Sunday, February 28, 2010

Verse: A trilogy for February 28, 2010

I
Bare trees
no more
hold up
the sky

than they
do impede
the lazy
clouds that
drift by

II
No one notices
the stripped bike
bound and unencumbered
except for
the covetous rain

III
before you can go
feet first
with a new born smile
into the sighing world

let me transfer
this unfiltered longing
this quiet interlude
of love songs to you

I hope that
you will know
what to do with them
when the time comes

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Verse: Breakfast

watch
how night retrieves
the light
of day
like a scavenger
thinks it holds sway

but we
will wait
until it falls asleep
to loose
from its funereal grip
the light of day

see how
the sun
warms your breath,
this quiet room

and reveals
the new flesh
ready and waiting
to be consumed

Friday, February 26, 2010

Verse: Ruminations

I wanted
to be nothing
but I sat still
too long

I began
accumulating
perpectives
habits
and observations

I became something
just waiting
to be
anything

like one word
leads to another
I was
I am and
will be

here and now
one and many
I will
continue on
to whatever is next

knowing
you can escape birth
when you are born
and death
by dying

and yet
I cannot escape
myself

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Verse: Do not say I am gone

Please do not say
I am gone
until I go

until I relinquish
this scarred room
this unkempt body

until you cannot
recall the colour
of my voice in morning

until no one
that we know
mentions my name anymore

until you cannot
find me between
the chaos and the calm

I beseech you
please do not say
I am gone

at least not
until I say
goodbye.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Verse: I Wrote This

(inspired by @downatheel)

I wrote this
several times
to get it right

I wrote this
before I knew
what I was going to say

I wrote this
because no one
asked me to

I wrote this
when you were not here
so I would not distract you

I wrote this
because that blank page
defied me

I wrote this
without thinking
of the consequences

I wrote this
in the morning
when the nightmares abated

I wrote this
with words
I borrowed from someone

I wrote this
because you
would not let me finish

I wrote this
because it was easy
to do

I wrote this
as an exercise
to keep my senses sharp

I wrote this
in black ink, which is
what my voice would look like

I wrote this
rather hastily
just to see these words again

I wrote this
for no one
in particular

and I
wrote this
for you.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Verse: Games

Love I was
before you met me

though it was never
your purpose or name

falling through gravity
I move discreetly

to catch you
in this naked frame

Love you were
before I met you

though it was never
my hope or aim

falling through gravity
the silence ceases

you found your target
I am to blame

Monday, February 22, 2010

Verse: Concession

What does it matter
if I am only loved at night

when all strangers are known
if only by their touch

you know who I am
so this will be fine

only do not let me
succumb so soon

I can always
sleep in your daydreams

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Verse: The kisses

hard and fast
like rainbows they come

then measured
and mild as a glance

adorned and ornamental
how you glisten

when they
moisten your lips

and cover you
like morning mist

naked and wet
they want only for you

to caress and keep them
warm in your embrace

before they fall
asleep.

haiku: the flies

larval in our sleep
we dream we are human and
wake buzzing with lust

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Verse: coyote

Moon dripping
like a scoop
of ice cream
on a cone

and the wind
clucking and
cackling like
a crow do

I gnawed seven
steely stars
right down
to the bone

but they did not
relieve me of
my hunger
for you

heaving with howls
and nursing
the deep wounds
that desire inflicts

as restless as
all the dreams
the nameless night
begins to accrue

let there be
no doubts
this is no myth
and no trick

I have stolen fire
and now burning
I am coming
after you

Friday, February 19, 2010

Verse: Vein Melter

(apologies to Herbie Hancock for stealing the title of this poem, but I couldn't resist)

Below no hell
you burrow
beneath my skin

coarse, in my vein
like sweet sugar
sweat is

move me to the cusp
of something
I cannot express in word

and I
may lose myself
but I will never forget you

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Verse: Eyes

Stop looking
for me

your gaze
so intense

how can you
see me

when your eyes
are no longer mine

for I cannot see
myself in them

at least not
as you saw me

and when you close them
everything disappears

even me.

Verse: Before the fall

How do I
explain love?

it is like speaking
a foreign language
in a distant land

or fine particles
that trickle through
my fingers like sand

or something
that humanizes us
some unknown somehow

ah, but if that is so
were we angels
before we made our vow?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Verse: The Bargain

Look into my eyes
until you can't see me

whisper in my mouth
until you can't hear me

stroke my arms
until you can't feel me

until I become
nothing at all

or rather
empty

then fill me
with mutiny and treachery

with lust
and love

with whatever
you desire of me

and that is what
I will be

for you
forever

or at least for now
until you go

when I am
myself again

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Verse: The Collector

This time
I take every thing
with me

when I go
to sleep
tonight

everything beautiful
your emerald eyes
your elaborate lips
and elegant hands

to ward off
the nightmares
too wild to sleep with

I take them all
with the promise
to put them back
when you need them

just open
my eyes
when you awake

Monday, February 15, 2010

Verse: Dream Letter #2

I begin
on a blank page
of indifference

trying to talk myself
out of waking up
so I don't lose it

get it down before
the outside goes out
goes on

I carry the impossible
the weight of words
as heavy as the minor keys

watch how
it all unfolds
like a disaster

it cannot be helped
some dreams I make
and some I merely borrow

my punishment
is always to wait
for them to arrive

I know you think
this is just
some reverie

look close
and you will see
only my arms are sleeping

my eyes
are wide open
and embracing all

and I am crouched like a cloud
in a forest, crying
for its mother sky

I ask only
that you put your heart
in mine

you'll see
it will fit
it will be fine

only don't finish
the sentence
just yet

pull back the curtains
and the day will be
articulated by the sun

if we are lucky
we will leave no trace
when we are gone

and when we awake
we will be
in love

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Title: The Secret Alphabet

(inspired in part by @jdistraction, but also by m'lady)

We have
a secret alphabet

we write letters
to ourselves

a personal discourse
created in haste

cursive, confessional
and discursive

that we hide
in the world

ransom notes
to love held hostage

if you find them
they are yours

if not
it's nothing personal

we will reclaim them
as our own

to fall
under their spell

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Verse for February 13, 2010

I
I went out
gathering pieces
of the sky
for you

until it hid
behind the clouds

ashamed at my folly
I decided to let them go

after all
what would you do
with pieces of the sky?

you were never one
for grand gestures.

II
I know that
if I ever
aproach it
I will stumble
into grace

in that moment
of renewal I will be
standing in nothing
and nowhere will be
my destiny

Friday, February 12, 2010

Verse: Where did the night go?

Where did
the night go?

one moment, it was there
by the window

talking too loud and
drinking in the soft moonlight

the next
gone without goodbye

I made inquiries but
no one has seen it all morning

maybe it lurched off
to the Ardmore for breakfast

crawled into
a ditch somewhere

crashed on someone's couch
to it sleep off

or was swept up
by the pizza vendors closing shop

I don't know
but I suspect

it is crouched
under my bed

waiting only for me
to turn out the light

to close my eyes
before it strikes.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Verse doodles for February 11, 2010

I
If you
give birth
to the moon

what will you
call it

and where
will you hide it

for others
to discover?

II
In winter
the quiet lake
does not resist
the ice or
its cool blue embrace

III
across the night field
the tiny diamonds sparkle
to the stars' delight

IV
Let me find you
in the morning
in the sleeping bed

let me find you
in the evening
with the stars crowning your head

let me find you
in winter
not lost to the snow

let me find you
in summer
where the late strawberries grow

let me find you
in the fragrance
of a wild red rose

let me find you
in the answers
to the questions that I pose

let me find you
reaching for me
through the swirling fear

let me find you
in this tense world
if you are not already here

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Verse doodles for February 10, 2010

I
You who would
embrace loneliness
like a scared child

you must let it go
it does not need
your sympathy

II
Come inside
this old house
filled with empty rooms

and I will sing
your name
in a minor key

III
In this modest room
the night arrives, and I sigh
pregnant with its dreams

IV
Holding my breath
and biting my tongue

lest the fears take shape
and infect everyone

V
investigate your condition
the source of your bliss

you will find it cannot be
arranged or transferred

but you
can be its steward

VI
Snowflakes
fluttering by my window

a reminder
to never sit still

and to never
lose myself in the crowd

VII
I have a mission
what I started long ago
remains unfinished
much like this verse

VIII
For whom
am I expressing
this longing
if you won't claim it?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Verse for February 9, 2010

I
The night, frightened and
hunted by its shadow seeks
refuge in our bed

II
The well-dressed past and
the disheveled future meet
in the naked now

III
You know who I am
I am the old customer
I am accustomed

I come here often
not borne by the wind or snow
but the heat you throw

all that you purvey
your soft skin, your heavy sighs
I mean to consume

drunk on your nectar
now wanting nothing at all
except to serve you

IV
after swallowing
your hot breath

I slip into
the small of your back

cautious and close
as I can come

trying to bridge
the gap

to breach
the meridian

where you begin
and I end

Monday, February 8, 2010

Poetry Blow out for February 8, 2010

I
How ardently your
red lipstick clings to the rim
of your coffee cup

II
Hard bread for breakfast
soup for lunch, rice for dinner
you nourish my soul

III
I ride the slipstream
I make, I do, I go but
I rest in your love

IV
I don't think
heaven is
above your head

it is somewhere
below

it is wherever
your feet fall

V
Writing verse
is a lot like
playing mah jong
it depends upon
the variations
the matches
what you take away

VI
I come to this stage
tugging at souvenirs

I change identities
and often

now a soldier
not a son

now a brother
not a priest

so many roles
and so much to do

today I wake you
with clarion calls

Tomorrow I will inflame and
hang the treasonous

but more even than that
I want this

to take my leave
of you

when I'm done living
your imagined lives

and start living
mine

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Verse: Contemplation

Tethered
and tangled
and covered in mist

our voices are undressed
and echoing like ghosts
in the hallway

sweeping the
fine grain particles
of ash from your
sleeping alabaster skin

tell me
is this what
the darkness is for?

Verse: Because

You, as innocent
as a dream

as naked
as distances are

why do you surrender
so soon

when I am not
so brave

or ready
to be loved

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Verse: Statement of Purpose

My intent
If I can

to find
the forgotten

embrace
the inconsolable

bind
the broken

and ruin
the righteous

by feeding them
my words.

Verse: Reverie

Rather than serenade
the roly poly retreating sun

she cradled the
crescent moon

clutching it
in her cushioned kiss

she blew bubbles that
rolled and bounced

off the sides of
serrated satellites

threw arcs of light up
like confetti

and painted the heavens
in ghost colours

that glided down
the sky

to kiss the earth
goodnight

Friday, February 5, 2010

Some Friday Verse doodles

I
I write verse
in much the same way
that I approach you

unrehearsed and
in a series of
sneak attacks

II
Love did not
come to me

I made my way
to it on my own

how many times did I
see it pass me by

only because I did not
invite it in

III
What is the way?

to deny myself
to avoid attachment?

how can I know
the way

When I want
and I tie myself
to you?

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Verse: Magpie

I am coming to you
stealthy as a thief
watch your words
lest I take them
from you
for I have
no shame

Haiku Blowout

I (meta haiku)
First, I count to five
then seven more syllables
and five to finish

II
Tranquility is
a dragonfly passing by
on a summer's day

III
Always remember
that the past is tense and the
future is perfect

IV
If you can make a
home of your heart then you will
never be alone

V
Do take my hand and
sit very still to hear how
softly the snow falls

VI
One thing I would like
to know before I go is:
'Are you lonesome, moon?'

VII
I was born before
the stars were awake, and yet
the night knows my name

VIII
Be here and now for
it is the then and soon where
problems do begin

IX
All you are is now
one continuous moment
in which I am lost

X
I loved you even
before I had any clue
that you could love me

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Verse: I want you

At night
when I close my eyes
and in the morning
when I rise
I want you

if someone says
your name
my heart bursts
into flames
I want you

I try to exorcise it
with verse
but each word
makes it worse
I want you

I meditate for
countless hours
and I take
one thousand showers and
I want you

It is in everything
I have done
and obvious to
everyone
I want you

in case it has not
occured to you
I thought that
it is time you knew
I want you

Verse: Psst

I thought
you should know that

I kept
all your words here

for you
on the off-chance that

you ever
wanted them back to

tell someone
that you love them

just like
you once told me

Some haiku

I
I was tainted with
insatiable love on the
day that I was born

II
Please do not ever
tell the sky what I have said
it is our secret

III
Thousands of pixels
impossibly form your face
oh, how I love you

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Verse: Endings

We came
to the end
with hesitation

we came
with vague notions
and expectations

there were
epilogues that
followed on

but they seemed
to be after thoughts
anti climactic

we came
to the end
so abruptly

that we
only knew it was over
when it was over

even if we had an inkling
was there anything
different we would have done?

you know
and I know
the answer is no

even so,
we came to the end, like pilgrims
it did not come for us.

Haiku about thoughts

How like clouds thoughts are
they either elude you or
they obscure your view

Two Haiku for Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010

I
Everyday you
should eat a poem because
it is good for you

II
Brush back the hair from
the sky's eyes and then you can
sing your morning song

Monday, February 1, 2010

Haiku: Skylarking

Remember why you
held up the sky so long and
give it a new home

Two Haiku for the Price of One!

I
You know you could just
stay here in the bed we made
and sleep in my arms

II
Come outside and I
will move to your rhythm while
the stars wound the night

verse: misplaced

you asked
'where are
my kisses?'

and i said
'right here
where you left them.

tell me
what are you
waiting for?

come and
take them
then give me mine.'