obscenity isnt always
in the words written or images sketched
but sometimes in the hearts and minds of
thouse you look within for it least

sometimes the images
overwhelm the idea within them with their simple verse
and he must hurry behind and clean like a proper butler
dusting and polishing to meet the standard
making a home for the love felt
a true home for the misbegotten

but these come thundering out of the dust and noise
hard and swift on massive waves of
untamed emotion
like the sudden shout of peril of the last watchman standing
knowing his warning falls to deaf ears
but he must fulfill his destiny and creed
to be the only one who could have stayed the downfall

but within the sweet reprise of finding
is the void and capitulation
as if the celluloid heroine
steps gently from the screen to the empty room
your weeping occupy's
to comfort as only true royalty of worth can
as only dignity's angel can

you are left with your own cage of
your own doubting thoughts and tread-worn dreams
while she journeys onward with her own
on a cold mist strewn road
far to the north
in some unforgiving land of harlots and liars

the end of this night approaches
bearing its regrets
gently in its arms like comfort and peace of mind
can be purchased with well wishes
and happy thoughts

the last solider limps slowly away from the battlements
wailing his souls song of friends fallen
and blood that never should have been spilled
over such foolish proposition
as words spoken are equal to those written
as such an expensive toll should be paid for some rich mans pocket
overflowing and wasted

it was a dark night
when suffer and his baby brother set out
to make a few bucks at some kinda quick
somthin or other
like a thousand times before
down easy on the farm
always been that way
just gotta figure the way to cut
the bean close to the fat
an squeeze the soil for the pound
and its always
owing someone
owing everybody
cause the ends never have met
an never will
but a shotgun brought it close a time or two
so suffer believes he will take it on with tonight
see if he can straighten out what never been right
it was a dark night
slow and easy in the town
like it always has been
everybody knows everybody's name
and everybody's game
so it wasn't much of a surprise
to find suffer and his big baby brother
walk on into the five and dime
pullin out guns and robbing the register
and old man jenkins pulled his six shooter
and put five of em baby brother
one in suffer's leg
he promptly fell to wailing
his baby brother was gone
now hes gonna face the 'lectric chair
all on his lonesome
all on his lonesome
cause he was named to suffer and that's what hes gonna do
gonna burn in that ole time hell
like they got there in the good book
yea gonna ride the lighting
cause suffer been a loose cannon too long
and they don't like that
in this slow down an easy do it town
so he's gotta pay
always been that way
the ends never meet and never will
but no matter you
go to the good lord
with apologies in hand
dressed in your sunday best
like a good boy
finally suffer your gonna be a good boy
pushin daisy's in a summer sun
pushin till the lord calls you on home

the breeze holds forgiveness
it holds childhood happiness
that had me chasing dragonflies in a summer sun
it holds every lover i held hands with
and all the giving loving conversations
we shared in warm afternoon light
the breeze holds hope devotion and desire
all in its easy soft embrace
that gentle summer breeze
iv spent lifetimes there
with people so precious to me
that even this little thing we once shared
is love to me
summer breeze

light as warm wind
she lay a single kiss
like an offering to some lost goddess
of love and fertility
like a prayer that her years were not spent
that she could still be loved
i took her then and there
strong in my passions for her
strong in my desire and loves for her
she tells me i am her shield
but she is my soul
i sink my pen into the heart of this thing
but try as i may i cannot begin
no words contain
i see more in her every day
and marvel at beauties in her
that beguile and ****** my senses
i want her
i love her
the rain has swept past us
and she curls up against me for warmth
and i become drunk with her nearness
there in the deep of the evening
when she looks up into my eyes
and i see how long her road has been
and how much it means to her
to have a man who is more than
just a fleeting whisper
just the proverbial ship passing in the night
i see in her
what she sees in me
true lover

immortal in my heart
are the moments with her in my embrace
lost myself in her tender loves
her unspoiled gaze is the home iv sought
all my life
the warm seasons of my heart
belong to her
like two summer suns together we live as one
forever in the beautiful illusions
of summers everlasting days
and deep pure nights
as one we live
as one we breath
this eternal love
this gift sweet and dear

circular pathways
but some grinning thief
has made off with every aspect
of direction he could pry
off the roadsings
so the soft hand normal Joe's
all just pile up in a corner looking worriedly
at the passing crowds
hoping to catch some mental relief
for their moral delemias
and tickets to ride the soft ride
they are the nine to five crowd
and its hard for them to digest all
this street kid lingo
all this dark of night dumpster dive

she squats in the road to pass gas
and pick her own pocket for its
semblance of change
the hover kings stand round and
keep a wary eye on her proceedings
after all its only natural
they are depending on her for cash flow
but all she has managed so far is to
get tears flowing
she thouse one of thouse break
your hearts over and over kind of faces
she rescues the normal Joe's sends em on their way

the sunbelt in winter
and after all the barnburners
have packed up their stainless steel plastic wear
and formed a caravan of semi's headed ever south
into the industrial lights of miami night
it comes down to people like her
and her very human open hearted approach
to make this day worth living through
its her rough but realistic hopes
that make this day worth believing

hot sun creepin long
be hours for cool evening comes
so we got to hang on for just a little longer
we just gotta *** down this mountain side
just gotta forge the steel
just gotta make it one more day
little further is all i can say
blind to all but the road its hard to tell
little further is all i can say

that night we rested in the lea of a shade tree
cookfire making shadows leap and play
while his soft song breached the stars and river too
so strong a soul hard to believe anything could lay him low
that night saw the truth of the man
had so much to give
but had no love in his life
had no destinations
pity thouse who live without love
thouse who live without hope
that night i saw the truth of the man
a good man who life had cheated

when dawn stirred me
found him cold in his blankets
he had passed away in the lonely night
so i buried him there by the beautiful river
there by the lovely gardens
found no beauty in life but i hope
he finds it in the everafter
saw the truth of the man
a good man who should have had
but had been denied
so i buried him like a king
in the beautiful gardens
by the peaceful river

the folded man
sat creasing the edges of his wallet sized heart
and stared off into the romantic night
full of lovers embracing
and others who silently wished for a hand to hold

he waited for her soft footsteps
but she just sat in her bedroom mirror brushing her hair
thinking of some boy from long ago
sundown was just that kind of girl
trade your temptations today for the empty promise of yesterday
she will stay here another season
maybe he will pass this way
maybe the storm clouds gathering will go away

the harlots all dance with unacquainted tenderness
not all embraces are done with joy
call it a sundown's choice cause its a bad one
and the gambler brushes dust off his neat appearances
each detail of his solitude lie must be cared for
lest it crumble and expose hes just a green kid
from illinois
we all put the best face we can
some just take it too far

she went to the picture show
and looked for familiar faces in the crowded hall
but the folded man had already slipped away
with one of the harlots
who will make a pretty bride someday
everybody gets a second chance
they just may not want it once they get it

she brushed the ashes from her clothes
they fell like thin snowfall on spring day
a last taste of winters hand
out of the burnt shell of the dancehall at dawn we came
the thick smoke splayed out on the thin wind
wound its way past catching the dust and
making the sunlight a dull brown
she looked at me with tears for eyes
asked me to take her from this place
everybody gets a second chance
they just may not want it once they get it

if i sit perfectly still
if i hold my breath
i can almost picture you here
my heart captivated
but nothing compares
like being next to you
in all the sublime scents tastes sounds feelings that
that flood my senses when your here
you are an ocean of existence i swim
that place where the heart blooms like springtime's kiss
you are light as air
filled with flowers and sunshine
your summers joys and sweet romances
you are timeless
from the moment i set eyes on you time ceases
like deep winters night safe in the arms of love
you are a woman
the only woman that has ever been
will ever be
you are....perfect
if i sit perfectly still
if i hold my breath
and close my eyes
i can feel you
and you feel like sunlight

let me into the stream of humanity's mumblings
this emotion thick on my face
my words live
fill the pages
yet i remain an empty vessel
a  winterbound torn down dark amusents
of self sabotage
strife and the wonderful treasures

the sweat pours
like an announcement of desperation
breathing in gasps
it would ease my sorrows
it would ease my soul
weary of the day
lets gather our wits about us
to make safe passage thru the
oncoming silence of darkness

your odd socks gather in the corner
along with half a dress
and a broken stroller
the child sleeps silently

headphones clears
battered noise
fire ignights
the long years unwind before me like a grand sketch
subtle and deep with mystery
unfinished portraits of long forgotten friends
surge forth like a strong breeze
and catch my sails
carry me forth into distant times
where something was shared
and a face comes clear...a place
lenny...the yard..
September nineteen seventy six...
a young striving for mastery...but it was because of....
but the sea is an unforgiving lady
and before i can see
what lay there
the memory fades

the pale glass window
dusty with the passing days
reflects a shard of the sun's dust devils
and all i could hear was the small sounds
that creatures of the darkness made
as they thirsted

i walked in the grey dust
and the bitter taste of the miles of desert
was in my mind like tears
i walked on because i knew not what else to do
because the wind shifted the leaves
was it not faith in a madman's way
would it not suffice with the kindness of...
the wind shifted the leaves

the midnight flame flickers in the echoes of the cold winds
while i etched the papers ivory face with
all that which such as i could devise
and as i slipped into a fitful dream
the miles swept me onward
into the darkness
into the dark dreams that live there

the pale glass window
dusty with the passing days
reflects a shard of the sun's dust devils
and in that brief light
i saw a face
against the grand design
against the backdrop of years
but the dust swallowed it
like all my other dreams
and the dust devils are all that remain
my only companions
in the darkness

slip into spectacular visions
of the wonders the world has shown me
sunsets on the open sea
sunrise on the vast silence of desert
slip into the hearts song
hear the universes true vision
finally see what i have spent
a life's age seeking
I see it in your eyes my love
iv sailed seas
walked deserts
climbed mountains
travelled my share of road
I'm home at last in your arms
I'm home at last in your heart
lay with me lover
let me swim in your mind
run in your heart
fly in your soul

the penmanship of her soul
is slanted
and focused on yesterday's sunlight as it fell
through dusty glass to land
in warm silence on the burnished wood
and teacup
the aroma of mint tea
mixed with the subtlest tastes of her perfumed
soft skin
the penmanship of her soul
is slanted
flows over the page of her day
like silk on sandpaper
but her smile endures
even as she decays into the sand
which created her
she writes her thought
on the sunsoaked sky
and that ideal
is one of warm loves
i wait for the time to pass
and somthing to be revealed
but time is a twisted path
and shows nothing of its passing
except the turn of day to night
and so as i fall to sleep
i read between the lines
of the smile in her eyes
and reach for her hand...

it was the picture perfect
image of summer
sunlight slanted in thru filthy window

the air was heavy with
an approaching thunderstorm
a distant lawnmower roared to life
the slow breathing of a suntanned beauty
soaking in her rays

the thunderstorm arrived
rain
the wind was swift and with a rush of thoughts
i delved into suntanned beauty
and she into me  
early morning
the rain ended
suntanned beauty had a name
but in the years it has faded from me
like her face
but i still care for her

It felt like late summer and as the sun set i thought id be there forever
her scent lingered on the humid air
but she was gone
like me
never to return to our homes

and as the evening dying rays touch the
faded words on the gravestone
the thought behind them comes to life as i never could

greyhound station
quarter to three am
in the rain
she is sitting on the bags
playing a vampire movie on the kindle
the screen lights her up
as she leans in close for the big wedding scene
run my hand along her dreadlocks
stopping to eye a new bead
thats her...a new little treasure for my heart each day

she leans on my shoulder as we
sit in the very back of the bus
bare to the warm night air
while dave matthew's sings to us
a little ditty from his long ago
has such a style don't he
she whispers a kiss onto my cheek
slips into dreamin

miles run past breathlessly
just an ebb and flow of u-gas and jiffy ****
just a parade of kids playing by an endless river
right outside this dim window
shes sleepin softly
i'm so awake to how i feel
to how much she means to me

where ya going mister
where ya headed
i point ..."thata way to the bright future"
so full of promise
so full of joys
with her at my side i can do anything
with her i am superman

the polished hand of admirers heralding a new poem
they have come so often to rub their eyes on your ink-stained page
leaving behind papercuts of emotion with which they grieve
for the words you spread on their sweaty palms
the polished hand of admirers...
wet with anticipation of the latest beachside laughing clown
he is a walking breathing cataclysm written for her comforts
written in adoration's delight and true loves of her tender hand
she lay in amongst your pages on the bedspread
like a spilled wine **** to the tongue of sensibility
like a spilled wine that intoxicates and leaves
watch her swaying hips fade away into darkness
she will bounce and glide on another man's stripper pole
if you fail to call her back...
the polished hand of admirers heralding your waking thought
muted cheers as your pen makes wicked strokes on empty page
like a dancing blade carving your wooden words
till they sing like beauties breath on cold still air
till she is your warmth wrapped so delicately in your twisted bedsheets
she mutters a cough as she puts flame to cigarette
and smiles at your attentions
she is a living poem
that you write ink and page
the polished hand of admirers will never see
how pure simple ***** girl is so intoxicating
how lush and enticing her gyrating beneath you really is
the polished hand of admirers like you go to bed and sleep
while your dreams are of her dancing swift and sweet
theirs are the dreams of pens cutting on page
like a dancing blade carving wooden words

© 2016 mark john junor all rights reserved

i love that sound
a wind walks by and stirs the trees
that rushing breathing sound
the leaves make as the branches are swayed in the wind
i love the many voices of daylight
a lawnmower and childrens laughter
birds chattering
a small plane boiling overhead
pulling a sign for some event
i love the sound of summer

i love its taste
ice cold soda when your sitting on hot pavement
the texture of a overcooked hotdog at a ballpark
i love the taste of
your lips while you are sunbathing
sweat and sunscreen are an ****** mix
i love how summer tastes to my mind
it feels young
it tastes free

i reach up with incredible grace
****** the contrail from that jetliner far overhead
and tie it into a ribbon for your hair
there you go my lovely
you are a young french princess of the world
i love your taste most of all
you taste like love to me

two young lovers
spreading blanket neath the mysterious stars
lay side by side
stare up at the unfolding wonders
hand in hand
love expressed makes heartbeat faster
love expressed nourishes soul
live for that long kiss
when world melts away
when stars don't shine near as bright as she in your eyes
when your heart and life is on fire with
natural desires
there in on the edge of a sea of stars
sailing into joys you've waited a lifetime for
shes so good to you
dose things that set you afire
swim in the madness of her arms
tossing and turning wild ride
swim in the delights of her smile
tonight is all that matters
everything else is just a dream

she weaved a tapestry of notions for me
on the lower level of grand central station
it had rained that night
my jacket retained its damp warmth of summer storm
we ran down the long ramp
past the times square express
to that bench
where she sits tonight
weaving dreams
and avidly talking to friends
by the track where we used to catch the train
to that sleepy little town with the apple orchard
and blueberry farm
near hartford

we had wandered all night along the wet humid streets
and talked about everything under the sun
and a few things over it too
just holding hands and walking
laughing and whispering

i was a young man
you were a young woman
we had the world at our feet
we were everything to eachother
under the sun
and a few things over it as well

tonight she weaves a tapestry of notions for me
in the lower level of grand central
while i rock my childs crib in the bahamas
she talks to her friends
who allways are sitting just there
tho they have all long since gone
her imagination they are allways there
the notion is that no matter where you go
you will allways be loved

the smell of pancakes
drifts me into dream
and in the golden sunday morning light
sketches possible futures into the wood floors deep surface
and my eye wanders that thought
as time passes slowly
the girls chat over the days events
and my mind catches edges of dresses
and the soft curve of ankle
as she barefoot's to the grass in the yard
giggling her sweet heart to the summer like december air
placing the tray of treats
just beyond the reach
and entices me to rise  from my writing
and join them in this fare
need your strength for bed baby she teases
and runs her lips along my earlobe
i turn to meet her tender kiss
and taste her strawberry's and cream
taste of her deep waters love
and know that i need search no more
that time passes slowly
but it cannot pass slow enough to hold me
in this wonderful moment
with her presence in my senses
and i regret time for this
for i know it will pass far too soon

her maudlin ******* clad emotions
moved across her vivid motion face
she paused to fumble with the settings
but her steam engine heartstrings are
trying to re-write themselves

like a derringer she carries both smoke and fire
concealed in her compact chrome adorned form
i kiss her deeply with adoration
i kiss her with loves longings
she denies such things have realities
she says that its only the oily taste of aftersex with an unclean woman
that is real and good
i cannot wish away her versions of reality

she caged her fingers
with pewter rings in the shapes of skulls and dragons
but the real danger lay not in her blades and devices
but in the lingering i would do admiring her
so used to the vestibule of her carnal delights
i would venture no further
into the amazon jungle of her forbidden fruits
and i would forever one of her
treasured trophies in the neatly appointed sitting room
with the ticking clock and chipped fine china
with the blurry photographed crying faces
and a carpet adorned with images of plagues rampages
death is no mere stick figure
with some wicked blade
he's a carpetbagger selling cheap potions
in the twisted carnival of life

her thick tears are slow to escape her eyes
as she looks off into the oncoming night
and the face of the unbearable
her maudlin emotions vivid to me
as my hand holding hers in empathy is to her

she decorates the flawed image she sees in her mirror
and with mock flair unleashes herself
into the alleyways silence
she turns back to me and without a word
pulls delicate fingers across my cheek
in a gesture almost intimate
smiles and walks into the shadows

she is a figurine in the circus of night
a danger of delights
a mouthful of wonders and razors

she walks slowly back in
the thick grey of dawn
her step weary
her gaze downcast
i hold her in my arms trying to restore
but you cannot fix what was never whole enough
to get broken in the first place

i kiss her deeply and with gentle adorations
she looks into my eyes
and remains unseeing
this is not how love is supposed to be

with tears for ink
soul for a page

whatever became of the days
when the words flowed
fast and furious like a
wildfire burning in the soul
pick up the pen
pen to page
its too soon after midnight
but little choice left to me
i must speak
must put pen to page
once came natural as breathing
it will come once again
like going home

with tears for ink
soul for a page

frail light shines in this
midnight place
a deep feeling of peace clings to the air
a resting of sorrows
an end of troubled journeys
a place of forgetting

the dove comes to sing here
and the song is of tomorrows never changing
is of sleep that devours all the bad dreams

grey this haven
like pearly dawn crept near
that lonesome journey taken
parted from all ever known
to walk neath these beautiful trees
to walk this paradise of quiet passages
dream now your fondest dreams
dream now of loves tenderest kiss
the dove has come to sing you to your slumbering beauty
she waits there for you
at the crossroads of the lonesome journey

in that golden light
in that rose glasses moment
it really is all there is
it really is all you'll ever need

she was there too
familiar to the song
and comfortable to the dance
lace and silver jewels
pretty perfumes and mysterious candles flickering
she was no stranger to this little world
where the magic is all that matters
and that can only be from the heart

watch her dance now
see her freedom in her open heart
and the love she gives to all
watch her captivate
see how she looks to the rising sun
with a longing that the night
deep and magical never end
its thunder is effortless desires
its depth are songs that the heart holds dear
never let it end
just one more dance
one more time in her arms
spinning like stars on the edge of night

i still see her there
magic in her eyes
tender in her touch
she was with me
she was with me
that night
that moment

summer come now again
kiss me in your special way
give me your beautiful way
give me that open hearted day

summer come now again
save my sleepy head from these dreams
bring the dead winters snow away from me
give me that open hearted day

summer come now again
with your daisy chain nights
with your lazy plain dawns
give me that open hearted day

summer come now again
with your vagabond starlight
with your afternoon delight
give me that open hearted day

the face turned into the haze of the sun
and in the corner of its unseeing eye
i perceived the nature
of these truths
its in that turned face
its empty gaze cast over the far distant landscape
we all seek to sate the thirst
for a sweeter wine
unleash the mystery of self
unlock the untamed within

its smooth plastic features
hides nothing
but some would say that only reveals that it hides all truth
in its pastel faceless features
that we all see ourselfs

in its pastel faceless features
i see all my loneliness
all my shared joys
all loves all sorrows
all my years struggling against the tide
mishap and perchance
its in that man made  face
that we perceive the distance we must travel to find ourselfs
the trials we must endure to discover the truth
behind our own eyes

coiled in its depths are the answers we all seek
after all isnt it that simple
we create the troubles we seek to destroy
in its smooth plastic skin
she finds comfort
free from the fear of another's unpredictable madness
she can explore her own illusions
and that too seems sure
we destroy what we live for

on the beaches of my puddles
and in the forests between my lawn
and the kitchens back door
of my childhood home
the ages have worn away the questions
that once kept me staring off hopeful to the dawn
trying to decipher the meanings
from patterns of a gods casual breath

and so here i linger
these lifetimes later
waiting for the answers
that an inhuman human face hides
pastel kaleidescope
of the turned face
the barren night filled with wishes
and wishes filled with regrets

its pastel tones
haunt the night
its dark mutterings
play along the road that she bicycles on
whistling a girlhood tune
as she fades into loss
the light in her eyes gone forever
sometimes answers are the last thing we need

the best of my yesterdays
is where i sleep
the smile that returns to me
is from the loves i knew
the sunlight a little crisper
the joy a little clearer
when i was a young man
in those years ago

look back
and see with clarity
all i know now
and all i thought i knew in my yesterdays
wisdom written on a new page
but to look back and read what was written
is to know the man behind the face in the mirror
is to know the child i once was

my heart traces
the the road i have traveled
the loves i have known
picture book of faces and times long past
we all linger there from time to time
recall the best and worst
recall world we made in this life
the best of our yesterdays
the person behind the image in the mirror

old man feeding the birds
he stands slightly bent as he casts
down the bits of bread
that the birds milling around his feet
devour with soulless eyes
he casts each piece like a sacrament
like an uttered prayer
his large brown coat soiled by winter
now hangs on his springtime frame

old man with his bag in hand
walks slowly along the fence line
the rubber of his shoe squeaking like a
small animal
he is amused by the thought
he feeds the birds once again
after all that is what old men do
they die slowly and they feed birds
they walk in silence like a tomb
casting bread upon the waters
like a prayer

old man feeding the birds
what old man dose not dream of younger women
what old man dose not wish he was young again
so the birds feed upon his dying wish
with soulless eyes
watch him walk into the city of night
with nothing but his loaf of bread
and a newspaper full of yesterdays stories
walking the fence line between heaven and hell
on his way to feed the birds