Maker

So still she sits and listens to him,

Absorbing every word.

There is a strangeness to her silence.

As if she fears breaking his flow.

She thinks he is a genius

He thinks she is beautiful.

The way she listens to him,

With her head cocked to one side.

There is something breathless about how they relate.

A tangible quality that hangs in the air.

In the dark depths of the night they keep each other company,

From afar.

There is no entanglement.

Rather a lingering.

When one dies the other will be wounded.

This is a certainty.

(16 June 2012)

The Raccoon

Morbidity on the side of the road.
I was thinking about "him."
Wondering if I will ever stop thinking of him.
I knew he was present in my life somehow, today, and then I saw the raccoon.

His skull and jaw bone protruded from the rotting flesh.
Then I thought about all the people I know and we're all still alive.
I thought about the ones who weren't too and said a silent prayer.
Even people who we might consider forgotten must have at least one person who sees them in their mind's eye at times.

Or perhaps I was confusing myself with the dead.
I had a day last spring when I sincerely thought I had died and was nothing more than a ghost.
It was a delusion, but that's why they say delusions seem real, I really thought I had passed on.
The world isn't as fixed as we might think: I may be partially dead, which means he took me.

It's like the figure of a man wearing a mask as he pulls you into the back of a white unmarked van.
Is the giver allowed to give back?
Does the government wear a mask?
Do you like me?

Alone With Myself

Have you ever been alone with yourself?
Everyone has and it can be fine.
Unless you don't like yourself.
I do and I wear my sunglasses at night.

I wear something sexy, smooth.
I don't cut corners.
I like flashy bags studded with gemstones.
You're playing the saxophone in a back alley.

I come upon you, clicking my heels on the pavement.
You're the usual dark suspect.
I saw you riding a fast motorcycle earlier in the day.
You didn't even pretend you weren't following me.

I don't mind it when you do.
You cut a slightly less stalkerish appearance than any man I know.
You can follow me anytime.
I promise I'll invite you in and there won't be tea.

I see you sitting and gloating, since we both know you think I'm writing about YOU.
I'm not, I'm writing about a simple fantasy I have brought on by pop culture.
Wanna pop it in your mouth.
A delicious semi-sweet fantasy.

Tomorrow is Always Gone

Yesterday grips me with so many memories.
Tomorrow teases me with promises I cannot find.
Today breeds tomorrow, born with the sun.
I am a moonlight baby.

If you dispel me you'll feel unshackled and at a loss, at the same time.
Borrow me and you'll want to own me.
I create a great illusion of love.
The question is: "Is it an illusion?"

Order me around and I'll change your home.
I'll make you keep articles reminiscent of us.
Or even just me.
Only me.

Buy one more ticket.
It'll cease to be a show, when you realize the cast.
It's an enormous production.
And I'm not the host or the star. I'm a bit player edging along the sidelines.

Never Absent

You're the kind of man who's always there.
Even when you're out of town you stay in touch.
I'm at a loss, so forgive me please.
I'm rarely sad, although I'm vaguely sorry.
Sorry about not measuring up to my own expectations in the past.

If you go a wandering I'll know for sure.
It's beneath me to say what I mean all the time.
A vague allusion to a shooting star.
Torn up inside, I have a web of scars.
Somehow I am no longer afraid of spiders.

I saw a white widow traversing a thread and I let it stay.
When I go to bed in the miniature place I live in, I think about how much better it would be with you.
You care and are careful with the items you love.
Using the word "item" makes me sound utilitarian.
Do you profess every great love?

Taken Under The Wing

When I thought I reached my last hello.
There were a few who refused to say goodbye.
They took me under the wings of love.
And they offered us to the sky.

We soared together into the great beyond.
I never knew I could go so high.
Without trepidation or fear of a fall.
I sank into the clouds.

And thought about "forgiven" and "unforgotten."
Nor risked or struck, bylines forced to die.
Where went the golden chalice.
I shored beside the way.

Is it you who opened the gate to me?
Or have I always rested inside?
Never final and never gone.
You redeemed me even when I thought redemption was beyond my grasp.

It's the mask that I wear.
Whenever we meet.
But my face looks just the same.
Always with you in a land that time forgot.

Despite the wracking pain.
I wander with you.
Our hands are clasped.
In a lover's softened mane.

Lover with the Green Eyes

Oh, hello lover with eyes so green.
You caught me every time I fell.
No one understands us.
That's the way it is, you know.

I lost myself and you were there to help find me.
We kiss and fall into the thrall of endorphins.
Lost in your grace, your complexities.
You drive me forward leading me along the way.

Anyway you still let me stay.
And we're lost in each other.
Entangled like no one else.
And perhaps it's unconditional.

Although, my mark is about to be made.
For did you know I have treasures I haven't shared with you yet?
There's more here than you may know, even now when you've explored me for so long.
Never forget the love that we've made.