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