We didn’t say goodbye
with our hands but
with naked branches.
(And anyway it was
more of a hello.)
You undid me the way
a fire plays a harp,
the strings singing as
they snap. (Each note
can only sound once:
an excellent discipline!)
They are still together,
your smoke & my fog.
(I feed them wood.)
First axe then lightning on
a million acres of dry slash:
the state’s namesake forests
burned & burned.
Then flood: with no roots
to hold the rains, hillsides slid,
rivers raged, cellars
filled with ashy gray mud.
The last lion in Pennsylvania
was starving, bones
visible under her hide
when they found her
at the end of a line
of incriminating footprints,
near a rocky outcropping
called the Pinnacle.
The fire is a thorough & voracious reader.
Page by page my old manuscript turns gray & brittle
& when the mist thickens into rain,
the smoking pile emits a long thin sigh.
As I sit by the fireside,
I remember the times, the good and the bad.
Those many years ago,
When we meant something to each other.
I'm probably knitting a woollen sweater,
Or perhaps watching a mother cat lick her younglings.
And somehow, everything reminds me of you.
Because I just can't get over you,
Though I have moved on, it is not the same.
And now I have children,
Who have children.
And I can't help think of everything that we almost had.
Together.
Almost.
A blooming rose, so perfect.
Yet, do you see the thorns?
A friendly smile, so casual.
Behind it, how many lies?
A helping hand, so welcoming.
The true intention is?
A cut on a wrist, attention seeking.
Hell yeah, you wish.
A thousand stars, in the night sky.
Reflect only the moon?
A gentle kiss, so full of love.
Or is it just pure lust?
A small sickness, over soon.
Or lead us to the end?
A spark of fire, so weak and fragile.
Could cause a town to burn?
A world or two.
Colours new.
Raging seas.
Swamped trees.
Shining light.
Creating might.
Crashing storms.
Banishing warmth.
A flicker or flame.
Calling my name.
Summoning rain.
Unearthly pain.
Dying hands.
Tornadoes of sand.
Flesh rotting.
Stop creating.
Complements,
Praise,
Rare to attain.
Achievements,
Rewards,
Hard to sustain.
Doubt,
Dispair,
Not too uncommon.
Delight,
Happiness,
Long forgotten.
Ice,
Freezing,
Yet comforting.
Fire,
my bones, charred and brittle,
scream underneath my weight.
dark. it's so dark in here.
my heart, licked by the sudden flames,
threatens to burst.
ashes fill my shriveled lungs.
my skin, branded for all to see,
itches and burns.
water. i need water.
please.
help me.
it's sickening the hold you still have on me
when you're nothing but
a rotting corpse,
an empty sack of flesh,
decaying
in the dirt
beneath my feet.
yet i still find myself
trying to limit the mess my ashes make when i burn
trying to quiet my screams as i drown
trying to decide how much i can bleed before i stain the carpet
all because of the lessons i learned
from you.
it's sickening.
it started down at his feet
licking his toes with just bearable heat
but then it crawled up and up and up
singeing his hair and scarring his lips
a raging inferno he couldn't predict
what happened?
where did this come from?
how did it start?
who?
but all his answers are screams
tainted in ashes
The forest was a peaceful place
Always bustling with life
Never stopping, forever moving
A world that at no time did stop.
Many creatures had come and gone
From fearsome giants, to tiny souls
As time marched on, so had they
Leaving new beginnings behind.
So it was, in that quiet wood
That one day the ground did rumble
And the critters scattered about in terror
For they knew not what was happening.
What now came this way,
The animals wondered.
What new creations were coming
That could cause such a ruckus?
Like a sullen orb of mercury
He sprawls across the chessboard
Shapeless,
Surrendered, to be shaped
As destiny wills him to be.
Earth trembles,
The board shakes;
Sluggish, he slithers
From one square to another.
Wind blasts,
The board shivers;
He slides from PQ2 to PQ4.
Fire spreads,
The board burns;
He waits, untouched,
Watching the curling