Old Emotions

Dry and manic
Sleep won't come tonight
selfish tears and kept feelings
all doubt swept under your eyes

there will be no sleep
no weeping
tonight

and I'm doing everything of which you
wouldn't approve
just to prove
how miserable I am

with a heaving heart
and a steady mind

Maybe

I am dragging on your cigarette
Irreparably attached to your dinette set
An expiration date to be met
in a secret
rush
to the door

Cartoon balloon heart
full of sugar and
spite
Might explode on us
any night

Be careful with that knife...

I see your smoke forming in the recesses
of our shared regrets
Icy blue eyes punctuate
implacable dissidence

Distractions
best exacted in
half-formed interests
-- all but keep me
begging at your feet
to be met with
Maybe

We will see...

Retromance

spent fireworks

hair in my mouth

smile on your face

wishes coming true in black and red lace
in another time

O we will know, won't we?
The stars will explode in the sky
O but they don't, do they?
Stars have their moment and then they die

-Nick Cave

Polaris

making dinner plans

with folded hands
and eyes that roll

all the way back to Polaris

where we would drive,

anxious & aimless

just to listen to the Smiths

Behind The Rainbow

I knew her when winter was her cloak
And spring her voice she spoke to me...
--Chris White, "Changes"




I can only find traces of you
-- a tawny, thin strand brushes red across my cheek

Every time I see that same pearly blue
-- a bitter thud

In some alternate universe
We're sitting at that table together
In defiance,
I brush your cheek with my hand

Your lips
push a thin, red smile

Wilderness

I was there for you when you were lonely
I was there when you were sad
I was there when you were bad
Now it's my time of need
-- Stuart Murdoch



charcoal marks across the hearth


we never spent summers
together
sprawled out in the green
grass

so much room,
but no
space
to breathe

I push these ashes around,
telling the same
old stories

People Ain't No Good

"we crossed paths for a reason... and it only strengthened my faith in just that... reason."

i called your name
a deaf response from
the broken glass
all come to rest

what can we bring forward

from borrowed
loves?

shattered images

clenching our faces up
and worrying about
what is ours

what once
was not

what flesh can i clutch from honest purposes?

i wandered
through grievances
and personal
price

coming up in intervals
to glimpse a saviour's
face

but it is changing
and hazy,
drowning
in the blue

i called your name
from the broken glass

all come to rest