Wrecking back and forth
Fist hammers pounding your brain

You wanted a revival,
Sought out paradise,
Rendezvous from the mind’s demise
What you thought
An upward climb
Bright path to redemption
Not another steep decline

Is it changing, or
More of the same?
Cyclical illusions in a
Spinning trick maze?
Thought you’d found an
Escape, only to stay
Trapped by a reflection
In a foggy craze

i am hungry and
always wanting to have ***;
i read and feel
i breathe and know
two favorites, one here &
one there, both appetizing
sticky sweet spoons, but
only one allows me to
indulge and say,
Mm.

Give me
black or white
All or none
Ten or zero
Misery or fun
Two stark divides
Are where i hide
No shades between
No grey
Or chrome
**** the blurs and the
Unknown-- label me
silly
Brand me, defined
Legitimate, warranted
A definite side

Hi, hello, barging in
Peeking through
Confronting sin

Flushing, angry,
Visage blue-- it’s
The world from
Which you do
Eschew

Didn’t dream I’d put my mind
To use this way, useless days
Spent fixating and fearing I’m
Unable to fix my broken head
Overactive imagination acting
Up and overachieving in wanton
Ways, I’m stuck in a rut to fester
Forever and a day

Zooming fast
Zipping and
Ripping through
Brain matter

Negative neurons
Infiltrate and invade
Irrationally made
Usurp what’s real
It’s all surreal
In the most ****** up
Of ways

Tired, ironic and
Flatly stating
Jests about
Cyanide, suicide,
Joining laughter
To subside and
Normalize pain
Or rather,
Try to --
The joke’s on them
I still want to die

why do i always want
the wanton, the wicked?
when my mind wanders
it’s always a bad place

I’m bigger, but better
In all senses of the word
My old clothes,
Tight, taut, too tiny,
Abandoned for I have
Outgrown them