The Sky Began to Move

The sky began to move
Creating a stream of light
Tracing and smearing the stars
Into one another
Expanding the moon
Into a misshapen orb
Dimming the black depth of space
The heavens reappeared
When colliding comets
Settled into cosmic dust
New colors and new shapes emerged
On the blotted figments of old

Coiled and Intertwined

Coiled and intertwined
The two moments
Stare across the reflection
Of torches lining red brick steps
Descending into the water of time
Opposing serpents
Briefly unite into a single line
Curving into spirals
And once again they divide

The Path

Surrounded by slate and wood
The path grows wider
Traveling the distance of her mind
Narrowing as she attracts daylight
The natural flow carries with her
The evidence she conceals
Depositing clues all along the way

Surrounded by trees and forest
The path sings a rhythmic melody
In harmony with birds and branches
As she dances past the homes
Of rodents, fish, and insects
Feral cats and wild dogs
She feeds a wilderness with her song

Surrounded by open water
The path disappears
Swallowed by greater waters
Of a cavern she enters
From a great, rocky height
A home for restless water
Her shelter from the wings of night

Resting

Resting upon a boulder
At a curved place on a trail
The sky settles upon travelers
Who fix their eyes on what is below
In a valley of twisting trees
Around the banks of an ancient river
Forming several curved rows
Leading to an ocean's basin
Where fresh water once flowed

A Concerto in D Minor

The maestro played an organ
Tuned only to imitate gasps
And as he performed a concerto
His finest masterpiece
His audience began to sing
In harmony with his music
Mimicking his songs with dance
At each chorus, at each crescendo
The motif's heightened pitch
Incited mass hysteria
As the imitation grew too rich

Republican Marriage

She drags a body with her as she climbs
Ascending to the top of a hill
But she never looks back
Even though the hideous stench
Of his corpse disgusts her
Enough that she occasionally convulses
Overcome by despair and disgust
Believing she, too, was given a death sentence
When her husband was executed
She tied a rope around her waist
Tying the other end around his neck
Dragging him along everywhere she goes

In the Shadow of a Sun King

To stand at the center confounded
By endless rows golden and lavish
Crystal lined archways of
God given decadence
At the cost of men
Who labored and toiled
In the shadow of a Sun King
While they begged for bread
A house fit for a tyrant
In all his diamond glory
Whose mirrors reflect
Away from the many horrors
Of war seen since

The Dart Traveled

The dart traveled into the crowd
With great velocity
Piercing several people in its path
Changing direction at right angles
With every body it struck
First, a man in his 50's,
Wearing a business suit
The point pierced his stomach
He fell and began coughing
Into his own pool
Then the dart struck a young woman
Wearing a summer dress on a cold day
It passed through her shoulder
Seeing her own blood, she fainted
Into the old man's pool
Parting the hair of children
The dart traveled yet another path
Grazing some and piercing others
Leaving blood and tears and panic, fear
Never discriminating against those it cast
Until the dart lost momentum
And buried its point at the mast

clothing in tatters

Seated on wood flooring
Her clothing in tatters
Shreds of her dress and underwear
Torn into small pieces
Covered in tears, lipstick, and mascara stains
She slowly pieces the larger fragments together
Attempting to hide her nakedness
Attempting to hide her shame
And the fresh bruises
She wears like broken jewelry
That she cannot remove
Her tears dried although she plans to resume sobbing
Once she gathers the strength to walk again

Winter

The moon was bright
On Christmas night
Illuminating many stars
Shown on polished stone

The night parted day
Floating past the shallow way
Like an overloaded barge
Along a frozen river's banks

When the sky turned black
And the stars were gone
Great flames like candles
On a distant soil glowed

The Earth whispered a carol
The dryads danced to the song
The fawn circled awkwardly
As the nymphs carried on

A Light Went Out (continued)

The pressure

Gathers force

Crushing mass in darkness

Expelling time onto

A distant horizon

Transforms sound and reason

New emotions are invoked

At a canvas painted onto  

Ever exchanging qualities

Between entrances of time and form

Expand eternity’s gate

Beyond a greater blue

Coalition

Claws ... concrete ... tapping
Leap atop the fence
Transcending, transpiring, conspiring
With a song to guide the way

A swipe goodbye and long hiss goodnight
Away from the hiding place
Gathering, brushing, stirring
Purring face-to-face

From the rooftop to the basement
Across the dangerous streets
The brothers and sisters scatter
As quickly as they gathered for a treat

Claws ... concrete ... tapping
Leaping over the fence
Descending, retiring, inspiring
A song guides the way

The Abused Metaphor

I stared at a metaphor
And wondered if it was real
Its silence enraged me
So I slapped it across the mouth
Spat on it, kicked it, cursed it
And there it remained
Persevering through my abuse
Unmoved by my bad behavior
My metaphor did not change
Nor did my metaphor react
I realized my hostility lacked the power
To change a metaphor
So I served my metaphor tea
And watched it drink
Directly from the hot kettle
When it finished consuming hot water
My metaphor chewed tea leaves and spoke
It smiled at me with pieces of leaves stuck between its teeth
And my metaphor said
"When you try to hurt me,
It's the only time I feel loved."

The Strings

She carves an epic with her hands
Vibrating on a bow
A horse's hair and rosin
Enchant the audience below
Retelling ancient battles
Mythic, legendary lovers; kings, queens, and average Joe
Placing time inside a bubble
Expounding as it grows
With her magic halting
The pernambuco and ebony slows
Endless rows rise with roses
And writers shower her with prose

The Waltz

Rotating with gradual progression
Across a parquet floor
They become waves in an ocean
Rising and falling on a distant shore
Carried upon a musical wind
Strolling between sandy doors
Back into the sea again
Married to a rhythmic, melodic score

Civilized Packs

Two separate audiences on intermission
Were released into the same direction
And like packs of highly civilized wild animals
They fed, they drank, and they relieved
And like trained pets
They did so in the time allotted
Returning to sit in civilized fashion
Corralled for the second act

Coryphee

She balances on the tips
Turning without toppling
In a game of pretend
Aware of the audience
She glides, she floats, she flies
Carried by a song
And powerful legs
She dances across time
Into the hearts of piety

The Flight

He leans forward in agony
Begging for forgiveness

To the silent clerics
To the stoic chief
Who pretend they cannot hear
His desperate cries for mercy
With a sharp edge

Cloaked in juniper
They slowly open the cage

To free the warrior bird inside
To watch the sacred eagle take flight
On wings made from blood
Piercing talons and a salted crimson beak
The majesty's red bird of prey

He soars deep into the night
Across a turbulent bay

Bassorelievo

She carefully presented
A carved piece - smooth, curved
Pointed in two directions
Arranged with similar pieces
Some longer and some shorter
Creating a distinct pattern on a wall
To symbolize hope and a new approach
To the repetition of old ideas
To expand a consciousness
And love of beauty
Carefully placing each ornament
Like a crown

Tomcat

The scent from behind was intoxicating
But rather than offer to clean
He instead offered his teeth
Which subdued her
From her former frantic rolling
To a passive, solemn state
With howls and yowls and distorted meows
He uncorked a private reserve
After the champagne splashed
He darted and dashed
And left her lonely at the curb

The Disturbance

There was an unsettling noise behind me.

As I turned to attempt a glimpse,

It moved from left to right

In impossible fashion.

Then the sound moved into my ear.

I heard it again as a whisper.

Then it became a drum.

Then it became a storm

By the time my ears settled,

And once my wits recovered,

I felt the disturbance escape

As I opened my mouth.

10 Razors

Seeing a light or a shadow, perhaps
Commands a wingless flight
Immortality in a blind instant
Collides with ten razors
And a delicate crash landing
An unplanned escape
To a safe hiding place
Where rest and feigned amnesia
Beg the pardon
Of one thousand coarse, wet tongues

Cutting a Switch

I saw a man cut a branch
From an old, hollow tree
And give it to an audience
Of elderly women and old men
Who sat on wheelchairs baring teeth, drooling
Their waistlines dampened by an indigestible, fatty piece
They stared at the stick in silence
Until their leader shouted:
"Fetch me a larger switch!"
As the others shouted
With perverse delight
Watching the man climb
Up the rotten oak tree
To saw through the wood
In his desire to appease
He returned with a branch
Nearly as large as the tree
But the old man he presented did not speak
Nor did the watchers
Or the ones brushed with meat
It was late in the evening
And they were well fed, snoring - sound asleep

High Tide

Perched on the upper branches
Of an old, twisted tree
Mouth filled with white feathers
And blackberry seeds

Climbing the top
Timing the shot
Chin dripping with anticipation
And floating debris


A false moon and cold sun
Share the Winter sky
An ocean screams
A heron preens

As the waters swell - high tide  

Aghora

He sits and waits
Near the bank of an ancient river
An ancestral sacred place

Bearing the stench
Of waste and death
The current pulls the refuse
A floating graveyard
Of disease
A body catches in a shallow part
And he rises from his meditation
To retrieve the sacred corpse
Whose arrival is a reward
The face swollen - tongue protruding
Its lifeless eyes bulging out of socket
With a stare of dead surprise
He drags the cadaver to his nest
Where he meditates again
Waiting for bone to become soft
And flesh to ripen delicately
The pungent stench overwhelms his senses
Until he can no longer resist
Plunging a spoon into the belly of death
He feeds so he can join his guest
And float away together
In the ancient river

A Very Long Hangover

A painful glare reflected
On crushed ice and Austrian crystal
The cold heat of tempered steel

And the dull stare of a dead mouse
Who wears a painted expression
And wires around its crown
The diamond cache secure
But regret travels in one direction
Through a hidden path of cobbles and hedgerows
Awaiting the fortune to be revealed

Carpe Diem, Motherfucker

He wore an imagined olive wreath
And led a fleet of mythical chariots
With foolhardy intent 
To re-write history
A conquest of Italy
A seduction of a Roman goddess
A desecration of her temple
But as his legions marched
Over fantasy cobblestone roads
The reality of her likeness smiled
As he seized her

The Silver Path

It bends on a silver path
Dancing and moving to the music of flight
Upon a smooth, supple surface
Around a narrow pathway
Down a subtle curve
The bands of black reflecting
A polished sign of night
On a disc of metal whirling
In and out of sight

The Incident

The indirect lighting moved the mass
In rows of semi-solid fluidity
Its color far too unnatural
To feel any sort of comfort by its presense
And the scent it carried was further evidence
The pile in perpetual motion
Lay in a place where it did not belong
Yet the men stood around the mass unflinchingly
Holding shovels; wearing concerned expressions
As their leader attempted to light a cigarette
With shaking, sweaty hands
As he nervously laughed at the expense
Of his shared misfortune

French Seraphim

I kissed a holy angel
I brazenly used my tongue
Which instantly caught fire
And in foreign language sung
Praises to the heavenly host
Hymns about the dead
Curses upon serpents
And blessings on my bed

Lunch

One instant of longing
On a vast green plain
Provide an endless supper
Of milk and grain
Behind an electric fence
A bundle of large nipples swell
Larger than a stable
A spring within a well
On the farm of the forgotten planter
Seeds in rows; an unseen plow
The crop of joy and virtue
Soothes my inner cow

The bright material

The bright material
Shining on his palm
Danced away and beside him
Then merged with his breath
Escaping first through his eyes
Then it seeped out his pores
It moved rhythmically on the air
Around the bewildered host
Who stood and stared
Coursing a lifetime of expectation
From youth to grown
Never tiring in his wait for another glimpse
With advanced age
He sat and gazed
Looking within
Looking without
Waiting with great faith
Praying for the impossible
Mysterious illumination
To breathe the same air again

Standing in the Field

In a place meant for absence
A land intended for solitude
A barren plain turned lush
A dark sky unexpectedly festive
Unexpectedly light
I stood in the midst of great sorrow
And felt only joy
To see young leaves growing on an empty branch
To stand barefoot
On the soft grass of a salted field
To find life on a lifeless plain
Unmarked graves and smoldering flames
Sleeping on its back
Ever unchanged
By the contents of its remains
To wonder and amaze
At the beauty of a dwelling
Where I spent a lifetime
Yet never seen before

Giving Thanks

The leader of the gentlemen proposed a toast
He raised his metal cup
With pause, he thought for a moment
Trying to find a subject worthy of praise
Skimming the room
His eyes looked past the steel bars at the windows
His gaze carried him beyond the armed guards at the door
His vision pierced even the dead men
Swinging from the gallows on the other side
"Gentlemen, a toast to our shared perseverance
And to our continued longevity
To life, to love, and liberty
And to the freedom of our shared pursuit of happiness."
The men who still had limbs intact
Raised their iron goblets with him
And those who no longer had hands
Nodded to show approval
Some of them even shed tears
As they thanked God and man and liberty alike
Never dwelling on their losses
Rather, they focused on what they still had
Giving thanks for their mutilations
Giving thanks for their impending execution

Her Eyes Shining

She appeared before me
Wearing a dress
Made of bloodstains and smoke
Black powder poured from her mouth and nose
Her toes curled in
Her tongue protruding, swollen
Her arms outstretched
Like a disgraced puritan in stocks
Inviting me to dance
One last time
To my favorite song
And move together
In the same way
I turned my back
In the same manner
In which I tried to forget our past
Our bodies intertwined
As only secret love
Can twist and curl
Until the bones break
Until the floor is painted a new shade
Her eyes shining like a Parabellum
A hollow point engaged at the chamber
Ready to ignite and create a passage
Where I will sit
Where I will stare
Where I will wait
For my mistress to turn me away again

A Pistol and a Pen

Evolving minds, unstoppable force
A ledger for fallen ideas, lost hope, failed ideals
The machinist an unwitting author
Elegance the obsolete
Enchantment is a lost science
Indulging the language of opposites
An explosion holding value
Beyond the brevity of time
The penetration of fuels, powders, and force
Viewed from above
Viewed from below
Intersecting at the absence
As dust on the edges of a beam
Where the sunlight shines through

She Found a Magic Liquid

She found a magic liquid
That made time move faster
But she quickly realized
Such mystical elixers
Only increase the aging
Of her favorite surface
So she poured the charmed potion
On the ground and watched
As the fluid seeped in
And absorbed into the wet clay
That would begin to poison
Every future step

Black Feather Circles

Black feather circles
Awkward patterns uneven
Float unopposed
And carried away

Along blue, along gray, on green
Follow scents riding the same rail
Ahead of the clouds, the wind,
And the rain

The sky is a stomach
The hills are bowels
Quartered, tarred, and feathered
By black machine owls

A prison is the backdrop
Along the marsh and clay
Hoods, robes, ropes, and sandals
Uniform the day 

Breathing the dark vapor
From lungs made of tar
Unlikely playthings
Pumps, screens, and shards

It Spins

As it spins from left to right
And whirls above the ground
As it darts in and out of mind
Passing through the corridor
Unknowning the horrors and screams
It brings to the unseen, unclean
Or perhaps it is merely unconcerned
The heat builds upon searing brass
Smoke and powder, broken glass
And finally

A path

The Dark Swirl

Nested deep in gray wood
Cloaked by swaying trees
The black feathers carried
Across the straw by a dark wind
Swirling in three patterns
Chewing the topsoil
And spitting out husks
The aging structure did not resist
The approaching arms
Of an old man
Who died standing
And a dead man
Who continues walking

A Child and His Sandcastle

A boy sits near the shore
Where the sand is wet
Where the water receeds.
As the tide rolls back
Beyond the strength of salty waves
He grasps liquid earth
With both hands.
He builds a deformed world:
A hiding place for sea crabs,
A nesting place for gulls.
Once he is satisfied
The structure is large enough,
He steps inside and rests
Awaiting a new tide
That will reclaim
His world to the sea.

An Unlikely Canvas

Two shapes in continuous motion
Changed in dimension
From flat to deep and flat once more
As they traveled in flux
Square to box to square
Circle to cylinder to circle
Teardrop to heart to tear
Moving faster than the shapes
Two colors raced in primary shades
From blue to red and blue again
When the motion ceased
The colors bled unnaturally
Onto an unlikely canvas
Creating a pool over the tiles

Sewn

Reduced from color
To black and white
With an Autumn fondness
Temperate shades cleaned
Standing on a pedestal
Filled with thin metals
And exotic thread
Sewn into a portrait
Of beauty and sadness
 

He stands at the base

He stands at the base
Staring to the top
Walking into the sky
He sets his tools aside
To rest, to wait, to hide
As the winds push
His stone fortress aside

Great Velocity

What appeared to be a fish
Deep underwater
Moved toward the surface
With great velocity
Upon reaching the limits
The fish broke free
From the water's depths
Propelling itself into the air
Traveling in an upward arc
Unable to breathe
The poisonous air
And incapable of
Defying gravity forever

The Chasm

She dives into the chasm
Spreading her wings
Her flight is sharply downward
At the bottom lies
An unseen paradise
The deeper she falls
The more she wishes
She had never opened her wings
The darker the journey becomes
The more she remembers
The light above
And how much easier it is
To stare into darkness
Than to embrace it

Invitation

All went silent
When I asked them to talk
All were seated
When I asked them to walk
The room emptied
When I invited guests
I sat on one seat
In the large banquet hall
I looked around at the lavish
Decorations, furniture, and a feast
Prepared in honor
Of the moment I extended my hand
To drive them all away
With an invitation

I heard sirens

I heard sirens
But they weren't for me
They moved along the avenue
Very loudly
And when they stopped
I was surprised to see
The body on a stretcher
Bore the face of similarity

Everything seemed promising

Everything seemed promising
Until the day the promises turned
Into fragments and rubble
Shards of broken glass
Trash blowing down the valley
Until it was stopped by a row
Of fallen trees
Broken from being pulled
In two directions
As they were struck down the middle
By an unstoppable force
And the hopes and dreams
Of the town and its survivors
Were as scattered as the loose paper
Floating damp sheets
Settled near the remnants of a schoolyard

checkered tile

There is a checkered tile that shines from within
As the feet that travel and the knees that bend
Are embraced in a way no other can see
Time offering full immunity; diplomatic guilt
The remorse proceeds the walk
The receding dance along the flooring
Encases the enraptured and removes them
Enamored, as they may, from the boarding

Horizons part 3

An old sea turtle looked up at the night time sky
And watched the clouds dim the moonlight
She listened to the high tide and the breaking waves
The black horizon from where she came
Would soon fill with color once again
The illuminated marsh and reeds shimmering in the moonlight
Would soon come alive with birds and insects
And the black horizon above would soon be blue again
Just as it had countless times before
But this was her final nest, so she opened her eyes
A little wider than the old mother had opened them in the past
Attempting to absorb eternity into her shell
And take it with her back into the sea

Horizons part 2

A clear morning sky
Is unable to warn of
The storm clouds filling
An afternoon horizon
Nor does a mid-day sky
Speak of evening floods
Or what awaits in the morning
Only the night has a story to tell

Horizons

Her gaze was an ocean's edge
Viewed as a horizon from a beach
Resting on the hard sand
Near the rolling water line
Becoming softer with every step
In either direction
Whether sea or land
She turned her stare
Away from the limits of sight
To a high place of immediate release
She nested and viewed a new horizon
Of marsh islands and reeds
Protecting her unhatched treasure
She found a new source of comfort
When she faced the other side

Along the Fabric

Spreading warmth
To the upper layer
The lower surface
Bone and cold
Crushed, splintered
Melted dust
Along the fabric
Inside the fold
The source travels
To the fluid
An igniting spirit
Hardens the mold

A Light Went Out

A light went out
On the other side
A shadow
Traveled through

The absence of black
Left a residual light
Glowing near the puncture
Passing into

A pinhole in time
Seeping matter
Forming a gate beyond
Reality's residue

The Fool

One toe to grip
A slender limb
The other leg
Turned inside

A heightened view
Points through a few
Animals attempting to hide
Upright again

Through air it swims
Across the rim
To snare and shock
As it opens wide

Resting off the rock
Away from the flock
Pandering delays
The inevitable to another day

The Pit

Stranded in a deep pit
Without ropes or ladders
With no rocks or a ledge
The sheer walls seemed
Impossible to scale
A mass of people stood
At the bottom looking up
Most praised the brave people
Attempting to scale the walls
Others watched, pointed
Claimed they could do better
And when the climbers fell
Back into the mass
Some were chastized
For their puny efforts
Some were made heroes
For climbing higher than expected
Their comfort was knowing
That in the face
Of sheer futility
They had publicly failed
As they performed
An impossible task

Flayed Faces

A minister flayed himself
Before his congregation
With their unwavering approval
Removing the skin from his face
Exposing the bone, the meat, and nerves
To the pious
To the righteous
To the holy
He pulled the skin back
As if it were a hood
And then his associates
Cut around his throat
To remove the raw
Human leather from his bleeding head
Giving the bloody mask
To a young boy to wear
Obligating the child to flay his own face
And don the head
Of the old minister
Allowing the old minister
To once again preach
While wearing the face of youth

A Red Tide

A reflection in burgundy
Too close for keen sight
As wine and blood mingle
Into the black pool of night
A ripple of waves and glass tulips
A current pulling human fruit
Along the shores of reason
Suffocating the wandering mass
Who join this poisonous pursuit

The Throne Room

Seated above a sharpened metal disc
That sings as it whirls and spins
A beheaded corpse with the head of a donkey
Resting on his lap
Sits to the left on a throne
Made from human bones and flesh
His servants organise and gather
On his behalf
Praising the dismembered cadaver's
Dubious help
To the right, the bloated shell
Of a fat man sits on his own throne
Made from the dried guts
Of the same donors who provide
Materials for the  throne of the left
The large intestine of his rival
Is sewn over his nose
Giving him an elephant's appearance
The workers and donors stand single file
Marching toward the spinning object
Dividing themselves into halves
That fall to the left
And fall to the right
Their parts collected
By palace craftsmen
Who are tasked with building new thrones

A casket made from ice

As the cheeks crack
And fingers curl back
As the feet turn black
The chattering spasms attack
Helpless and cold
A swift demise
Should be preferred
To being buried alive
While standing upright
Inside a casket made from ice

The Dregs

It crawls on one elbow
And the opposite knee
Leaving a trail with a tail
Feeding from the floorboards
Drinking from a puddle
Of its own congealing drool
A scent of new surprises
Make his twitching muscles dance
He struggles through blindness
He prays for a second chance
The creature suddenly rises
Above the source of dregs
One foot across the center
Standing on one leg
Reaching up to heaven
Trying not to beg

Frost

A slender form passes between
Two worlds timeless and soft
Chilling air unfrozen
It drifts as a feather across
A chasm of delicate pleasures
Melodies gold and bronze
An island of unseen riches
Concealed by growing frost

The Crop

A lazy farmer reclined
In a barren, ugly field
Planting strange black seeds
In a secret garden
He waited for a crop to grow
By the dawn of summer
The plants shimmered
Like poisonous metal
Mercury, nickel, and lead
Quickly, they bore fruit
In the shape of human heads
On which he carved familiar faces
Of his wife, his children, his parents
Of his neighbors and his kin
By Autumn his farm became a forest
Of faces turned hollow
As insects burrowed within

Seattle

She sits alone painting
A magnificent portrait
Of her mind

Brushing strokes of raindrops
She assaults the umbrellas
Of countless passerbys

A scent of roasted coffee
Trails a trolly
Along miles of mirrored glass

City birds nest on statues
Of valiant heroes
Who pose to glorify the past

While beggers sleep in alleys
Beneath the plush high rise
Of an elitist upper class

Deep in the soil below

In unison
The green lovers rise
In uneven patterns
Hopelessly intertwined
Entangled on heaven's drapes
Cut off and pulled apart
In the middle
They continue to grow
From down to up
In parallells
From up to down
In rows
Through famine
Through drought
Through floods
Through ice and snow
Finally halted
By fires that scorch
Their buried hearts
Deep in the soil below

Gasper

Seated beside me
My accuser gasped for air
As he wrapped a cord
Around his throat
Pulling with all his strength
As he weakened
As his eyes began to bulge
And his swollen tongue
Pushed down to his chin
He pointed at me
Shouting "Murderer!"
Then he asked me to help
I wasn't sure
What kind of help
I should offer
Or whether I should
Help him at all

The King Dines Alone

A king with a magnificant smile
Seated himself at his dinner table
Filled with many empty seats

Without guests or servants present
No wine, or food, or exotic fruit
In a room filled with treasure

Priceless art, everything posh
The ornate furniture polished
As were the silverware and goblets

Desperately hungry
He removed his golden crown
And ruined his teeth

A crownless, toothless king
Sat at an empty dinner table
Hungry and unable to eat...

The Weave

I tugged a stitch at my ankle
And pulled until the string unwound
As the woven fabric loosened
I hesitated when I found

My leg lost its form

So I knit my shin back together
Hoping I had the skill
To avoid an odd distortion
And to walk without a tilt

Diggers

Three rows of men lined a field
Arranged by age and social status
Young men and boys lined the first row
Holding shovels and digging
The next row was filled
With old men
Who no longer posessed the strength
To dig like a young man
So they watched and offered advice
As I dug my hole
An old man told me to pace myself
To drink plenty of water
And to always stay positive
But I found it difficult
When I saw a well dressed man
From the third row
Load his pistol
Point his weapon
To the back of the old man's head
And squeeze the trigger
Showering me with my mentor's mind
The old man fell into the same hole
He taught me to dig
And I buried him
Wearing his blood
Wearing his brain
Wearing his shattered skull
Knowing someday my strength will wane
And it will be my turn
To teach children how to dig

The Games

With dazzling heroics
He draws them from their seats
Roaring like wild animals
Who frenzy as they feed
Who tear the meat from bones
With sharply edged teeth
He taunts the constellation
He applauds himself as he feints
His feet dance over petals
He smiles with each escape
Until his Imperator signals
An end to the games

Beyond the brightest shades

Seated in a field of flowers
Who grow taller everyday
Moving only slightly
With the wind and rain
Also toward sunlight
Around the tallest plants' shade
Expanding up to heaven
Silently she prays
She watches the skyline
Meld blue and gray
Unaware of the immense darkness
Beyond the brightest shades

The feather of time rests

The feather of time rests
Unstirred and unmarked
By the black stains of her
Beloved counterpart
She desires to fly a final time
On the wings of her children
Who instead offer
The unknown goddess
An inappropriate massage
The temple of Thmé is empty
The priests and priestesses
Of a bygone era
Rest on an emerald tablet
In the tomb of Thoth

Who hover in the night

Across the green rows, bending
She dances delicately to the sun
Her body brown and crackling
Heat turns her center white
The wind combs her flowing hair
As she removes her golden robe
Exposing what is tender 
To unseen glowing eyes
And to floating teeth
Who hover in the night

Vipers

Crawling backwards
A child writhed in pain
He screamed in horror
At the sight of the veins
Under the skin
Of his hands and arms
Transforming into vipers
Biting in constant repetition
Injecting poison
As they coursed through his body
Reaching his brain
Suddenly, they ceased biting
The serpents coiled
The boy stopped crawling
He turned over
Peacefully falling asleep

Thunder and Rock

Bracing for thunder
He briefly turns to rock
Traveling side to side
Using the valley as a prop
Guarded by javelins
A tribe of blind foragers post guard
Where he croons to the scavengers
As they scurry past the yard

Blister, burn, and bruise

She walked barefoot and naked
On a hot summer road
Her feet blistering on every step
And when she stood still
To catch her breath
The burns penetrated deeply
And because she was naked
She could not properly rest
Either seated or laying down
As she increased the pace
To minimize burning
The bruises darkened
I asked where she was going
And she told me
"The same place we're all going, I suppose."
I asked why she made this journey barefoot and naked
And she told me
"If I was dressed properly, no one would notice how much I suffer"

The Gluttons

The gluttons delighted
In her labor
Feeding and purging
At the nape of her throat
And were then devoured
By her own ravenous hole
Spit out in a white whirl
Deconstructed piece by piece
The gluttons reassembled
To binge at her feet

The Coal

A bride and groom kiss
The coal around their mouths
Creates a dark streak
Across their faces
The minister blesses the stain
The audience applauds the marking
The musicians play a song
Dedicated to the black trail
Lining their smiles
Lining their teeth
Dripping from their chins
To their white clothing
Forming a lurid pool
Under the wedding cake

High Ground

Standing on high ground
He watched the women gather
Offering ash and flowers
From their mouths
Exalting heaven
His words turned to dust
His tongue became salt
Floating from the mountain
To the rocky shores below
Over the skies where he was married
Into an ocean made from snow

Isis

Before the fallen banners
A white cloud prevails
Shining from the inside
Beaming as a mysterious orb
As fire without smoke
Mating smoke to air
Within the perfume and coals
The high priestess breast feeds her young
In her womb are the glowing oils
Of which her children are anointed
And her enemies dismayed

The Swarm

The swarm is crawling quickly
Across floorboards and tile
Neither party travels far
To the right or to the left
Exchanging forsaken vows
Trading lie for lay
Lying late as they wade
Purging the local waterways
And sinful pleasure drops
Until sweet Morning comes
To wash their tears with rain

Pigeons

A father sat at the bottom
Of marble steps
At a court house
Resting his throbbing mind
On his palms
Unconcerned about how
His public display of emotion
Registered with onlookers
He made several kinds of tears
All in shades of white
Until pigeons came
To chase him away

Carry a Message

A black skyline
Dipped in blood
Shimmers in waves
Until the air turns to dust
And the winds of time
Carry a message
From the relics
To the ruins
From the corroded
To the corrupted
And a promise rests
Until another year

A great fire spread

After years with no rain
A great fire spread
Across the plains
The natives breathed poison
The only cloud
Was constructed with toxic fumes
From the smoldering drought
The parched soil
No longer prayed for rain
The plants grew jaded
The animals no longer believed
In a creator
When the rain finally came
The waters swept away
Endless miles of death
Until only the seedlings remained
Too young to remember 
The elders who made soil fertile
Once again
With great suffering
And hope

A panther walked on three legs

A panther walked on three legs
Bleeding from the fourth
Pierced skin covered in dirt and gravel
Injured too deeply to heal
Unable to reach a safe place
Concealed by rocks, bushes, or trees
The massive feline laid in an open field
Too weak to clean her wound
At first, she growled
Later she moaned
And by the heat of the day
The only sounds that came from her body
Were from a buzzing swarm of flies

The Infants

A mass of old men gathered
Cradling infants
Some crying
Some sleeping
Some in need
Of their diapers changed
Or an afternoon nap
Or an evening bath
They nursed two at a time
And complained
Of not having
Enough nipples to feed them all
Wondering where
Their wives, their mothers,
And their daughters had gone