22.7.07

Starry Night

You stumble blind
xxxxxxxxxxxinto sky,

lay me down
xxxon granite altar.

I lay still--a stranger, receding--

you drink me
xxwith mosquito thirst,

move inside

xxxxxlike gnarled roots.

Paraplegic limbs detach,

an infant pain whines—
xxxxpalpable,
xxalive.

Night drips swamp oil;
stars ache to fall from the sky.

You say I am yours;

I fear you will
xxrip out my eyes.

Wakening

the womb-dark
xxpullxxxxof dreams
xxxxdrawsxxxxlike a tide
xxxxxxover bodies,

xxvoices
xxxxwater-clogged
xxxxxxbeneathxxa pulseless bay

dawn
xxxstrokes xxxxxan indigo sky,

rays crackxxxxxthe sacred
xxxxxxegg of sleep.

you rise
xxxfrom mud,xxstone,
xxxxxxthe grayxxxsweat of streets

and grasp

xxxxxa newborn light.

bel canto

zithers—
xxxa simmering nectar,

xxxxxxhis fingers,
silken as icicles


xxxxxtangerine
xxxxxxxxxxxspirals

xxxxunderwater
fluegelhorn

xvoices
xxxxwound
xin egg sac
strings

xxxxxwater
xxthe color
xxxxxxof fairies

wraps you in lanugo

threaded into skin

xxxxbarefoot
xxxxxxxxpercussion

xxxxxdigital mermaid
xxharp
xxxxxxxxxnarcotic
lures
xxxxxxxinto xxthe forbidden
xxxdeep.

19.7.07

Clearview Pond

Swan takes flight—
xxxa fan of wings, white
xxxxxxstreaks across a mirror.

Nights, the black mouth
xxxswallows me whole. I lie
xxxxxxbeneath nests of Ophelia’s hair.

By morning,
xxxI find myself in pools
xxxxxxbelow the weeping willow—

water lilies blurred
xxxon looking glass, wildflowers
xxxxxxstrangled in the reeds.

Dream Pulp

Line of victims, four body bags. Blue
lips, icicle limbs. I want you
to touch me. You cannot
hear, cover me in paper sheets.

~

Tombs in corn fields. I lie below stone,
listen through earth: the grind of winter
hands, hysteria of children. Decapitated
stalks sway over my grave.

~

I am shoveled out. Pale, doll
eyed, not yet begun to rot. I remember
ice, waking. Nothing between. I shake
away clumps of earth still caked in hair.

~

The only way out is a woman's scream,
touch me, dead hands like rain.
I levitate, air light beneath my feet.

**first published in Arsenic Lobster, Issue #7, Spring 2005