Malarky

-It’s like the tides of the blue carpet, waves and ripples in different tones. Coral stones in blacks and greys, scattered, a crumbled reef peppered into the salted living room sea. Low tide Monday and I find myself dry, eyes red with a dizzy head. Lips cracked, I can taste blood, though I cannot swallow. I lie, staring at the white nicotine stained stucco sky, visible by the dim morning light. My motivation is dead; I would drown myself but the tide is low. I feel pale, maybe invisible and light with the possibilities of this world. I become aware […]

Losing

-I want to lose things: lose myself, lose everything. The little I possess. The car with the chronic transmission disorder, the thirty two inch TV I bought myself when I was twenty. The three rackets, two of them bent, the DVD player that hasn’t failed me, the many discs with movies, burned or store bought, the discs with music, the little box that buzzes and whirls as I try to fall asleep, the keyboard and mouse attached to it, the monitor that makes my eyes blur after hours of staring at the blank white word processing page. Lose the squeaky […]

Taking on Water

-His eyes peer into me, trying to pry me open. “I’m taking on water,” he says, his eyes dry, irritated, red. They search me over, his eyes, trying to find an opening. They look into my eyes. I close them. I could feel those eyes, studying me, my receding hairline. Falling, to observe my shoes. The soles intact. Climbing along my inseam, the eyes. There’s a hole, almost unnoticeable in the denim, near my waist. He misses it. There’s a sigh. I open my eyes again. They study, slowly rising, my abdomen, then my chest, settle on the left part […]

Mute

-If words are written but never read, will they ever mean? Do they wait silently, etched electronic pulses, for someone to give them breath? Do they feel; solitude, abandonment, isolation? In the moments between sonambulance and oblivion, he’s wondered if words mean, if his words have ever meant. He recalls the words of others, some uttered, some read, each increasing the density of his heart, the whispered words of prayer lightening the weight of his soul, at times. Words of praise have sent him into a labyrinth of thought, further dissecting self and understanding; such words with gratitude have lifted […]

Vanishing

– “So there’s this story, it keeps playing in my mind. This girl. There’s always a girl. I almost recognize her. She’s hidden in the shadow of a dream, but she’s familiar. “I don’t know; maybe I met someone like her once, maybe I met her. But it was like I could see inside her. It felt warm; there was warmth there. Something about being that close to someone, seeing someone on that level. “And I feel so cold now, being so far away from her, from that familiarity. “I could see her eyes, they were reflecting the light so […]

Rose Garden

-Pick the thorns from my hand as the blood drips, It reminds me of the day you told me it was over. You walked up to me holding in your hand The letter I wrote you the day before, it was crumpled up Into a ball that you held tightly, My words were frozen by your cold stare and the gentle breeze That blew across, that blew through me I looked into your eyes and was afraid of what you had in mind I was paralyzed like a child sitting in a dark room On my bed looking out at […]

The Breeze

I wake. There’s a scent in today. In the breeze, it’s that scent that comes once a year. It’s that scent that carries in its raking across the land, the years of my childhood. It is there. It is reminiscence. I breathe it in and am instantly torn between a smile and a pain. I want to be there. There. Where this scent speaks of. Those years it resuscitates in my mind. I do not see images but I smell the possibility that was so fertile then. Those moments then, in which simply the knowing that youth was so much […]

roses

-You move at the speed of light tickle me as you pass. I reach out to hold you you’re no longer there. And it’s all right; I laugh. Remember the funny face, the one you gave me once when we both stood still, there was a moment there. Now you’re off again, moving, and I’m walking. That moment wasn’t meant for us and at your speed you’ll never find it, never find me again and I’m laughing It’s kind of funny you were always the one with the down turned smile.

Siren

-The shape of you as you dance, the thoughts splash like watercolors in my mind, a cascade, vibrant and emanating somewhere inside. And what did we hope to find over the steaming cups before us, both, two, you and I. A misperceived reality, possibly the impetus to envy, the movement that led us close, the grazing of my hand upon your back. There was something there, I thought, but I could always be wrong, it’s happened in days past. It has happened often enough and I don’t admit, don’t want to admit, that I too am human and sometimes, let […]

To Give Yourself

-To give yourself, without the fear of an end, when everything is ending. Looking at the situation, being reminded of everything that has been before, and to give still. Believing in a dream, had as a child, perfection, knowing the world, imperfect, is still rich. To look into eyes, glistening, and believe in possibility. The wick’s fire burning, calling out, as a whisper, the sweet, soft, enchantment, that maybe, part of the dream world can exist within our own. To hold tightly the hand within your own, the warmth shared between two. And softly, gently, open your hand and let […]