these words to tame

There, in the sticky
Smile when maimed

     Don't get stuck

Wisdom is learned release
Lest words lose flame
amidst emotions run amok

Fight for the birds to fly again
Live low through the day dim
And say it clear, 
these words to tame

Between you and I, a sea of you and me

Frothing and twisting and hissing
An intertwined ball of heart
a boy statue pissing
Filling a puddle of fear sharp as a dart

Transposed into a horrible riddle: 
   of native tongue
     a mystery
   alien years now from
     that swelling sea

Some days.

(image: Like a Bird on a Wire)

broken winged lullaby

in a dead language speak to me

sounds only bones can hear

wrap the day in cosmic layers

tomorrow eyes to see 

the boy within, yesteryear glee

save the date for no one in particular

call the ghost of me

in a midnight dreary

dance amidst yesterday's garden 

dead beneath love bleary

a barren plain left to still all the more

hush beating wings

the animal died long ago

a voice which clamors busy nothings, not sing

. . .when the mountain disappeared in the man and a king swallowed yesterday

breathe eternity

bespoken horrors freely 

as wind rushing through a seal or an artery

hush, go back to sleep

together we shall dine 

dearly beloved, no, 

only the finest wine

save the date for someday soon 

(image: Angel, by Yvonne Wyllie, licensed by CC 2.0)

of dust and bone

Beauty as deep as the skin

Shelter of shallow wishes, nothing more

Hanging in the wind blowing cold

Empty the bowls, pull up the stakes

Move to the land whispering another day

Mere dust and bone

Crumbling in each burning day

Fumbling with a code that unlocks nothing

Tomorrow especially

Holding onto everything I see that looks differently 

It's of dust and bone

And it's crumbling too

We are all of dust and bone

Brittle and breaking 

Bare and broken in the wind

Wishing we knew more

Sleeping through most days

Confiding in silence

Waiting for the day to brighten and heal

In the setting sun

In the blowing dust

In the cold of night

Before the sun rises

Before the day wakes

Before the kids stir

Make breakfast, do more than smile

In every breaking, love holding

In each dying moment, eternity reviving

image: Dust Layer 

bending keys

from the end of the road it's so easy to see. 

standing a mile away I could feel it wasting,

slipping through my hands, violently free. 

rattling through the wind 

a common, unsettling noise,

like that of the day stopping, suddenly. 

I didn't know,

I didn't see,

but I could hear it rattling,

I could hear the day waiting. 

my keys bent at the lock. 

so I stood under the cover until the light burned out. 

I waited for morning,

for a new day to remind me...

it's okay to walk through the rain alone, 

to move through the streets clean and easy. 

image: Skeleton Key

ringing ears

Fight just to feel

Suffer to breathe

Losing count of just how many memories are haunting me.

Flirting with the hole in my heart,

Stick your finger in, feel the weakening beat.

Time is a deafening siren

Singing off key...

"Come to the cliffs. You'll find rest. Close your eyes, beat your breast. Hold my hand, feel the fury. Out at sea you've abandoned me. Damn the hand that you faithfully held. It let you go. Grasping at empty air as you fell.  Left you spinning freely. He lied, so come on in. Come closer to my edge."

Bloody eyes and an empty chest

The ringing siren clawed at the rock scribbling my name awkwardly

Vulture circles in a darkening sky

The stench of yesterday, intoxicating.

No one made our bed, no one prepared. 

Death smiling friendly.

Tomorrow has left, forgetting me.  

My boots are damp, my blood is slow

I haven't had a thought in days. 

I haven't breathed for minutes.

My lungs are burning.

My heart, yearning.

Creaking boards crack under the weight of movement,

...Everything is moving.

The smell of salt,

the sound of collapse,

reaching for her empty, present sound. 

"Come now or die at sea. The light is off. There is no one waiting. There is no one wanting. Can't you hear the sound? Can't you feel the weight? The hand that you thought was forever has let go. You have been let go. Love has lost you. You need to come. I am where the waves kiss the cliff."

Sea blown and hollow,

My course is set. 

Eyes closed, ears open;

One lone sound drowns my heart.

Staring ominously at the gathering clouds,

Curiously dreaming of a beating heart. 

The sound of collapse. 

The smell of salt. 

And then it breaks...

Sun stoned and drifting

The ship is broken

The pieces are floating

In the violence of reckless waves

A familiar voice, peaceful and clear

"The ringing sound is an ill tempered noise, lying and lusting; the siren, a blood thirsty sound. The pieces are holding you and my hand, ever present. There is not a day in this age or the next when my hand will release you."

image: Cliff Contrast