Oh pile of white shirts who is coming
to breathe in your shapes to carry your numbers
to appear
what hearts
are moving toward their garments here
their days
what troubles beating between arms

you look upward through
each other saying nothing has happened
and it has gone away and is sleeping
having told the same story
and we exist from within
eyes of the gods

you lie on your backs
and the wounds are not made
the blood has not heard
the boat has not turned to stone
and the dark wires to the bulb
are full of the voice of the unborn

This office conference table is huge
& I have visions of you,
lying here,
taking dictation
by the minute,
screaming affirmations
& I am lost,
lost in another place,
haven't heard a single word
anybody has said.
dreaming of your pretty face.

Freedom ain't free
& you want to know how I know,
I know 16 guys who left their body parts
all over a foreign desert
in countries
without freedom.

try* to spend some time with others
try to act natural
try not to do anything stupid
try to be normal
try to not to do that
try to be yourself
try to smile
try not to feel bad
try to be less depressed
try to laugh at someone's jokes
try not to hide secrets
try to stop writing cheap poems in napkins
**try to get over it

I hear the pitter patter,
the incessant tapping,
the rising and falling
of fingertips
emanating
from cubicled walls.

And my mind drifts
to more pleasant times,
to the rhythm of your heart,
so steady,
so alive.
It seems like eons ago
that you rocked my world
with your sweet kisses.

And it's times like these,
times lost to sheer boredom
that I drift,
dream about the moment,
the moment when
our eyes did meet,
locked in each others arms,
counting heartbeats.

She sews..her needle hot
Stitching her words
Into my thoughts

Repairing a tear
Here and there

A knot drawn tight
Nimble and quick
Thimble silver
Her verse sharp

A rip in the heart
Stitched in time
To stop the flow

My lips sealed
with silken gold
Threading gently
Into the night.

r ~ 8/21/14

like a mouth camouflaged among the trees,
I was undetectable among the others:
silent, hidden,
no colours to catch the light

-cj