all of a sudden passion suddenly

[Guest]

*********

 

[vampiredust]

Roadkill

Crows peck at yesterday's
carcasses, trimming away
excess fat and meat from
the bones. A car speeds

towards them and the flock
flies up, circling it angrily.
The radio is screaming like a
baby at the driver and he can't

hear the protest of squawks
and flapping of wings. Swooping
back down to their leftovers, all
they find is fur; its heart already
dimmed.

 

[vampiredust]

IKEA Man

Mother brought home
a flat packed man the
other day. Unpacking
him from the cardboard

boxes, we tried to follow
the instructions. X must
go into Y it said; stuffing
its heart into the plastic

bird cage, we pushed bones
into sockets. But nothing ever
clicked. Lying the dummy onto
the floor, we gave him power

but all we could see in his eyes
was the Universe flickering.

 

[vampiredust]

Watching a fisherman gather Lugworms on Tenby beach

Piles of wet sand stand
like cairns next to open
pits. He emerges, carrying
sludge. Sifting through

crushed shells and seaweed,
he finds nothing. Following a
trail of sand nests, he corners
an elusive S, trapping it with

the edge of his shovel; carefully
lifting it out with his thumb and
forefinger. The razor-shell nearby
digs back in to the sand, breathless.

 

[vampiredust]

Luna

The fossils tattooed
on her back are quiet
tonight. Stroking the
nautilus curled up near
her shoulders, I see my
own reflection; now
buried under layers of rock
somewhere on the moon.

 

[vampiredust]

Dear Moon

You have shrunk tonight,
that is clear. Yesterday
you seemed bigger; a hot
air balloon travelling across
the western hemisphere.
But now I can hold you
in the palm of my hand,
watching you pull my tideless
body apart. Nothing will
glue my two halves back
together.

 

[vampiredust]

The newspaper caught in the rain

Huddling under a shawl of rain
and cloud, we hurry to our
destination; the paint from our
clothes running down the drains.

We are colourless when we are
naked. Stripped of our words,
we wander the streets like birds
without wings. The world is numb

and has lost its mouthpiece - us

 

[4degrees]

one armed unarmed joust
a post with the most
miscalculations amongst my own
sea of trepidations
a condition, wide maw salivation
creates a slime pool of salvation
come in and get your feet wet
your toes bit, everything they said
was some kinda psychotropic pill-sized lie
microscopic soup-laden mind
only fills me up for a short time
like chinese rice or the like,
i'm hungry within the hour
let me fill up on you baby, maybe
i'll stay sated til dinner...

 

[clutching_calliope]

It Lives!

.....

 

[Guest]

*********

 

[Sara Crewe]

Tomboy hid under her baseball cap.
Brim so low she cut her head
on the branches during tag
but she didn’t feel the pain
until her eyes saw red
and Tracey screamed she was gonna die.
She walked home alone
cleaned the bathroom floor
of all the blood before she found
a bandage for her head.
She still traces that scar
when she’s worried. Braille
people can read with her fingers
if they care to follow the silent
words. When she touches it
she feels the rumble of his voice, telling
her to embrace the marks
the world leaves on her and to leave
her mark on the world. Sift the pain
from every scar and you will only see
strength and the power
in the beauty of imperfection.

 

[Sealace]

it is it is it is the salt from the rim
salt goes with sour
sweet goes with sweet
and the crystals half melted
condesation drops
ring around the tea plate

you snuck in
sneaked in
on the backs of the carbonation
and I heard you call
Aurora! Aurora!
somewhere out with the frog catchers and table top dramatics
we call down the curtain
we call down the curtain
she says girl
you always say it twice
we all know you are stalling
sound falls behind the light and you gotta gotta gotta find something to fill in the soft spots

 

[Sealace]

shot gun twist top
one in three gets a ringtone
one in three gets a pushcart
one in three gets a smooth trim
double polished double shine
kick it kick it kick that bucket
until something spills

I swear to God if someone says Icarus tonight
if I had a threat I would use it
I do not want to hear annother story
how you are the one
YOU are the one that flew too close to the sun
baby
so many up there
you are already in the shade
gotta cut through the crowd of would be could be
gotta be a true writer
dont make me push this rock back up
I wish someone
would eat my liver
god I can feel the tension pull cartilidge through my abdomen
yellow eyed and calm he stretches the tissue steady
eats me (almost) alive
almost

 

[Sealace]

wait I think I loved you once I remember it clearly

semi found

I stayed at Bally
attached to Paris Las Vegas.
We took the $5-for-24-hour bus
visited Venician and Luxor.

Another day Hard Rock, Wynn.

It is like grown-up Disneyland.
I am going to a conference in September
will stay at Mandalay Bay.
I want to see the Circ de Soleil with Beatles music.

 

[Sealace]

it is not a secret to share
they have no liver
they exist solely on sweets
which brings together my earlier deleted attempt at cavity prevention
and the punishment of the mortals by the gods

and lord knows I would be there
where the mugwumps stood chained upside down
dripping dripping into my thirst
with the restraint to be gentle
to take the drops like the suckle of honey
the piston pulled through the flower
something has to tear but let it not be us
for long before I longed for your addiction
I saw them
from his dream to mine
and stood with Judy all pretense sunken into our squared heels
elastic bands loose and we wait chin raised
for our doses

 

[Sealace]

want to hear your calm
gentle tones
gritted with tension
strain
steel solid strength
as you press me down
thumb agility
take it there
streaming up my back

your voice softens back down
grit melted friction

I am not a desperate woman
I am a woman who likes to be fucked
who takes it in the form it comes
who takes it in secrecy, safety
who sleeps far from your freshly laundered
embroidered pillowcases
I will never drive your street
breathe easy barefeet down the drive to your morning mailbox
baby I am far gone

do you think you can deliver this grit in the grease that rubs
my skin smooth
red tender from the rough
soft soothed in the lotion
are you the one
who will hear my cries trickle down in laughter
who will let me just go back home

 

[vampiredust]

Mattress

The foam dumbell sits in the corridor
with the rest of the junk we're throwing
away - old paintings, broken bamboo
beehives. As I lay it out on the carpet

one last time, I imagine I am with you;
watching a flock of stars being chased
across the sky by the moon. Sitting on
the thick slab of yellow, we listen to the

rain singing its poetry, feeling every note
as it runs down our faces. Rolling up the
mattress, the scene collapses into your
eyes. Looking closer, I can still hear a note

weeping deep down inside of you; calling my
name with its syllables.

 

[cherries_on_snow]

Today begins with epic promise
affirming prowess as I spot
then catch the unmatchable A train
(no wonder there’s a song about it!)
at 59th. I abandon the drowsy B
show-rider leaping to the A
before doors close and affirm
my religion:

Time is not constant
as we leapfrog, tessaract
passing the B as it tries
to race but falters at the next
stop; we race past fast-blurring
stations blinking in flickering
r.e.m., and before 7am
we’re in Harlem.
Here the D waits patiently to consume
then zoom me to the Bronx.

 

[vampiredust]

On finding a dismantled fan

Its rubber petals were strewn
across the pavement, each one
saying she loves me...

before being scooped up by the
wind and dropped in a street cleaners
pan, ready to be burnt in a furnace
somewhere in Colchester.

No ashes would scattered

 

[vampiredust]

Are the trees small yet?

The old woman opposite me
looks behind the bus, to check
that everything is the same;

that the trees have not shrunk
and the sky is the same colour
its always been - white, with a

dash of my grandmother's make up.
She ran once, chasing the shadows
that hummed like a swarm of bees

above the tree tops, before watching
them melt into flames. And as she looks
at me, I can see her running once more;

Are the trees becoming smaller? she says,
breathless. Are they becoming smaller?
Yes, I reply, smaller and smaller and smaller

 

[clutching_calliope]

Italy

.....

 

[Guest]

I saw it;
muti-colored, rainbow-like but
ghostly with blood, scabs, and scars that
circled around a rapid
beating heart, attached
by a small vein which dangled
about to break, separate from
what looked to be my image;
a spirit escaped my body.

 

[clutching_calliope]

Genie

.....

 

[flyguy69]

Sharkbait

::

He thinks himself iron-
fisted, as if metal could hold her.
The law and the gospel
of his home laid down
like a labyrinth. The way out is scrawled
on the backs of her eyelids, night
clenched to her breast
each morning. She submerges herself
in her dreams and fills bubbles
with jasmine and blood, and I respond:
a Great White snout thrusting
between steel as a diver waits,
breathless.

::

 

[Sealace]

my brother tells us
of the teacher who was fired
for having artisticly presented nudes of herself
published on the internet.

I do not u nderstand why this is worthy of discussion
so many more interesting news bites to chew
until I realize he is telling me
"I saw your breasts out there
in public, and if I did not know better
your thighs rose into copy/pasted
mountain range knees your own fingers
cut through the valley
who is this artist that uses my sisters body
as his visual plaything?
and why would you use your real name
when writing about phone calls and dildos
up your ass and...

He shook his head
she will never get a job that pays again.