i try to focus on
the shimmery
buzz on my
face when i
slowly crook my
finger around
the neck of
this heady coral rose
i try to slow down
the feeling of pure
romance when i
hook and pull those
gorgeous obscene petals
to my face as if
to kiss as if
to be much more
than friends more
than one life can
allow fall to
the ground
together
vine together
all our sharpest
shadows until
in utter joy we
grow into
spindles into
bright sun into
sidewalk into
kicking
leaves
i don’t know when
it was i lost you
lost me
picked you up
put you down you
picked me up
put me down
somewhere the shine just
became opaque
became cold metal
hulking slowly
down it’s own
tracks
loosened itself
shrugged and shuddered
split off into
the sunset
slow heartbeat
dark sky
the lonesome
hollow
whistle
of us
a heavy and rusty
heart
at the bottom of the ocean
witnesses the secret love affairs
of the dark and suddenly
bright things
and sighs
feels the scratchy orange
coral rubbing seductively
against it so
slowly
holds the schools of
swimming things
safe from morning
where morning is
love and love is
poison
water
you said
my heart keeps
sinking keeps
sliding keeps
recoiling keeps
gathering shards of
glass along the way
down
you said
imagine if suddenly
a thing with teeth stole
your heart
lit it on fire
then forced to be
swallowed by
someone else
that’s true
love i
think
not everyone knows
how to pluck the
stars from (nowhere)
line them up in a jar
watch them tremble
with the thrill of attention
not just any old so and so
knows how to expertly
press against the
dark blue velvet of
the night until
they are a sky body
swallowing stars
whole
singing planets awake
my heart strung around
their celestial
neck
anxiety again
the kind that drags
long nails
down my chest
closing fingers
around my larynx
i swallow glass
i shiver and shake
i tremble until
the ghosts say their piece
pass through me
huddle together in
chaos
anxiety again
and the shimmer of
a wolf on
the edges
panting
a heartbeat
an anchor
mine
from the soil
under the roots
way down in the
cool darkness
you begin to sing
true you begin to
glow through
until i see that you
the one that doesn’t go to
church but knows how to
kneel real good
doesn’t go to church
but sings about angels
like i never understood
that you is still under
the underside of light
still shrugging off darkness
except now
honey
you can
honestly sing about
home
they said your
finger hovered
on the trigger
orange heart
some might say a
coward heart by the way
you stood in the dust
with proud hawkish face
wetting your lips
strong arms
easy slow
speech
the hitch you get
when you really
believe your own
story and
they also say the sun
never throbbed so
never sung so
never made them
gasp so
after you left
town
there you were in
the way the shadows
kissed the sidewalk
lit up wild dancing leaves
the way the one bird
called the other bird
how they met in the
middle between
two trees
that were already
deep in
prayer
together
there you were in
the endless road that
glinted a wink
on every hill
in no hurry to
find honey
before charming
the bees
bird bird bird
where do you sing
late at night when the
air is sweet with
the sweat of
pine trees
what do you magic
there in your lovely nest
when the other
songbirds sleep
when the other
flowers grow
wild in the stillness
now
make way for
your
woody
grace
