burning photos if i thought burning your photographs could make you disappear how wrong i must have been i set your polaroids to light i set those paper-back frames to embers and i watched as they burned burned burned but those picture grew flaming they disintegrated into ash alive they drowned me in their smoke and sunk me in your memories the colors of the photos were screaming they were brighter than they had ever been marred under a kaleidoscope of reflection they spoke to me in stories those pictures burning so desperately sent torn shards your face spinning your […]
buried
buried i closed the lid on the coffin door the wood rough against my hand edges planting splinters my fingertips a reminder of the inside hemmed nails and spikes draining the life of something still gasping for air their ragged breathing silenced by the slam of something unwanted i planted the coffin deep inside beside the rumbling of my stomach and the thundering of my heart my running blood rocking it in place burning holes into my muscles shocking volts up my brain’s electric and it was more alive inside its confines but i pretended not to hear it banging […]
harbinger
harbinger you smiled at the beginning close enough to me but out of my reach your quick witted words making me me laugh at first your face was marble sculpted and i remember telling you you were beautiful you smiled crooned at my words mockery of affection you were built of hercules towering above my frame i took it as a sign that yours were larger than mine to hold me better it was not your eyes were cloudy and your words cryptic i took it to be the mark of intellect when my lack of couldn’t […]
autumn
autumn autumn smells of puddles of rainthat have formed over fallen leavesmixed with pumpkin and spiceshe is the scent of warmth on rainy days autumn looks like cinnamon cheekswith freckles and hair of orange leavesspattered overalls and squelching wellieshe is the picture of a yellowed tree autumn laughs like children at schooland his voice crunches like fallen leavesquietly, beckoning the cold of winterhe speaks like the whispering wind autumn tastes like harvest feastsand criss-cross flakes of apple piea kiss from autumn is a kiss of sugarof his lips that have licked the maple autumn feels like cornfield maizeand the bumps […]
Laughter
Laughter If i could write poetry about your laughter i would It starts with your quiet smile That brings rose blush to your pale cheeks You widen into a giggle that brings back A childhood you never left The room filled with the sound melody Of your growing joy and delight You throw back your head into the light You created when you grin like that Bouncing back in notes of exhilaration A sound of meaningful appreciation Your lips pulled wide to reveal Peals of raucous laughter That makes me feel like you truly love me Though your laughter might […]
magic
magic There is magic in the hearts of a lover’s soul Who found hope in a place of another’s arms They see the world as a half to a whole A place to experience with another’s laughter There is magic in the eyes of a school child Who learns of the undying world beneath her She is undaunted by the vastness of what is around her Knowing of the change she is to bring There is magic in the hug of a friend Who tightly embraces those she has missed A show of excitement for the moments to […]
bloody
bloody liquid courage burns fiery down my throat sending spirals through my mind drunken haze that will never arrive pales in comparison to the nausea of this guilt ridden trip past bloodshed the sear of honeyed spiked mead does not bring me the flying grace of the coppery tang of blood i long for the taste of metallic death the one i have just barely escaped wounds i healed to ugly scars remind me of the pain i wish to inflict this violent desire to break hearts to leave them shriveled and unbeating as mine did so long ago in […]
alter ego
alter ego 1: smile softly, nod your head laugh quietly with creased eyes agree with words you don’t legs crossed, hands in your lap you are being watched and the audience loves this angle 2: rake your fingernails down skin running blood of self-inflicted is almost as deep as these bruises hair wild and unkempt you must never stop running or they will forever follow you 1: talk of small table conversation pleasing to their ears in a voice that was never yours these words that you memorized what the audience hopes to hear they are always listening […]
Rocket Trip
Could we go on a rocket trip around the universe?The two of us together among the stars and skyWe would see the stars of the past blink down on usTelling us the stories of lights forgotten and renewedWe would see the colors of galaxy twist around our fingertipsDeep hues of magenta blackness swirling in the skyUnder by planetary dust and debris hanging in the darkWe would travel around celestial bodies of new solar systemsFollowed by golden fire of comet and asteroid trailsWe would hold hands by the orbit of the moonAnd graying igneous structures that dwarf ourselvesStanding under the blinding […]
The Last Autumn Leaf
The last autumn leafStood lonely on its branchPulled by the chill of the windIt danced on the breeze of fallOrange and yellowed surfaceIt crackled from its thin stemWaiting to leave its sinewed holdAnd join its rest on the grassBreaking free of the bare treeIt floated on the gale whisperWaiting to fall ever so softlyInto its minute of slow descentOnto the ochre-hued floorCrunching on its bed of leavesIt waited, staring at the tree aboveNaked and empty without itCalling out to the windIt spoke of the coming winterRustled by the chill in the airA quiet song to the branchesIt left its place […]
Mural
The alleyway was dark. I sat on its dusty sidewalk in my baggy jeans, with dirt infiltrating the space between my fingernails as I gripped the edge of the cement. I had been sitting for hours that I had lost track of and the moon glinted bright white under the darkening purple-black sky. I breathed in another puff of cigarette smoke and the smell of tobacco swirled around my head in wisps of ashen clouds. As I looked upward with my head on my knees, I breathed a sigh. I was finally alone. Away from the head-banging nauseating cacophony that […]
Playing with Fire
Playing with Fire single flame of midnight oil what happens when you are blown by the wind? do you bloom like flowers of the spring’s warmth? fire flickering and licking the air what happens when you are stoked by wood? do you dance like the hearts of those loved? blaze of burning ashen bark what happens when you are doused in kerosene? do you roar like a creature angered? raging inferno of terror alight what happens when you play with fire? don’t you know that you get burnt?