Something short of
Reasoning
Kept me tethered to
This place
A little breath for
Giving
& a brilliant change of
Pace
If you speak
A little low I may just
understand
But the more
You sink into my
Bones
The more that I
Demand
You're quick to laugh
As I'm fast to feel
& If we call each other's
Names
So spins the aching
Wheel
We see the tide as it
Creeps in to sing its
Gorgeous depth to us
& I'll forever wonder if
You intend to be so
Inconspicuous
We'll never know what time
Will tell
In all that's harsh and true
So promise me that
By the bell
You'll bid your sweet
Adieu.

What now, starlight?
What say you to these never-ending
Elegies of long and lonely
Dreaming
Fueled by your fingertips
That have circled every lock of her
Midnight hair
That failed to glisten in all
The right ways
To keep your guilty
Conscience
At bay?
She could cut your tongue
For all the misleading
Love it spent
& you would still sing
Of nothing but
The sweet
& very, very
Low.

& here's the glorious part
the part that no one remembers
the bits and beautiful
pieces
of our lives so subtly
Forgotten in time
like the day you told her
she’d be the one
if it weren’t for everything
else
she would be a second
heaven to you
but the first is always
the best
& you will live that as
long as you **** well
need and please to
while you drop
daggers
into the heart of the
second without so much as
another glance
& your smile burns holes
into her conscience
forever teeming
with those all too reluctant
goodbyes
and i’m sorries
and she deserves so much more
than her petty
bewildered ******* daydreams
of all that she never had
forgotten
but ******* well should have
as a new day goes by
& you still have no idea
what the ****
I’m talking about.

Caught.
Trapped again in the
Rotten, ******
Hellfire
Of those hard gazes
& subtle longing
"When did you stop burning
Bridges?"
But she knew it wasn't
A "when"
as much as
A "why"
& they can't remember
How they had never
Lived like this
Before
With such coexisting
Qualities
While the wine always
Tastes
Just as sad and wanting
As ever before.

Gives a ****
If she wears her
Heart
On the back of her
Sleeve
At least she doesn’t
Have to look at it
All day
& courteous people
Will warn her of
The stain
So it doesn’t often
Embarrass her
She’ll just cover it
& presto
She’s the same ****
Introvert
You thought you were
So afraid of
****
Seventeen
& every God forsaken
Pity party
It was ever worth
& **** Fate for
Always
.always.
Bringing him
Back.

She lives on a cloud
Where some days
She cannot even be bothered
To breathe.
The warm sun
Embraces
& shies away
All hope of closed blinds
Drawn shades
& the subtlety of
Her silk endowed Sunday best.
She’d **** for a
Cigarette
But cigarettes ****
& her heart is in the
Business of life,
Brother
& she can no longer afford
To cough it out.
You forget how bright
The trees were that summer
Until they vanish for
Five months
& the sound of them
Singing
Becomes a foreign
Elegy
For every day you
Tried to remember exactly
The way he smiled
At you.

in everyone’s eyes
& she wouldn’t have seen
“.A Difference.”
For that moment that
Seemed to stand
So still
As chilled winter air
Ripe with bated breath
& unmentioned absences
Its as if you never
Faded
When all the stars
Burned into the
Bottom of the ashtray
She called “long ago”
& so far away
Take all the cake you
Need to make it through
This treacherous
Month
& save all your clever
Remembrances
For tomorrow’s morning
Rush
Of blood to every aching
Fingertip she knows
Had every mortal desire
To stand there with her just a little
While longer.

Ribbon-wrought
A package brought
Greater interest to her stairs

Such little luck
Curiousity struck
When she saw its nameless flair

The package bore a pair of eyes
To better see the sunny skies
& the window-perched man glancing down

The latter, who, unnoticed knew
How harsh her nearsight quickly grew
As his sunny eyes met hers of brown

Curiousity killed Miss Catherine Ryde
As struck by a car, she instantly died
With thankful eyes locked to the windowsill

Of a man whose heart so deeply wept
Crossing the street, love's life was swept
& her farsight kept forever still
To the window-perched man upon the sill.

They took me back to 1967
Where I was
A raging narcoleptic
& a traveling belly dancer
For the Indian circus
A closet anti-war revolutionist,
You met me
In the dust storm of the
Reenactment of
History in the making
I think at first I only
Liked you
Because we'd had the
Same dream
About elephants and
Talking stars
Could you have loved me then?

In the midst of today's stormy chaos, she forgot to bring her binder to school, the track names on the Damien Rice mix, and how to act miserable around him.
It seems everyone knows about everything.
The boyfriend.
Her rebellious plot.
She woke up
On the not quite
Normal
Side of the bed.
"Let's revolt,"
She thinks.
"Let's be pirates sailing
The universe, stealing
Stars
As we float
Amongst contellations
Perhaps Andromeda wouldn't
Need her chains
Anymore."
She dreamt she blended in with the walls.
& he was frustrated
& the girl was smiling
She watched them as they left
Together
Walking down the road
Then she tore herself from
The wall
& walked in the opposite direction.

Her hands feel
Dry
& she's trying to
Find
Her place
Amongst the antithesis of
Her blankets
& his warm
Embrace
Thunder crashing as
His lips
Meet hers
While they lie in the
Midst of the
Literal and quite metaphoric
Storm
She loves in her
Own ways
With subtle smiles
& awkward silence
He asks her if she's falling
& with a laugh
She replies
"Not quite."

She drifts into something
Not so fulfilled with
Purpose
With the urge to
Disperse every word
That escapes from her
Lips like a
Whisper
As she stares
At the lightning clouds
Through mirror eyes
&
Imbalanced hope
Hurt by
Indiscretion
&
Ill-proposed compromise
You can have
Her heart
&
Break it, too
You could play
Off-tune
Just to catch
Her mood
But it kills when
You can't keep
Her warm
She has what you said
Were "beautiful words"
Wouldn't you know
They're all about
You?

Exhausted and unbeknownst
To the world
Trying to comprehend
Anything
Everything
Still coughing out
Insufficiencies
She's hitting her
Record low
& decreasing in
Seldom movement
Culminating every molecule
of unwilling breath
Without commiseration
A fever too full to fast
Love to lithe to last
Chiseled to match
The statue of imperfection.

She sewed her
Heart
On his sleeve
Though he never was
Quite aware
& she never knew
How often he
Wore it
She doesn't count
Days
& he always misplaces
Things
While she misplaces
Thoughts
& tries to understand him
A little better.

Her eyes are burning
& nothing is turning
Just how she felt
It might not
She dreaded the best
But hated the rest
Through thoughts of
Intolerable use
It helps to feed
Rather than need
Which is what
She has not
& has been
Demonstrating
Jumping the gun
She touches the sun
Without any coercion
Or care.

The stars never seem
To move in the
Proper direction
As we travel the
Universe
Searching for clues as to
Who could have
Possibly
Created this horrible mess.

"Maybe they're trying to
Trick us,"
I told you as
Reluctantly as I could.
"Maybe they're
Guilty."

By God, somedays I
Could swear you would
Defend those lights
To the death.

By God, somedays I
Wake up and remember
Not to speak.

She took your angry clash of chords
& put them on the shelf
In cabinets that aren't as empty
But you could never tell
She ends the day with scattered laundry
& eyes that aren't quite clear
She'll dream that she's a different soul
With a different boat and pier
The words of long ago
Have let you seem
You're only as tall as the door
Will let you be
The touch of one hand could
Change your future
So why won't you
Let her?
She caught you when your
Guard was down
& failed to believe in
Tell-tale sounds
That sang your name
To her so sweetly
In the midst of her world
So greedily
She forgave herself for your good graces
& peace of mind
While you swore to understand
The meaning behind
Every unabashed lingering
Whisper
That spoke to you in pure
Remembrance of her.

"Those birds have been

Flying through here

For five

Minutes.

I sat in my car

& watched

Them pass by

Because

I was too afraid

To go inside."

"I love you more than

Anything

In this world."

& then five minutes didn't

Mean so much

To the world anymore

& she should have sat in her

Car just a bit

Longer

& maybe once its

Warmer

She won't have to

Remember

& there are always times

When you don't know

What you're saying

"Yes," to

Perhaps the silk evening

Gown was filled with a little

More purpose

Then she felt comfortable

With

& we all knew where the

Train lead to this

Time when

We would wait for

Hours

Until it passed

& this will

Pass

If she wills it

To.

The knives have been
Winning
& they're cutting up
Against
Our toes now
But we got ourselves in
This embrace
& there aren't keys
To those cuffs
Yet, honey
But we've just got to
Keep waiting
Until
They fall from our
Weary sky
You were known in
The books
As the one who dreamed
Of much greener grass
& I was more
Inclined
To the Victorians
Than I was to the taste
Of tea.
But oh, did we wage
Our wars in perfect
Rhythm to our
Untamed hearts?
Or we were just shimmering
Light in the bits of cutlery
They found shining
At the bottom
Of the sea?

"Careful,"
he said.
"If you burn all those
Bridges
You won't be able
To go home."
& he tried to take the
Matchbox
From her hands
& she was stubborn
Enough to convince herself
That it was a permanent
Fixture to her
Sweating palms
& heavy indiscretion.
"I was never much for superstition,"
She tried to tell him
As they stood on the final
Steel structure
"It won't matter what you
Burn."
He tried to reassure
But the tone
Was more of longing
Than comfort
& everything was already
Soaked in gasoline
& she couldn't
Bear
To listen to that song
Of reason.

Tomorrow could have been another sunrise
Tomorrow eagerly placed beneath her subtle languid breath
Tomorrow could shake the moon in her eyes

To save her from such a wondrous depth
To keep him in her favor until the end of this
To catch up to his adoration, though ages apart

She never planned adornments or bliss
She never planned such devotion and art
She never planned presumptuous regard

In any other instance, she might have kept color
In any other dream, she might have been marred
In any other life, there wouldn’t be a lover

He met her in a cold December, changing her dress
& if he hadn’t said he loved her, they wouldn’t be in this mess.

I could have asked her
If she was
Dreaming
But I saw it in
The way
She held her breath
So low
Too many of the
Same familiar songs
& it makes as much sense
As it did
The last time she
Saw him go
"Aren't we all prisoners?"
She thought to ask
Some cool summer's dusk
Why, of course
Sweet love
Now take my hand
& I'll show you
What we're all
Dreaming
Of.

The words that reside
Behind your lips
Are what drive her
Into this
Convulsion of
Lust
She can't be
Saved
We all knew this
She begs for those
Instances that are as
Rare
As the sunlight
On a cold winter's
Day
Make me live in your
New idea of an
Embrace
I'll swim in it
Just to see what it
Feels like
When I don't dream about
You
Anymore.

I am in love with
Charisma
& the way it seeps
Into my skin
Branching into so much
More
Than heartfelt
Bliss
Echoing through alleys
& city streets
& colliding against
Patchwork fences
We know what we're
Made of
& although it
Dares you
You still inhale
& shake hands with
Your gorgeous
Fate
"Its all up
There
& its all you
Dream of."
Then don't let me
Dream, 'cause
By God
I'll never stop
& we'll keep spinning
Until I can
No longer make
Sense
Of my fingertips
& we sleep all of our
Morning graces
Far, far
Away.

Someday our hearts should
Crash like stars
On a fragile blue sea
You tend to
Condescend my
Questions
Turning me into the
Captain of the
Side streets
As I control the
Steering wheel with
Timid words
& beautiful exasperation
Your eyes looked
Reasonable
Enough to call them mine
For a few hours
Until the touch of air
Meant little to the
Passing minute
Call me your queen
& I'll tell you no
But my fingertips will
Dance
Because you asked me
First
I lock my answers in
A box that harbors a
Ballerina
& a lullaby
& I've forgotten where
I've hidden it
Over the years
When the answers
Are so much
More important
& we sit here at the
Crossroads
For hours because
You craved indecision
& I craved

Insistence.

She drove on the edge of
Cliffs
To ensure you didn't
Disappear
& there's a ghost on
Her heel
& a ghost on
Her bed
& neither of them serve
Drinks
But perhaps she missed
The flavor of
Nicotine
Embedded in her
Jacket
Oh, she says you're
Changing
You were always
Changing
& like a dream
There was always a ripe
Melody
& she'll always know
Sarcasm
Even when she never
Realized it had
Fallen
From her lips.