‘birdsong’ (november 2009)

it was a girl-
with words he hung back
pensive
waiting to see
what moves were being made

she could defeat him with silence
play Cordelia to his maddening Lear
while unrealizing
that silence was to this magpie mind
a condemnation
the damning with faintest praise

'lovesong' (november 2009)

he fell at her knees
remote, exhausted
spent
felt himself old
a dry heart and head
cooling
but warm in her embrace
her skin singing

a murmur, the feeling
of skin tightening
a rustle of skin
as arms wrap tighter.
he felt himself heavy
a condensation on her
but
she remains resilient
and her nose meets his neck
while his heart resumes its common time

the silence following breaks
is halted
by the flick of hairs
and the bubble of evaporation
her teeth click
as his fingers trace the ridges of her spine
thrumming out a familiar rhythm

he would ask for music
if her body weren't singing

'a failure' (october 2009)

my love how I can't wait
to fail you
to fall blistering into
a raft of melodies
and ride a refrain for the rest of my days
to let my heart be made known
and let my feeble waiting voice
sing soft under your spell
to break down and sink deep
and drown in the ink of your eyes
to do this all
unscripted, unanticipated
when you least need it the most
to say your name
a chorus of wind and rain

'history' (october 2009)

under the weight of binary code
I can feel your presence
my secret
made known
in the smell of wood smoke
stinging the wet winter air

and each portal is a portent
I can see my history briefly paused at
and reified
in the clutch of symbols and syntax

under the weight of your arms
I can feel your presence
our secret
made known
in whispers and stirrings
straining the sheets and pillows

and each sigh is a symphony
I can feel my history lifting
and evaporating
in the clutch of your hands and eyes

'gravity' (september 2009)

She held her breath
She held her breath of course
I heard her breathe
I heard her breathe of course

The sun is shining
The waves are crashing on the shore
Shadows moving
And I can't leave her anymore

The sun is crashing
The waves are shining on the shore
Tidelines moving
And I won't leave her anymore

I held her hand
I held her hand of course
She held my hand
She held my hand of course

My voice whispers
To her eyes shining peacefully
Fingers folding
Fall into gravity

Her voice is shining
Her eyes whisper perfectly
Timelines folding
Bend into gravity

I held her breath
I held her breath of course
She held my breath
She held my breath of course

'envisionist' (september 2009)

she could choose the music
just. so.
perfect for the times
he wished to possess her heart

he could listen to the rustle
the hiss of history
as words drift up from the past
and he would desire to form
her actions and recations
propositions and responses
and construct in his mind
the scenes he never could know

the order, perfect
catering to his fears or hopes
(but tending to the former)
he craftily allows
lips, skin and sex
to writhe up from the shadows
of a time he never knew

while autobiographical
he seethes and scorns
imagines and nightmares
and fails to put to lines
in broad-flailing fashion
the yearning
of his far-specific heart

'return to desire' (september 2009)

I want to see
feel
what it is
to be the movement and trembling
that falls down to a page
to be the repayment of a debt
and the promise of more

your liquor
a fire that burns to be poured out
is all I want to claim and seal
strip back
peel away
though always looking at the outside of things

I want to tell you
everything
I want to sense
that my name is somehow
embossed in clay
written on the wind
seared into your skin

I want to drink deep your thoughts
I want to swallow your mind
memory and body
heart and soul
the atomic tick-tock of everything
that your heart has ever known

through my eye
your curves and body
collapse to two-dimensions
and your lines on the screen
fall into shapeless place