A cracked mirror,

Sending back a mosaic view of my face,

A face that is bloodied and bruised,

By their abuse.

The mirror shards lay around,

Stabbing into my skin,

As I try so effortlessly to destroy the mirror,

That only reminds me,

Of your fists against my face.

- Michael Hall

"And...march!" commanded the butterfly general.

The caterpillars shared looks with each other, then rolled their eyes and began to ‘march’, or crawl up the monstrous vine.

"I said, march!" barked the general again. "Obey your orders, warriors!"

But the caterpillars payed him no heed; one even began to nibble on a nearby leaf. The general groaned and threw off his helmet, careful not to hurt his antennas. Caterpillars were dimwitted creatures, but of course the queen had assigned him this lowly job of training them. Everyone knew you couldn't train a larva until it grew its wings.

Suddenly, heat began to engulf the general and he took a step back, readying his wings for flight. There, about twenty paces to his left, was a mountain of logs and above a human's hands rubbing two boulders togther. The general's eyes widened; he'd seen this before, and he hoped to Wings that it wasn't the same.

A spark flew when the boulders collided and fell onto the mountain of logs, thereby igniting a fire, and the general quickly unstrapped his horn from his torso and blew the warning signal.

"The God of Destruction has arisen once more!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In case it wasn't obvious, here it is:

Warrior - the caterpillars.

Skyscraper - the monstrous vine, aka the flower.

Fire Starter - the guy igniting a small pile of twigs.

In my dreams I am often approached

by my Queen.

Wading through golden fields she appears

gentle yet driven

She moves as if to mock the idea of perfection,

her focus her own, her eyes rare.

Each step flows up through graceful legs,

and poised back;

She’s always leading me somewhere.

She has battled for her life, tooth and claw,

but I only see her past in argent flares.

Still sometimes I notice her

rear her vicious head to gnash at enemies

They know fear when they see her.

It’s a dream, and though her soft tread

leaves prints the size of bear claws,

and the golden aura of her blazing silhouette

conjures the image of great deities,

She is just as beautiful

when I wake to a yawn

and see her in the breaking dawn.

--For Arty--

I inhaled through my nose

and out through his mouth

so turned around by the way

our legs were intertwined

there wasn't time to sort out our

body parts there was no

distinction it was all just

skin and bones and home and this

this is the most beautiful feeling

to be held above it all

down on the ground

to float with your feet firm

every breath is a concoction

of oxygen and sweat and we

are all too aware

of the space between

desperate to be

ever closer

Posted on the door to the restroom is a sign that says something like, "to prevent embarrassing situations, customers MUST take the restroom key into the bathroom with them."

I'll be quick, I figured, and hey, at least I got my business done before she walked in.

I'm not really that embarrassed, despite what the sign alluded, and I hope you aren't offended. I enjoyed the way you said, "Oops, sorry, man."

That made me realize that you are probably pretty cool.