Tuesday, February 23, 2010

that time when.....


ocean spray
windswept hair
lips sweet with bread.

trees crossed tight,
heavy black night,
you were gone too long.

faces fade into walls,
fingers all bones,
woke up sunday best.

i knew it was you,
bird wing, white skull.
it still hangs around.

lazy day
backdoor open
pile of honey on the floor.

like a breath,
you would leave.
catch you, i would try.

when i sleep
its all the same.
it always will be.








Monday, February 15, 2010

the last time i saw you

The last time i saw you
you were a pirates bride.
Hands set firm on your hips.
Those hard hard hips,
that bore salt water children
hard on those bones,
turning metal to rust
and skin to leather.
Riding on the back of empty beds
and fruitless seas.
You sat watch,
eyes turned gray
melting into a horizon that never gave up.
Black dress, holding firm,
your heart, beneath your breasts.
You knew he loved another.
She laughs at your door,
and wakes you at night.
Crashing hard on the sand.
You dip your toes into her,
and take pieces of her away,
hoping to make her smaller,
to steal from her,
like she has stolen from you,
every time he sails away.

where the earth fell open.

there was a shift
a place where the earth fell open
standing on the edge looking in
i ran my hands through hair
not mine
but the ghost of a really bad day

shifting from left foot to right
finding my balance
gazing dumbly like a half sleepy child
i recognize this space
this chasm
this break.

it is deep, dark, mysterious
with a half grin
and silence.

my toes hanging over feel the cool air
float up like little feathers
the thing is breathing
the thing is beating

i could jump in and fall forever.
i could hold my breath
feel weightless till the bottom
the hard hard bottom

but i see now that hole in the ground
for what it is.
my skin clenches at my muscles
and makes them turn my body around.
my hands run one more time through
the hair of what seems to be
a
more
familiar
stranger.
and with one good shifting of my heels
i can see up.