your lips are coated in poison
(full of death)
but mine are coated in lipgloss
(full of death).
He'd rather choose the poison
then fall prey to a girl
with cherry lipstick
and a pretty face
pulling him in and never
letting him
out.

I want to be with you,
Alone and in solitude.
A mouthful of glue,
You stick my tongue to the roof of my mind.

There is no need for these rambunctious thoughts,
Although I cannot help it,
Collecting fast like blood clots.
But your wide eyes catch my wandering gaze.

Breathe in all the time,
Rustling your tired feathers.
I cannot bear to commit this crime.
I’ll keep this secret in the basement of my brain.

As long as I can remember,
The sunrise has blossomed in your eyes.
And your knotted back needs tender fingers.
These creases need undoing.

The path to your hear is lined with thorns.
Vines snare my ankles, leaving gashes.
The air outside is thick with stormy weather,
So let’s stay in tonight.

Dream of our hands like black mambas.
Twisting over each other, so venomous,
Awaiting that bite that marks skin as red as trauma.
Perforated marks tearing your beautiful imperfections.

My insanity runs as wild as horses,
Tumbling through cortex and sulci.
Until through my open mouth, it forces itself out.
Screams of passion building, then finally subsiding.

Now everything has settled.
Our lips are afraid of one another.
For weeks, weeping and biting nails, hungry and fretted.
Longing for what may arise in a volcanic explosion.

You were in a tail-spin, (You remember?)
Of course you do, endlessly falling,
Churning dark clouds for company,
Every silver-lining has a cloud.

So I reached right in, (you were so blind.)
Placed your trembling hand on the controls,
Although, you did not trust me, (did you?)
Not at first, although with good cause,
Because you were dizzy, disorientated.

But slowly, ever so slowly, we relaxed,
Pulled you out of the dive, up and away,
Banking, climbing, power ramping up,
Juddering through the stutter-stall,
Until we were purring, a throaty growl.

A big cat in a poorly constructed cage,
Bursting free, guided by rainbows,
Flickering smile insinuating itself upon your face,
(So lovely) on your beautiful lips.

Without really noticing, (smooth as silk)
We coasted along in open skies,
Rah, French kissing the gentle swell of the sea,
Transforming everything into a mirror,
Reflections captured in burnished bronze,
Can I release your hand now? (don’t gasp)
Yes, my love, you are flying again.

© Paul Chafer 2014

I fell into an ocean
So I swam
I swam for days and nights
For months and years
Until my arms gave up
In the middle of that everlasting ocean
I fell, sank, into the abyss
Further and further down
Wondering what would become of me
Until suddenly I hit rock bottom
Down there in the darkness
I was unable to move
And I was so, so tired
Remembering my old reality
It seemed so beautiful, and so strange
And most of all, so far away
Now I live in a bottomless hole
I’m all alone down here
I’m trapped
In my own prison
My own hell

I still love you
but unfortunately
I lost my self
in the process
of loving you...