the trouble i'm in
is no worse than
the worst thing.
but it hurts like
it ain't lettin' up
in your lifetime.
you sink to the bottom
just to breathe.
claw your way to the edge
of black steam.

you forget where you put the thing
you lost on purpose
and you can't recall remembering
everything about it.

in the air where the thimbles between us
hold a spoonful of spite... and the light has the skin
of a snake, like a very lonely drum.
it's polite to say thanks to the devil that you know
but you can't sleep with your eyes closed
in an open question....

so the automatic pain that eats your heart right out
just might be the bruise you were looking for
and the dimples in the sun, have all the darkness
of a missing kiss
and this has never been a life
without a love
killing it.

It's because you don't love me
That i get the chills.

You're one of those girls
That a woman
would ****.

But not like Time.
That's another thing -
Still.

And you've got my name.
While I got you
nothing.

II

And Nothing means more
Than a love that meant
Nothing.

And Nothing at all
Is why not ?

Or Something.

This kind of dead, lives.
It lives with the humiliation
you insist upon.
But now, you have to deal with me.
You have to acknowledge
that I Loved You.
And this will not be easy.
For you fantasized that I
Had been utterly defeated -
Or was low born as other men,
Too caught up in my groin, perhaps...
But weak, nevertheless.
Or that my shallows had no depth.
You were convinced -
That servitude was a symptom
Of my puppet disease.
But now...
I leave you at the mark upon my Soul.
The very envy of Cain.
Because I can die for something.
But yet remain.

You can only **** me once.

But I can leave you
deeper..,

I take it with a grain of salt
Our Heaven is exhausted.
And we oughta' be more careful
with our carelessness more often.
don't read me like a book
and I won't shelve my deeper feelings
And I'll promise you
No Promises
Love has no way of keeping.
We could be reasonable
or risible....
Both silent and indivisible.
But I can almost taste it
as we waste it.
Now Life's become
unlivable.

Our Heaven is exhausted...
and maybe... maybe...
Hell is too.

it's not like i ain't
been South
before.
more like i can't see
the stars
anymore.
More like a thing
i used to love
has locked
the One
door.
and left me
Out -
with all my
heart
pounding
amore.

or less
.
adrift on a sea of foam
near the rocks, flecked with bones
and private diaries...
with tiny keys
to huge locks
and the wreckage
of wayward souls
dashed against the lichen
and the lint from black fleece...
bobbing in the riptide
of a sand dune.

swallowed whole by the question
at the heart of my demise
and the sorrow
in a sunbeam
when it looks me
in the eye.

and weeps.

on my skin lay the words that can't be tamed
and all manner of beasts snarl in golden rickshaws
ferried up the mountain pass to my pyramid
floating on a cloud of lightning, woven by hand
in the heart of Darkness, beneath the canopy
of an old Oak...root bound in the soul of the void
but flourishing, my head wound feeds the branches
when i sleep underneath them, it seeps into earth
that has no form... and i have an insomniac's dream
in the middle of my awakening, by the sound
of your footsteps....
as you make your approach from the East
and bring with you the scrolls of lost tongues
and the the rye tales of the crow in winter...
with your eyes marked
by having solved the Mirror's riddle, in the dark.
and your sallow cheeks, flush with empathy and famine.
your course hair, descending like elven craft...
resting on your shoulders, as if draped over a banister
of an endless spiral...
I see you before the light strikes
my optic nerve.
Long before the sun
was born...

I crawl from the space -
that contains my shadow
and greet you at the foot of the stairs
where your tresses
caress moonbeams
and i smile
so deeply - even -
the stars in your palm, stall -
their ponderous orbits
to behold.

And I hear
what you have to say
about love and the virtue
of flesh enmeshed
with a Spirit
to untangle
Eternity,
and your voice is soothing
As i listen to the Truth on your lips
till you pause.
then i tell  You  " It is good to see you, as always...
and would you do me the honor
of sharing my blanket made of glacier skin
and stardust feathers stitched into the dewdrops
i harvest gently, Before dawn...
off the glistening shells
of iridescent beetles
and blue grass. with my eyelashes.
here beneath the Oak ?
It would please
Me.

and our head wounds feed the tree as we dream.
on the roots, we slumber into worlds without end
and i fire my maid for sweeping
the terrarium.