Saturday, July 31, 2010

Revelation

Within stone weary walls of a crumbling castle
there is a staircase, circular but linear,
once thought to spiral upwards
towards the balistraria window.

Light filtered through dust mites
in the rise and fall of days, seasons, empires
and crept away with the waxy wane of predators.

Arrows shot out at the imaginary birds
and beasts, and quivered to the ground
to the sound of a sorrowful trumpet.

The staircase is grey and damp, yet
light meets darkness in the twilight dawn
and turns upon itself, as a mobius strip
meeting an infinite joust.

The crumbling stone holds the sands
of a makeshift hourglass
waging war upon itself.

In silence I surrender.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Spy

Warmly wrapped in a cloud of comforter the body lay still
waiting for the slumber that would not come,
the mind ticking away the minutes to a restless hour.

Slowly, to alleviate the disturbance of the rising trance
I crept across the darkened room searching for the doorknob,
quietly opening and closing the squeaking door,
then wafting down creaky stairs to the porch rocker
where I can usually expel the thoughts that prevent sleep.

In the top of the maple as seen through the hemlock branches
the blinking began-
a steady rhythm, continuous, winking in uncanny standstill.
Minutes upon minutes of relentless blinking...
Was a firefly caught in a time space continuum?

Mesmerized, I rose from the rocker for a closer look
when I was struck by a cold hard familiar fear-
this is no summer firefly, it is an alien
spying, winking, pulling my attention to its eerie signal.

In a mute zombie stare-down, I mustered my courage
to self exclaim, "have no fear"... my angels as back up
were hovering, protecting, and encouraging.

"Have no fear lest it steal your light." The words
directed their aim in a telepathic chant at the blinking.
It grew dimmer and dimmer until in a final faint flicker
it disappeared.

Then I returned to bed and slept very well indeed.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Pulsar

Pointed fingers of a channeled light
Undoing time in the reaching.
Linear tracings are swallowed in...
Silent darkness, if only for a moment.
And between the breath of void and light
Returns the Now of human existance.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Ebbing Away

Tentacled limbs clutching
sweat swollen pillows,
a restless churning
of buttery goodbyes.

Hollow is the echo
in relic chambers;
vellum turned parchment
into cackling sighs.

A tawny drop falling,
spotty reminder
of what will be missed...
crimson salt tides (no more).

The mermaid sings softly
from milk foaming waters-
a hymn in her heart
from a far reaching shore.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I don't care

The phone never rings
and I don't care.

The mood swings confound me,
and I don't care.

My lunch crowd deserts me,
but I don't care.

Dark clouds surround me,
and I don't care,

Endless cycle of denial
to a cruel perceiving,
a lonely liar's words
become self deceiving.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Night Vision

A stroll across the dark neon studded street
where crimson and clover reverberates
from fuzzy DJ speakers over and over...
spilling vibrato on the church lawn.

Over zealous zombies gawk at vintage vehicles,
as I hear a warbled slur of accolades, worn jokes
and yearning for good old days.

Lightly stepping out across the white lined pavement
in a legalized jaywalk
without a sidelong glance at gawping headlights
I stroll... unconcerned.

Hair once glimmered in gold
casts tawny shadows streaked in silver.
Slender and lithe as a sickle moon,
the invisible sylph saunters
in graceful sashay from the waning revelry,
her black dirndl skirt swaying
with star studded sequins
twinkling in frozen time.

Down the dark ally I stroll
past the dusty waxen faces
that stare in glassy disdain
from the stoney throne of a steepled banner.

A flower upon a stained glass oculus
is not sacred when it hides so much misery...

... and still I am unconcerned,
as sandaled heels clip clop over cobblestones.

It was the briefest of moments
when I saw that shadow of a woman
whose life I had lived
in a million moments
between laughter and tears,
as the night fair spectacle folded
into the parking lot ahead.

A hazy spotlight cameos
my own chivalrous chariot.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Flash Back

I saw it from a downward hill,
a uniformed patrol car
lit up and blinking
in rotational blue-white-red...
like a buzzer at a restaurant
signaling the table is ready.

There were back thoughts:
lectures on bike safety,
penny or porcine quips,
hidden baggies of herb,
daisies in narrow barrel shafts,
stripping macho dancers,
big guns in holsters,
partners in CPR...

the mind roared in rapid fire succession
to the syncopated rhythm of the blinking flash.

As I pedaled by the car,
jaded green met worn flannel
and we both just said a weary hello...
greeting of the damned.