Shine

Long tall sky rise
Fresh and green
Fine hairs tickle the air
She laughs, crying

Dew falls
Snail rain
Lips, tongue
Slippery

Warm bubbles
Smell smeared soft skin
Deep breaths leave me
Lightly

I bury my face
In your pillow of heat
Drinking memories of my own
Birth

Last rites

He had forgotten his fearlessness of death
Her tears and the beauty stealing his breath
Choked his soul with such sweet grief
He mourned the mortality of time, the thief
Who pulled the petals of love freely
Discarding them so carelessly…

3 minutes

She smells of urine, hot tea, maple syrup
Cool skin slick
Two handfuls of the fat of her thighs
Inflame shivering skin
Force guttural groans from her
Gutter groans
Skin smacks like wet body kisses
Drug-eyes stung with sweat
Breathless lungs ache
Heart pounds, bed frame breaks
Head board dents the wall

Stupor

Hanging off a corner of moon
Spilling bottle, tears
I cursed her
For being asleep and naked
Her beautiful legs spread just enough
To give me cramps

Dreaming drunk, kissing air
Remembering the pounding, ripples of skin
I drooled over last night
Wanting to tie her in a knot around me
Put her in a headlock and through grinding teeth
Threaten that I loved her to death
Before collapsing, spent

She just laughed, washed me away, and stood in the mirror
Taunting me to find a way to break her
But I was still catching my breath
On the verge of a heart attack
And would have fallen off the bed
Had I not passed out

Immature

When a child, I sat in sunshine
In summer, blowing afros off dandelions
Leaning back to warm blue sky
Tracing love in wisps of cloud
Listening to leaves whisper softly
An elbow in preening grass
Smiling at flickering butterflies…

Inhaled knowing someday you in my arms
Would feel just like this

And it did
Venetian night, fireworks in our eyes
Hugging you from behind
Feeling so good, I loved you all over again
A dream
Believing very quietly, you
My wife

Looking at me you masturbated
Rushing to come when you could wait no more
Because I had always wanted you
I let you

Holding back painfully, I gave myself
Both of us in jeopardy
Knowing the enormity of my weight
How that might bear upon you
But you begged me with words of love
Speaking its power
Secretly knowing you did not fully understand your words
I resisted and listened and gave in
Agreeing when I could bear no more waiting
The profundity of which you missed

Happy thoughts
You achieved knowing little about what you asked for
Insisting otherwise, I showed you, discovering so much
You had no context for

You could not listen, ears trained to
Tune to certain frequencies
And I could no longer speak
In that frequency I determined
Long ago was of no use to me

So you never loved my heartbeat, or the rise and fall of my chest
Paid attention to how eye saw you
Knew anything of the words
Mouth strained for you
Never knew how exciting it could be to swim naked in my spirituality
No one told you such a thing was possible
So you looked straight through a brand new world
Seeing nothing right in front of you
How can I give you what you cannot receive?

I often weep angrily
For as much as I want to give to you
You are innocent of its meaning
Cannot miss it
Cannot care
Leaving me
Nowhere

Laughing angrily at the stupidity of your beauty

There was a little fire beneath the moon
And I reached down to play in her hair angrily
Pushing down to break everything

(Cutting my lips on your teeth
And yours on mine)

Crying like a stone
Rocks in the gut of this ache
Ya, ya, ya on fire
Screaming grunting sun

(In your land, I am not seen)

God should have thrown boulders to break my chest open
With a terrible thud
Chucking my heart across the street
Against the curb
A flower so hard of color
And oblivious to everything
Happily.

Legacy

Whatcha gonna be when you grow up, baby?
I’m gonna climb the sky and look down on you.
Whatcha gonna do when you get there, baby?
Gonna cry all night!

I stomp the earth and can’t stand where your footsteps been
Don’t want you next to me
Don’t want your breath on me
I stomp the earth and can’t stand where your footsteps been
Don’t even talk to me
Don’t want your lies on me

Feet just restless like the day when I broke the womb
Arms just scream like a ripple between clock and room
Eyes just begging backwards like the condemned ‘fore his doom
Heart just scraping for the lock to escape this tomb

Whatcha gonna do when you grow up, baby?
Gonna forget you
If it’s all I do
Whatcha wanna go and do that for, baby?
Cuz the world that you left me
Is because of you