you say you’ve changed, but i don't see it in your plastic wails.
you only say “sorry” to avoid the burden of guilt, only to
press the foot that you placed on my back even harder.
i can still feel the silent venom of your words, to me
or not. do not take me as idiotic, because even
though this vessel of ragged skin and bone cannot
hold up physically for himself, he has learned
not to trust those who shed snake tears.
i’m not to be fooled, i’ve been fed poison from strangers
since the day i came into adolescence - all because of one thing, myself.
and it comes to life - the thought that those who judge others
are nothing short of their remarks. so, call me feminine and fragile
behind my back and act as if my ears deceive me - but they
don’t, and serpents like you i won't fall easily prey to. and easy
prey i may be, but not to be captivated in the hands of you.

Water flows south
If it's in love...
Dancing with the devil, is all mouth
If a sea shall, is a world, a history's covenant?

Haunt, of a need...
Eaves, with the truth's eyes?
Of an angelic lead...
Doesn't anger eat fear, from its own fineness?

Finality of a golden wouldn't
First to stare, makes the bell...
Of fate, a prettier climate, too soon a wit?
Chaste or actual pasts; is the future hell?

Have me when, has mete where?
A salt of signs, and reality of a drive
In the unknown, with a peace so fair...
A charisma should dance, until I keep silence

The price love paid for austerity...
Is ours; isn't ourselves from an adding shadow?
With a savior, of what was virginity...
Is my name for courage, a tear's promise known?

The rain has taken over
Drowned out the horizon
I find only sea serpents
Swimming in my gaze
The tentacles of your image grabs me
And throws me back
Into coffee dates with you
Steam swirling around fingertips
Quiet corners, watching
Conversations filled
With sailing trips of mermaids, octopi
Sea shanties tucked in your laughter
And your words
Catch me in this moment
Pin ****** upon my eyes
These tears are my only truth
Your lies pooling at my feet
Into tiny lakes
You never really could say
I love you, but you knew
How to send me swimming
In sediment sentences
Weighing upon my legs
And you told me
I wasn’t worth the ocean, but only
Puddles, I am dancing
Collecting the rain
Falling away from the city
I find solace in the clouds
Watching serpents of you fade away
While holding a bouquet of pens
I find myself scribbling out our tangled history
Sometimes, I tear up the storyline
Piece it back together
Into a collage of words
Creating a heroic plot
Where I never met you

It's Halloween!
by Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;
if shadows fly
the sickled sky,
while children toss their heads
uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;
if birds give up their verse
to comfort chicks they nurse,
while children dream weird dreams
of ugly, wiggly things,
beware the serpent's curse!

If spirits scream
in haunted dreams
while ancient sibyls rise
to plague nightmarish skies
one night without disguise,
while children toss about
uneasy, full of doubt,
beware the Devil's lies . . .

it's Halloween!

Keywords/Tags: Halloween, graveyard, shadows, sickle, moon, witch, witches, goblins, serpents, spirits, ghosts, sibyls, Devil

Strangely she saw a cat with wings in the streets.

Strangely she saw a dragon walking in the middle of the town.

Strangely she saw griffons flying and big long serpents swimming in the water beneath a bridge.

Strangely she saw creatures shaped weirdly who simply walked together with other humans.

Strangely she thought she was going mad.

But really what was happening is that she just stood there in one place, strangely frozen, daydreaming.

Creeping administration slithers along,
The fascist past comes back...
The winged-devil fiddling his song,
For the corporations are his attack!

And even though they know it is wrong,
The greedy-ones will never turn back.
Risking all with the angering throng,
Congress tightens the noose with their acts!

That dark orchestra revolution in the night,
A sweet attar-tune their honey.
And no one best stand up to their might,
When they're all lechering for money!