Beloved

reclining there on a blanket stretched out

in the swaying grass

red birds, summer dress

falling snow

black braids ending in chestnut brown dead ends

her bird like face changes every few months from so far

everything they never wanted came true

and now it's winter drifts all the way up the poles

and now framed in fours in the oak windowpane

palms pressed against the cool glass

and now as then, her shadow purrs and licks

and now first two then four wheels turning

an apology not unlike those last hazy days

hooves temper through still water

haunted lilies ghostly and glowing

hovering just above the mirrored surface

reflecting the flickering sun ascending...

it's trails flecked with clinging honey beads of dew

all the way above Saturn bending it's beams there

a silk web of gradated light and shade

ankle deep in cool marsh water, standing...

holding onto the scenery

ever forgotten faces and happiness

passing by, nothing holds them back now

walking slowly forward drinking deep

of the mossy firefly spatted air

a thousand petals and a thousand more blades

spin in agreement

in unison

around the great gale of her presence

razor winter bears her soft wrists

under tended moonlight black blood pools

around an empty stage

where he once played to scores

screams the night hawk crying

the amber throat golden echo

of all her years of rage

reach a crescendo

as he cup shells to both ears

submitting to the maelstrom and the unyielding pull

the release of swirling tides

blast them apart

waves crash through

pieces of all the loves they knew

know now this...

every gleaming bone in our bodies

is alive with high flying ragged red banners

there on the highest rampart of our unbreakable will

still flying forever proud

in defense of all our Autumn moments

under that swirling canopy of October's tones

a long length of braid

pressed between books in a clear plastic bag

a reminder of that bird like face

slightly pointed lips

liquid dark star

casting a ruined anchor

straight into the soft riverbank

of her lost and forgotten textures

resonating from each broken corner

the sound of that empty space

between them...

Frozen Steel

No signs of snow and I'm getting so tired

changing seasons surely recognizable

as the sometimes unimaginable conductor

of the trembling tide

they're so sure of their willingness to separate

from each other

we listen with our heads tilted slightly arched upwards

waiting to do whatever the precipitation tells us

A will unhinged, swift in restraining

our lunatic notions

but we'll be all right

wind kissed wrists with a touch like rough bark

all your exploding nations submit a smile

flaming chariots abandoned

in ruinous metallic strips of flesh

the source of fuel

to power this engine of eating too terrible to know

The Riders

ripped jeans and glass slippers

one more forced fairy tale monument

to pretty voiced figured out fables

she falls through the aging sky

he's standing there by the spray painted outline

of all her fading paper angels

determined to catch that teasing skeleton man

racing through glazed rain slicked streets

all her innocent elegance mistaken for naivety

red laces tied in twos around the white plains

of her forearms criss crossed

dragging around the cumbersome swirling weight of his shadow

somewhere in a tower

a bell chimes, needs them

slow dancing around the bringers of unhappiness

The House They Fell Apart In

She watched framed by oak while he drifted away

rattled glass giving up at the very edges

she's secretly hoping for dumbstruck reprisals

from all the ruin that she was left with

turned on

like cinders catching curtains

obediently burning and wrapping around

all those endless glimmering moments together

all those shiny egg-white million years ago moments

all the fainting silence that looking at still images brings

all the laid out mute sounds whispering through walls

all the never again 's

every endless wandering scattered thought they've ever had

like cold stars flailing in calliope skies

like a snapped kite string

Halo

first aid followed downwards

down south and word of mouth

downtrodden plodding aimlessly

wretched financially grey kicked curb

crumbling remains accumulated hardship

tender judgment

breaking bridges cutting rope

cut the throat

useless knife now dull of hope

thrown away spinning on the horizon

on the top pines

perched watching from a distance

eye spots dark, black silhouettes

seen sitting hunched over the grey kicked

curb

Gorgon crumbling

remains

refrains from submission

given permission

wanderlust taken by the hand in a low mist

at 3:00 in the morning

and in her honor

the sodium lights glow blow out from above

clicked off.

epilouge

This was a facet of memory

nostalgic inclinations, defined the space that held their faces

in a place where we are most vulnerable and most happy

to be with one another

they cover and hide us all under the dreaming

under the protection

of slowly drifting comets

the promise of affection

as we sleep we hope to dream

waking embrace

belief lost in the shuddering sand

sand scraping wind passing corners

to deliver nightmares to all the children

but is anyone there?

and where HAS the time gone?

I take a current walk in the past

awaken in the present

as the answers pass by and questions surface

resurface, retract and understand

the light covers and holds us close

this beautiful waking embrace

to grace your cheek

your lightly painted face

the guarded shine in your eyes

they try so hard to dispel the illusion of independence

as we stumble we fall

this is the latent impact

the heartbreak of an ordinary day

sleepscore

leaves blown back to encircle a passing figure

a possibility arises to end this that has been overlooked for so long..

leaves blown back

wind blows black

visions turn internal as projected fears

are realized

and born to razor winters arms

I have been surprised

but this lasting battle is in fact....passing

melting as the power and hold of razor winter

is conquered

fire stolen

or given away happily

I forget

where are you?

drowning into slumber

Glaring hands in agreement

in ferocious intent

in murderous conditions

met not with fear but with confidence

eternal passing past and rediscovered

the heart blind dialogue

as a resurgence of youth

snow-blind and realized a foreign sensibility

to recline on the wings of a drowning day

unborn emotion forlorn and lost

the glass reflects and conveys the slow slipping sound

of a last word, a last breath before..

goodnight....goodnight

lies/truth grow together

grow as separate on the charged landscape of blanketing sound

this is hope to comfort

to understand a point in time that returns us

ghosts passing not passing

not existing in a way

where and when

in the inclination of a drowning day

windowpain II

Frosted, shut glass eyes needed to share this moment

this refusal, this distortion

laid to rest now on patterned flowers

set the ticking of the clock skipping beats and breaking..

straight faced grins into expressions of questions

past and present but always tense.....I knew you.....

before all this stopped and started

again this setting sun, sail away

the starlight flight of a dying day

left alone to wander

torn apart and ripped asunder

the face down cards unfold

A way of life as voices

they murmur and dance for the visions of those who lay sleeping

those without heaven

glimpse

lovely copper light

split the blind with it's soft shudder

a subtle halogen halo

draped and drastic across the cracked glass

this ray pierces our pillow

slashed and unsaid

reflected this grid as a veil

through the tapping rain outside

blurry eyes gaze over the formless

dark branch landscape

an intrusive siren smashed the silence

and the wind is stripped

stuck and forced to encase, shape quickly

the glimpse and the glint

of the starless void

of the welcoming sky

the bright burning smile of celestial radiance

the burnt out hope of lost wishes

I fall to dreaming within your breath

windowpain

frosted shut glass eyes to share this moment

laid to rest on this flower patterned rug

set the ticking of the clock skipping beats

and breaking straight faced grins into expressions of thanks

you're past and present dissolved and I knew you

before this all stopped and started

again setting sun sails away

starlight haze of a dying day

left alone to wander

torn apart and ripped asunder

a level to achieve.....witholding...downward

downward, cards unfolding as voices they murmur

and dance for the visions of those who lay sleeping

those without heaven

Heart Blind Dialouge

lost wishes hissing

setback

constituting this condition

conditioning remission set back a step or two

a walk down these streets still thoughts of you

secret lines break the daylight and cars pass by

outside

the bedroom window closed and cold

it's a situation now

A broken bottle reflection passed onwards

no single solid object to suffer

to release

to understand

to hear a voice over speakers or on the phone

over the lines and times that bind us to the ground

to the sounds of crowds

to a place where you're waiting

through trees that sway

through passing days

held close in yellow lit room

but these days are over now

as are your pictures

worn out and faded

crystal precision smudged with time

tears away minds that focus on disassociation

this failing friendship slips

to become one more mark in the bone yard below

tried so hard but still i wonder....

warm winds

plastic chair solitude

leather covered, carved and still as stone

only hearing out of one ear

so turn off the music and watch out the window...

thinking about boats

and storms

waves

gone by gardens

she told me that they vanished

faraway, outside an airplane window

wandering

she's going to the place that ends in vertigo

a flat postcard place

placed inside spoken lines

said change was nothing but a twist

in the corner of my mouth

at least she was kind enough to cry

shallow sleep

Spinning wheels hitting spider heart fury

the distance is feeling alive, red light abandoned

game over, stumble starstruck

there on cold December beach

looking through us when we touch

when she reaches

when he gives up

when they give it all

when only the blotted bleeding nightmare black clouds remain

static heaven satellite so far away now

lip syncing machine shouting

becoming statuesque

the model

these drowning demons floating in heavy hearts

and if she sleeps he falls away

and if she dreams, he'll help her

and if she shouts he won't hear her

still she'll love him all the same....

ghost trails on grainy sand

Shades of blue mountain

fade into the sky's flat shade

wind slammed doors through the house

where we grew up

tossed empty sheets on unmade beds

spun, tipped old cups full of dust

I took the longest sharpest scissors from the drawer

used them to cut off all those thick curls

grey bird in a grey sky

taking pictures with no contrast at all

just another sunny day

out here on the cold monochrome

of December beach

On the Peaks of December Dark..

I wonder if you heard that voice

hidden there between and beyond the fall

crashing through the cascading silence

and all the world is all the words we once shared

found clues of your exsistence

your trodden path

an old scarf

all those colors you used to weave

an old copper ring

some shells

I can still taste all those ghosts

all those sad moments

like when the tape just broke

it was bound to happen

face down in flowers

in flames

tiny winged thing flitting about our hair

as those sirens wailing in low tones in the distance

provided soundtrack for waking

ransacked the jar for change

to buy just a little more time together

deeply asleep in the midst of razor winter

with all the doors and windows wide open

all four winds

blasting us to opposite sides of the world

that day was my birthday

I decided it...

firstlight

scattered scarlet resounding in spirals

turning wide arcs upwards to pinpoint a single star

lit the pitch like a pinhole on an arid desert

blue dunes shuffle

the lacy curtain of dawn still hours away

sustained youth

all standing around like tracing paper

as we cradled these days

as we repeated promises down eastern walkways

as our shins grace the tips of long petaled flowers

growing there on the picketed sand dunes

somehow

dawn bravely drifts into clear view

things on shadow greens whirl and chirp

in acknowledgement the slowly spreading mist

coughs us onto the barely there

grey sands

the careless tides fold and break

like a consistent match strike

within the jaded role of designated time

all our limber youthful movements

turn to stone

I can no longer make out what is being said over the speakers

as day shadows with handles beg to be noticed

as your tattered rags break loudly on the breeze

as pages of eyesore scatter suns

at first light

as the first beam of morning touches our naked toes

Avalanche

Two drops of oil splash down

in the avalanche forest

stark and darkly to the moon a railway rises

we tiptoe hand in hand

to dreams in front of chocolate opaque light

ships

battle for the title of remembrance

he shakes his mane for the baby octopus he ate

it stank up the whole house

muddied up our already short attention spans

and knocked us together sideways

a splash there in the avalanche

dips toward the Terra

and in a second blinks twice to catch the oval sky

falling around us

shuffling barefoot through darkness

and breathing together

knock a splashing avalanche

into 10 minuets time with you

Snow Antidote

treasured gloom

the wind blows patterns of sunlight, spotlights

of morning light

kiss the complex lace there across several planks

of the worn wooden floor

I left your house in the middle of all that snow

made so much heavier

by the twisting ribbons of twilight

the arching branchscape black skeletal branches

slightly betray signs of a warm spring

against the fiery preaching reign of razor winters

calamitous frosty brass breath

like wolves howling for you sad brown eyes

to watch over the pine wreckage forest

blinked away as you flashed momentarily

there on the tip of a sunsetting ocean

impossibly real

tearing tender moments from welded iron trapdoors of memory

and all those changing fall days

The Architect

Suffering through the third design

the iron conscripts of your will

traded places for pleasure

watched the rippled moon rise

tainted

from the great black lake

of deeply driven

dark dogwood blossom

windswept

assaulted night

from the banks of a dry splintered beach

the cars crackle by

from within the engines of fire

the fury behind your eyes

from the reverberating gaze fixed gaze

stare unblinking

all these millions of expenses

all of these wounded winter months

forgotten

like stone column textured time

broken arrows sing sailing and fused

impacted and resonating

in your spine

I believe in your victory

unmade

Two solid sometimes separate

unite

under segregated stars and breathe

the tide for these ears to hear

the whispered words of faded lives

called sometimes desperate

desolate

desolation station smashed on the tracks

pearl fingers sliding down necks and backs

back and forth 29 miles

clearly comparing conditions

how many miles away do you sit and wonder?

those felled

sometimes intricate descriptions and smiles

grasping

holding this joy with a snowstorm grip

instead of "waves goodbye'

waves plant flowers

on the memory of this shore

dead flowers are fading away

for two solid sometimes separate

unite

A scented well

on an old cup there rests a few fleeting fingerprints

as complex as your composure

the scenery passes and fastens itself

to the empty seat next to me at breakfast

untied shoelaces dragging

through all those alleys you rode down

rooftops with plants overgrown and overhead....

lights in the distance dotted

black buildings

pyre lights

blue chimes to the sky's protest and resistance

into it's twilight transformation

the last smokey wisps of fettered clouds

cowering inevitable collision

with the night

I regarded your smile as a well, deep and peaceful

timed out..

metered out all the joys through every passing season

in every windswept gaze

and all the sandalwood scents your hair held then..

scents of home

where you lay in the room at the back

waiting for the complexities of the the day to subside

to cross your arms and sail softly away

the first dreaming shore..

lit by a slow moving drift of paper lanterns

a visual chorus

there on the backlight

fairytale long dark expanse of dawns hovering outline

traced along the soft contours of your arched tempered back