Royal Flush

i gamble with

no illusions

i run right out

into the crosshairs

because

i am at home there

with the threat of bullets

at my back

the threat of feeling

absolutely nothing

in my heart

you know

i have cards

i’ll never show

tricks

i’ll never share

so don’t linger

if the threat of danger

keeps you scared

i have counted days

and kept tabs

i even

saved the reciepts

of each transaction

guarded, held

the price of keeping me

good

the cost is

much lower

if you’re honest

it’s much lower

if you’re younger

but the stakes are higher

so be careful showing me

your full house

be careful

introducing

your dealer

until you are sure

that my hand

won’t clean them out

tell them that

my disease is such

that i always win

even when i’ve lost

my lips

are on your skin

my needy grasp

is in their soul

my eyes

are on the door

and i wouldn’t change

these rules

i just don’t want to

anymore

Crossing

in closing

we open ourselves

to life

every lover

a piece of us

and will you return

in five years time

to breaking my chains

to opening my eyes

 

it’s quiet here

and when they ask

i won’t say it

your name will not

reach their ears

i’ll hold it inside

a silent prayer

strangling itself

on the lines

crossing your brow

an honest, tender moment

broken into

little pieces

three tiny bones

that vibrate in time

with these

unspoken words

 

thank you

i just

needed this

that badly

but only

for a brief

moment

 

 

 

Orogenesis

orogeny or orogenesis (ɒˈrɒdʒɪnɪ, ˌɒrəʊˈdʒɛnɪsɪs)

—n     the formation of mountain ranges by intense upward displacement of the earth’s crust, usually associated with folding, thrust faulting, and other compressional processes

-

i stood at the edge

of the great plains

the earth stood

scorched and brown

beneath my feet

 

i’ve held in my palms

the ash

of volcanoes

long dead

 

i have run through

the fault and thrust

of you

to build

a mighty hill

you could call

a mountain

i guess

 

i’ve seen

a million tiny folds

crease the land

make it small

helpless

how it grows

how it swells

beneath you

but i will stay dry

by thirsty grass

and burnt land

 

but inside me

waters churn

this scrape of rock

it is sharp

and hard

merciless is this

endless pain

this creation

as i

make myself anew

a deposition

of private tragedy

flowing

down the frozen tundra

across forests of pine

through the angry frost fields

far past dirt and swamp

into the hungry gulf

into the fierce sands

beyond the sweltering jungles

over the reckless buildings

to the endless, roiling waves

of people

 

they are a part of me

when i am

apart from you

my love

 

this chasm

cannibalizes itself

to push out

new ground

but we will still

bury ourselves in it

Subduction

the earth moves

curls in on itself

swallows us whole

this process

subduction

leaves the soul

shaking

but your hands

are slipping

on the canyons

of my shuddering form

shaping new ground

traversed by your lips

christened and bright

in this

the slow burn

of passion

Keep

we are born from darkness

and it is here that you found me

flailing and lost, crying

a curiosity

intrigued and frightened

unable to turn away

i am just sounds in the night

wails in the darkness

the source of which

you still cannot fathom

with all these monsters

i keep good company

am i borne from their breasts?

a pupil, learning to breathe fire

and feast on the flesh of mortals

or am i a captive?

made to wait for you

a curious knight

blood-drenched from

so many sad conflicts

to break the chains from my wrists

for years i have asked this

as i plot my escape

will it come

on the backs of your hot desire?

or on wings carved from

the finest

fleeting

hope?

or will it come on both?

Constrictor

omissions are lies

you know this

and i am resting

curled against you

scales scratching your

esophagus

as i feel words rush

in and out with the air

with each sound you make

i hear what isn’t there

omissions are lies

you know this

and in this place

i can feel the tightening

of muscles

as you hold back

feeling me

closing in

such an easy prey

to crush at the source

and unable to let go

unable to let go until

i get what i want

feeding on that

final rush of air

what i want to hear

the words i haven’t hesitated

to whisper in your ear

“i love you”

i will omit

at the most perfect

moment

but omissions are lies

and you know this

Shrapnel

new years

bursts like bright light

sudden terror

hope

and the fear of every moment

every moment gone between us

every moment, gone.

past this broken stillness

where we held ourselves for so long

until vast, churning rivers of time

swept us to shore

childlike and frightened

we man our new crafts

our land boats

oars dipped deep into the earth

with all the mud and clay of creation

wearing us down

birthing us fresh from our sorrow

fresh from our

latest lonely tragedy

all these seconds

all these minutes

these hours

years

suddenly just shrapnel

in our wide open eyes

as we gaze into the blood red horizon

of the new dawn

my right hand placed

tentatively

over your

still

beating

heart

Surf

i can’t see the ships

on the horizon anymore

this lonely, lonely ocean

blows your stale, salty air

through my sails

and where the wind blows, i go

because the water is you

and my god

i am in it

capsizing my heart on the breakers

trying to tame your

sea waves

such an unlikely aphrodite

washed up in your seashell

assaulting my shoreline

with tales of a lesser god

that you left gasping

on some distant shoal

now there’s blood in the water

to call all the sharks

and i, the misplaced naiad

plucked from my still waters

and tossed in as prey

try to tame them

in my naivete

because i think that a shark

will change its predator ways

if it’s no longer

starving for the first flesh

which will yield to it

soft and supple

and

completely bare

Tide

a rush of years

bleed into me

seeping from your lips

and then

back out from myself

a tide, a swell of something

that neither of us can tame

bright light leaking from our cracks

where so many restless soldiers

laid into us with

bayonets:

sharpened, piercing

and still this warmth

surrounds us

pours out from the wounds

pours out from the world

pours out from ourselves

these distant choruses flow

a siren song of

could have been

pulled taut against us

tying our hands together

like a careful, patient  jailer

even as we fade against this

slight anachronism

hands pulling the threads of time

stroking, soothing

but not able

to set them right

Movements

this time i

sought out your fear

looked into you to see it

tried to crush it in my hand

but it just

slipped through my fingers

fled back to you

deep inside

deep enough that i could not reach

and scratching at my eardrums

with each word you say

fear

but you could never name it

and i promised myself

no one would see

what she did to my heart

when i let her wash herself in it

now it’s a damp and soiled

pitiful thing

hanging out to dry

and no longer

connected to my chest

there’s just a gaping chasm where

muscle used to be

you pressed your hand to it

but my arteries still drained

words like blood

spilling from the places you touched

released

as if they’d been

dammed up for years