The intermittent, distant rumbling in the skies was suggestive of chronic flatulence. The sun struggled in futility to shine – like a crying child who had been forced to smile. Lightning flashed in quick successions, momentarily throwing brilliant streaks of white light across the room. The angry growl of thunder that followed was enough to send a troop of Howler monkeys scampering for safety.

The lights flickered as though unable to make up their minds to stay or not to. But apparently, the wind had zero tolerance for such petty indecisiveness. And like an enraged, stimulated, demented animal, it gusted through the windows and doors, hauling loose papers, light bulbs in every direction, shattering the bulbs to smithereens, as if to punish them for being so fickle. The lights died.

Thick black blankets eerily stretched across the skies with gusto, menacingly extinguishing whatever was left of the sun’s brilliance. More rumbles and flashes followed in royal herald of the impending storm. And in no time, slick sheets of rain torrentially came pouring down, cascading the roofs to form puddles almost as soon as they hit the ground.

​I looked in horror, fervently praying that whoever God had appointed to build the ark in our time had not diverted the funds. I was trapped in the office, and I knew exactly what this meant…flood, scarcity of buses, hiked transport fares, heavy taffic and very likely, at least one month of blackout.
It would be another three hours of steady downpour before the rain eventually stopped, as gracefully as it had been ushered in.
I picked up my bag, rolled up my trousers in earnest anticipation of the inevitable flood, and made my way home.

​To my utter bewilderment, there were no floods! The lights from the street lamps cast a soft golden glow on the slick roads, seemingly creating mirages of pools of water from afar off. But they were mere illusions. The gurgling sound coming from the underground drainage was proof of where all the water had gone. It was a strange sight. Like some alien cyborg from space had been fiddling with a time machine that had accidentally propelled us twenty years into the future.

My new world was a three-fold utopian dream. So surreal!
I could see beautiful, high-rise, state of the art edifices with mind-blowing architectural designs that blatantly seemed to defy the laws of gravity. I could see world-class hospitals that admitted ailing dignitaries from around the world and top-notch schools that offered scholarships to deserving indigenous and international students.
Sure enough, this was Nigeria! The Nigeria we all dreamed of.

And there was light…electricity! - In myriad of colours that seemed to have been dispersed from several colossal disco ***** via *“wireless fidelity” technology. I strained to hear the noise from generators, but I was disappointed. I couldn’t even hear the all too familiar cacophony of horns blaring, conductors shouting, loud discordant music, rattling vehicle engines etc. It was like everyone and everything had taken a crash course on orderliness.

I saw a vibrant transportation system that included high speed railway lines, paved road networks that looked like a child’s doodles, first-class air strips and efficient sea transportation.
I saw a working government - one that had provided the critical infrastructure for her people.

I saw a nation with a large industrialized economy, where the dividends of democracy had been delivered to the people by their government. One consciously founded on equity and honesty of purpose, and courageously sustained by unfaltering faithfulness and unwavering patriotism.      
A nation whose economic boost did not come solely from crude oil exploration and production, but also from crude oil refining, agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, food, services, tourism, automobiles, transportation, education etc.
A nation that thronged with international investors from all walks of life, who were not in the least afraid to invest in her.

And then, I saw her people. A people proud of their citizenship.
A people proud to be called NIGERIANS.
A people who were not given to religious, political, or tribal bigotry.
A people who individually and collectively, gallantly bore the torch of the vision of their heroes past.
A people who earnestly and persistently worked to see only goods “Made in Nigeria” sold in their markets.

Where there was once despair, I saw hope. Where there was once fear, i saw security. Where there was once disgruntlement, I saw satisfaction. Where there was once poverty, I saw wealth opportunities and where there was unemployment, I saw jobs. Death had given way to life and life to hope.

I started, as I felt something cold and wet trickle down my forehead. It was droplets of rain from a leak in the roof just above my head. I was still in my office, I never left. The rain had lulled me to sleep. Even more sadly, I realized it had all been a dream.
Slowly and regretfully, I packed my things and left for home. It was pitch black outside as I carefully waded through the polluted waters, jauntily holding my bag, more because I was afraid to lose it in the flood than in a hopeless bid to dignify the situation.

Two hours later, I crawled into bed. I did not have to turn the lights off…the electric poles had gone for a swim. A very long one.


© ONUGHA EBELE VICTORIA

briano alliano at saturn club rings


hi dudes and welcome to my show, the first song is born to PARTY

you see i was born to PARTY, on a sarturday night

i don’t care what the oldies say, i will just party anyway

you see i have a reason, everything is going well



so i will just party hardy, yeah i feel so cool

i want to be like the young dudes of this land

and get into the party spirit every way i can

i don’t really need a reason, no, i am cool anyway

you see i was born to party, so i will do it anyway

i will sink into the ground man, wearing high heel shoes

i will go to my mates house, with dreams of moving in

he was a bit mental, as he couldn’t understand

that i was born to party, and that is what i do

you see we will grab a methane and squirt it everywhere

and then grab a beer or two, yeah that is quite yobboish

you see we get drunk which means we are high on life

every day of the yeah, so we were born to party

like the young dudes do, ya see don’t spike my drink, man

i am too cool for you, you see i have a point in life, to never

unattend my drink, you see i know the tablet will make you drowsy

so he could kidnap you, bu i am too cool for that

you see i was born to party, and that is what i do

i was born to party, fun for me and you

hi dudes and now here is rock the party

you see i feel like i am having fun rock the party rock the party

i wanna party while the night is young, rock the party rock the party

i cheer for the ACT brumbies, well, they lost well, they lost

you see the bar is a open a open a open, and the party is turning on all the party going dudes

and the beer is selling quickly along with the gassy methane, man

ready to tip the methane on us, man, we will party

you see i saw a house which was great, and my mate wanted me to move in

so i thought about it, it’ll be fun to party, fun to party fun to party on

moving on up and moving on down and marilyin monroe put on a broadway show on neptune so cool

then sam kinison sang wild thing, and i liked his add lib, you know my heart is longing for you dude

making you wanna scream, rock the party rock the party

then i ate some cheese and bacon *****, and gusted them down with coke

the party started to form in my mouth and making me feel so cool

before i went to sleep i listened to kiss, bon jovi and a broadway show, called spiderman

and i ate mars bars and drink juice, yeah that sounds so radical

saturday night is the night to rock the party rock the party

and i opened a keg of methane and tipped it all over adam walsh and brett

to improve the quality of the olsen twins, to make them PARTY again

so really we are getting into a great rock the party rock the party

and we’ll party all saturday night long

hi dudes and now here is another tune called my life is a stinker

you see last night i was wondering why i haven’t performed on stage

could it be that i was too **** shy, or was it i was just not ready

i really want it all so ****** much, to show the world how to party party

but this is how i just relax, and let my life pass me by

you see my life is a stinker, every day and night

i want to party, but it’s a secret just between you and me

you see i spend my money on fun and games, mainly done with alcohol

i buy my girl some raggedy old fashioned sort or doll

she yelled at me from 10 to 10, it was hard for me to cope

and the only way to get past this, is switch on the TV to hear the pope

my life is a stinker, every day and night, i wish you would leave me alone, please mate yeah alright

ooooooh cosmos

my way of entertainment is the poetry slam, and bad slam no biscuit yeah

i entertain everyone oh yeah, i shake their ****** boogie, yes my dear

then my name is called and i enter the stage and slam

my poetry like it’s a good thing, dude, every day and night

my life is a stinker, every day and night

you see we will party hardy every night, no i say no to fights

cause my life is a stinker, take me away from the psych ward

that isn’t the place for me, i am too nice for that place

hi dudes, and here is another song called fly burgers

fly burgers are good enough to eat

fly burgers are such a tasty treat

just catch a blowie between two buttered buns

add some lettuce and tomato and have so much fun

now at the footy, the flies are cooking on the plate

they are saying, momma, you are stopping up too late

just catch a well cooked blowie, and throw him in the bowl

where you have the burger mix, yeah that is so cold

fly burgers, are good enough to eat

fly burgers, are such a tasty treat

just catch a blowie between two buttered buns

add some lettuce and tomato

and have so much fun

in a restaurant a fly comes in and parks on the griller

you feel like honking like dharma’s old yeller

but instead you get two buttered buns and lettuce and tomato

get the fly and serve him up, tasty as gelato

fly burgers are good enough to eat

fly burgers are such a tasty treat

just catch a blowie between two buttered buns

add some lettuce and tomato’'

and have so much fun

in the summer friends drop round to enjoy the atmosphere

some bring coke some bring wine

and most of them brought beer

the bbq man noticed a fly upon his back

he gets the fly and serves him up, OH HERE JACK

fly burgers, are good enough to eat

fly burgers are such a tasty treat

just catch a blowie between two buttered buns

add some lettuce and tomato

and have so much fun

the hospital has been busy this year since fly burgers were on the menu

people say fly burgers put germs right in you

an old man and a young boy, both died of food poisoning

but nobody knows if it was the fly burgers that did them in

fly burgers are good enough to eat

fly burgers are such a tasty treat

just catch a blowie between two buttered buns

add some lettuce and tomato, my dray

and have some and have so and have so much fun

hi dudes, this is a song called i am a family party dude

i am a family person who is looking everywhere for a party

at the club on grand final daY, and on poetry slam day

where we yell out bad slam no biscuit bad slam no biscuit

all the ****** day, we could be celebrating your daughters graduation

from a school she so adored

then we drag out the old songs, and the young dudes get bored

you see partying is so much fun, no matter how hard you try

you see you try and be a fun loving guy like who really loves to p a r t y

oooh, i wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day

how much coffee do you drink to whisk the hangover away

i used to go to the blind beggars inn, to really let my hair down

now, i party at home with youtube, yeah that sounds so rad

you see i am a family party dude, who wants to have some fun

i want music and sport, yeah alrighty, that sounds like my type of fun

cool man, cool you, i say cool me, i am a family party dude

the man of the party is here, last night i went to the club to watch the brumbies they lost i won

the chance to go home and party in front of youtube, with bon jovi and kiss as well as spiderman the musical, pretty rad

then i fell asleep on the couch, ready to come to you, and show you how to party hardy, yeah that is true blue

hey true blue, don’t say the party’s over, just because you go home, doesn’t mean you can’t party

you see i used to go to night clubs and swing with the cool dudes there, hey true blue

you see i am a family party dude, i party everywhere

i am getting younger by the minute, and i still love life, so party on dudes, no fear

i get up late on sunday morning, after this great party in the stars

and after this, i will go to jupiter and neptune to muck around in bars

tipping methane all over everyone, yeah that sounds radical dude

PARTY PARTY PARTY on saturday night, yeah i am so cool

cool you, yeah cool me, the coolest dude of the cosmic realm

ready to party yeah we will

The cold dash in October
could break your ankle,
on some twig strewn iced river,
gusted by this uneasy Bravado.
And through this
we form a common bond
the strewn and promiser will led their merry dance.

It is better to shut your eyes and see again
and undream.
So rollick in the  dew,
the  resplendent  Samphires will regrow.
For were we not pre destined
to edge towards the tidal  marshes
and with dugout boats
voyage through the satisfied.
Tempus fugit awaits
to enrapture  our intricacies.

Random messages itched our thoughts
Ambitions freezing my finger tips
cold winds sneaking howling
Biting lonesome dark skin

I met you once again
freshen ideas nightly time munching breakfast at midnight
Hearing pictures in words and laughter pouring in cups spilling smiles on my face

Embraced snuggled zipped splitting air molecules
Gusted besides us swimming via scootercycle
Dreams on asphalts streets
Playing vibrating strings singing lavish harmonies
Making pathways and circuits planted and rooted in my dreams
A lovely scene laid mingled behind sheets
Sprinkled animal hair from dot’s fleece
We serenaded feet graced your arms and hands for seconds it seemed the darkness was retreating

As the morning devoured stars in blanketing arrays
I noticed aglow from the bronze dragon reflecting sunshine
Until days passed
You remained clandestine
As I held purple pink red spastic gloves hostage from this mischief-maker  
I weaseled on spinning two wheels cutting frigid wind-chills
Delighted from this venturing and burning bright globes ahead
Bundled and weaved into festive scarf’s waving behind my ears
Pasting the vacant lots and ghostly streets of mesa
Hearing your sweetly voice echoing

Remembering champagne mystical eyes jolting deeply into my psyche
I step into zoo-esque animals smells greet my senses
Relieved phoenix frostbitten man from a angelic charismatic being
Imprints permanent smiles
emitted ukulele sounds drifting nonchalantly hugging guitar chords speaking nouns

As we migrated past starry night skies hopping walls trekking dirt fields
stayed planted infatuated
from
shooting star enchantment blazes across a cimmerian sparkly flowing
river of objects in the sky
and a constellation under her brilliant champagne eyes
Stills my heart
leading to skipping beats tangled under burgundy laced with hair and our blanets meet

Us
knotted and mangled limbs beneath captive sheets
Eskimos kisses first speaks before our lips meet
Vibrant moans and your kaleidoscopic beauties creeping gently on my ears
Happening in seconds seemingly hours in realities end
Meeting of docile spirits tongues shake hands on pillows creating imaginations laughed
Grinning at this gorgeous peachy feeling giddy
intoxicated each sensation
which moonstruck my consciousness
smitten with a lust illusion or something transcending meaning
since you fascinate me more than a bee to a sweet flower
more than the pull of gravity
more than the tug of earth yanking down rain from the fluffy grey clouds
greater than light auras that attracts insects from a far
You’re a surreal dream in person
Always leading my brain sparked in unspeakable domains

The winds gusted blowing that
Dam branch upon my window,

"Tap, "Tap, ".....Help,

I with hesitant breath move the
Drape, and see nothing but arched
Twigs teasing my window pain.

With relief I walk to the top of the
stairs, Hearing a knock on the door

"Tap,  "Tap, "......Help me,

I cling to the wall rising upon the spy
Hole to find only pitch darkness and
My heart relaxes its grip upon my throat.

I step upon the porch, unseen wire flaring
In the wind, like a viper encircling my throat.
I momentarily clasp the door and tap.

"Help me,

I'm picked up like a doll as the wire entailed
Upon the tree thrashes me around, higher
it pulls. And a window I tap with gasping breath.

"Help........,

I know what happens as I lapse in to
unconsciousness, was it my imagination
Or did the drape move an obscured face.

"I was my own witness to my single moment,

I swing like a leave in the wind, hanging silent.
I am the last leaf to fall, cold and dead.

There was once this boy
Who treated me like Helen of Troy
To my euphoria, he was the ground
To his kingdom, I was crowned

From the shadows that abducted me
He fought and snared the key
Chased me, he did
So I could finally be freed

On his white horse, I rode
My hands, to him I bestowed
For I knew his love wasn’t feigned
And for he’s the one who got me unchained

Forth we escaped
As my heart got reshaped
Into something beautiful and steady
Hence he could hold it dearly

Shortly, the darkness penetrated
The castle our love had made
And with his arms as my shield
I was utterly concelead

The attack never ceased
And I watched as my bliss
Slowly withered with every hit
But even with the utmost, he didn’t quit

He said, “If love isn’t enough
to keep you away from the cuff,
then darling, I’d be again the key
that would always unleash thee.”

And with his last gusted breath,
Before he surrendered to Death
He rested his lips on mine
And made our last kiss benign

In a time where communications can travel and traverse distances and speeds that make a blink of an eye seem to be that of the wagon wheel in bumpy and troublesome ways and means.

Here we find the simplest of acts, the simplest of ways, the simplest of deeds a word can create, we find it hard to decipher the means and ends to each and everyone.

We find each person seems tipped to tally the tilt kilter of any angle a must to best on any and all ends. no matter the means it stirs in the end of any beings listed and nested trust, or the fading and waning desire of most to listen and hear the actual truth or even need that be expressed.

We can call it natural a reaction, this wading pool timid timely trust that is draining in the people, for it be a reaction to the bested busting of all clear and concise communications that are to be expressed by beings capable of being the highest shelf of *****, all clear and without imperfection in the transparency one desires to achieve in being "clear" about what it is they are saying or expressing.

Now some might feel that I am speaking to or about them, No, not at all. In fact I am speaking simply of this noticeable adherence to some trend or faze it seems, ,,well, putting it nicely and putting it in a manor indicative of lacking the desire to be as vague as humanly possible when it comes to either relaying what it is they mean or what it is they even know of themselves.

Not to be confused with being rude or mean, no, not the angle of communication I am going for. Not at all.
I am going for the simple interesting actuality that we all , including myself, have been and seem to remain aloof to speaking our minds without any doubt or double speak. Why? oh hell, the reasons are vast and ranging and all full of absolute ****... for it is simply this, why put yourself out there for all to beat to hell, when no one seems to grasp the dire need to be clear and concise in this day and age? Well I must say, there is a reason.. because we are not alone in being clear, there are many whom do and many whom have and received far worse beatings, ( debatable for many but you get the point..) that utterly devastated them. and the fact that this day and age is quit literally pivotal to the survival to this entire species  called human beings. and the mix up is about the last **** thing I can think of that any of us need. but that's just me, out swinging blindly in the fog of a war over the very soul of man and myself. Not that that is any great feat, no, not at all. For it seems few are to worry over such things, yet, those who do, are some of the most amazing creatures I have ever had the privilege to know exist. For many i have yet to lay eyes upon in the flesh, yet know of their existence and continued struggles in this very same battle that rages. and rage we must, or fear going silently into the there good **** night.

So, I hope I was clear and if not, then, blame it on my fear. for fearing is one thing we all need not have in our hearts, but do not mistake, do not be foolish in thought, that that fear has no place , for indeed that fear motivates, and can sure as hell devastate the likes of hate, that is if you care to know the difference.

Smile. though we may rage into that wild wilderness of creation where few have respect for their own responsibilities in this here recreational sport, those who do, sure as hell, do it for more than them selves, in fact they do it even for you. Though, mistake no fear for the rule in and of the new laws, for many shall not have the gusted gut to hold a posture well enough to even see such beauty as the truest land and world made of and by the free, a place where suffering is considered a disease, and one that is to be a by gone memory of times only spoken of in museums and class rooms in history books. At least this is what I hope to see.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder?
For I was torn between the wondrous musing
And the unfaithful, the treacherous verity.
Dad said that it lies in the wit and the wisdom,
Mom believed it to be synonymous with serenity!

I roved in reverie, pottered with presumptions;
What is beauty? From where does it emanate?
But may be, there was no oasis to my quest.
The answer breezed in and out, gusted here and there;
To catch hold of it was a big, big test!

Was it the reflection in the mirror?
The unbearable, the ill-favoured, it couldn't be.
The face that lacked glow, the face sans any sheens,
It longed for glory, for eminence.
I sighed; for was beauty the boulevard to my dreams?

There are the gifts of botany lacking blossoms,
And scads of scars blotching the moon.
But never could they blotch my view:
Splendor couldn't stop itself descending upon my eyes!
Even in murk, even in dim, I could descry hue.

'Twas in my eyes, they could life the lifeless
Like a shore serenading a cove or
The Ocean constantly kissing the shoreline.
These epitomised allure, incarnated love.
For me, it was an emotion 'divine'!

I realised: Not in the skinny legs and the fair hands
It is found in the vivacity of spirits.
Neither in the mascara nor in the mole;
Beauty has never found it's way through these,
It resides in the heart, in the soul.

tallying up her glass house hits
from rocks thrown in the past,
a gusted breeze jostles curtains
with the bone-chilling icy blast

like droplets from the falling rain
the shards all spill down shattered
from windowsills without a pane
the clear broken pieces lay scattered

along with breaking me into sharp-edged bits
you stomped every single thing that mattered

Blue shadows slither uphill
The sun smothers behind the glade
Of trees--
                A barrier,
A fortification to the wounded kinks
                 In my chest

The silent vowels which breathes
Upon every current of pollen-carried breeze
The red,
                A lovely, dark malevolent glare
Which seeps into the soil at my feet
And top the soil like sprinkles of
                Ruby dew drops  

The grazing glance of blue--
Blue of the midnight,
              Blue of wild, turmoil waves
Crashed  
              Rolling
                         Thundering
Which creep to my feet
Gusted by the pillar of trees

I sit still with knees held to my chest
Pondering at the beating against walls
Walls I refused to breach before

The drumming--
                        The unprecedented humming
Which rattle into the marrow of my bones
And echo, traveling the hollow curves
Snaking--
                Spiraling--
So that voices may carry
And whisper in my ear

This pulsing streak  
Radiates into the folds of my limbs
And I cannot possibly catch my breath
                 Waiting to catch,
                             Waiting to listen,
Waiting for something to happen

After years of silent of calls
                  Years of fortified smiles
Just to break the fall

One day,
            Maybe this day
It is time to

Sitting on the glossy bed of grass
Smells enriched by the scorch of suns and brass
The joy--
           The ecstasy--
To feel the stones crack
Break the wall created to deprive

And as the midnight blue
Shimmy onto my toes
             And travel up my feet--
Over my head,
             Tying a knot in my hair,

The dew drops twinkle
Now like pebbles of obsidian
And the field of green
               Is now an expanse of black

Where have I gone?

After days in the jungle, I came upon a tower,
black as darkness, ivy creeping up its walls.
It smelled of thousands of years-worth of death
and turned my stomach in knots from the energy it gave off.
Someone stood by the door, wearing a brown gown,
hooded so I couldn’t see his face for the shadow.
He held a staff carved from ebony wood,
the handle crafted from gold bought in the Orient,
the foot covered in rubber from the Malay lands.

I approached with caution knowing this man meant no good,
an ill omen for sure, the only kind that dwells in these places.
The wind gusted at my back, forcing my march to quicken,
growling at me for delaying what seemed inevitable.
This is a land of horror; I knew before I left home,
but the promise of riches and freedom consumed me,
my all-too-human greed getting the better of me.
There was nothing here for me, but I was too far gone.

That horrific creature never took chase when I fled the ship,
instead, he stayed aboard, dining on my friends.
I looked back now and again, making sure he stayed,
and I wished I had not, seeing the flesh fly, bouncing off the sails,
the arm of my neighbour entwined by one of the ropes.
The man in the gown grabbed my shoulders hard,
pulling me out of my memories and back to the tower,
rising like a monolith to some old forgotten gods.

I followed him inside, the base of the tower as dark as death,
the flame on the wall doing little to combat the slimy black,
but doing just enough to illuminate the first few steps
of a spiralling staircase ascending into god-knows-where.
The man in the gown draped a wet cloth on the top of his staff
and lit it on the fire on the wall and gave it to me.
As I took it, he told me to climb in a voice I had heard before,
the voice of the creature that attacked and killed my friends.

Up I climbed, the man in the robe close behind me,
whispering incantations to a god that hid in darkness,
a god that lay in wait at the denouement of these stairs,
a god that chose me for something I could not fathom.
The shadows the fire cast kept me on edge,
sometimes I would gasp for breath when one moved too quick,
too unnatural to be caused just by my dancing fire.

The stairs ended in a rotten oak door with iron brackets,
a handle of brass and a peephole like an old man’s eye,
a cloud of cataracts caused by years of neglect,
like that eye had seen too much and was better off unseeing.
The door opened slowly without any interaction from me,
a blast of wind blowing out the flame on the staff.
The man in the robe grabbed it from my hands
and with a swift kick to my backside, I stumbled through the doorway.
I could hear his footsteps rush back down as the door closed,
creaking a presage until my only exit had shut.
The smell of its breath invading my nostrils and clung to my eyes,
as its own eyes blinked out from the dark like fiery orbs,
its teeth blinding white with speckled blood by the gum line.
It laughed at me, and I knew I was just a game to it,
for it spoke only four words and those words followed me,
from the ship, along the beach and through this jungle deep.
It looked me straight in the eyes and once again those words,
Run, it said.
I am hungry, it said.

There are six coffin bearers carrying a box,
It was a solemn procession with priests and pastors,
Rituals performed; requiems sung; lamentations heard,
Who is in the coffin? Who are the coffin bearers?
A flash of interrogations hit my heart and mind:
Where do they carry the body in the coffin?
Who are the priests and pastors to the one who is breathless?
Why are lamentations ‘sung’? Why are rituals?
Are they to please the breathless corpse?
Where is the breathless corpse taken to?
Beyond doubt, the destination of the corpse is the cemetery.

Mourners and pallbearers are hired not by the corpse,
Dance performed; refrains gusted out;
Garlands of melancholic florets thrashed out;
Beats of unpleasantness resounded.

A silent spell practiced on the last journey of the corpse;
Neither a pallbearer nor the folks raised any slogan;
But everyone’s prayer in silence realized.

I am a passerby walking with a lot of reflections,
The coffin bearers shall be carried too one day,
The priests and the pastors will be taken in processions,
Rituals, requiems and lamentations will be enacted.
Coffins are ready for all with mourners and pallbearers,
Dance, refrains, garlands and beats shall be added to glooms.

I ask myself: when is my day?
Who shall make my coffin?
I cannot hear requiems in my long sleep,
I am far from rituals; dumb to lamentations,
I must reach my destination, whether l like or not,
Folks will never come with me,
For I came with nothing and leave with nothing.
Where do I go? Where does everyone go?
I cannot be a passerby to my own last journey.

I long for my day; it may not be my will;
But the day to all is predestined,
And we are to leave this shadow of life.

So, when is my day?

fear winding upward it
speaks of gusted nests.
a tap tap tap-
at one window
the timeless
tick vex stick

chicken skinteeth
curling up your spine

the glass hilt of another
ice cold slap
or heat-ironed patch
to soothe the eye

Glowing Friend-
I worship.
My new religion screen

keep it in a
knot running
stitch by stitch
bound up
scrapbook
tell the need of longing

her voice won't stop dancing
between my days

she brings clarity
like a library to the homeless

on a sweltering August day when
cops are trigger happy and water fountains out of order.

I want to pull behind her eyes
and float her hidden dreams.

feather bound on sovereign wind,
gusted up out of cynical cracks
cities wear like so many scabs.

erase the gang signs carved on every window, bridge, wall,

her clean eyes will tell them
how we're all the same thing
at the core.

Soul is colorless.

No red, no blue about it.

I want to sing inside her covers

Autumn splashes
on
extraordinary
  electric air

deer leaping over cruel distances

click mute all the impossibility of
can't from her busy schedule.

I am driving inside her Pacific ocean eyes and they crash my stillness
with blue bliss mystery.

her voice like a sun flare curling
a dragon's nail across a merciless city.

I am just an ember being dragged beneath her scrape leaping up sparks in extraordinary electric air.

There he is! Celeste thought. He's been hiding from me again. But Carlo says he likes me! That's why he hides. He likes me & doesn't want to show it. Well. I want him to show it. I need him to! I need him! But what if Carlo has misjudged? Or, worse, if he's lying? Oh, no! Please don't let that be the case! I'll die...

Jase felt Celeste's eyes on him. He turned quickly and caught the girl standing there. Her long white stretch cotton dress was backlit & she wore no slip. Thus the shadows of her long legs were visible. It was as if the gods played a game... how far can Jace be pushed before he snaps? The wind was in on the conspiracy. It gusted against the front of the dress, pressing into the lush place between her thighs. Oh, God, he thought. Not now, of all times! No. It wasn't the gods tempting him. It was the very devil!

"Alright... you caught me!" Celeste said with a nervous laugh. "I'm "busted" as Carlo would say." Her bangs blew back from her forehead, revealing her more mature heart shaped face. She drew her breath in, ******* up every ounce of courage she owned and the rest came out in a gust, "Carlo taught me how to kiss. I want to know if I'm doing it correctly. Will you tell me?"

Jason Alexander was caught off guard. He was dumbfounded.
"WHAT??!!!" Alex had heard some things come from the lips of this child, but he was completely unprepared for this one!! "He did WHAT??!! AND NO!!! You let him kiss you?? You know better than that!!"

That's when he saw how much courage it took for her to ask... and how her lips were slightly swollen. Bruised with passion.  Uh, oh. That little ****** really had kissed her! Her face crumbled like paper & she began to sob.

"Celeste. I'm sorry... c'mon." He walked over to her slowly and put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged herself away from him, forcing him to take both of her shoulders and hold her firmly.

"My dear girl. He shouldn't have done that. I told you before. He might be 12 years old chronologically,  but he's going on 40, and he's in love with you. More fiercely than any man twice his age. You must be careful! Did he... um... did he French kiss you? Do you know what that means?"

"NONE of your BUSINESS, NOW!!" The girl-woman practically shouted it.

Jace shushed her... "Look! Be quiet! This is a very sensitive, private conversation we're having, and we don't need ears, much less eyes!

Her whole mein changed. He wants privacy does he? Wants things secretive? Well. I'll give him a secret to keep.

"Don't you want to know how he kissed me? What he did? I'll tell you. Actually this will be a lesson for show-and-tell...

Celeste stepped forward into him, put his face between her hands and gave him a strong, deep kiss...

At first he went to push her away, but his lust got the better of him. He found himself winding his arms around her warm, slender body and kissing her back!

Her tongue pressed into his lips. He opened up his mouth to try to say something... anything! Deftly her warm little tongue flicked into his mouth,  and she ran it deliciously over the sensitive gums above the back of his teeth. He practically shivered. His desire was mounting, and he had to do something. Fast.

Again he took her by her shoulders and dragged her off of him.

He looked at her with undisguised desire. they sure didn't make 15-year-olds like you back when I was growing up.  I'd have gotten better grades..."

Celeste smiled. No. She *grinned!! :You do like me!! Just like Carlo said!! She went to kiss him again,  but he took her wrists and pushed her back, turned on his heel, and stalked away. Quickly. Before he changed his mind.

That wantonness *had to be nipped in the bud. He knew just how he'd do it, too. So. You like to kiss girl-child? I'll give you a kiss you'll *never forget...