Red/Green

Fire breathing

red
down my neck;

sleep it off,

dream it down

then

enter lightly

the green foil

of level depth.

Originally inspired by this prompt at Every Day Poems, but the photo above was the view as i wrote it. Somehow the two images merged together in these few words.

Laughter Followed Closely

Someone kicked

over

a big bucket of

mercy,

spilling it

all over

the kitchen

floor.

Everyone came

running

to see the slippery

surprise

Saucers sliding sideways;

Dishes dropped down;

Feet flying straight out

from where we supposed

they were planted -

(laughter

followed

closely),

And there

at the center

of everything

was me,

collapsed

into a

dizzy disaster.

—–

We sure made

a proper

mess

of things.

Thanks to Nance for the photo. 

Aurora

With an

underhanded

overtone,

She flipped on

the switch

of love,

Leaving my coffee

cup

running  cold

as the tips of my fingers

Lit up like

candles

in the winter sky -

Aurora Borealis

Over the curve

Of her slip,

Her hips,

Her layered lips -

licking up

the oxygen,

and gasping

for breath.

Pulsing

flames of sweat

dripped

like hot wax

off the burnt side

of a

tilted moon.

Thanks to Nance for the image.

Glow

The furious drone

of night

consumes even the

least of these

we regard as holy;

Blackness, blackness,

and then

a snippet of glow -

This, the never-ending

sense of divine

dreary days sought forth

with eyes drawn down

to earth, land

seeking space and sky.

Bring us to the wonderment

to knowledge, the firmament

unites, disperses

while one hand

draws  freely.

Look up,

oh ye

of little faith.

Thanks to nance for the inspiring image.

These Gorgeous Things

Unfurling

straight out of

the canvas,

These gorgeous things

attack,

taking me

hostage;

quivering, exploding

in rapid-fire beauty,

I have no defense -

densely tilting,

relentlessy sloping

downward.

I am dizzy

from the vibrations

of color,

and swoon

with sickness.

—-

You must hold

me down

Lest I

swallow

it whole.

I wrote this into my cell phone notes while visiting the Van Gogh Up Close exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Godspeed

I am

a nervous

wreck

from the other

side of town;

The king

of collapse,

piled up

in pieces.

–

Go ahead

and stare

me down.

Burnt

Sky’s on fire

this morning

looks as if

the whole earth

might burn up

in a day.

***

That, or else

we’ll die

from too much

beauty.

Languor

These thin lips

give me away -

a flimsy scribble

guarding against all

I was never

going to say.

The good inentions

lie

somewhere just beneath

the tongue.

An indefinable langour,

lost and lumpy,

dissipates into nothing,

the way steam escapes

from your breath

into the cold

winter air.

Grace Moves Slowly Round the Room

Grace moves slowly

round the room

Like a foggy mist

or the scent of your lover’s perfume,

Stopping now and then

to fix your collar

Before you ever notice.

*

Grace moves slowly

Round the room

Like a lazy parade

on a long horizon

forgetting all about the time

lingering to observe

the panoramic splendor

of sunlit slants on the floor.

*

Grace moves slowly

Stopping in places

It shouldn’t

Nor would you expect  –

Hovering over broken shards,

Catching the light’s reflection,

Defying the laws of physics

In the gutter’s shallow flow

*

Grace moves slowly.

She is oblivious

to your impatience

and your fallow objections,

All along admiring

the bright, white

expansive opportunity

of emptiness

*

So go ahead, and blow out your breath.

Exhale into nothing,

and rid yourself from

the tepid debris.

That cloud

was lifted

Long ago.

Photo image thanks to Nance. (Thanks, nance.)

Maddening

Your full moon haunts me

with its circular reasoning

and maddening gradual ascents

It just sits there, shining,

While we run around like maniacs

In the vague shadows of your light