sweet little light
how you flicker
like a fairy caught
in a darkened kitchen
you are a winged heart
and you sing as you soar
if only you weren’t so small
or this room so dark
or you voice so hard to hear
Tag: darkness
germination (20170212)
i grow a forest sapling by sapling
shade loving and rough barked
while leaves turn upward seeking light
the roots
demand darkness
the roots
feed the tree
driving into the earth
drinking its life
its undulating fingers writhe
in the fecund loam
strangling the living and the dead
this is what makes the tree blossom
this is what produces the bounty of fruit
the juice that runs down your chin
the soft sweet flesh between your teeth
the satisfied smile when you spit out the seeds
untitled (20161225)
these stars are not your stars
you look elsewhere for light
now you are laughing, smiling
you eyes are lit from within
here the sky darkens later
it is the same darkness
——
image courtesy of DominiksPhotos
night lights (20161023)
will o’ the wisps
glowing in rain
accelerate toward me
like headlights
or those tiny ufos
in close encounters
i will
become less
suddenly insubstantial
riding the back of
a firefly
chasing raindrops
i wish hummingbirds
glowed
in the dark
count (20160808)
shuddering sun
or is it
the world moving
breaking
beneath our feet
i reach for your hand
count the rings
of your fingerprints
brushing against my own
there is no darkness
only birth
there is no light
only the song
of your breathing
these are the angels (20160804)
the beating of dark wings
in complete darkness
and the downy touch of
feathers brushing your cheek
this is no dream, this
eternal blackness
no manifestation of
of unfulfilled desires
or torturous regrets
these are the angels
with knives for voices
they want to sing to you
these are the angels
with razors for hands
longing to caress you
these are the angels
with fire for tongues
and how they want to kiss you
midnight snack and repercussions (20160707)
i slip out of bed
tiptoe to the kitchen
through
midnight house darkness
meatloaf
awaits me
in the fridge
in its own congealed juices
it needs companions
brown bread
mayo and salt
eaten cold
eaten silently
eaten quickly
it settles happily
in the gut
but in that house void of lights
except for charging phones
the loaf delivers
hours of indigestion and
nightmares on chipped, bleeding hooves
until breakfast
——
Poem 20151204
in this darkened place
i put my arm around you
–sunlight finds a seam
Poem 20150504
in the failing light we search with dimmed eyes
can the scent cling still to the air
the dogs whine and wish to return, the prize
uncaught and the horses toss their manes. unfair
to say the least, having tracked through woods thick
with brambles and thicker still with shadows long
only to have it disappear, a third rate magician’s trick
but we will track it by its song
as the now sun sinks below the line of trees
we hear it above our ragged exhalations
and the quiet humming of sleepy bees
we take up our arms, and greet the dark occasion
Poem 20150310
i fell through darkness into
deeper darkness
striking the earth with my back
splitting the ground
and splitting my bones
the darkness covered me
my breathing grew ragged
and my pulse faint
until the angels came
they breathed into my mouth
and my lungs filled with fire
they poured water over my wounds
and the black charred husk
washed away from my skin
and i could see the stars
turning and singing
and was happy for the darkness
Words and Feathers 