Harm

The lyre burnt asunder
swallowed into laughing clouds
one strum on the heart string
another kiss in summer's love

sing into the warm night
melodies of sweet surrender

lost in the trees
like southern moss

wilted in the morning dew


take another drought
and bare your breasts

late season
read in the leaves
harvests in the frost


and someday you'll understand
the loss

in the senseless phrases tosses on the wind

in the end
you'll know I meant  more good
than harm.

Lucky Number

The darkened robes of fear

enclosed about the bitter realm

there's something in the way -

a quiet thorn in the side

overlooking fractured minds

like a mirror

a lucky number

still numb to the cool wind

flowing over the jagged mountains

like monster's teeth

blood in the sink

a reflection of times gone by

niceties abandoned

drawn out over many words

spewed forth from greedy mouths

still a dagger in the heart

take it in

while the brain twitches

frozen.

The Masthead's Sway

And the rain came down upon the decks

lashing our poor souls to the edge

with wind and hail

the raindrops, raindrops

like shot and canister

raking across the bow

at once the cry came

"she came upon us in a fury!"

said the old boatswain with fast a prayer

and the masthead swayed to the

wind's fateful song

lighting glinting upon

the raindrops, raindrops

two men, one a mate the other our captain

strayed close to the howling seas

taken by hand down to billowy depths

and Poseidon's reign

no words uttered could now be heard

for the thunder crashed like

a thousand spears to a thousand shields

the raindrops, raindrops

suddenly the sirens waned

as the rigging came to me like

gossamer thread

and the sun peered through

clouds asunder

our senses returned but not our captain

forever lost on

storm's tattered black cloak

never to see again in this life

the raindrops, raindrops.

Skinned

Streaming flames

into the deep places

mysteries of the stars

lost on deaf ears

over the light years we

remain trapped

addled in a myriad of lonely

places

let me go, they said

pounding clenched fists and grinding teeth
till the tiny slivers shaved away to the
dry bones and the elastic mind long
gone in the stratosphere
caught on fire in the flowing
stream of flames
our bodies scream silent
lunar hymns!

shivering in the corners

doubt

explodes into the darkness

like a supernova

and you won't see the light

for 100,000 years.

Loops

Strange sounds, locked away in dark corners
the dusty places of the mind, sill waiting
for the morning sun, frozen sinews
keep you, stalk you,
tiny and frail, the silken hands

they bind you, amidst tangled
churning legs, as the damp earth
opens up before you,
and cold wispy shadows
encircle the weary mind,
grasping at your beating heart,
fingernails slowly tracing
the edges of sanity,

it is then that all hope is lost,

absorbed by fear like
a drop of rain in the parched desert,
as they gather round your fire,

icy gazes hang in the air
draped across the
brooding trees, eyes
and mouths greedily

devouring hours into minutes,

seconds to eternity,

as the bell tolls, tolls,

inviting your lost soul to
the feast
again, yet again.

Black and White

In the dead of night,
are you just like me?

Curled up in the depths of dusty shadows
feigning sleep
enough to carry on
the hope to last
one more day
scars dance
upon the edges of
four walls
carved like a message
on a fallen tree

are you just like me?

dreaming in black and white
watching old tv shows
and staying homesick
take my temperature
because it's cold outside

are you just like me?

pretend you know me dear
so I can sleep once again
change the channel for me
and put out the light

In the dead of night,
you're just like me.

Gold Dust Dysfunctional

Come down those ivory stairs,

traipsing along swollen clouds,

upon silver heartstrings,

dying with every step,

raining down on the holiday parade

like a gold dust dysfunctional



Just go away flies,

fear not the simmering cauldron,

when wild animals crowded around you,

retreat back into the wood,

into the shining meadows,

where flesh melts into a new day



Leave behind your possessions,

the ancient groves will take you,

unto the hearth of the earth,

should emptiness strike your glass

I will fill your mind,

like a benediction in the moonlight



Painstakingly sugar-sweet kisses,

decorate the hallways of love,

drawn and quartered by whispers on the wind,

the steeple will fall once more,

replaced again by your lips,

reddened by a stranger's blood


as dawn breaks upon the northern star
we're on our own,
ripping down the tapestry of lies,
clenched fists and empty bellies,
belie the end of innocence