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

Unsalvageable Parts

Stronger than the force
Of its arc
It pushes out
As it pulls within
Softening as it contracts
Taking flight
As it roasts the air
Even smoke
Is consumed by this flame
As it feeds on its own
Unsalvageable parts
Melting as it flows

The Scent

He sniffed the air
For a metallic scent
Imagining blood on the ground
And when he failed
To find a hint
He slashed the flesh
Above his vein
Bleeding from the throat
He bowed over the dark pool
And inhaled deeply
Savoring the scent
As if it were an arousing perfume

Tied in Twine

Dry and brittle
Cracked and scarred
A corpse of precision
Tied in twine
Entwined in time
And stained with wine
Lined by old cuts
Perfect in its fatal imperfection
Softer than molten gold
Pressed against
A dull, unoiled edge

The Red Swamp

A road lined
By a red swamp
Bubbling unnaturally
Most animals fled long ago
But for a lone, ravenous reptile
Bearing rust stains
On his belly
Tar covering his snout
As he moves
Through polluted water
The blue scales on his back
Create a purple current
With orange ripples
Where he feeds
On the rubbish
Floating in his path

With Precious Metals

Sitting in a row
Three prisoners knelt
Side by side
One fitted
With precious metals
That always stay bright
Proud of his effortless shine
Another wearing metals
Equal in brilliance
But requiring constant polish
He was also quite proud
Of how brightly
His metal shined
Even more than the first
Because his metal shined
From constant work
The third made no attempt
To shine his metal
For he knew no one
Not even the jailer
Is impressed
By a prisoner's chains

Constricting as it crawls

Constricting as it crawls
Along a narrow path
Leaving a trail
Never looking back
Ever moving forward
Over walls, coring tunnels
Moving deeper inside
Resting when it grows
Growing as it breeds

a message she denied

There was a strange marking
From her shoulder to her thigh
It stretched across her torso
In spirals of red shades intertwined
Moving contrary to her body
As if to offer signs
Of the opposite correlation
To a message she denied

Vapors

The watchers lit small fires
Along the runner's path
As the pack chased a rabbit
In a circle to the square
The vapors from their mouths rising
On frozen drool and glazed stares
Along a road of suffering
Paved by anyone who falls
When they arrived to the finish
Hungry enough to tear
The cold flesh of an animal
Whose brittle bones they bare 
A song was played in their honor
Their melody hummed in fear
A contest for closure
Their conquest of the year

I felt a pain

I felt a pain under my ribcage
Traveling over the right side
From a swollen, dull ache
To a savage piercing
As every pore of my skin
Became a geyser
My skull began to shrink
Or perhaps my brain enlarged?
I presumed my hands were trembling
But when I looked for them
I could only see one color
With no shades to distinguish a form
There was a brief, instinctual panic
As I laid my face
Against the cool marble tile
And emptied sweat or tears
Or some unknown liquid
Creating a shifting pillow
In the place where I fell asleep

Kneeling, she scrubs the floor

Kneeling, she scrubs the floor
With musical repetition 
Back and forth for hours
Her rhythm is as steady as a drum
The flowing droplets
Cause her to feel as if
Her duties, her impossible chore
Are a mockery of her own desires
Never achieving a satisfying result
A red stain on a white floor
That grows and never fades
A color that refuses
To be spread thin
Ever diligent
She will not submit
To the obvious

The Faces of a Half Moon

The faces of a half moon
Rotate as they wax and wane
One eyelid sewn to the cheek
The other stitched open
Unable to shut
The tears stream
Down a mutilated face
On the left side
Mouths sealed by a vice
Ears cut into diagonal patterns
Their noses unharmed
Wearing torn cloaks
Their hands are chained
To a post in the ground
As their spirits travel upward
In the opposite direction
Of the grounds
Where they were buried and born

An Empty Sailboat Drifted

An empty sailboat drifted
Deep into the mist
Past an agitated shoreline
Colliding with a chain of rocks
Without breaking apart
Remaining upright
Floating across the channel
The mast barely a splinter
The sail in pieces on the bow
The rudder no longer working
The crew nowhere to be found
An unseen captain
Navigated the husk
To the darkest place in the sea
Behind the rocks, the waves, and mist
Across a great divide

A harbor gently defies

Wading into the waters of time
Where a current pulses
From the lower depths
To the banks and along the shore
A harbor gently defies
The storms, the swells, and the tides
Unchanged by years
Of barnacles and brine
At ease and resting
Unmoved and unbaptized

She Chased a Rabbit Through the Field

She chased a rabbit
Through the field
As the sunlight lined the rows

She followed the hare
Into the woods
Along a country road

She snatched and grabbed
It by the ears
Barefoot on a dry creek's slate

Her new pet bunny
She carried home
To live in her varmint cage

The Little Thief

Spying on a cannister
He tiptoes through the night
Across a field of energy
A high voltage switchyard to his right
And a black sea of coal and conveyer belts
A vast array of moving parts
He sneaks along the crumbling concrete
Under the conduit high above
He scurries past the rusting steel beams and bars
On a scavaging hunt
Sniffing his way across the grating
To steal one worker's lunch

The old leaf smiled

On the branch of a young Autumn tree
Was a single leaf dressed in brilliant green
Unwilling to dry and crack
Refusing to change colors
Determined to remain on the branch
Past the coming Spring
The wind tested its resolve
Growing colder by the day
The frost held firm
Trying to pull the green leaf astray
When the season finally changed
When the trees bore new fruit
The branches celebrated their youth
And the old leaf smiled
As it danced away
Atop a warm Summer breeze

An old drunkard

An old drunkard
Sought to make amends
Near the end of his life
He purchased a new car
As a gift for his grandchild
Whom he'd never taken the time
To get to know
He drove for hours
To the South
Giddy with anticipation
On his dry, old lips
On his deathbed, he confessed
The car was never delivered
As he was unaccustomed to drinking
And driving so far
His grandchild smiled and forgave him
Having heard this story
Several times before
It was never the gift that mattered
Nor the attempt to atone
It was a happy surprise he even knew
The day his grandchild was born

The Entertainers Gathered

The entertainers gathered
Wearing white makeup
And brightly colored wigs
To watch a dancing monkey
Twirl batons, clap symbols
And dance across a high wire
For his final act, a drama
A heartfelt monolog
Pleading for his freedom
From their circus act
To return to the jungle
His home, his native habitat
The entertainers gestured
Some appeared to laugh
Others crying painted tears
As they placed the dancing monkey
In his monkey cage
They told him his confinement
Had the prettiest curtains on the stage

The elders gathered

The elders of the tribe gathered

To bathe in a tar pit

Inhale the toxic fumes deeply

Preserve their suicide

For their children to relive throughout time

Believing it was a necessary

And honorable sacrifice

To count the many blessings

Of those enshrouded

Whose bones will never turn brittle

Whose skin will never rot

Boiling in the black cauldron

Of their dubious plot

Red Mountain

At the ribs of a red mountain
The trees twist and spiral
Every branch and every leaf
Every pattern where they seed
The trunks swirl through an unseen force
From the valley
They form a gate to another place
From the summit
The vortex tugs at the soles
Of traveling feet
In the heart is a cool resting place
That forms a hidden island of life
Over a dry, lifeless space

A Toy

She pounces on the plaything
Then backs away in surprise
Pretending to find a new toy
Which she watches with new eyes

She dashes away
Expecting a pursuit
And turns suddenly
From a heightened view

She swipes at the toy
From up above
She grasps it tightly between her paws
And cradles with bites of love

The Faith

He fell asleep upon the soft grass
Of the oldest grave
Seeking an ancient temple
Obscured by time and myth
Hidden deeply
In the heart of a hill
Seemingly older than time itself
He awakened under a dark sky
Filled with many distant rays
Some hopeful, some desperate
As he sits and breathes
As he tastes an air
Sweeter than he's ever tasted before
His hand pulsing
Emanating a soothing heat
An energy of life, healing
And three secrets
One carved to each palm
With a third embedded in his mind
The hill that slew him
Became a mountain inside
Returning the temple to the faith
Imparting the treasures it hides

I watched a strange creature

I watched a strange creature
A type I’d never seen before
Injured beyond recognition
At the side of a road
The wounded creature grunted
As it gasped through its own blood
Contorting unnaturally in all directions
Struggling for the next breath
Its hind legs running without traction
The creature rolled side to side
On its crushed spine
As the remorseless killer sped away
Its eyes stared in a single fixed direction
The creature took a pause
Then resumed its contortions
Through a final, desperate gasp
As it imagined a swift departure
From its murderer’s path
“Does it end now?”
I asked the strange creature
“It doesn’t end until I say it ends”
It said as its breath started to clot

The Cloud

He watches a great white cloud tumble across the valley

Viewed from his favorite hiding place

Perched in the branches near the top of a great oak tree

He feels the ground, the trunk, the branches, and the leaves

As they agitate in anticipation

With great empathy and in sympathy, he cries on their behalf

Watching the great white cloud turn black

Waiting until the final moment

When his Mother calls him home

He protests, but he obeys
She will not allow him to stay

She tells him when he returns tomorrow

His favorite hiding place will be gone

Colossus

I watched the veil of the great structure crumble
As men labored with hammers
Listening to the repetition
Finding a pattern
Of concealed disrepair
Knowing the proud colossus will fall
A second time into the sea

The Joust

It is a very dangerous game they play
As they walk across the narrow, rusty pipe
Which runs high above a rocky creek
To a deep ravine below
Past the hordes of adoring, terrified fans
This path is a foolish playground
Unstable and curiously set at a deadly height

A decaying relic of industry
Built on fuel, steam, concrete, and steel
Built in factories by people of another era
Men and women who resembled machines
Who left us with a simple warning
To turn away from their ways
And return to a life of reason
 
The heat and the pressure deep inside
The decaying, forbidden playground
Exhausts the dying valves
As the spectators watch nervously
Through whistles and through shouts
As the corroded metal starts bowing
Near the middle as they joust

Naive

We stood in the cold
In the snow
Wearing only shorts and t shirts
Standing in formation
Waiting for the orders to go back indoors
"They're going to single out a black man"
Private Washington said
"Why?" I asked
"We don't even know what happened"
"Doesn't matter. That's just what they'll do."
"That's not right."
"That's not the world we live in anymore"
"But that's what will happen"
"And  no one will stand up for him"
We stood in the snow for almost an hour
We shivered as a unit
Until the pain became dangerous
The investigator finally walked outside and said
"Last night, someone tried to rape a female private"
"Someone in your unit knows something"
"But no one is talking"
"I feel like I'm being jerked around"
"But she's identified the perpetrator"
"So you can all go back inside"
"And since you were so uncooperative"
"Since you allowed one of your own to attack a female"
"You'll be punished as a unit"
"Except for Private Washington"
"Who is now under arrest"
As they led him away, he looked at me
With a look of resignation
And to let me know how naive I was
With my assumption

Resting on a skewer as the coals smolder

Resting on a skewer as the coals smolder
Tender muscles on an opened, gutted husk
The blessing of the pure, the chalice holder
Renders the beginning to the feast of tusks
The hunters emulate their prey
Becoming boar and sow for a day
The sweet scent of flesh roasting in the pits they dig
As they worship the holy and almighty pig

Steve and Robin

Steve and Robin were the best dressed men at my church
Nearly every woman in attendance
Booked their services as hairdressers
But the church leadership did not approve of their kind of intimacy
So once a week, they were asked to attend a special prayer meeting
To ask God to give them the strength
To resist the Devil's temptation
Every Wednesday night they arrived
To the church parking lot
Riding in tandem
On a light blue motor scooter

Andy

Andy, my family's English Springer Spaniel
Was a small dog with a big heart
And a lot of love to give
Our neighbor had a prized Great Dane named Shirley
Whom they bred and whose pups were sold
With great pride in Shirley's pedigree
A few months after a litter
They would put up a sign that read:
Purebred Great Dane puppies for sale!
Except for one time, when it said:
Danish Springer Spaniel pups free to a good home

"I've got a good man"

"I've got a good man who would never do me wrong"
Fran used to say
But the make up she used
To conceal the bruises
On her neck
On her arms
And on her legs
Those deep bruises told another story
At work Fran sang songs
About how God had given her hope in this troubled life
And when I struggled with my duties
Fran was always there to help me finish
And give me advice
But as time went on
The bruises became deeper
And her optimism dimmed
Her smiles became increasingly forced
But she never missed work
Until the day Miss Carey pulled me aside at the start of my shift
"I don't know if you heard on the news or read about it in the paper,
But Fran was murdered at her home last night."
I'd miss her dearly
But I didn't have to ask what happened
I already knew

empty mind

He loaded the magazine of his pistol

And sat on his couch with an empty mind

The room which he hadn’t left for days

Was quiet, still, and smelled of heat with the windows down

He engaged the chamber and pointed the barrel under his chin

While his ears echoed

He was afraid to rest his finger on the trigger

So he ejected the magazine and the round

Then he placed the pistol on the coffee table

“Perhaps tomorrow” he whispered softly

Then he stood up and opened a window

And breathed for the first time in days

I Watched My Auntie Cry

I fidgeted in the corner watching my auntie cry
My sisters told me to stay quiet
Because I was too young to understand
As my mother held my auntie closely and they mourned together
My uncle stared out the hospital window
His features hollow and frozen
He hadn’t eaten or slept in days
He stared at the lush green tops of the sycamore trees
As their branches swayed in the sunlight
“The kids should be outside playing on a day like this”
“We could visit the park”
No one replied
Instead, we stayed in that room for another hour
Next to my baby cousin’s empty bed

The future no longer embraced them

As children sifted through the ash and rubble
Alongside the birds and wild dogs
They protected every bone uncovered
With the diligence of ants
Sweating through the heat of day
While cinder still smoldered
And the softer ones mourned
The future no longer embraced them
As they toiled as servants to the old ways

The wind whispered gently

The wind whispered gently
As it moved from the river
And through me
Carrying a chill
I could not comprehend

I waited for the sun
To interpret the wind
As the heat burned deeply
Upon my brow
Until I could no longer resist

Into the earth I wandered
Seeking relief from the wind and the sun
And to hide from their warnings
But even the soil does not forgive
Nor does it conspire

When the water returned
From its conquest
I sat inside the wake
And listened to the tide
Sing its own praises

Ostriches, Emus, Peacocks, Ducks, and Geese

I shared my bed with an ostrich
who pecked my eyes in my sleep
So I replaced her with an emu
who bit my nose and pinched my feet
I considered buying a peacock
but they aren't very cheap
So I settled on large pillows
filled by ducks, filled by geese

Sharpened to slice

If insults are casual sex
She is a salty libertine
But if making love is an insult
She is the world’s most polite human being
Her sensitivity is a dagger
Sharpened to slice
Her lovers cannot survive her mouth
Her kisses are a tongue that bites
Her sensuality is a jackhammer
On an old road full of holes
Where she bangs on the surface
Near a sign that reads “This Road is Closed”

The Harvest

As we packed our belongings
In the old, white van
We ventured on a long drive South
Fleeing the poverty that destroyed
Our once proud, flourishing community
I watched the cornfields sway in the breeze
Through the rear windows of the old, white van
The cornfields surrounding a soccer field, a church, and a school
They were there when I first learned how to kick a ball
They were the background
As I rose from the water after I was baptized.
They were near as I daydreamed looking out the window
When I lost focus in class
But now, it was time to harvest the crop
As we drove away from the cornfields,
I watched the the people we left behind
As they built a great fire

Reconciled

In a single instant
Where the black clouds part
A light traced the midnight sky
As quickly as it was seen
A constellation was reborn
In the shadow of the trail
And suddenly
The old and the new
Reconciled

Show a sign

Lying dead awake
at the bottom of a lake
Fish food, bodies,
and bones were baked
Rusty lock and chains,
a metal plate
Furious surging
Consciousness, fate
Pluck out the eyes
of the devils in need
Tear out the parts
Where the world can see
Whimpering moans
Of a ghostly machine
Shivering sides
Gargle in the reeds
Oil and muck
The corpse turned green
Water and blood
Swirl like a peppermint treat
Show a sign
Polish the shine
Filter the brine
Reveal the wine
The lips of feeding
Fish are eating
A kiss of black death
In a watery grave

A Mental Goodbye Note

Traffic today was the worst I've seen in long time
Which likely contributed to my carelessness
And to the aggressive driving
Of the man in the large pickup truck
Who refused to allow me to merge
Into traffic

At first, I thought my nose was running
But I quickly realized it wasn't a sudden onset
Of allergies or the flu
Also, I thought my phone was ringing
Or possibly my radio was malfunctioning
But it was actually the same issue as my nose

I can't help but feel as though
I've let a lot of people down
I'm sure my carelessness was in part to blame
At this time, I should be setting the table
And enjoying the aroma of supper
Instead, I'm slumping down in my seat

She believed it was laughter

An echo vibrated the empty hall
Wall to wall burrowed inside
Cried with a whisper, a whimper
When her motions ceased
Feast, appeased and released her
Were she aware and if she cared
Shared with a mature compromise
Wise beyond her years
Fears were not her worst enemy
She believed it was laughter

Eyes turned yellow, still

She kissed him during mourning
With teeth of parasites
She set her claws inside him
And gave him his last rites
His body pale and shivering
The pungent scent of ill
Tremors and intense quivering
Eyes turned yellow, still
The only thing he wanted
Before he met the grave
Was to suckle on her poison
When she knelt and preyed