It was much more than
wind, it was as if
your spoken verse
pushed me

it was early
just before
the radiance revealed
cloaked mist lands
wet in dew

reading what
I received in slumber
you broke the silence
in the effort to mend
the loose stitches

but there is nothing...
the life rushed out
leaving not a simple drop
stitching would not change
what I lost

so I converse in the act
of silence
hoping that maybe
your tailwind
that pushed me
would die

She opens a window
and hopes for the sky
to fall in from outside
and it's tailwind bring

her the moon and the clouds
lined with silver, a crowd
of the finest of stars
and a spare pair of wings..

Nick was a lost boy
With a whispering heart
He held proper Victorian sadness
Until his public strength bowed
As it does with the artistic type
His soul beating modal
And his mask of gilded paper mache
With glue dripping and drying to fragile dreams
He needed to get back to the pastures of Tanworth
Yet London had other ideas
And his stiff upper lip cracked
He was a poet, you see
Who danced with trees...
And everyone knows
Butterflies don't ride bikes
Though that would be beautiful
To see one on a banana seat
Sailing down a country lane...
Alas, butterflies can simply fly away if a bike objects
And feel no pain
But Nick was hurt as he fell to the ground
His sickly hunched posture told of a great weight
Shoulders struggled to shepherd the world
With only Flower his power
And Pen his staff
Sadness met the River Man
And the River Man broke down
Poor, the fame of falling poets
Rich, the earth’s garden of toiled words
Caked under soiled writers nails
A headstone,
"Now we rise
And we are everywhere"
His tailwind to us
Go and look at what our fellow poets eyes do see
And bid hello to another artist’s soul on parade
For, as with you, they too are simply lost
And desperate for a garden to share and grow


© 2019 MJL

The wind is at my back and I swear to god,
I swear to god you're next in line.
My hands beneath your chin as you suffer, pretty.
That's such a pretty neck you have.
I'm on my game,
I'm on your mind,
I'm on the spot,
I'm right on time.
When I'm done you'll know disgrace,
you'll know my name,
you'll know my face.

Soft breaths, her long hair,
Sweetest unrest under sheets,
  .  .  .  Moist wind that itches.

I was sailing back to you,
I would have sailed all the way across those
vicious seas, through the rocks,
on your breeze.

I would have caught your tailwind,
and sailed, like Magellan, around the globe,
but you were turning the Earth against me.

I would have sailed back to you,
tattered sheets on splintered masts,
makeshift oars to guide me, broken.

I would have sailed back to you,
to your harbor, crumbling,
and helped repair it, fixed.

I would have sailed back to you,
but
your tailwind became a headwind,
you burned my sails,
shattered my masts,
stole away my oars, and
destroyed your harbor.

And now I float,
desperate
starving
thirsting...

But I am now finding,
in the absence of your blinding star light,
that there are other harbors
that could save me from
the storm that you've become.

You've got the wingspan of someone who never touches ground
Nothing ever downs what you've got going for you
You have got depth that I cannot fathom
How do you walk the road less traveled
What do you have that keeps your head up
Why does it look so easy from here
Whatever you have
I can't find it
It seems that each of your waking moments are the beginnings of even better days
Chain me to the rocks so that I may better see how to live like you
Blindfold my eyes so I can hear how you walk on
Muffle my ears so I can learn how to move on.

AN OVI/VICTORIA'S POEM
               COLLABORATION

What brings an undaunted Warrior down on his knees?"

It is a Woman,
A woman's tears can pierce into the most rigid of souls.
It is her charms and calls
that falls like splendors on morning leaves.
Her sway and bounce, that sends shivers into the hearts.

Such are the nights
she envelopes him in a tailwind,
both of them buoyed
in his regard
of her every thing.
Quenched and drunk
on the essence
of love in action
happen the mornings when he
is the rising sun itself
that draws her
like a mist from the ocean.

And as the moon transverses the lone sky, searching for a mystery to peruse the earth with brooding glow,
So she glows her man into a brighter him.
She encloses within her, moments of illumination, that even the darkest of souls cannot quench.
Such are the days of her unending rainfalls, where she wets up the shallowest of earth's depths....
Intertwining between seasons and spheres.
Her heart is like the endlessness of the ocean,
Constantly drawing him with her hips into a wave of boundless journey.

And so it is
as it always was
through the ages of transience,
their enigma constant,
unending prevailed
against the steely, storming skies
of angst en masse  
that would test loves mettle,
where true warriors, undaunted
rise above, arced
in kaleidoscopic triumph.

Ovi Odiete and Victoria©
All right reserved. 10/9/2016

There's a broken banjo in my birthright,
It was tied to were I wonder
Hidden between John Henry's Hammer,
and the hobbling post on Humble Hill.

I've walked this far on the blame in my grit,
pushed to by tailwind sunsets,
So kick me a mea culpa kneejerk
hardball, and sandstone my stonewall.

Forget storms in the cradle,
I found dustbowls in my waiting room,
Chasing rabbits in a wordwind,
plinking at the vermin as
they rolled into town with the rest of us,

*****, but soaring, Carrion pigeon in the clouds
not getting caught up in admiring the reflections
in all the silver linings,
Just... Flying.

narcissus couldn't manage
the glory of wax work wings.
But Icarus knew real beauty.
He felt it.
When he hit the ground

The heat of floating zeroes
blasting his broken bones
into the obsidian of desert floors...
See, angels can be as jealous as God.

Anywhere can be as lonley as the long plains
of Kansas,
Empty canvas trampled by dog and pony shows
as cowboys rode mules muddy miles
through ****** brambles
to drive herds of bulldogs and lions
from the hunting grounds of dragons
to the safety of home
from High, High, Horses.
Under the shadows of eagles.

But the devil never waits at the crossroads, people.
He lays in lies.
And six shooters,
Under Dog Collars,
with the blood and scars
of everyday life,
and the beaten bodies of
seraphim, fallen to **** the well,
with their phoenix ash.

Sheep and shepherds are never friends,
Ones happiness is the other's hunger.
Dont get me wrong, wolves get hungry too,
But at least their honest about the arrangement.

Summer mind falls inside
the body of the winter bed
Shiver from fall sneezes
creates charcoal spines to cringe.

Coffee doesn't linger the same
to far from the sea lips love
and the lost feeling of home
ocean life gone.

Hands caught searching
the vast golden home sky.

For no platinum fingers create
lasting impressions
upon your scarlet moon lips.
Embracing the wrong warmth.
Blame the lonely, ice cherry center.

Eyes tell long maybes,
the heart bleeds swords
skin remembers craving
burning fingers.

Tailwind hands
follow paper white
soul sheets,
darkness pulls
star trusted breath from
locked lungs.

You're bold eyes left words
your quite hands couldn't say.

We will wake up
Pillow fighting
Soon enough
Hanging on the bedpost
Is the ghost
Of the one you love most
Our days will innertwine
With red wine
And fine china
Porcelain dolls of the past
And battered masts
Take time to sail
And fade over the horizon
Someday maybe
A new beginning
Fresh tracks
Oprn water
Tailwind

into the black night i went
riding the tailwind of emotion
spent up in the heartbeat and luscious breathes
little space between our gaze
so quickly did we yearn for this
succeeding only to frighten & excite us both

When I am lost, I fly away.
When I am lost, I escape.
When I am lost I stay lost,
I treasure a moment so rare, so precious.
I run away with it, yearning for relief, a place with no boundaries.
A place where anything is possible.
In that moment, all is clear.

When I sweep through the air, no rules hold me back.
When I twist and turn in endless dance, all pain is forgotten.
When I burst through empty skies, there is no reason to worry.

I lose myself,
my heart and mind and soul,
lost in winds that swirl around me.
No troubles weigh me down as I soar,
higher, further, reaching, grasping for hope.
A hope that stays with me, after my flight is ended.

A warm uplift, I climb yet further, yearning for love.
Love that stays with me, for as long as I live.

A strong tailwind, I push on, travelling faster, accelerating, chasing after strength.
Strength that holds me up, pushing against the weight of fear.

The wind drops, I glide, spiralling downward, gliding, surrounded by peace.
Peace that no one else will ever know, but that dominates my heart.

*When I am lost, I am free.

I don't want to sleep
But I'd rather not be awake.

I'm too tired to care
But I'm not tired out.

You could say I'm confused
But it isn't truth or lie.

I'm not happy or sad,
No anger or peace.

Maybe it's a hole.
Maybe it's Everest.

It might be a brick wall
Or even a tailwind.

But one thing it is,
The one thing it can never change.

It's empty.

You came into my life as a cool breeze, but quickly turned into a headwind, halting my progress. I've now turned into a tailwind for you.

It feels like I’m speeding,
things are going way too fast.
I need to slow it down a bit
and make the good things last.
From one day to the next
its almost a blur.
Gotta tap on the brakes
or I’ll miss that next curve.
If I find another hill to climb
that just might work.
My motor's in overdrive,
all systems on high alert.

But that’s life they say
when you’re traveling downhill,
with a tailwind behind you
caught up with a full sail.
If I could just ease off
maybe time would slow down.
I’d like to try all over again
and go another round.
I’d do it different this time
and savor the sweet things,
toss my cares away with a fling,
hear the bells go ting-a-ling.

Don’t let this bring you down
'cause I am a happy soul.
I’ve been put through the grinder
and I still came out whole.
It's enough to know that I’m happy
and filling someone else’s heart.
Think of me with a smile, not sadly,
when the time comes that I must part.
Yes, it’ll happen one day
I know that for sure,
now from here on out and to the end,
it’ll be just a blur.