In a nightgown in the middle of the dance floor,
our eyes accustomed to
the red glow of a cigarette.
Tenderly hysterical,
the crowd an assailant --
can I dance laughing,
get all I want?
Moaning, you project a single part
of our future, cut with
fires, sprawling eyes.
At the edge of the room,
a risk staggers, crosses your side.
In here, the mind is loose,
creeps into your details.
The first time you
made love you
wanted to die,
spirit rising,
a search party
harbouring weaknesses.
Tempt the essential,
the hell of a
dark grove.
Dense, your cry,
back up to the light,
correspond to the
legends of goodness,
a mournful way of life,
no luck, no quiet attention.
Go off, an exit disturbed,
a little lonely,
out of place.
Tell me what you're going to do:
The incredible potential almost a
declaration of fury.
Upon return, give luck an edge,
your charm a part
of our desperation.
I find the last remnants
of a connection in a low-rent version of
a harem room where the
song ends, begins again,
letting in more light.
Many things were blocked.
Now, mythos pops, scratches.
This is hard.
Ask now.
The mynah bird crashes, dark stains
on the wood.
Shut your eyes.
I see everything.
The wood holds many spirits.
Ask now and
be ready for the truth.
The owls won't see us.
I met the devil
in the form of fire,
a coward in the smoke.
I go to great lengths
to keep the ashes under control.
It takes its toll.
You're two days late
to burst into flames.
The mist is pressing in.
Bird call precaution,
mournful in the dark grove.
The first time you
made love you
wanted to die.
Go back up to the light.
There is an essential spirit rising;
search party confirmed.
Stunned to cry, you tempt weaknesses,
a nightmare, degrading the goodness
in the world.
Solitary, you judge what the photograph buries.
You're not afraid, not afraid.
Rise, start.
Now realize where we are:
a half circle where
the mood swings with a
slow sip of time.
A kiss, impulsive,
stricken with emerald.
I don't think you know
I left something hiding in there.
You really are good looking.
Become erratic, dead leather beauty.
This is different.
I've got my heart set on
reluctant poems,
a rush of lies between us
wandering. Restless spirit,
I feel it:
head cropped, surgical
instruction in the ways of love.
I don't want us to be like that.
The red drapes from my dreams, they
say too much, the truth, or a memory.
In the woods, a widening
we can't prove yet.
The less you know, the better.
Drunk now
I half expect
to turn up dead,
too many secrets
to rush into.
You be careful
arguing her name;
those are hard thoughts,
twice paranoid.
Worse things could happen
to get to the end
of your life.
Maybe the time
isn't right.
I know what's between the pages:
snapshots and
the biggest mistake
of your life.
A bite of flesh, direct contact,
I told you no one's seen
into the cradle.
Girl, the blood on that shirt is an
imaginary word of dust and
silver crosses,
my touch out of frame for days.
Tell me, is anybody looking for you?
I'm not too well, unraveling and
afraid to occupy my mind.
Through the walls we hear voices.
Can you capture the sound?
A blowing of nails into palms.
Haggard, I just feel I need
something sleepless, nitrous approval.
I've experienced nothing in
seasons of tending bar, grotesque
over the sound of men.
I captured paper dreams
at the Timber Falls Motel,
six black dots on a white surface,
unsettled message.
Division, blank talk defending
what I want.
Call me. There's enough for both of us.
I believed you were gifted.
A secret meeting in the woods, misguided.
Initials in blood,
the letter 'j',
a corridor of inquiry.
Crash; nervously smoking,
your connection strict,
a drug rundown
in the collar.
Lost, I was looking outside
to make luck.
I broke the beam of a flashlight
to catch a glimpse off limits,
the dead wrapped in plastic.
Enter one last chance:
I shouldn't have trusted
what you buried
in the clearing.
Maybe we should tell somebody
we were happy,
a long talk on possession,
visions all an act.
I keep thinking
I'm going but
I just can't get away.
Come over later
when spirits penetrate
the slow hour
at the end of an afternoon.
I can make the connection,
reach across death's void just by
thinking pale.
Eat the lotus;
the danger for you lurches
involuntarily in
uncomplicated strokes.
Come visit. Wish for more.
Speak to me
an old saying:
you're up against the
unsolveable.
stand on the paradox.
I wrote about the
names of birds,
the delicate practice
of singular joy.
Light comes through
from behind the poem.
I recognize the wound of
what you need.
It takes the strength of
four days to hide from
what was learned
early on.
Cut through to ground a concern;
there's no logic at work here,
too many secrets left around.
I was taught to go through
the older targets,
confident mystery a key to
calculated ammunition.
I can't explain how I've been feeling - so dumb, or
high-strung, but
it will say so
on the cards,
a slipped hint
through lack of preparation.
She had two visions:
grey on grey struggling
like an animal, a filthy portrait of
birds, unshaven morning.
From another part of the house, a tense whisper,
distant strains of a gentle hand, alarmed.
The mood a tundra, ghostwood dancing
on a cross:
Dance with me! Dance with me!
A snapshot, the way in.
Up north, our secret slow-burns,
an ice cube on bare skin,
all mine.
Open to
a long drag,
cigarette for effect.
You don't need to know
my spells are mild,
only to hold you.
Aid to the Beast,
cautiously incarnate,
this hiding place
is famished
for us.
What went wrong
with your life before?
I've got no right to ask
how long it will take us
to get to a vulnerable mystery
and you've got no reason
to believe me, my fortune a cigarette.
But I'll change, I swear.
We could run away east
to be a better idea,
to prove we are wild.
I didn't sleep too well last night.
Broken in half and
struggling towards visions connected to a
flashlight beam - don't fight it. For once in your life
you're exactly right,
gloved hand a red invitation.
With the flowing script of
plunging intuition I want to
seduce the new,
a reconstruction of the eyes addicted
in a dream.
Get a bit closer. I will go with you.
