poem #12

despite all appearances

entrechats
a distraction
performed under bright lights

for I want and need the warm blanket of a fond gaze

entrecôte
an offering
placed upon fine china

for I worry incessantly about billboards and choking hazards

entrepôt
a foundation
built of steel and trust

for I long for balance in trade; imports and exports

entre nous
a nocturne
whispered while you sleep

for I have not courage enough for the unguarded honesty of brazen mea culpa

poem #11

In Between Syllables

a wish is an affirmation
of a need unfulfilled

a hope is an expectation
of return on an investment

a crow is a blackbird
that feeds on carrion

a confession is a failure
of small shoulders

a gripe is a barbiturate
of victim mentality

a pigeon is a dove
that cannot carry peace

a question is a benign tumor
of a short attention span

a gift is an entreaty
of a lonely wanderer

a parrot is a mockingbird
that mocks the habituated

a smile is a multiplicity
of doorways

an ear is a bottomless basin
of raindrops and snowflakes

a hawk is a phoenix
that has not yet been set alight

poem #8 (reprise)

(perhaps the destiny of Empire is peril and hence omens are oft ignored)


…and who among you are ready
to intercede in the Interment
of Innocence

when Unrestraint forces himself upon Reason?


the slur of the soothsayer’s stroke stricken lips
falls flat upon the deaf ears of androids
like sail against mast in the flat water of doldrums

as the shot rings out from his crack-lipped muzzle
the crowd heeds not for they hear not

insanity is camouflaged to peoples too busy to bide verbal bedlam

and so the madman remains anonymous
he whose lunacy is simply a curse
an affliction the same as that of Cassandra

and no minstrel and no historian
will arise to resurrect his utterances
his caveat, his counsel, his rebuke…


when the force of our efforts is fully centripetal
a plague will fall and all are punished

poem #9

binging, brawling, fisting, and starving

the corners were covered in saffron scabs
the fleshy twin pooches cracked and peeling
sweat pregnant with an acrid pungency
subtle auras painted with acidic excretion

the pleasure of a capsicum violence…

legs crossed and quivering
the slightest shift sends sentinel shocks
timing as an artform
else dew drops turn to torrent

the pleasure of denying a basic need…

neatly arranged arrays of surgical steel
calves, thighs, arms, spine and trickles of blood
white-hot sublimation into singularity
feigning to entertain, he revels in the trembling

the pleasure of being consumed…

surging forward, searching and grasping
yearning for substance
yielding to schematics
the mind loosening panic of empty nothing looms

oh aliens on islands
afraid to sleep
these gratification-concentrates extracted from pain

oh smelling-salt masochists
bartering body for Being
these unseemly acts for a fleeting peek behind the curtain

poem #7

Socially Acquired Disease

pernicious perturbation
little sliver who pricks and punishes
how is it you have honed
annoyance into auto erotica?

the pink blue warmth of paradise winds
precursor to unforeseen shipwrecks
what hope can be had for captain and crew
when casual smiles give way to dire straits?

the cacophony created between
your sickly siren song
and my melancholy lament
nightly drives the dogs to howl

and the nascent light of sunrise offers no solace
from the bruises of your batting eyelash battery


sewn into the suit I tried on, I falter
afraid of the correlation of escape and scar tissue

I would warn the world
foretelling misfortune from folly
but I opt not to open my mouth
lest you look upon it as an invitation

needling nuisance
little inflammation who itches and burns
how is it you have perverted
patience into patheticism?

bodhinacci

pinch

kill
thought binge

extinguish
feral ignorance

compulsive, reactionary

starve it, emaciate it, choke and suffocate it

like toxins expelled through sweat glands
tumor to scalpel

corpse and pyre

purge it

ex

it

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

gain

birth
stillness

awaken
dormant awareness

liberated, intractable

cherish it, guard it, cultivate, strengthen, and share it

like the healing hands of Jesus
water to parched land

fuel and fire

take in

en

ter

poem #5

Gratitude for an Annhilation

Life, being a dash between old age and death
To see which can first make youth succumb
Raises not my hairs

For she swallows the darkness whole

And mirth comes even on the precipice
A blithe joy bestowed and inherited
I am alive and know it

For she rips away the haze of habit

Petite raptures knit a chrysalis anew
Acyclic incarnations du jour
I am asunder and ascribed

For even in triteness she is dazzling

Multitudes over millennia
Caterwauled of the consequences
Of staring into the sun

For poor fools never realize how blessed blindness can be

poem #4

Out in chill midnight mist
Deep in wood and burdened
This onus, this charge

Guilt glistening forehead
Stink of feverish salt
Breath and heart competing

Lugging, pulling, dragging
Plastic wrapped monolith
The dead weight of uncertainty

Dig until torn palm skin
Neck cranes reigned by paranoia
Untold tensions and exasperated strains

O wasted pains of vain labor
Never ceasing until the dirty deed is done...
But dirty deeds are never done

In the art of intervention
Reason is impotent
Yet denial cannot hide what is naked to the mind:

No matter how deep the plot the dogs will still smell her

poem #3

Empty Calories and Hippocracy

Little epiphanies
Like sugar pills
A casual breakfast in the cathedral

Annulled incursions
Like stale popcorn
A pound of cellulite for every ounce of faith

Judgment from Jurispudence; Jurisprudence from Legos

Pithy prayers
Like soft fudge
A spoonful of awe sprinkled fear

Smug luncheons
Like mildewed milk
A base for culturing antibodies

Double-chins from Dogmatism; Dogmatism from Doubt

Midnight mass
Like tacky fondue
An epicurean Eucharist of immodesty

Saline and sugar sacraments according to the Gospel of Gastronomy
Diabetes and obesity according to the Canons of Karma

poem #2

She sluices herself with shadows
Could’ves and Should’ves
Iterations of opportunity absconded

He lilts in feigned levity
Guile and Wit
Opiates of stolid distraction

Solitary cells reduced by shame
Slideshow projections
On white walls

Tiny fingers and names potential
Birthdays that are just days

She self-flagellates
He self-medicates

She dreams of pogroms,
He has long since stopped dreaming

poem #1

If I slid a blade across
And severed the tip
Of my tongue

If I spoke in tongues
And let the blood drip
Onto canvass

If I slipped into darkness
And left the poem
Open to interpretation

If such a possibility
And discrete satisfaction
Over words

Would speak my heart
I could die happy