Bridge

Branded

seared skin newly shorn
indelibly heat branded
mark sheep for slaughter

Prayer

Petal

Fear of fleur-de-lis
minimized by spring time blooms
past tense nostalgia
and a very grave knowledge
of seasonality
serendipity
and costumes.

Nails

How many tempters must you have
so many suitors comprise the salve
you smear in wounds
of paradise lost
of star-crossed souls
of compounded costs
of tallying tolls
of crashing the gates
of wretched shoals
becalmed in the straights
of narrows
of nemesis
of nevers
of nativity
of needing
of nails
nails
nails.

Sensai

New scents
as the dog days appear
on the battlefield of
unplowed fields
but the heat, the heat
a noose,
a nuisance
a petulance
born of fresh dew
mid-day death
stifling, hence
a stark new sense
to vanquish
all discomfit
so catholic in our
guilt
or gilded mail of chain
girthed for the battle
for ranking, for rights
to do penance
or better
to be judged
severely.

Metronome

Rising and falling
risen
fallen
silence and calling
free fall
and suspension
are the rhythms
of my muse.

I ride the pendulum
from horizon to horizon
like a razor I cry
like a prow maiden
gulping froth
from dusk to dawn
vacillating in my arc
till kingdom come.

Repeating
Da capo
The futility of expectation
of the emergence
of a coda
of going home
and resignation
to the metronome.

Rising and falling
risen
fallen
silence and calling
free fall
and suspension
are the rhythms
of my muse.

Hymn

The bones feel it
before the lightening etches eyelids
briefly
indelibly
anticipating the sounds
of our ancient dread.

And we will ache
for the resolution
of the disparity of our love.

And we will ache
for revolution
for salvation from above.

Not judgment, not edicts
but the peace of quiet water
that has found its way
to level
to stillness
by being
what it is.