Uncommon Sad

Uncommon Sad

That something too awful to name
It sits with you on the bus
Peeking in your shopping bag
The stupid desperate things you do
Walks with you down the hallway
Pathetic little life, swallowed by the moment
When you failed to react
Didn’t do the right thing
No witty remark for a comeback
Wanting the regular kind of sad
Not the sad story we read in the papers

The Ambassador of Loss

The Ambassador of Loss

I have been reassigned
It happened just this morning
I am to travel to yet another
Place I have never heard of before
I will have to learn all over again
Their customs and gestures
Habits in dress and food
How they wear a fedora
My orders came by fax
Apparently they distrust the e-mail
I leave by next Monday
So little time to adjust my affairs
Say goodbye to all the right people
Ignore those who hang on my every word
As if I was a prophet or messenger from the gods
What would they say in such a situation?
If they were so inclined to speak
Would they say that time is money?
That everyone has his orders?
Maybe, but I think they wouldn’t
They would have more important things to do
Like managing the market
Extract the last once of profit

Sally Red Shoes

Sally Red Shoes

The kid who sat next to me at the lunch table
She was beautiful and unforgiving
You had to watch what you said to her
Keep a tight grip on your thinking
If she knew about my fantasies
She would tear them from my consciousness
Ignoring polite social banter
She had a way of getting right to the point
Found the weakness in an instant
Twisting and scraping to make it sorer
She knows my hunger and impatience
Restlessness for something else
Tangible prize that fulfills me

Past the Hog Farm

Past the Hog Farm

Feel its richness in your hands
Smell the life in its beginnings
Face down in the dirt
Breathing in the newness
No matter how you sweeten
The sting still festers and swells
Dipped naked into the blood
Bones scattered in the wasteland
Begging to be brought along for the ride
We worship it most fervently
Remote from our earthly self
Crystal clear horizon that beckons
Pulling us to unknown adventures
To walk upon the tightrope
While the people clap and cheer
As it develops through experience
Paid for by the meek and lowly
Those that will someday inherit
Marinated in the message

Old and Grey

Old and Grey

When eyes dimly flicker like the failing wick
And the wind howls through your bones
Like banshees race through the graveyard
Your cup of tea has grown cold and tasteless
Longing for the robe of immortality
Pulled back by the tugging flesh
Drawn closer to the fires of the past
The songbird still sings outside your window

no blessing

No Blessing

There is no blessing in the carnage.
They do not march fearless death.
No merry song in their hearts,
with attached bayonets.
Farcical glories you construct.
We see that they are illusion.
No comfort for the lost.
Those who are bleeding in the streets,
Despise your calculated costs.
Sons, brothers, and lovers,
Wounded and killed.

Making the Most of a Fleeting Moment

Making the Most of a Fleeting Moment

A quick glance that vanishes quickly
Ancient man forced to believe
All things must have an explanation
The owner of the hut, given offense
Inspired words dictated to disciples
Ear pressed against the door
Remember that you are ignorant
Of a life well lived
Soul contains reason, passes swiftly
Without you all is desolate
Ephemeral joys that too soon evaporate
Tarnished hopes staked to sadness
The nature of the episode finds us wanting
Discursive and disjointed the incidental remark
Contingent on the enduring and eternal
He had a lot to say about the unfixed and volatile
I am sure that your altered position
Had to do with the brief encounter

Immodest Proposal

Immodest Proposal

Shamefaced oscillation, backed against the wall
Internal segmentation, filtered through the shadows
Cascading billets housing the troops
Steps dissipating from the hillside
A garden of flowers breaks through the mundane
Dramatically degenerating the disempowered
Speak to me with loyal passion
About your days in the west
How vigor sprung like firecrackers
On the porch swing, her parents watching
Looking for disapproval
Lingering ghosts of the past
Changing conceptions, profitless attempts
Disputed and contested as they were
Without the confidence and sense
Antiquated and worn out
Many times spun with illusion
Resurfacing between influence and greater
Morphing from tart to most admired
Mythical past crafted into legend

Hesternal

Hesternal

A passion that has no equal
Neither constrained nor inhibited
The hidden shall be proclaimed
Taken to its full measure
Desire’s demise ends ignorance
Released from the fetter of oblivion
Incorruptible and unwavering sight
Focused on the intangible
No one to create boundaries
The image of the invisible
The endurable spirit rejoiced
Over the light that came forward
Honored with a mighty voice
Born from the eons
Pursued down into chaos
With the face of a beast
Thrown into a life of toil
Blood cries up to heaven
Answered by the angel of discernment
A shadow that became matter

Fallen

Fallen

With sad and grey face
We walk along Abandinus
Holding each other’s hand
Listening to the river’s song
Repeating prophetic words

Brilliance that captures the eye
The morning light shows the way
Holding close to the heart
Lucifer’s pride that swells
Rising up from unknown parts

Morning’s child stretches his wings
Wiping sleep from newborn eyes
Pulling back the dark covers
Appropriates a wishful smile
Remembering the earth’s embrace

Past glories cold and shaded
Tiny flickers in a sea of light
No longer noticed by oath and blood
Forlorn fingers grasp the scepter
Masterful power gone astray

Epic Demise

Epic Demise

Rome is burning
And so is my soul
Lost dreams and forgotten secrets
Sneak up from behind

I scratch my head
Trying for the right answer
None actually exists

A repeated torture
Since childhood
Fondles my thoughts

Flowing stream
Social consciousness
Everything is unreal

My favorite lies
Lay on the table
Euphemisms for a disguise

No one can find me
Among the herd
Waiting to be slaughtered

The wolf is tired
Of the fighting
Sad heart and forlorn soul

Desdemona

Desdemona

Penelope the faithful wife
Untangling the web she weaves
Looking out the window
Blueberries on the hill
Striving ambition on display
Innocent artifact of a ferocious will
Silkworms working their magic
She sought a way out
Terror of the trapped
Options calculated with a cool mind
Miserable life that would be theirs
Crystal ball did not foreshadow
Thankless wretch behind pulled curtains
Her smile suggesting satisfaction
Evil deeds sent forth for working
Be a good friend and spit on her for me

Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence

Cursed are the compassionate
Revealing their weakness
Tears behind contempt
Everything is the opposite
Has long been the source
Holy flame of spontaneity
Dumb frittered indulgences
Time froze by power
A glimpse behind the curtain
Oddly Spectral avatar
Mixture of enthusiasm and despair
Prostituted prophet of discontent

crux

Crux

Her sexy dimension announced her presence
I smell her pleasing essence
The beast grows, wakes from slumber
Throbbing against the fabric
A physical reaction to her smell
I hope my honesty is not offensive
It leads the way along the path

Where the Wishes Come From

Where the Wishes Come From

An excuse for locution
It does not come for free
A desperate price to be paid
Yes, there is always a price
The wages of loss
Too blind to see the truth
As it stood before me
With arms open wide
Wild eyes and beating gums
Flat and dull words
They still cut through
Linked by common threads
Spun by a demented devil
You call him republic
Death by an amateur’s hand
Is still death
With bullet holes and bombs
The flesh falling off the bone
Bound to the oath of exile
Disguised in dappled light
Like a tiger searching for love
With the corners knocked off
All spit and polish
Melting down the corruptness
Into a smoldering liquid
A frantic bellowing maniac
As silent as appropriate
The ticking clock sends chills
Down your spine of resolve
As I bury your dreams of revolution
In the back yard with the dead body
It rots like bees
It sits on the fence post
Thinking up lies
To tell the neighbors
How their house burned down
While I laughed and snorted
My last line of cocaine
I watched all burn down
In a smoky haze of finality
The firemen scurry with their hoses
Between their legs
The big one carries an axe
He looks defeated
As he watches the fire
It consumes a lifetime
In through the gaps
The fire flickers
Hungry for the lies of fortune
I am sad for my loss
The white powder was my only friend
And now I snorted it all up my nose
Such is the way of evil bastards

Peaches and Gunpowder

Peaches and Gunpowder

Travel across forgotten lines
As the monster digs in its claws
Wonderful in spite of everything
A hurried stiletto
Into your ear
The blood laughs despite itself
And you still miss the tears of the dead
The crossing of a border
To refuse a guest
A morbid element of opening
They all open wide
And you, a dying ember
Before all living witness
Struggle over it all
Eviscerated to the bone
Break it open and suck out the marrow
Exposed as a pile of worms
Locked inside without a key
There never is a key
We never find it
I wonder if it ever really existed
When I was a small boy,
I heard stories of its existence
They are nightmares now
This is not a home
It is a dungeon
I cannot leave
My chains are self-made
I love them more than life itself
I only look outside my window
I watch life and it watches me
No other bond to measure against
Asking about the bruises
They always ask in a quite voice
And their eyes cast down
The ground pigments of life
Like some haggard saint
Some smoothing and trimming of the edges
Fading from twilight to night
No more bright eyes for enthusiasm
Not a mystery, but a romance

Fluting on crooked legs

Fluting on crooked legs

A bright damp future
Wet tongue of tornado
Stucco splattered wind
A birth of never
Rippled finger touch
Riverbed kisses
Die surrounded by doom
She’s popping balloons
And speaking to the ghosts
Touching their core
When I touched your lips,
I was changed forever
It pulled itself right out of my mouth
Spread its wings and flew out the window
Feeding on your desperation
Making your big things small
Making everything small
A turn on the wheel
Carried off by something mighty

The sacrifice of knuckles

The sacrifice of knuckles

Golden tongues
Rampant dogs
They all must die
Throw them like the strain
Cover them with whispers
Their souls are old ghosts
Open the treasure
Smell the aroma
Call up the ashes
Blood knife cuts
The chanting stink
Of bones
Old bones
New bones
They all gather moss
Giving more
Of themselves
As your anger rages on
Against torture
Against injustice
Worry the worn
On this diadem
You fell for love
And progress
Always the caretaker
Two queer words
Chopped up in little pieces
Brothers of anger
Standing knee deep
In willfulness
All naughty boys
Under their feet
A death machine march
Gone away
With a thousand tongues
Living on dimes and nickels
The secret lives of knowing
They crawl out of words
Stand upon the metaphor
Watch the ink dry
Like the blood of dreams
So slowly
Yes, I know
They can’t be true
But, I think they are
Lost spells

Wandering blade

Wandering blade

Of the darkness
Century tattered
Scorn the crime
Of five hundred years
Unfinished toil
Before the face
Disfigured shape
Battering blind
Suffer the kindred
Cast out
Cast out
Tilling the curves
Those lovely curves
A single eye of bewitch
Oh that eye
That held me to the stone
Nailed the boards
A mound of solitude
A jewel of adoration
Dance on the wave
Dance you jezebel
Disowned satisfaction
Of white shirts
And tobacco stained fingers
Playing the piano
Burned by flame
Burned as a druid
As the world turns
Turning on evil axis
Stepping out
Naked as does
Naked as midnight

she was a cannonball

she was a cannonball

ridden by the nightmare
her bronze head
round withered sweeps
a hater of tombs
and dreamer of dreams
no matter how horrific
children she gathered
in the darkness
the deepest black
all sleek with wildness
most foulest decline
not for the faint graspers
caught in the fool’s throat
walking naked
she whispered the need
a notorious ceremony
made the devil laugh
with her lashes
and carving
the wood and black
wax from the belly fat
all that she owned
crazed dancing vision
looked death in the face
and snickered