Verse: Departure

Love is leaving now

Gingerly collecting kisses
from my eyes
embroidered in dreams

Discretely dusting the small
of my back
for stray fingerprints

Carefully smoothing away
the creases from
last-night's sleep

Extracting whispered words
frozen in the cool night air
nestled in my unwitting ears

Gently rousing her stockings
her dress, her scarf
curled like felines
on the moonlit floor

she smiles sweetly
at the exiles
of the shuttered cinemas
serenades the late night
revelers engaged in indiscretions
as she hails a taxi home

No note
on the fridge
no message
on the phone
like smoke
from a cigarette
Love is gone

Verse: untitled

Here
is love

it is intruding
on this moment
it is ineffible
ever present
and everywhere
even illuminating
the elusive night

it is unencumbered
unsophisticated
unconquered

It is tangled
in my hair
imprinted
on my skin
melting
in my mouth
circulating
in my kiss
intrinsic
in my alphabet

It is bare
sweet and ecstatic
but this love
which embraces me
is not mine

it is yours
because
it is unexpressed
and unknown
without you

it is yours
because
it is for you

Verse: Vow

If, by chance
your dark window
is open
then I will
climb through

And I
will adorn
your body
with kisses
as merciful
and mild
as morning dew

But if
your window
is closed
then I will
pass on by

Like one
red leaf
descending
undetected
or like a star
falling from
the onyx sky

Verse: Shout

NB: I tend to err on the side of the intellectual. Someone told me to write from the heart and so I did. The mind only interceded to perform the nuptials between two pillars of expression. How well suited they were for each other.

Here
it comes

Hear this
and mark
my words

I will not retreat
or retract

I will not pule
or prevaricate

Even if
I cannot bend
those indifferent stars

Even if
I cannot puncture
those pendulous clouds

Even if
I cannot sway
your intransigent heart

Even if
you don't hear me
I will not submit
to censorious silence

I will be
precise
direct

And whatever
comes next
A warning
A love song
or a regret

You can listen,
ignore
or you can howl

but this
is my stage

I will
have my say
now

Betty Crocker - Food RN

There are so many ads I dislike that it genuinely pleases me when I see one I do. This is a rather droll spot for Betty Crocker's Bisquick, archived on its YouTube channel with extra footage than the 30 second spot. The concept is simple, memorable and absurd, the execution is bang on, especially the sympathetic piano music at the end. Pardon the pun, but it's food for thought. Why can't more ads be this good?

Verse: Curses

I spit sugar
until my mouth
is sore

Milk my blood
until there is
no more

Hold my breath
until my lungs
are bruised

Clench my fists
until they are
fused

Imagine hornets
nested in
my ears

Succumb to the
unchecked accretion
of oppressive fears

Swallow heat
until my throat
is raw

Strangle your name
but your silence
does not thaw

New Kleenex ad 'snot Funny.

Young man, there's no need to feel down. Sure, cold and flu season is upon us, but don't let that worry you. Kleenex is here with a solution, Get Mommed. Yep, it's an insulting website of stereotypes that invites you to source a little added TLC. And yes, they managed to throw in one or two comely ladies for those of you who like your mothering Oedipal.

That in and of itself would be enough to bother me, but it's Kleenex's new ad 'Homecoming' that merits a special level of scorn. Here it is in case you haven't seen it. We'll chat more about it after the break:



Let's recap what we can infer from this lame attempt at humor:

- Young men are inconsiderate douchebags.
- Moms are to be used and abused as you see fit.
- Cold and flu season is a great time to wander around spreading the joy of aching joints and stuffed up noses to moms everywhere like the worst Santa Claus ever.

I know we're supposed to be amused by this young man taking umbrage at the most mundane slights, leaving the moms behind wondering what they did wrong. But moms have an infallible sense of right and wrong, and they may play the martyr, but woe to the ungrateful child who walks all over them. I kept expecting to see one of the moms give the scruffy rapscallion a tongue-lashing, or go Granny from Tweety and Sylvester on his ass with a rolling pin. That would have been preferable. Nope, the ad ends and all of the moms are there behind him. Because that's what moms do in popular culture. They stand by you, no matter how much of a jackass you are. Even when you create ads that suggest moms are nothing more than doormats.

Well, I've done my part. Venture forth, young man. Have fun with your new BFF Jessica. Or enjoy an awkward family reunion with Anna-Maria. And spread your germs like Johnny Appleseed all over the land. You'll be doing your part to keep companies like Kleenex afloat. That's as American as apple pie. And mom.

Verse: Siren

Go sing your undinal song to the night
lest it fall asleep
it's not tedium that afflicts it so
it's the hours that it keeps

I don't know how you sing that song
as sweetly as you do
forgive my jealousy, my fear that
others will come in search of you

I know I can be too familiar by times
and smother you with touch
and fill your ears with vagrant words
I tend to talk too much

And though your eyes are growing tired
and the night is not so bold
Do indulge me long enough
so this story may be told

It was some 25 years ago
that I first heard your song
but my ears were too immature
it did not captivate me long

And though I did not travel far
in actual miles it's true
we might as well have been worlds apart
for all I thought of you

I next chanced to hear your song
At a time when I was not yet free
yet I surrendered all of my possessions
and set out on the sea

Roiled often by regret
and consumed by constant qualms
it was your voice that was my compass
it was your voice that kept me calm

The wind did try to turn me back
and the waves sought to repel
still your voice called out to me
compelled me to rebel

And when at last I reached your shores
I was haggard, I was thin
but your lips fed my hunger
and I drank deep the dew on your skin

Almost two years have passed since then
how quick and careless time does fly
writ small in the lines around your eyes
writ large in the restless sky

Sometimes when I am gathered in
your all-encompassing embrace
I forget that I possess a will
a name, a voice, a face

Now sing that song that seduced me
sing that song again
lest I wake to find this is illusion
a dream in some opium den

Sing that song that enticed me
don't falter, and don't stop
not until those stars have melted
not until the moon does drop

Loose your song, your siren song
discrete and deathless and deep
to ferry my sleeping body across
the senescent sea of sleep

Verse: Introduction

Before the kiss
I was a stranger

I was like
a scientist
in that I was
organized,
precise,
analytical
and above all
dispassionate

I was not given
to hyperbole

I didn't even
have a name
until you gave me
yours

And now
I am defiled
with the dirt
of lust

Verse: untitled

I saw autumn
when I saw you
walking

I saw nothing
no reason
for alarm

I wanted
to tell you
it's true
they ask about you
they think I am
indiscreet

I never tell them
you were caught
off guard
unaware of
your vulnerable beauty

or that I created
mysteries about you
even I could not
resolve

my wild imaginings
made you a suspect
until you
resigned

the evidence?
it's everywhere
and the jury
lacks conviction
I am right