the lily

long white pods bruised pink
with a smidgen of green,
on a taut pasty skin.
they tell me of that silent process
in the body's dark enclosure
when a shape finds certainty,
and the eyes are unimpeded by the presence of light.

in the kitchen's warmth a bud …

tonight, we dance

tonight we will drum the rhythm with our feet
each note lowering & rising
we dance until we can no longer discern
she from he and he from she
the music slows
the world disappears

then I hold her
like the sky holds the clouds
gently, as to not let the other …

the maidens sway

long brunette hair draped to
her supple s-curve
down to white, fresh,
cotton caressed;
round to a back-twice dimpled.
all this generates
a lifetime of dreams
in the early-morning light.
the maidens sway
has brought to me
a desire to be loved
that had not …

alternative word for "i."

i took last night off from my dreams, to lie awake, ciphering the number of words it would take to undo old poems about the "i" that never existed. i could, for example, offset them with truths about "you" -- the form absence assumes everywhere. the delay in every task. …

our day

the sun will rise slowly over an array of houses,
spreading itself thin over shingled roofs.
a couple will embrace each other,
after spooning the entire night.
today, the sun will be warmer.
it's color will fall on my face, and
i will smile into it.
we …

and i think

we kiss in the doorway of the kitchen,
as she tells me,

maybe i should not live in smyrna anymore.

i pause and think, are we ready?

well, i am learning to tolerate,
and in some ways appreciate,
stupidly meaningless tv shows.

and i think,
maybe we can do …

seventeen years after my death

beyond the horizon where the fenceline disappears,
willows weep in darkness for his passing.
a young boy, waiting around his father,
suddenly extends his arms to be picked up,
and that is how the sky comes closer, bringing with it
a cloud that started waning miles …

my brother

he would beat the familiarity and youth out of me as a child;
his bony hands twitching like tree branches in fall,
walking with his dark spectre-cloud trailing behind or over his mumbling head.
in some ways he walked like everyone else.
i know am my brother's …

the drowning boy

i try to remember myself as the drowning boy.
warm water greedily pulling me in.
sterling crouched at the edge of the tub with a smile,
as i bobbed up, water sloshing under my chin.
i sank again into white porcelain depths.
face covered by rows of bubbles,
his big …

childhood is never about dreaming

the past is the intransigent shadow you stand upon -
the last ray of sun slanting in west of autumn,
west of each memory rewritten, condensed to a few lines on loss,
originating from a silence beyond where schoolchildren,
clamorous as a catastrophe of bells, …

the stars draw closer

at night, when I grieve the most
the stars draw closer,
as if to tell me that loss
needs warmth from the inside-out.
i sit and wait for those low clouds to mourn,
while spring begins to slip into slumber.
then warm dreams magnify the instant
when I was …

the very space between

today
we bridge the distance
between us

the air dances
in agreement

it paints itself with hues of brilliant orange
and I am encouraged
by its approval

i open my pages
where I've hidden your radiance
and I am invaded
by an intoxicating awareness
of …

until we dance again.

we began to move to the rhythm with our hips
each note lowering, rising & vibrating
and we danced until we could no longer discern
she from he and he from she
the music slowed
the world disappeared

and then i held her
like the sky holds the clouds
gently, as …

gentle bedroom lights

your luminous

silhouette

draws the night

into relief,

its soft glow

reflecting

the gentle

bedroom lights

that kiss

your skin

in a shimmering

suggestion of

what lies

inside

a beautiful woman.

an old picture story

faint wisps,so gentle
stored away in
the deep recesses
of my heart.

waiting to be
unleashed,refreshed
with warmth and
nostalgia.

it feels like an old picture story,
one scene follows the other.

of words and images
of a vast glorious landscape
captured …

a shared silence

entrancing in distance,
her warm voice cuddles in my ear,
tucked beneath an old quilt,
a swelling anticipation.

we talk in whispers past twilight.
'till on heightened breath,
we realize after tomorrow
we no longer have to wait.

secret fantasies
unlock and …

am i standing alone?

tonight,
we pierced those laughs
with warm throbs of worry
looking for something,
anything
to say.

a wild belly hungry for words,
yet when the phone lights up,
they float out
to the night sky.

am i standing alone?

bright purple pants

i thought of our night and the enticing glance of a beautiful girl dressed in bright purple pants. so free and alive. i remember my senses ajar from the fragrant scent of her doorstep, while my breath whispered, and our dreams took refuge in the glistening-skin of a …

my dreams

my dreams

vivid
recollections

yet fleeting glimpses

faint wisps of
memories

sharp and awakening

gentle and numbing

precious and revealing

the inner me

now accesible

and non-elusive

my dreams

we now share together

did the wall really come down?

woke up at 5 in the morning
a sad dream still in my eyes

people laughing
colors changing
faces dissolving
music fading

eyes averted, eye brows
raised and whispers waning.

us and them replace you and me.
small words become bigger walls as
meanings …