floating and leaving no trace
woman, you haunt me
your wild lips linger
delicious porcelain kisses
color of ocean glass
fever of salt
steel perfume
remember
you were universe two
——
for Elusive Trope
Magnetic Poetry Saturday Challenge
O’ Poets of the Virtual Refrigerator
the last night of the carnival
we found a carousel filled
with skeletal horses
the operator insisted
from inside a shadowed booth
that no tickets were necessary
everyone could ride
we watched silent children get on
but never off
as it spun slowly around
a single rotation
silent but for the sound
of gears, never any music
never a ringing bell
for the capture
of the brass ring
only dusty footprints
there were titans once
hecatonchir with fifty heads
and one hundred arms each
if i had one hundred arms
i would never stop
embracing you
if i had one hundred hands
i would want all five hundred fingers
tracing circles on your skin
if i had fifty mouths
fifty pairs of lips
would kiss you
if had had fifty tongues
each would whisper
my love to you
all the titans are gone
and i have only two hands
and one mouth
i hope it is enough
though you deserve
more
neither of us thought to bring
an umbrella
though all the signs were there
dark, sullen clouds in your eyes
and the thunder of silence
rolling between us
i pull my coat around me
and you do the same
with your own coat
self-comfort without any warmth
i make an umbrella for you
out of my bones
stretch my skin across the ribs
and this rain falls
red as a river of regrets
and never gets you wet
falls as red as everything that
ever entered or exited my heart
my cloud-shaped heart
and you are untouched
——
——
for Jane Dougherty Writes
Poetry challenge #41: In the rain
Franz Marc In the Rain(Im Regen) (1912)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
growl, air
those secrets bleed blue
broken, concrete, ghost embraces–
they haunt this prisoner
caramel-eyed liquid angels
fire is breath is magic
windows are voices are eating
i want to be made of metal
and electricity
i wouldn’t mind the rust so much
if i knew it were coming
if i could clean and polish
the rivets and oil the joints
but unlike the woodsman
i can do without the heart
with it’s complicated gears
incessant ticking
always needing a gentle hand
to turn the key to keep it beating
even better, a data bank
–please, god, not the cloud–
would be a fine sanctuary
to store my mind
to let my consciousness expand
i promise i won’t
launch any nuclear anything
or ever go rogue
i won’t even bother you
asking for a game of chess
——
sordid and repulsive
i recall your languid arm
smooth as wax
your summer blood smeared
on my tongue
sweet skin whispering
please worship me
——
the sun hangs angry and red
two hands above the horizon
like a sleepy devil’s eye
burning through smokey clouds
though soft and orange
i am punished for looking
it scars the inside eyelids
i see its echo when i close my eyes
i will see its echo
when i sleep
and dream blind
——
we saw no angels only
the aftermath of their
swords cutting the air
orange sunset through
clouds of distant smoke
and somewhere a single
dog barking
__________i hope someone
threw that loud bastard
a bone to calm him down
as for the angels–well
they can carve up heaven
as they see fit
there aren’t enough
actual souls down here
to complain about it
waiting in the airport
for the arrivals
but so is everyone here
two young women
lean over the walkway
one dressed for summer
one dressed for seduction
who are they waiting for
i wonder to myself
before i once again
let my phone distract me
but i keep returning to them
she’s dressed in a way
that means someone
is getting lucky tonight
finally he appears
some young adonis
swarthy to her pale skin
all smiles when she rushes
and leaps into his arms
wrapping her legs around his waist
while she kisses him
and her summer friend
dutifully records this reunion
with her phone
i wonder if she’s bitter
that she’s holding the phone
or is she happy for her friends
knowing that she’ll be driving
while tangle up in the back seat
Words and Feathers 