valentine

you
lying in bed, middle of night
deleting my favorite shows
insomnia
releasing your indifference
to what you’ve willed us to become

me
asking myself, laying next to you
what happened to turn you so sour
insomnia
prone and awake beside you
too afraid to hear the spoken truth

us
alone together in the blue glow
of our interrupted dream state
insomnia
the remaining common ground
in our unfulfilled tragedy

Remember when you knew me

I swear there was a time
I knew your every thought
lying next to me
breathing

Expecting my chest,
your pillow
solitude
without concern

The dawn, irrelevant
another measure
of the time
wasted among the free

And then today

I hate that you hate me
covered in vines
together alone

Your kisses for others
stoke her hair
I told you it was fine

But words don’t help us
you promised
you lied

There was a time
I waited for you to choose
you did

The wine
an easy transition
from my collection

A cellar
built for you
and then today

Her solitude
enveloped by you
an opportunity

I told you so
you’re a natural
at my expense

You liar

and then there was the sea

timeless, I imagined you
on your way home
away from me
never looking back
towards the shore

standing alone, I waved for you
a solitary soul
awakening
to the sunless dawn
without you

a single wave struck my feet
signaling the end
of happiness
I had never known
cold and clear

a taste of salt upon my lip
knowing you were gone
and then a swell
not unlike the sea
between us

for you

your flower
once I plucked
a succulent

the dew weeping
between your
parted legs

awakening
a buried love
for you

i carried forth
your scent
upon me

and smiled
the wicked grin
of a lover

Sutures

the things that held us together
dissolved before our eyes
dehisced, we were exposed
shallow and unhealed
as the open wound we were

Azure

the sky, blue and white
crashes into me
like waves above my head
and I heard the sound
of cymbals

looking up, an Angel
staring back at me proclaimed -
this is the day The Lord has made
the sun after a storm
is all that I can promise

Wisteria

Wisteria

how fair your blooms
their unjust beauty
too swift to leave me
gone with the fragrance 
of you

a melancholic dance
purple petals in the wind
harbinger of longer days
to be endured
alone

how cruel must you be
deep-rooted in your task
of strangling vines
insidiously taking hold
of me

Gods' own beautiful creation
not of Heaven, but of earth
in all its' fleeting irony
of the heartache reserved for
the few

for you will come
and you will go
upon the memory of you I smile
until you return again
to me

Somewhere Someone Spoke

the unbroken silence
just above a whisper
did you call out to me?
or did the rustle of the trees
trick me
into believing
the words, not meant for me

i'm sorry
to have missed you
so wanting was i
once
that a leave or a branch
mistaken for you
would matter at all

Venus

I once wished you
would love me
then I looked into the sky
and saw the darkness 
like your heart towards me
unlike Venus
Mine

Treatise

what, if not everything
could I have given
just to stop this little piece of me dying

every car door
every tread upon these steps that isn't yours
a little piece of me dying

break your own heart
just to prove a point in fruitless maturation
a little piece of me dying

this silent death of our own creation
alone in this world together
just a little peace, now and I'm dying... Again

tinsel

the alumuminized shreddings
of the season
draped lametta
the narrow garnishment
in silver-metallic splendor
a translation lost to us
with the happiness and the joy

cheap and tarnished
you brought me such joy
all those years ago
when i remembered to open my eyes
to your brilliance
and allow your mechanized sway
to capture me

this extruded decoration
held in time and place
my own starry Nativity
holds me now with childhood smiles
in the never ending hope
which binds me
metallurgically to you

dreaming aloud

pink and blue the colors
of my twilight
rest upon these eyes
once more
in unlasting splendor

sand and water crashing
the taste of you
salty sweet consumption
pressing me
in unlasting splendor

moon and stars in orbit
signal above
calling us to places
far removed
in this unlasting splendor

i've seen the future and i'm in it

speckled lavender skies
punctuate me
tentacles from above
in silvers and grays
tell me the things
i love to hear
and hold me
bound

sweet musings of the days
captivate me
wondering out loudly
in octaves estranged
souls whispering
eternally
and hold me
bound

Mistral

this purple falls upon me
a veil upon my eyes
no longer seeing the grace
in you i flowered
rows of lavender
bruised by this mistral
wind, which left me
barren as if we never were

Sirène

the sweet sound of you
drew me
a Siren song enchanting
an ever-loving promise
of salvation
from the unescapable me

both strange and beautiful
this fatal lethargy
irresistibly fragrant and tempting
lulled me
into the silent sleep
of the unawaking

Saline

steady its' decent
slowed only by the surface
tension

to ripple ever outward
marking the end
of this saline dream

cherries for sarah

"it was fate," she told you
the way she caught your eye
walking alone
as you usually did
never missing a thing

was it the shape
of her confident stance
or the smile, like a child at play?
you'll never know
but she had you

the words came easy
as if from a thousand conversations before
"i love you" preceding "i want you"
seconds turning to hours
you kissed

her Ruby lipstick colored your lips
"it looks like cherries," she said
and that's when you knew
you'd bring cherries for sarah
forever

a flower to tread on

the evenings hasten
to steal the light from you
leaving you to curve forward
in search of life

you lean toward the path
upon the steps I take
so beautiful in your struggle
to reach me

a crisp wind pushes you back
swaying as you once did for me
our paths colliding again
in this underfoot serenade

i used to be here

this place of vines and thorns
drawing blood with every move
blinded by the pain i sought alone
living in the shadows of each day
wondering why the warmth i felt was cold
cool as the earth beneath me
the wind driving the thoughts from my head
to wonder; will i live again...