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56 · Aug 2017
The Beggar and the Moon
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Pooled silver shines in the light
from the candle on the window,
a jingle on the way to the pocket,
and a smile, with the promise of dinner.

Seated, and warm coffee against the night
the cold winds blow, snow runs with it,
a chunk of crusty bread and butter,
sits beside the steaming bowl of stew.

Hopefully, the calories and warmth garnered,
will be just enough to make it through
the frozen night, wrapped in newspapers,
cash register rings he tries to pay.

But her warm smile and forgiving nature
does not let her take his silver,
she shakes her head and says,
use it for a warm breakfast.

A nod of thanks as he leaves,
stepping into the moonlight,
a Cheshire cat grin shines
the glint from the coins warms him.
56 · Aug 2017
Dichotomy
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
With painful stares,
I look at you,
burning into my eyes,
the pain hurts,
but the vision is a pleasure.

Such raw beauty,
sculpted into perfection,
each curve and line,
stellar topography,
in which to get lost.
56 · Aug 2017
Layers
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Flavors and layers,
all hidden inside,
shadowed by a mask
of fear or pride.

To truly find out,
trust must be gained,
sometimes the beginnings,
are nothing but strain.

Small punctures made,
by teeth and by fingers,
the first pleasurable taste,
a memory to linger.

As peelings and wrappings,
are removed over time,
flesh and nectars revealed,
tongues tingle in the sublime.

No more secrets hidden,
seeds and core exposed
fingers and face drip divine,
identifiable smile, everyone knows.
55 · Aug 2017
Encroaching
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
The muddy brown brook crawled,
through the supporting legs,
of the red brick bridge,
as clouds cast gray shadows.

The muted mumble of water,
squirming through rocks,
in the narrow shallows,
faded as I walked its bank.

Turquoise skies peeked through,
and golden sun rays spotlighted,
points of interest in nature,
as I followed the waterway.

Boulders of granite glisten,
as dew pooled and ran,
down the craggy sides,
augmenting the glistening of quartz.

Red ants and emerald beetles,
scurry over sticks and stones,
that littered the narrow trail,
I duck and dodge myself as I stroll.

Silver thorns on fresh green briar,
grab my blue jeans, sinking their teeth in
deeper as I struggle, piercing skin
and I feel a crimson drip begin.

Squirrels shout and bark at me,
telling me to leave, as I emerge
into the great devoid openness,
of the asphalt parking lot.
54 · Aug 2017
From Sweet to Bruised
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Once happy
and candy sweet,
spelled with sugared hearts
as on Valentine's day.

The pain of love,
lost in the wind,
like leaves swept away
from the common limb.

Soul dissection,
heart removal,
the drying stain
of spilled blood.

Once removed,
all is blue and black,
bruises are the only thing
that remain, along with the depression.

The memories and feelings,
that cannot be excised,
shadow pains continue
though the source is no more.
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
I sit and stare,
pencil sharp,
yet no words appear on the page,

A blankness of paper and mind.
I count the pixels,
on the plain white screen,
they mock me,
I want to fill them,
but can think of nothing.

In the labyrinth of my mind,
and in the folds of gray matter,
words and thoughts hide,
a game of hide and seek,
my muse plays with me.

There was nothing,
but there was something,
in the nothing,
I could just see it,
out of the corner of my eye,
but not clear enough to read it.

Where once words frolicked,
on a great open plain,
forming verse with the wind,
changing as predators chased.

Now a blank desert,
where have the words gone,
hidden, sleeping, lost,
in the jungle,
at the edges of thought?
54 · Aug 2017
Tickets in Hand
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Let's go, I'll meet you there,
bikini girls, stop and stare,
Cuba Libre on the beach,
all within a days reach.
Lets go on Vacation
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Pheromones and thoughts entwined,
two souls slowly try to combine,
one plus one, you do the math,
and travel down life's loving path.
53 · Aug 2017
Hyperglycemia
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
I nearly died from a sweet kiss,
brought on by your chocolate,
finished with our powdered sugar combination.
53 · Aug 2017
First Night
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
tuille and silk wrap 'round
a day of celebration
a night of pleasure
53 · Aug 2017
The Bonfire
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
A pile of brush,
ready to burn,
as evening falls,
and whippoorwills call.

A single match and glowing,
hands creep in shadows,
as grins form,
in the flickering light.

Blankets on the ground,
the stars and moon overhead,
clothes in a pile,
all have been shed.

The fire's warmth on bare skin,
caresses goosebumps,
formed by a traveling tongue
and whispered hums.

Dancing naked to music,
no one can hear,
fueled by lust,
and the case of beer.

The crickets and the night hawk,
silenced by the moans,
as I worship my queen,
as she lays on her throne.

Her honey drips from her ***,
I lap it up greedily,
her sweetness invigorates me,
and readies me for what is to come.

Whipped into a frenzy,
she looks at me with desire,
my flag waves in the breeze,
as I surrender entirely.

Burned I am from her heat,
raging hotter than the fire,
arcing blue sparks,
from our desire.

I slide into her oven,
where I start to bake,
with her instruction,
I frost her cake.
53 · Aug 2017
Floating in Sorrow
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
The horrible sounds,
of master padlocks
fastening, click,
sealing out a former love.

Floating in my sorrow,
bobbing along in pain,
a memory trapped,
in a glass bottle,
and the sound of broken wings.

Rotting love's flesh in a circle,
revealing the truth underneath,
devoured by your injected venom.

My feelings congealed,
and oozed to the lowest point,
where I waited to be splashed,
into a thousand drops.
53 · Aug 2017
Target Shooting
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Crosshairs weave figure eights,
moving across the three-inch steel chicken,
my finger caresses the trigger tighter on each pass,
slow and steady, dead center, as the round fires,
the satisfying plink of steel as the target falls,
and I slide over to the next one in the row.
52 · Aug 2017
Hidden Histories
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Destined to die,
erased from all of history
unless you dig DNA deep
and under yards of soil.

I am but a fossil,
a piece of mitochondria,
imbuing few traits,
but allowing for future generations.

I am no-one and nowhere,
yet I cross borders,
and reach through the threads,
of history and of time.

Dust brushed off an artifact,
a skull, a jaw, phalanges,
bone or flint knife,
a piece of ancient pottery.

My fingerprints are everywhere,
yet invisible to most,
continuing to live under the surface,
but extinct for millennia.
51 · Aug 2017
The Sharks Smile and Mine
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Down on hands and knees,
as the muddy surf surges around me,
the shells move in a choreographed dance,
there I sit, awaiting the next wave.

The smell of seaweed and fish invade nostrils,
as my eye hunts for the pointed serrated shape,
the telltale black on white colors,
the single toothed grin of a bull shark,

There among the crushed shells,
reds and blacks and the opalescent sheen
of the mother of pearl, long since crushed,
the shark tooth comes to rest.

Extracted from the sand and rinsed,
added to the collection
rattling in the black and silver,
old school film canister.

Later to be examined with my love,
poured onto a napkin and sorted,
by shape and size, and arranged
into an arrow pierced heart.
My wife and I hunted sharks teeth together on Galveston beach on our honeymoon. Somewhere there is a photo of the last stanza.  the teeth are still in a jar in our livingroom 22 years later.
50 · Aug 2017
Full Moonshine
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Crystal clear liquid in a mason jar,
lifted into the night skies,
the full moon's light is blurred,
as the two moonshine's mix.

My vision is transformed
from the mundane, everyday
to the extraordinary,
as a drop hits my lips.

The third eye is opened,
spirits and colors reveal
themselves in the corners,
and in the periphery.

They try to hide,
but they are spotlighted,
like the lead singer on a stage,
by the moonshine's glow.
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
To be trapped so young
suffocating, no air
slowly being destroyed
by one's own choices and breaths.

The clear liquid burns inside
destroying all control
opening her up to
pleasure and pain.

Regrets rise to the top,
as she tries to drown them,
the still drips into the jar,
liquid pain killer.

Trapped in the cycle,
the pain, the drain,
the numbness
the strain.

She slowly destroys her life,
and her liver, with each sip,
bad choice and she cannot stop
opening the jar.
50 · Aug 2017
Summer Scene
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
The suns rays beat down
exposed skin turns to a bronze
a bead of sweat drips.

Delicate curves show
foaming waves crash down loudly
on the beach display.

Hot golden sands glint
accented by bikinis
an array of shades.

Kites fly on shore breeze
umbrellas and tents throw shade
bags are tossed at holes.

Cooler lids creak open
cold drinks are passed around
sweating in the sun.
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Your soul is my binding,
your skin is my pages,
our love is a book,
that I long to pen.

My thoughts transmitted,
traced by my fingertips
in a trail of goosebumps,
that I rub in with my palm.

My intentions overflow,
spilled from their container,
with my feathered quill,
I start another chapter.

Page after page,
thought after thought,
kissed into your skin,
till the plot becomes apparent.

As the pages get short,
rereading is necessary,
more loving ink pours
until at last the covers close.

But, the series continues.
48 · Aug 2017
What the Eye Sees
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
The cats eye shell sees into the sea,
a million granules of sparkling sand,
toss and tumble in the waves and spume,
forever marooned on this stretch of beach.

That which the eye sees,
is beautifully monotonous,
occasionally interrupted,
by a bubbles rainbow sheen.

The trout green ocean touches
the aquamarine blue sky,
that reaches down and touches
the brown's and blacks of the coast.

Once filled with life,
the shell is now empty,
deposited here with the tides
and left to stare into oblivion.
A catseye shell on the beach
47 · Aug 2017
Rolling into the Storm
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
White lines and yellow stripes
lit by high beam headlights,
continually run away,
into the deepening blackness.

Straight ahead is a void,
devoid of light and stars,
we are drawn that way,
by the path of least resistance.

To the left and the right,
the sky is energized,
pitchforks and talons,
grab and stab at the earth.

Bass drum beats follow
each blinding swipe,
but we just keep rolling forward,
headlong into the night.

Our destination sings out,
using the scan button on the radio,
beckoning us onward, with country and rock,
and we follow despite the building storm.
47 · Aug 2017
Distressed Beauty
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Damage adds character,
distress showed in lines,
her face glowed with wisdom,
and her beauty radiated from confidence
in overcoming pain through years.
43 · Aug 2017
Creatures along the Path
The Fire Burns Aug 2017
Down darkened paths with flowing creeks,
you never know who you may meet,
scary things from nursery rhymes,
sensual creatures, search good times.

Things with teeth and tusks and spears,
that stand your hair, and drive your fear,
or lacy winged miniature women,
creating thoughts that are forbidden.

Naked goddesses from Greece or Rome,
that want a seat upon your throne,
or their fathers or their brothers
that if they catch you, will be your ******.

Children from the Neverland
that simply need a helping hand,
creatures of fire that feed on coal,
or evil beings that need your soul.

Do not get lost in these hinterlands,
as you may be unable to meet demands,
stay on the path, straight and narrow.
and always bring your bow and arrow.

— The End —