Pale
Memories dance on panels
Of linenfold dreams.
Visions in ivory and lace.
Your breath is a tangle of
Intangible machinations.
The taste of rhubarb
Is on your tongue.
Those old shades dance
Silently again
Through this city of bones.
They manifest
In their cloaks
Of deceit and misuse.
Such a simple thing,
To be wrapped up in death.
How sweetly the whisper
Of iron falls
Over that pale,
All-too-human flame.
We dance in their shadow.
Never far from grace.
A Good Kiss
A good kiss is a lot like
a bad car crash.
Springtime and gasoline
perfume –
veined romance,
music in breaking glass.
And in the instant of collision
everything is free-floating,
jumbled.
Pine needles, dried leaves and
an ancient peanut
float by you
as they enjoy
weightlessness.
Boys will lose one
dirty athletic sock on
dirtier blacktop and never
know it.
think about how hard it is
to pull those cars apart,
tangled together as they are.
It can’t be done
Without screeching
metal and the help of
municipal forces.
If you are lucky
both of you will walk away,
shaking but alive.
If you are blessed
the pain of the event
will be dwarfed by the contrast
of colors and shadow
and the taste of ripe strawberries.
Sounds, the quieter the room the louder it gets.
A chair squeaks, paper gets rustled a page turns. In this room those sounds seem amplified. I turn the page very quietly, I pride myself on my quietness. Why I could walk right behind you, you would not know until I whispered in your ear, yes even in this room.
Years ago guys in school called me dim and dim is what I became, not invisible just dim. I blend in to my surroundings almost to the point of invisibility.
This room has eyes, they don't know I know. Sometimes I go dim and watch the watchers.
Subject 57 has not moved in over 15 hours. We are now very worried about his sanity. Our research team has decided to end this deep space simulation and ease him out of whatever delirium has him in its grip.
Subject 57 is not responding and will be held in observation. Scrawled all over his simulation capsule is the word silence over and over and I see you watching me.