prescription
scribbled on my hand..

bland sunday
head buried in someone’s story,

asked for
the housekeys back,

drove to hear music move
like my body’s
steam,

night whistles through
the cracks we
dream.

dress up any
horror,

softer side of blade
on ribbon-

drag it tighter
to match mood of room,

unfasten mask
to watch them gasp in fright

daughters drape the stairs,
all eyes after
midnight.

branch like a maze
of veins-

umbrella’s me
on storm-lit street,

never lived
for fear of who I’d meet,

a cracked glass candle
dripping dust,

your sleight of hand’s
got me drunk

on letter better left
muzzled in
drawer-

your bite marks
no more.

may i be
consoled to see

the heart
in each burnt star?

to know that you’re
not dust-

I slip away,

now
face to face
with waves that claim

the spark from every
raindrop
tries

to
soften
gravel eyes-

we drag the shore
in search of
calm,

sand writhing
half alive.

thought a word and watched it dissolve
until freed from memory,

held too long for change to
find me, stiff and chilled on back porch gazing,

taken with strange forms and shapes
consumed by snarl of
shadow snakes

in garden left
to molder..

midst our absence felt
within these
walls.

swoll pupils
bob

like tealights on
pound of
clouds,

grey lightning
lips

submerged
in all words turn flood

heart sculpted of wax
and blood

pools like sand in
veins dried
shut.

intimately,
bodies harmonize

with summer mist
spattered on fogged glass

in crystal streaks
pearl beads
weep

from swollen folds
upon sheets dirtied rose
glows each
breath,

stretched cotton thread
swabs skin
raw

of sin made
song-

in reckless waves,
here and
gone.