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Jul 2022 · 296
The Garden
This garden growing wild
     Catches at our breath
          Stilled
But for a moment quiet
     Like our tigers after riot
With eyes as embers
     In the silence

Untamed shades
     Move behind
           Gentle gazes
Like spiraled vines
      In shadow

The flaws of perfection
     Tipped our scale
           Towards symmetry
And lead our naked steps
     To a delicate line
We crossed with whispered
     Thoughts of wants

So flaws bore fruit
     And the wild thrived
And the temptation of two bites
     Caught fire in our teeth

Two hearts burning bright
     With desire
          In our minds
               Our eyes
                    Our tongues
                         Our touch
Dec 2020 · 799
Down South
Channel South.
The Mississippi fold
Whipped midnight dust
From the quiet cages
Of homeless graves.

The dead awake
To low night music
As yellow electric light
Mirrors the slow flow
Of gorgeous life
That loves to shine.

So speak to the fine eyes
As if you found them
In a great Khan’s garden,
Elegant and wild
Dec 2020 · 160
Wild Lives
Wild lives grow
     like vines
With secret beasts
     in roaring leaves
Seeking to dream blues
     north

Hags burn
     sinister herbs
From the foliage
     but smoke blows
south

Heavy breaths
     gasp clean air
Growing bored
     to choke
Dec 2020 · 131
Nightlife
We only howl when the sun rises
Cause nights are for softer sounds
And softer hearts than
The faces made for the
Days that make fists

Paler light unclenches them.
We blend into a scape
Without fading, a starry
Dusk overwhelming

Our cries will cease
And we will hum and burn
In our fall.  The trip to
Earth is fun
While it seems to smile back
The land glowing closer
Dec 2020 · 145
The Ward
A glow in the night
Through thick glass
Accompanies the silence
Of a city seeming
Muted

Where is this button
That shuts its voices down?

Missed whispers in unfiltered night air

May I dream them
If I sleep?
If the humming walls
Will ever cease
Dec 2020 · 150
Boundaries
Boundaries broke
    the storm
        before it rose
So the glow
    settled
The beautiful put to bed
    And wonder died
        while it slept
Feb 2013 · 800
Bad Timing
A kiss too late that left my lips
And passed to you with a gentle press
As you glided by.

You barely seemed to see my eyes
In wanting need of some return
And glanced your sadness on to me
That now was not the time.
May 2012 · 1.1k
Perspective of Beauty
I like haunting sights
Their beauty lingers with you
Their pale form delights
May 2012 · 1.3k
Laughing Ghouls
Laughing ghouls walk among us
Wearing masks of men
Their hollow eyes betray their guise
Revealing where they've been

From the darkness of our dreams
Sad emotions gently seep
Infecting those with tepid lives
Too afraid to creep

Joints creek and bones rust
As silent souls begin to fade
Dry lips crack fetid grins
As men they masquerade
Apr 2012 · 775
Tin Girl
A pitch black blanket of unwound strands
Lays splayed before broken words in impotent rage
Breathing ragged against a winter window

Mirrors outlined in dark silk mock all they reflect
And tell no truths in their unwashed humor
But smile like cats eyes at the moon

A four chambered cavern sits sealed in frozen stone
With faded cave paintings raving in the dark
Hinting at old fires that burned

Simmering thinly and frail beneath a calm front
A snap on the edge of the cusp is only a
Sudden strike away and expecting the spark

So the frail crescent scratched in sand fails its promise
And gives away all it said it stood for
In the name of some sad joke
This poem's evolved a lot.  kind of a very early experiment in objective correlative for me so it might seem opaque in meaning. while it's very open to interpretation, and I welcome those, for me it's really just describing or creating an impression of a girl I briefly knew back in the day. We were never close but she did leave a deep imprint at the time.  Each stanza is supposed to describe a feature of hers while together summing up what I concluded, right or wrongly, about her character and mindset.  In
corresponding order, I hope people might picture her hair, eyes, heart, mind, and smile with each new stanza.  The reader can judge how successful I was, though the possible need for this explanation may be a bad indicator
Apr 2012 · 792
Features of Her Face
Her skin is a smooth
European pale
Spent in the shadows of rugged mountains

Her eyes are gorgeous
Deep pools of dark
Reflecting light like roman fountains

Her hair is a soft
Black velvet curtain
That entangles me in wavy passions

Together they come
In unity
To haunt the dreams of my minds mansions
Apr 2012 · 618
Spontaneous
Edge head on the edge of reason
A stalled mind trying to turn over
Still feels like it's spinning
When it's really only reeling
Apr 2012 · 656
Burn Out Writing
Fire and Brimstone
My words go off
With frag grenades,
A molotov cocktail
In every phrase.
Fuses lit and burning
Towards the bomb,
Anarchy's dumb
But so much fun.
Catch fire and go with it
Burn the grass
Under foot and don't
Look back cause
What's burned can't
Be fixed and doesn't
matter anymore.
Move with it
Flow with it
In a heated dance
And don't stop till
You're ash and cinders
and then, at the end
Pause, rest and smile.
Burned and out of breath
Apr 2012 · 653
4/20 Black Birds
The Black Birds baked them selves today
To miss their morning flights
They wished to keep the king away
They say he's scared of heights
The Queen she keeps their beeks at bay
A scraper when she fights
The maid nev'r saw it comin they say
It's just some black birds rights
Apr 2012 · 658
End of a World
I jumped into a gleaning pool
And falling through a window,
I slipped into a setting world
Of dying suns and waning light
Scorched by fire and cracked by ice
This oscillation of two extremes
Had wrung it tight and left it limp
A withered world between the seams

And with no bridge or exit sign
I passed my time in wandering
To see what wonders might be left
Within this desert scene

Down swept my ghost like steps
Along some winding dusky path
Until I reached a sea in stillness
as if dead from some gods wrath
And I swam those warm still waters
As paling suns began to sink
So paler stars might ***** all parts
Of all my eyes could drink

And diving down into the silence
I smiled sweetly within the deep
While rising back at my own risk
Heaven itself began to weep

The stars themselves served as tears
Dripping down the faceless sky
Burning out in the atmosphere
Burning bright, afraid to die
Burning up they screamed to earth
And with dull thuds of finality
They landed cleaving sea and land
Only I in peace went free

And on that smooth black sandy beach
I stood and watched them rise and fall
With the water still lapping listless
separate yet a part of all
Apr 2012 · 1.4k
Want
The need like a scream
Rings in and rattles out the skull
Echoing down the spine
From hairline to tailbone
While lips that long to touch a kiss
Trace simple lines of elegance
From blushing cheek to curvy hips
Exploring skin with tender tips
As wanting mouths begin to moan
While gasping breath on breath
They groan at the twist of sin
In silk on skin; like wild beasts
They roam
May 2011 · 723
Old Soul as Errant Knight
The battle is not won or lost
But I am finished with it
Sword hanging limp in hand
Armour bloodied and bent
Once Galahad, now Gawain
Young yet wounded, I stand and stare
An errant knight without king or cause
I spur my horse with weapon raised
And prepare to charge again
The beat down, down trodden
Beatific, angelic hooligans
On the page, on the road
Driving down in search of
  It
The place where it is at
In that jazz rhythm
And bebop that began
With a big bang and
May end in a whimper
But I don't think so
No, I don't thinks so
Apr 2011 · 1.8k
Old Country Song
Cold and lonely sights like these
Scare and push me toward the ******
Of nights I knew so well when I was young

Of closing bars and empty lots
Nightly walks and ***** thoughts
Things I'd thought my frozen hands had wrung

But now they're back and tempting me
In silent forms that I can't flee
Like an image some old musician once had sung
Mar 2011 · 592
New With New Morning
White light on white skin on soft sheets
As slender figures stir and wake
With the rise of gentle breaths
That comingle in cool air
That warms them to each other
With touches that are so new
In depth and texture that
They gasp to sigh with stuttered breath
And revel in the soft kiss of soft lips
Mar 2011 · 690
Heavy Winter
A bleak night, a hallowed night
Bathed in haunting silver light
By the hanging moon over head in fullness
Which shows the way for my feet through the wood
That is empty in this season of deadness
With the space between these barren trees
Filled with sound of blowing winds
That whip the leaves round me blinding
Lifting by heart from listless binding
As I walk this cold stark winter path
To vainly search in hope of finding
A permanent place to live and laugh

— The End —