H2O

water can be a bitch
becoming cold enough
to take your feet
out from under ya
and lay you down
on the frozen ground
with a thud your
bones will let you
know about later

she can fume and boil
and scald your skin
at the kitchen sink
or in the bath when
all you want to do
is wash the dirt
off your hands

she can flake out
and fall in your face
so much so no one can
see where they're going
or where they've been
just to thaw and melt a little
and then freeze up again
to lay your ass out
on the frozen ground

but god help us
we need her so much
our bodies would be dust
without her grooving
through our shells
and lord knows we've
put her through
plenty of hells

she has the right to
kick us now and again
to let us know how
selfish and foolish we've been
'cause she takes a lot
of shit from us everyday
only to leave us refreshed
after she's washed it all away

Wound words

in late you went
not sooner then
a word or two dropped
onto the table
and rolled and fell
to the floor

they linger there
between the boards
and sup on tears
that fall there still

so heavy words
you said at last
the breaker of chains
the stones to
see and crash against
in icy seas

shards remain
on winter pavement
broken and glued
so cracked so thin

in late you left
the darker day
those words you spoke
a turning wheel
the unlocked front door
remains ajar

These beasts

swinging shimmer of
burnished blade
against the fading straw
when green retreats
back into the soiled bosom
leaving gold in its wake

the swinging shimmer only
thirsts for gold
and licks its lips when
slicing through all
the gold it can while
the sun remains
trotting through the blue

the two fearsome beasts
are the wielders of this blade
they watch so patiently
and bide in vigilance
in the raptor feathers above
in anxious claws and
piercing beak they wait

the pair of fearsome beasts
revel in the numbers
that accumulate and grow
numbers are their forks,
their spoons and knives
to use to feast on mortal lives

swinging shimmer of
the clock's pendulum
it devours the seconds
then minutes, then hours
if one of these fearsome beasts
won't steal your day
then it will take your breath
these beasts of time and death

Portal

white arch in bleaching
sun, harsh light filling
chalky void that echoes
on a vast and vacant
languishing ocean

to touch is to pull
the years of banshee
winds onto fingertips
and look at ancient
accumulation in
present fingertips

the brush off of ages
under the arch of layers
steps through time
that climb the remnant
the remains to remind
that fish once flew
through bowing grass

they were once then
what leaping deer are now
but at the arch the layers
are all the same
where human hands can
retreat in horror in
feeling the flaky scales
in tracing the dagger teeth
of mariner monstrosities
that always knew hunger

pale portal of powder stone
to pass through layers
and leave the given behind

Beyond the temple star

the land surrendered you
in solstice rays
to journey far
beyond the temple star
it gave you up
released you from
its pale limestone arms
for you to walk
on the distant horizon
on the waves of hues
receding into the sky
follow the bear
and its hunter there
into the depths
of a blackened sea
that glimmers before all
beyond the temple star

Through the glass

I turned my back to the room
the scene outside
through the glass
took me in
in the drear and gray
the clouds were in a hurry
too much like their
human counterparts
never really knowing what's
waiting down the path

through the glass
I watched the trees scratch
the sky in the dragging
turn of the earth
their limbs ebbed and flowed
too much like their
seaweed counterparts
never really knowing what's
waiting in the ensuing wave

through the glass
the tortuous wind echoed
in great gasps it thundered
as if tearing open a storm
and ripping a deluge out
from its belly
it whisked frozen dust across
shining pavement
below a breaking cloud-stuffed sky
the trees had scratched
and I wondered when this wind would end

Solstice

the hands stole you away
in the frozen dark
with their cut glass grip
and icy pulse
they pulled you out into the cold
onto the moonlit blanket
where you surrendered
where your heart slowed
to the beat of the falling snow
the longest night took you
into its depths
beyond feeling the winter wind
passing through your body
beyond the stinging frost
beyond the whispers escaping
from your numb lips
your words fell in the silence
and didn't fly to their intended ears

the hands held you down
in the frozen dark
to hold you to your fate
within the hollows of the night
while the angels looked away

In wholly night

a path to a star
the desire to go
far beyond our
own burning sun

what sits atop
an evergreen mount
to beckon or tease
through the trees

a future bright
burning in the dark
that light may grow
and shine evermore

these heralds drift
through the night
with foreign voice
a known lullaby

in coldest of airs
a flickering flame
a vessel of star
from further than far

what will be born
the hope so near
far beyond our
own burning sun

what burns there
in coldest of airs
in unseen sight
in wholly night

Birthday butter

art was disgusting to her
when it wasted materials
that could be used elsewhere
to help the poor or
feed the hungry
or when it lost all
practicality and only
took up space needed
for something more

she realized this while
cutting a stick of butter
and reflected on a film
she saw of Tibetan monks
sculpting butter into
elaborate figures and
designs to celebrate the
birth of Lord Buddha
which made her think
of all the energy spent in
creating the same beauty
to celebrate the birth of
her Lord Jesus Christ

supposedly saviors she
thought to herself while
cutting the butter into
the flour for a pie crust
putting aside her project
she spied her pill box
she remembered she forgot
and popped open the cell
for the day, spilling the pills
into her cupped palm
the tiniest pill contained
both heaven and hell in
its minute chemical cosmos
but no nirvana was found there