all of a sudden passion suddenly

[Angeline]

walls of quiet ice
never betray their slow death
yet we hear dripping

like a metronome
the tick of seasons, leaves brush
road, ice melts all passings

 

[annaswirls]

tell me one more time it matters ont a crack in a glass eye
it matters not one string on a bridge of fray
along the fringe of my jean shorts
what this means

plastic butterflies for my hair
plaster figures for my walls
polymer fingers for our pleasure

these are the things that pass by
not revolutionary
nothing stirs beyond our connections

the red wires and aligator clips
bridge our scenery
and our senses

the insulation is peeling
hold on with both hands
let the voltage pass through your heart on its way

tell me again
the plan is unimportant
the design inconsequential
paint a picture of a man
a shopping cart
a frozen parking lot
sing me a song of international facilities
lawn mowers
tent poles

it counts for something
and by twos
and by fives
we like to break up the numbers by hands and fingers,
eyes and digits
and multiples thereof

excwept our metal rainbows
and death
for these we resort to prime

medium rare baby
medium rare

 

[annaswirls]

it is once again
happening

sending messages to spin offs
to pilots
lights pass through the void
the sound stops dead
taking its alias
and alias and alias with it

I shake pebbles in metal
and wait for a reply
again
just dust

 

[Angeline]

another stolen line
and poems are born
of flattery someone said
pie in the sky someone
said the funeral meats
doth coldly furnish
the marriage table
I am a thief of lovers
and Shakespeare
but my truths can be
seen through one window
clarity hard won spit
on the weak whimper
of deception step
on every laughing crack

 

[Guest]

Two souls lost in the rubble
of broken promises stumble
together to melt strengthen
their combined support
twining truths in others' eyes
eyes that watch blinded
by tears of distance and caring
swallowed words stick like burs
scratching at ribs and piling
up to burn heart and soul
in impotent fury friends can only
hold out a hand whisper
a word and say a silent prayer
for tranquilty and justice
love conquers all they say
pass the laurels in the sun
and stand knee deep
in one anothers love.

 

[MercyMia]

without choking the breath from me
kiss me deep
kiss me long

i have been without fire and the wind
sleeps beside me
freezes my hair

kiss me deeper
kiss me longer

let me know myself again

 

[4degrees]

sugar-coated sickness
licks my lips
as i tunnel away
far into you
my place, this space
this position has been filled
but thank you for your interest
speak of submission
unknown definition
perplexed displacement
momentary lapse
lapping at your core
lost in the luscious
heat of you.

 

[annaswirls]

I had forgotten the sounds of the outside
as they pass freely through open windows
as smoke from a burned dinner is sent on its way.

branches of the mapleheavy with rain
hang low enouch for me to snap
and trim without a permit

the good thing about this tree
is we get no sun in our yard
the bad thing about this tree
is we get no sun in our yard
and here on the second floor,
the leaves reach for the open window
and birds perch on the gutter
as if it was just another branch.

 

[annaswirls]

I am bound to you.
you who stretches the moon around my fingers
parts my hair with the teeth of the dragon,
and crosses my heart with its claw.

the ocean rushes in, chasing the sandpipers stick legs
in a dance of approach and retreat
my feet are wet with your love
and I run back to you
for more
more more

 

[Liar]

In this day and age
I have become
the man who wasn't there

to watch walls fall,
blood flow,
monuments
and skylines
topple over.

But a periphery puppetry ghost

to worry over tax returns
when Belgrade drowned
in a million whistle song,
to sleep in a mood valley
when a Kiev sea of orange
made hope bloom.

To repeatedly fall
in debt, in love, in line,
during genocide, geopolitics,
obelisks in time.

And here I sit,
filling blank paper
with trinkets of mind.

Ready to plunge yet again
into a trifle life,
picked clean of history
as well as clean of sin.

Am I in blessed seclusion
or on the outside
looking in?

 

[OT]

wishes unfold
much starker
than
would if I could
I want I wish
nirvana

 

[echoes_s]

In this day and age
I have become
the man who wasn't there

to watch walls fall,
blood flow,
monuments
and skylines
topple over.

But a periphery puppetry ghost

to worry over tax returns
when Belgrade drowned
in a million whistle song,
to sleep in a mood valley
when a Kiev sea of orange
made hope bloom.

To repeatedly fall
in debt, in love, in line,
during genocide, geopolitics,
obelisks in time.

And here I sit,
filling blank paper
with trinkets of mind.

Ready to plunge yet again
into a trifle life,
picked clean of history
as well as clean of sin.

Am I in blessed seclusion
or on the outside
looking in?

she asks gently

...can you still see?
You are not walking
in peripherial darkness
with one side of your world
distorted to swarming fog?

That you do not have to sit
hunched, aching
and almost crying inside?
That your mind sits
with clarity
enough to form
thoughts to an ending
claiming distant (edited to add this line)
pulse of pleasure
and you have me?

she asks gently

 

[echoes_s]

Dark embrace

you can smell the tainted tremble,
obscurity whispers gently,
a lover hovers to embrace time,
draws near,
how he bides his turn patiently.

I am a walking shadow
devouring myself
from the inside out,
to evade for now…
just an interval of being I ask.

we have known, he and I,
he longer, rhetoric in heartbeats,
I will leave only two behind,
tears of my loins,
with just a little longer to teach.

do not mourn, I stoic endure
as fluid strains behind
and catch before a blink,
rheumatic eyes some murmur
but I almost cried this time.

I pour my love into them
leaving a huge burning ache
an empty vessel, abyssal chamber
to be filled by his desire,
fluted melodious when he finally claims me.

 

[annaswirls]

these things UI do not need

four pronged cane
a volunteer to push my wheeled chair to the taxi
a wig or a bra
with one breast built in

I do not need
a tube to feed
a pan to piss
a new hole to breathe

I look over metal shelves
I see things I do not need
support hose for circulation
incontenance diapers
pill cutters
reading glasses
milk of magnesia

she finds me in the waiting room
breaks my thoughts
"Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

no no no I dont need
anything
anything

 

[Angeline]

these things UI do not need

four pronged cane
a volunteer to push my wheeled chair to the taxi
a wig or a bra
with one breast built in

I do not need
a tube to feed
a pan to piss
a new hole to breathe

I look over metal shelves
I see things I do not need
support hose for circulation
incontenance diapers
pill cutters
reading glasses
milk of magnesia

she finds me in the waiting room
breaks my thoughts
"Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

no no no I dont need
anything
anything

Chuck worked
in the next office.
He had a walker. Sometimes
he left it in the hallway when
I walked past it Chuck
would say Excuse me
and I would say No problem
Chuck to the walker.
I should have
just let my glasses answer.

 

[4degrees]

a ration of passion
saved up
then shot out
silver shine
and resound
knowing you,
loving the sound
that deep slide
invasion of innermost
greased and smooth
hard rub over
jerking the outer
poking into pink
warm wet seepage
from around that
big pin
sticking in
giving in to,
but balancing
on the brink of kink.

 

[annaswirls]

Pari passu

the height of
poetic arrogance
to think any one
wants to come along on this journey
to feel the burs and brambles of self introspection
why write then?

i submit my soul
filleted and foundering
pathetic in it's lack of nuance
a jumble of half truths
fears and desires
wrapped up in
gods breath
holy as an icon
meaning nothing
nothing

you bring your truth to my words
i only reaffirm
your commitment
i am nothing
a mirror
a puddle
all this self important bullshit
bah

the truth is the truth
its in your wheaties
your addiction
your sex
it's the vision
you lack
it's the alarm
that wakes you up

the sigh of a child
the moan of a lover
the laughter
of death

I want to feel the burrs
and brambles of your journey
the sting of anticeptic that leaves
a trail of cleanliness through the dust
and mud on your legs

I have only found half truths in life
I want to read through yours
see if they match like ancient puzzle pieces
help me complete the picture of truth

it means everything, everything
step aside, let me stomp down
some sticker bushes for you
there is a clearing up ahead
do you see it? with deer prints
and a path of bent grass
leading to where they slept

I dont think they would mind

 

[Man Ray]

if one has been a fool,
should one jump into a very deep pool
or go back to school
to learn how not to be a fool?

 

[annaswirls]

slave to anothers insomnia
the sane begins to melt under my eyelids
might as well write
eat crackers from the box
dont think where sleep will find its way back in
it is tomorrow
two hours has worked before

when?

oh I dont know

animated spider forgets her destiny
forgets the sweet suckle of beetle life
spinerettes weave something besides dreams and memories
how can the extraordinary, most,
pieces of LIFE become so ORDINARY
under fingertips
dough, overworked
over floured
kneeded into tough threads that will never rise

its just crackers out of the box
water frfom a straw
and blind fingers
kneading the night time on a board

 

[champagne1982]

Slap the dough back Momma
with a sudden flick of wrist
give that yeasty flour concoction
another brutal twist.

When the gluten's well developed
don't knead it anymore
the bread will be too tough
and make Daddy's jaw too sore.

Slap the dreams back Momma
turn them into gentle mist
and ask the miller of the night
to sift the flour from the grist.

When the moon is fat and gibbous
let the loaves raise a little more
as I find comfort in evening's kitchen
slip them in the oven and softly close the door.

 

[Luv2PleasureF]

I said I was tempted
but didnt tell a soul,
and only wrote how much
it pained my heart to find something
that I thought was better than me.

I wanted to be
your one and only drug
but there it hid
between the wall and washer;
a locked suitcase you so easily forgot
to move.

Days passed with suspicions strong,
and I couldnt help but open
to find your stash
of wrapped up
sperm killer that you smoke,
and what hurt the most is
the children and I lived in the house.
I could've lost them.

and now, as I rethink
and go back to what I saw,
it caused me to almost choke
on my vomit when I saw the trojans;
the real sperm killer
when you were fucking me
those nights with none.

now you know why I lost my trust
and had to leave
even though I kissed you goodbye,
said I loved you with tears in my eyes,
and it makes me sad because
you're all I had left...

another lie, another knife in my back.
I don't know why they dont make me die.
there's been too many, so I just sit and cry
and wonder why I wasnt good enough.

And I wonder how many of you there are,
How many saldnes, or at least how many minds,
At least two, the one that misses me,
And the one that festers behind rotting memories, misunderstood

The suitcase of which you speak,
Had been unopened for months on end,
The last time was to get money from the safe inside,
That bought a certain white Pontiac.

I had wondered why I had gotten no reply,
To a true and heartfelt letter expressing my love,
But now the reason is as clear as the tears
That stain my keyboard.

It is a sad irony, probably apropos,
That the picture gracing my computer's desktop
Is your beautiful face, hidden behind your middle finger
Chosen because it was the best one I had of you clothed,
That I would have no problems showing a friend.

So believe what you will my beloved,
Alternate between feeling betrayal and mourning loss,
Know that I will feel only one,
Clutching my pillow, wishing it were you...

 

[annaswirls]

the benefit of being unattractive

look at it this way
you will never grow old
saying
I used to be so beautiful!

fighting time with a knife
magic potions and pigmentation

wearing ridiculous clothing
colors on your face
and head three shades
too bright


you will never miss
the gaze of men
upon your body
once tight and unscarred
or ever really want to go back


except to visit your lost teeth
your babies, and all the friends
that left before you



remember that old woman on Thorn Birds?
The one who hated Maggie and loved Ralph?
Oh how desperately she longed for their youth and beauty!
It drove her mad

 

[Man Ray]

For you...

If we were standing on top of a mountain, admiring the view
and you shouted out loud and clear, "I soooooooo love you!"
I would burst into sobbing tears and squeal out, "Oh, pooh!"
"Thats not fair! I soooooo wanted to shout that out to you!"

 

[4degrees]

4 what its worth
what it means
something deep down
imbedded far into the core
twisting around
making one more revolution
wrapping your duct tape
of love
tight as a python
cinching together
the incision inscribed
decision to thrive
off the very thing that
claws my chest
sucks my breath
leaves me helpless as
a flower in a storm

 

[4degrees]

you'd be drunk on me baby
if you snuffed in a chestful
of this spice sweet me
doused in patchouli
the back of my neck
let you lick it away
along with this fragmented
broken up shattered
batter dipped brain matter'd
non sense rent space
lick me clean
a fresh slate
new state
of water based angst
evaporating
with the touch
of your tongue.