Verse: Song of Tammy P.

For @tammyphinney

every day i
chase light
i seek chance
and change

and i
try to catch
conscience
by its short tail

but the world
remains the world
whatever i do
wherever i go

so i
am grateful
for the night
which brings silence

it reminds me
to sit
to embrace promises
i made

to make
an invitation
to others
with no restriction

this life unfolds
for anyone to discover
but it belongs to me
and you.

Verse: Vampires

we were ghosts
before the bruises
set in

before we knew
which shapes
to take

before
we had names
to distract us

before blood
had even tasted
our hunger

before the wound
of your mouth
spread to mine

before
we joined
the feast

Verse: Sunday Morning

they
inch along
in the shade
as if
to avoid
the eye
of god

but i
walk by
in the glare
of the sun
insurmountable
seeing only
blue sky.

Verse: Conquests

i see you
compiling an index
of names

pushing
the night aside
like a stranger

denying
even heaven
a home in your heart

and as you
go forth
confident in your stride

i ask
only this
of you

do not pass me
without so much
as a goodbye

at least
will you let me
introduce myself

before
you dismiss me
with a shiver
of recognition.

Verse: untitled

i
while we
were looking
up at the stars
wondering
what they are

we did not notice
that they were
looking back at us
wondering
who we are.

ii

if you
are not
a star
then why
do you
illuminate me

i am
not here
to shine
i am
only here
to dream

and i
only dream
in this
one brief
instance of
pure love

when we
are brave
and unguarded
when we
say goodnight
and embrace
the dark.

Verse: Kisses II

your kisses
are safe
with me

i keep them
sheltered between
my lips

until
you are ready
for them

until
you are ready
to give me
mine.

Verse: awake

every day
is a letter
slid under the door

open it
and the room
floods with light

if you
can swim
you will not drown

just reach out
with your arms
and rise

and all
your dreams
will fall away

settling
under the bed
where night lies

waiting only
for you
to close your eyes

Verse: how to be photographed

it is much easier
when you
concede nothing

just give them
a blank canvas
to work with

let them project
what they want
on you

and you
can see yourself
as they see you

you become holy
because you
attached nothing to it

not your fear
not your rapture
not your soul.

Verse: Lake

(For @gilesmarie)

the dust
of the day
is settling

and the lake
is like glass
now

a mirror
a frame
for everything

for the leaves
that wonder
who they are

and bristle
at the sight
of themselves

or the sky
unsatisfied
with its reflection

dismissing the sun
and unveiling
countless stars

in the cool night
i see
its breath

quiet and calm
a frame
for every thing now

a frame for life passing
in moments ever ending
like this one

a frame
for me
to shatter

as i
slip beneath
the sheet

and float
out of frame
into the night

in a dream
of life.

Verse: escape

tired
of the constant
surveillance of
my shadow
i taught him
how to dream
and i
have not seen him
since.

Verse: Untitled

you know
we will become
ghosts eventually

time will not
bend to allow us
more than these shapes

but we can foreshadow
patient glances
in infinite eyes

etched in oak
and set in time
pieces will collide

we can bring them
with us
it's only natural

to want
is to realize
you love

and could be loved
if you can
embrace your shadow

it will weep
but only
for a moment

until you
let it go
it isn't you

any more
than you
are me

but i
made a nest
for you

a place
ever arriving
to meet us

until
we are ghosts

Verse: five minutes

i enter
the world
early

when the sky
hazy on the details
of a long night withdraws from me

when people walk by
with their dogs
without a word or glance

when the vendor
at the corner store
sneaks out for a smoke

when the rush hour buses
go out of service
and roll on by

when pigeons look down
quizzically from pitched roofs
trying to make sense of it all

when there is
no milk for
my lover's tea

when i
am open
to inspiration.

Verse: fireflies

we will rise
to meet the light

and illuminate
each other

when we are
captured by the night

a warning
to those who prey

do not attempt
to extinguish us

or lead us
astray.

Verse: The secret language of travelers

what day
is it
today

we left
a month ago
or so

and since
then there was
Maryland

close to
Baltimore but
not there

maybe
a state park
or a gothic church

not like
that time
in Florida

three days
were well below
freezing

more like
Arkansas or
Corpus Christi

but not Quebec
at least
not yet

was it
two weeks
or ten days

the Smithsonian
alone
would take a week

and more
particularly down south
it is congested

to sit and eat lunch
in an old train
someone has imagination

so many friends
never travel
so much unseen

life
must be like
a waiting room

but we
move on
restlessly

looking for
something
perhaps an end

you never know
you might catch it
unawares

hiding
from us
in the trees

waiting for
a chance
to pounce.

Verse: untitled

one thing
about the rain

i tend
to listen

more intently
when it whispers

than when
it rages

if only
because

that is when
everything matters

that is when
its secrets
are suddenly revealed

Verse: where i am

this is
where i am today

not beyond
or between words

though they may
seem too small

they contain me
just as you do

as much space
as i can

i take
and yet you expand

until I am gathered
safely in

dreaming of
new words

to contain you.

verse: when nothing becomes me

(for m'lady)

when nothing
becomes me

when this
arthritic language

no longer knows
your name

and my eyes
hold no dreams

eager to be
introduced to yours

to unravel
your infinite mystery

do not forget
what i was

when i
was yours

it was in
that brief time

so much
like spring

when nothing
became me

quite like you.

Verse: analysis

too pretty
to be told

i hold
your story

here
in my heart

waiting only
for someone

to ask
where I find
my heaven

Verse: You do not belong

you do not belong
to morning or anything
so eager as me

you are not
in this breath
of silence

nor are you
in this brief
and modest verse

your eyes
are words
that are unspoken

but let them speak
soft if you will
a kiss perhaps

one look
could this moment
unfold me

and my life
will begin
and end

in the blush
that is
your smile.

Verse: Concession

when transfixed
by your eyes
i think

anything
you ask
i will do

and yet
i do resist
some times

and i
do not know
why

i swear
i will
give you anything

and yet often
all i give
are words

and all
of them
are borrowed

they are
not even
mine.

Verse: Unrequited

now you know
how the day
retreats

how can you
look at the sky
and not shiver

it is so blue
it makes me
sigh

to know
i will never
embrace it.

Verse: Begin

born and bare
everyday

and gasping
for air

awareness
takes hold

slowly
details reveal

the senses
fill themselves in

and you
become you

even before
your eyes open

mine
find you

to leave
a kiss

to keep you
safe and warm

when i
rise.

Verse: twilight

somewhere
i walk

where my feet
do not know

the ground
abounds in endings

ever rising
to greet me

without fail
they whisper

rest but i
prevail

it is not
so dark yet

that i cannot
see you.

Verse: Birthday poem for m'lady

in this love
i want nothing

more unfolding
when and wow

the fluttering
of my heart

will not begin
to tell

you are in me
like love is

these lungs
ever expanding

to embrace
and hold

the air
you breathe

and to not
let go.

Verse: somehow your hands

(Tomorrow is m'lady's birthday. If you follow her on Twitter, wish her happy birthday then. I wrote this as a gift for her, in a car, this morning, on my BlackBerry. I made some editorial changes and additions, but it is 95% the same as the fevered note I made.)

somehow your hands
have seen me
before this

and loosed
into the air
i soar

in impossible wonder
and words wanting
to know

the how
of here and now
which is unfolding

urgently
in a shorthand
of finger strokes

my soul
a canvas of
slight and seeming

feathered phrases
i won't recall
but for the mysteries

that you
have mined and met
in me

Verse: Hiroshima

as i
gaze upon
the chalk outlines

a grim, hollow reminder
of a brief moment
so long ago

i wonder
what is
there to offer

to comfort
those who are
the departed

water
to quench their thirst
for life

a silence
that complements
their own

a voice
too conflicted
to take a side

or this
a hope
for never again
again and again

Verse: predators

walking by
the sinister knots
the barbed wire
that snakes around
the abandoned school
where my mother went
the windows
that remain
look like black eyes
at least the ones
that are not broken
or boarded up anyway
i chance to see them
brown as oak
and huddled
conspiratorially
in the long grass
singed by the sun
moving careful
and slow together
so as not
to raise suspicion
so as not
to let their prey know
that they are approaching

Verse: sidekick

(for @niclone)

winter
has a way
of sneaking up
on you

after
a while
it gets into
your bones

and
that is
the instant when
you know

that
you should
find someone you
can love

someone
brave enough
to give love
to you

yet
heroes are
so very hard
to find

so
if I
am not asking
too much

perhaps
you would
agree to be
my sidekick

and
we will
live a secret
nocturnal life

together
prowling restlessly
for the promise
of adventure

while
the streets
that do not
know us
sleep.

verse: target

when i knew
what my voice
was for
it was already
too late
it had cracked

when i knew
what love
was for
it was already
too late
i had betrayed it

when i knew
what fingerprints
were for
it was already
too late
i was imprinted

when i knew
who you
were for
it was already
too late
i was a target

Verse: Room

i want a room
where everything leaves
by way of night
except us

a room
to wait out
strange seasons
the sun in its phases

a room
of farewells
and returns
as is our custom

a room
to store
all the desire
we cannot see

a room
that is boundless
inscrutable
and ours.

Verse: unmasked

(@imreddy4u suggested a poem about masks. This is what I came up with...)

when you
are as naked
as the rain

and laid out
sumptuous
as a feast

then i
will remove
my mask

and lose
the longing
in my heart

within
the deep ridges
of your fingerprints.