Run away my pale sister
Sink safely below the rim
Else my rays will burn your face
As my strength explodes over the earth

But, then savor these minutes
When we share the sky
And your lovely illumination
Yields always to my blaze.

And through the day
As I burn the landscape
I forget you, until,
You appear again, behind me.

Hard and soft, hard and soft
Warm and cool, warm and cool
We soak this planet in our own cycle
Using the same light. Mine!

Air pressure punches the inside of my ears
with a mechanical squeal,
brain flinches to bloodshot eyes.

Choke on this sluggish moment,
and drown in stale air caught
packed in a dense environment.

gasp

Air pumps come on-line.
A flood of oxygen rushes
into a deep breath.
Mind opens to wide eye accuracy.

Seven rows back a man wheezes.
His sad heartbeats struggle to pass.
He wont last long after we land.

Almost non-audible
anti-gravity magnets
confidently hum in rotation.
An effortless glide away from dock.

New tech has pollution in the past,
still the planet suffocates on its remains.
Floating machines filter toxic air

below

White flashes of air push us out to space.
Engines gurgle to life and guzzle
the deep frozen black atmosphere.

Stars stream together in flight.
Look back at the planet’s glow.

Lights flicker to fade through
the waves of a hungry acidic nebula.
Graveyard of the suns.

My shoulder tattoo from the old planet
glows through my sleeve.
Reflections ride across layers of glass.

She peeks at me through her curls
while I clean my weapon.
That wheezing man will be the first
to go.

© Henry Chambers

You are Earth.
So beautiful, full of life, love, and colors.

I am Pluto.
So misunderstood, sad, lonely, and forgotten.

You looked at me
And smiled as a light
Went up in your eyes.
You told me that I
Was the brightest star
In your sky…
But, little did you know,
That I saw you
As my
Entire Galaxy.

Pock-faced giant that tip-toes about.
It’s the reason that I howl,
there can not be a doubt.
First it’s happy-faced,
then sad-faced.
Between them, one eye opens wide.
Neither calm, cool, nor collected.
Inhibitions will soon subside.
It’s a cheese ball,
it’s a phony,
it’s the reason that I will bark.
First it’s smirking, and
then it’s lurking, and
soon to disappear in the dark.
It seems as though it’s cavernous.
It’s thought to be too hazardous.
But, may the buyer soon beware:
if you don’t go ahead and
purchase some land, soon enough
you will be pulling your hair!

light
this light casts a shadow on me,
one side,
one half,
but I am trapped between the light and the darkness,
this penumbra
a shadow draping itself across my cheek,
cloaking my left arm
and covering my hips
this shadow of the past
from yesterday, last week, last month and beyond
it is so warm and inviting
I feel safe in this cloak of my past
all that has happened up until now
the moment the colour rushed to my cheeks when I saw you
and when I was drained of my blood completely, when I saw you
(with her)
when every meal I ate was a plateful of screws and nuts and bolts and slowly my energy escaped from my shell of a body
when I was pinned up against a wall and swords were thrown at my body by my best companion,
my soul mate,
this blanket of darkness pulls me further back,
it grows arms and legs and claws and grips and seizes me
but I see this light,
this aura,
it is unclear of its shape but I see flashes of myself in the future
in a city where no one knows my name
but where I have found myself
surrounded by faces new and old,
who have lifted me above their heads and are passing me along, in a crowd
until I see you,
whoever you are,
you are so opaque
but I can see your smile from this darkness
and beside you, whoever you are,
stands me:
buoyant, vibrant, clear, strong
my head no longer swivels on my shoulders but is ******* on tight
and my eyes are fixed on one point and breathe life into whatever they are fixated on
I look so sure of myself,
I look like me
and this light brushes my right hand,
and my right temple,
and my right thigh
stroking me gently,
summoning me
she is so vivid and kind
but this darkness,
he is so strong and rough
I have been back to the umbra many times,
****** back into the blackness until the light disappears
it is the only home I’ve known and where my mind wants to go
but this light is so new,
I can stand in front of her,
move into the antumbra,
move in front of the darkness, escape the grasp and shower myself in her
in this new me,
who I want to be,
the struggle persists,
he is my serpent in the garden of Eden,
the Jekyll to my Hyde,
the strongest bottle of absinthe,
and so I am stuck
in this penumbra
shadow clutching; light washing
and I must turn my gaze inward and decide:
which force will I allow to win?
which force will rule me from now on?

i wish my words could reach you
because maybe then
you would open your eyes
and see
that you deserve every compliment you get,
and that you are a product of the gods;
that the sun's gentle kisses have seeped into your bones,
and that stardust is in your veins;
that your blood is divine and oceanborn,
and that your skin is the sand of that very same ocean;
that your eyes are vortexes of mystery and desire,
and that your smile is the planets aligning;
that your mind is a beautiful enigma;
and that you are simply
miraculous.

but i don't think my words reach you,
and, honestly,
i'm not sure they ever will.

but in the meantime,
just remember that your skin is the sand,
and that the blood of the ocean doesn't deserve to be spilled.

just remember that your eyes are vortexes,
and that they don't deserve the tears that so often fill them.

and,
if you will,
just remember that i love you.

(a.m.)

For the days when you're moving so slow
and the universe is moving so fast.

The moon’s light faded beneath a sweatshirt of clouds;
ancient stars lost their luster;
Saturn’s rings dismembered themselves
the night you typed goodbye.