Restlessness haunts my soul.
diaphanous hours
breathe slowly
despite the prowling cat
padding around inside my chest.

One word, one promise
of far, far away
something to color my days and nights
something new to change
the taste on my tongue
another vision-

but for now,
painted stars
on my hands and feet
will suffice
to constantly remind me
of endlessness
and possibilities.

I close my eyes
vain attempts to will anything
I set my mind to-
but all I end up doing is falling into sleep
dreaming of dreams
from another dream
maybe from another's dream
another awakening
forgetting I was alone
in a sea of faces

alone to collect
pretty words
and maybe dream dreams with you
until you come true.

fits and starts
A great silence falls from the sky
only deep draughts of air
and the maddening beat of blood
to fill this night
As starry eyes burn slowly
into midnight
into sea.

It is this moment that
I wish to steal from you-
like a furtive glance
or a forbidden kiss
I want to feel you here

please
Stay.

In this place
where no time passes
measured only in every breath
and every beat
and every word unspoken
to color the hours

mind whirling
as the last of the waves touches
naked           with eyes closed           like butterfly wings
and hands slowly tracing          circles on soft velveteen            salt on my lips
blood rushes to the hips
and slowly

ever so slowly

the ancient dance
the movement of the night
sets me aflame
anew.

Every scratch, every mark
every bruise of ink
on paper white skin

Every letter
and every word,
every question
in every song I've heard-

Again and again
all it ever does
is spell your name.

The cold breeze stirs to give way
to sweltering exotic heat
Leaves start to flutter softly
as if floating on tranquil seas
Time passes in subtle shifts
And I, daughter of earth
yearn for the wild, lush
forests of my childhood
in this sterile, distant, concrete labyrinth
Cut off from the seas and mountains.

You were the son of the ocean,
still and quiet on some days
ferocious and relentless on most nights
And when We met
All I heard was a deafening roar
    of waves upon rocks
        upon sand
            upon me.

You stole my breath
with your liquid dark eyes
twin stars reflected on the waters of midnight
You taught me to dance
underwater tangos
naked in the moonlight
to run under the rain
holding hands and laughing
You tasted like hot caramel
on my soft, sweet tongue
     and salt
         and sunshine
Everything that is ever good in this world.

You have bewitched me completely
And each day I spend
away from your arms
burns me
that I fear
that your touch
could send me up in a puff of smoke
and I would disappear.
Nothing
but the memory
of your words, your laughter
your kisses and your skin on mine
are left to inflame me
on idle days such as this.

Take me home to my vast green forests
the feel of dew grass and earth
beneath my bare feet
walk with me
back to the dark sandy beaches
where we first made love
Stay with me until the sun rises
      on the next day
           of the next day
               of the next
Hold me in your arms
until the stars look big
And never let me go.

That's all there is.

Empty bottles. Cigarette butts.
Invisible stains of passion
And the scent of you
all over my body
to remind me
Of one night-
and that's all there is.

Pink and blue
laced with memories of you
coming full circle
to where we were
but everything is so
Different from what I remember.
Warm earth turns to cold, gunmetal steel
the boy I once knew
Is a new man
that I'm trying to know again.
that boy on the shore
has grown up.

And I guess I've been
chasing memories all this time
and this would be the last time
I would bleed for them.

It really takes losing everything
you've ever wanted
to be finally free.

Soreness in my limbs.
That's all there is.
fleeting as it is, a memory
waiting to be wrought anew.
It is enough for now.
And maybe enough for the nights to come.
One night was all there was.
One night that is only,
truly ours.

I was not meant to love,
how sorry I was that I had
such a troubled heart
A man by the sea beckoned me
And so I removed my bra to stay apart.

We danced with underwater stars
in gurgling laughter music
my body keeping time to his
this I did not know until it was
too late.
Random strains of guitar strings
made me bold enough to sing,
and in the flickers and waves
slowly
He brought me down to earth
and took my lips
as the stars stood watch over us.

I've had too much to drink
just like you
and in roughened walls
and porcelain seats
you tore me up anew.

One night was all there was.
One moment of clarity.
besieged me like a thousand drops of rain.

hastily I flew
leaving despite your eyelids aflutter
Forgive me, a thousand times over?

I kept my hair up high
after he drew it down loose,
I marked his back
with red smidgens of me
and stirred, all the more confused
He hollowed me out
and in its place
something new and strange
something close to love?
I cannot be sure.

Only that
every time I look into your eyes
I'll always look for that strange man
Standing by the sea
All this time
he's been waiting for me.

Where has it gone, that green shirt?
- that shirt that started it all.
It was a dark, stormy night,
But being convinced as hell keeps you dry
despite your best efforts
you managed to bring the sky and the sea with you,
All for the price of two bottles of beer.
Sopping wet, you were irresistible.
So I drew that green shirt
over my head
And finally, said "yes".

you drew me down low
kissing me with questions
laid out on white clouds
as the storm screamed through.
you kissed me where it bled
and with blood on your lips
you tore my hips

and crashed
like waves
into rocks
into sand
into sea.

a light, a small fire flickers.

breathing softly,
you hum songs about the last of summers
as I lay there
emptied out
and new.

dawn colors
white cloud blankets red
and I stir
looking into reflections
on ripples
looking into
this new Someone
I knew I was.
hastily, you keep things
now forever lost
things I will never see again
storing them
in your blackhole backpack
and gave me a smile,
taking my hand to lead me home.

Walking hand in hand-
your lack of sleep, my garbled being
trying to make sense
trudging silently
shaking in the cold morning light.

Oh, where did you take me,
on that auspicious night by the sea?
did you keep the red clouds
to remind yourself of me?

The first journey I took.
The first of many, so says the book.
But always, on quiet nights like these,
I ask-
Will you ever look back
for that which you took?