i'm on the breadline
keeping my head up
the tv license
is past due again
the cupboards are bare
as a desert waste
with no oasis
no hidden jewels
just my little girl
and her hunger pangs
for a crisis loan
dignity flees, and
instead i'm humble
grateful, mad, seething
without the money
how will I feed her?
My cigarette is spiraling out of worldly control
See the ashes as they litter the floorboards
The foundations are smoking, and the final toll
The flames tickle at everything I had adored
With such fervent ardor
It robs the senses
I was taken over
It left me breathless
I watch as curtains go up in smoke
The fire will soon spread to the walls
I fall to my knees, start to choke
On the embers and ash as it falls
Will it ever cease?
The world is burning
I find no peace
The fire is learning
Red as the blood but twice as hot
It crawls over my flesh hungrily, a shark
I am the lost girl whom relief forgot
See me glow for miles in the dark
Tinglin
Moment, easy sad
Haze, afterglow goes out
Voices creeping mad
Stomach, lingering doubt
Feeling; the world changed, I
Caught, out of control
You; gracious calm as lies
Floaty as a foal
Curl, smoke
I tell you I'm fine
Throat closed, words; I choke
Lungs full of salty brine
Hard footing on this sand
Without your shaking hand
I.
These four walls are apple-green puke
We slumber so fitfully beneath them
The lost children, a dozen boys and girls
Enslaved and ostracised for the silver crescents
That mark us, bind us, find us
Walking between realities casually
Screaming out silently from hidden worlds
We get trapped sometimes and need a helping hand
Like Dare, the boy locked in his eyes
Constantly entreats us for release from knowing
A rattled cage with the open door showing
His mind fled from it years ago
ii.
They feed us leathery prunes for breakfast
That match in texture the matrons' feet
She wraps us in her wide ogres' arms
Tells us that the world will be alrigh
It rolls in quietly over spirits
Like the twilight melts into the evening
Just like that, you're caught up inside of it
The way sunlight breathes into the morning
A thousand sweet kisses upon your face
Your heart beating a new tune that's on fire
A gentle, soothing yet somehow wild embrace
While the flames lift you up ever higher
It can only be heard in the silence
This stumbling, fumbling trip and fall you took
You can just see it in each night sky since
You were felled by the simplest, sweetest look
The words I love you came in like a wave
The tides of your heart won't quiet these days
i'm on the breadline
keeping my head up
the tv license
is past due again
the cupboards are bare
as a desert waste
with no oasis
no hidden jewels
just my little girl
and her hunger pangs
for a crisis loan
dignity flees, and
instead i'm humble
grateful, mad, seething
without the money
how will I feed her?
My cigarette is spiraling out of worldly control
See the ashes as they litter the floorboards
The foundations are smoking, and the final toll
The flames tickle at everything I had adored
With such fervent ardor
It robs the senses
I was taken over
It left me breathless
I watch as curtains go up in smoke
The fire will soon spread to the walls
I fall to my knees, start to choke
On the embers and ash as it falls
Will it ever cease?
The world is burning
I find no peace
The fire is learning
Red as the blood but twice as hot
It crawls over my flesh hungrily, a shark
I am the lost girl whom relief forgot
See me glow for miles in the dark
Tinglin
Moment, easy sad
Haze, afterglow goes out
Voices creeping mad
Stomach, lingering doubt
Feeling; the world changed, I
Caught, out of control
You; gracious calm as lies
Floaty as a foal
Curl, smoke
I tell you I'm fine
Throat closed, words; I choke
Lungs full of salty brine
Hard footing on this sand
Without your shaking hand
I.
These four walls are apple-green puke
We slumber so fitfully beneath them
The lost children, a dozen boys and girls
Enslaved and ostracised for the silver crescents
That mark us, bind us, find us
Walking between realities casually
Screaming out silently from hidden worlds
We get trapped sometimes and need a helping hand
Like Dare, the boy locked in his eyes
Constantly entreats us for release from knowing
A rattled cage with the open door showing
His mind fled from it years ago
ii.
They feed us leathery prunes for breakfast
That match in texture the matrons' feet
She wraps us in her wide ogres' arms
Tells us that the world will be alrigh
(1)
when my brain burns hot
you stitch together my pieces.
fold the fabric thread the needle
and reap what you sew.
to let me hold you up.
let me lift you off the ground.
kiss my shoulders
and melting mouth.
I love your earnestness.
and endeavor, to be great for you.
YOU'RE A WONDERFUL SOUL
YOU'RE A HUMAN NATURE
[]
sanguine and san peregine.
if I told you everything.
would you fly away
and join the sky of kestrels?
my feet still touch the ground
in awe watching you soar.
(2)
my wily wolf cub beard
your soft voice and sweet eyes.
lay your hands on my injured maw.
and I'll stay true and see you through.
I'll growl and howl at the moon
b
an angel crashed through my bedroom window,
stumbled across the floor, scratched and bruised and bloody.
she cried, tears of glittering stars, fearing her wings would never heal,
wailing, "oh won't i ever fly again? am i damned to this hell?"
but by god, you must be heaven sent. harp string knees curved and bent and
rough stones engraving your marble pillars, so lucky to have touched your skin.
cathedral ceiling nails that in another life had bore my name. lost dove,
you are missed at home tonight, its an awfully quiet sky without your songs.
pursed peony lips, quill feather fingers, drinking only wishful thinking.
a crack in the fac
our bodies unfurl,
each petaled flesh holding
to a secret source of life,
the hand loosens on your cheeks,
and touches there, the echo
of your heart's cornered voice,
your breath exhales a love note,
your eyes, a feathered close,
as you fall and i let you,
the world doesn't sit,
it spins in measured degrees,
and rains on your shoulders,
we're its only celebrants,
we think, but it doesn't matter
that we're wrong, there is
nothing that takes away a kiss,
even life, even death
there is a street in the city,
where you take your lover
by the hand when you feel alone,
where a girl ruins her dress
by the pond, and a boy feels warm,
wearing nothing but her arms
there is a lover, that falls short of rain
before the grass darkens, there is a sky
that stands still for you to see
the world goes on, so the sky
goes on to moon and stars,
not for you, not for me, or anyone,
do the fences mend, the children sing,
that we hold on to them as if they're gone,
and there is nothing to gain,
not wounds, not catharsis, not wisdom,
the day has passed, it gathers dust,
like everything, and everyone turns
to ash without heat, that nothi
(1)
I didn't know the depth of your pain
the ocean I've made deeper.
So grab a goblet and a knife
pour my love out and make a sea of
my stained blood.
if it kills me I'm due,
can't live with killing you.
my bright eyes burn for a friend
time and time again
I'll survive.
I promised once
to never touch a hair on your head.
I became a devil with a forked tongue
from my good intentions
my aegis soul faltered
[]
There is goodness in you,
there is goodness in me,
let's not forget
summer days far away.
look past the window
forever encircled in some distant iris
a friend in need
should be a friend indeed.
[]
There is goodness in you,
there is go
(i)
drag out eternity if I could
this single moment of you.
rev me up I blink once or twice
at this time thats's all I can muster.
and you come down upon me
like the sky on some poor fool.
you make me endeavor
to be some greater man.
you leave me wanting you
wondering what could I have done
to deserve some peace here.
[]
you leave me hang on your ellipsis kiss
I don't think you need to say a word.
to know how right I could be
and how long I've spent looking for this.
(ii)
you drive a spark right through my heart
I don't know how you do it.
To say I'm charmed wouldn't be enough
to say I'm lost without you would be too much.
I feel
i can't remember this,
since you left and took
all the wind and flowers
upon the grass laid low,
a stretch of emptiness
that peaks on a mountain
a breath short of a sky
the rain has dropped
all around me, even faces
look smooth and elusive,
as saltwater feelings
i remember their names
with a phantom pitch
in a voice i can't hear
even if i close my eyes
and jump over my heart,
to where you might be
some of us are content
sketching out proofs in chalk,
elbow-deep in the guts of mechanics
where sparks fly
in a flood of associations/
torment of carnations bursting
with the precision of an abstract language
which never
works when some things clearly do:
a crystal clear sound,
a 7am fog
i don't understand; & i try harder
with different starting points,
different trajectories
looping off in mad hare tracks,
but it seem like it always converges
to a cardinal landing
on a puffy pine branch.
in a few years, wordworts