all of a sudden passion suddenly

[vampiredust]

The drum player outside SOAS

He beats the translucent
skullcap as if it were a
former lover, scolding her
with his exposed palms.

Nobody can see the scars
but me and the trees. They
are silent as he plays his
song, filling their branches

with the sound of tum-tum
tum-tum, tum-tum. People
walking past ignore him as
the notes call out for them.

No, they will speak only when
they are asleep.

 

[vampiredust]

We wade through the thick
brown slop to get to our
dinghy anchored in the wind.

Clambering over the chipped
hide, Dad pulls the outboard's
wire tongue. Today it won't

listen to him anymore, spitting
a quart of oil in his face. Grabbing
its plastic cowl, Dad shakes it

but still it won't start. We rowed
to the island that day where I
could hear him sing a lullaby

as the engine purred. No one
sang me a song, only poetry
of ash and fire.

 

[vampiredust]

Available Light

We were guided by the song
of cicadas sawing the air as
we trekked through the tunnel
of branches. Stopping at the

strangling fig, we watched its
arms wrestle with the clouds;
the sound of thunder signalling
the start of the next battle.

Juan set up the mist nets as we
donned our muzzles. He stood
back as we climbed inside its
guts, cursing the gods. Looking

up, we saw the bats clambering
over the moist gauze; filling the
air with their sonic poetry. I saw
them feed on our darkness that

day, gnawing away until all the
available light was gone and all
that was left was ourselves;alone,
beating like a wing in the night.

 

[clutching_calliope]

Messages Written in Lemon Juice

......

 

[clutching_calliope]

.....

 

[Maria2394]

what she really wanted to say

she still cant say it

 

[Maria2394]

golgi pick-up line

with apparatus like ours
<wink>
we would make some
beautiful fucking proteins

 

[Tzara]

The (Pretty) Birth Control Patch (Tree)

A condom was offered to me,
Such a prophylactic as he ever wore;
But I said “I’ve a pretty patch, see?”
And I passed the ribbed sheepskin o’er.

Then to my pretty patch went me,
To revel in its medicinal delight;
But my patch didn’t protect me from HIV,
And a vibrator was my only respite.

slick

Shit.

Give me some time. This is too clever and you're stretching my familiarity with Mr. B., Ms. Smart Ass.

 

[Tzara]

with apparatus like ours
<wink>
we would make some
beautiful fucking proteins

Playing "Post Office" at the Cellular Level

My reticulum feels so endoplasmic
that it wants, cis, to fuse and empty
all its protein content smack
into your lumen. Whew! Who knew
cell biology could be so crude?

Funny little poem, Maria!

 

[vampiredust]

Ghost

Mother made a ghost
yesterday

She stitched a sheet
of silk over brushwood
ribs and bathed it in
moonlight.

I watched it come alive,
floating like a translucent
jellyfish in the darkness.

But it had no eyes,
so could not see the flames.

I watched it burn
as Father spoke his poetry,
its skin crumpling with every
syllable.

I can still hear it in my dreams;
restless,waiting to leave.

But I won't let it out.

 

[vampiredust]

Self portrait in a batcave

O dad
you were batman;
creeping out of your
batcave, not to save
the city but to burn
it. I heard you cackling
at the sky, carving up
the moon into your callsign
you never saved anyone
because you couldn't save
yourself.

You were the bat still waiting
to uncurl its wings

 

[vampiredust]

Jimmy's Song

I saw a black mule a-kickin
as the windmill was a-spinnin
like the old dandelion a-blowin
in the old western wind.

Nobody wanted to pick ol'brandy,
the most fearsome beast on this
prairie. All the other farmers had
the knocked out eyes to prove it.

But along came Jimmy, who was 3
feet tall. His face was sculpted out
of mud and dirt and he had no teeth
apart from one, hanging out of his

mouth like a lucky scepter. Brandy
screamed his poetry as he walked
closer, igniting the air with his own
type o' gasoline. But then Jimmy sang

O my boy, come close to me today
watch the moon chase stars away
as I stroke your mane with the rain,
washing away all of your pain.

They rode along the prairies lit with
moonlight. Over mountains and dunes
they went, hunting stars that fell.

Such was the story of Jimmy and might ol'
Brandy

 

[annaswirls]

I pretend pretend pretend to remember how to find the words
to find that place in myself
that is not even myself
imagine if I find the right new wonderfuck
that I will remember
how to feel
down into the carpet fibers
how to be the water that steals heat from toes
sometimes I remember words
peninsula
parchment
christmas morning of course I am still there
I pretend I can still pull words kicked from the feeder
mourning dove collector
criss cross connected we tie again
and again
I remember when I used to be able to make you slip up
and let me win
when I believed that I held you
but I see you lie so lightly in all the pretty palms

for years I would not let the sore on the inside of my cheek healit was a nervous habit
chewing chewing chewing myself from the inside
to feel in progress

champhor menthol cottonball
I promised myself I would not chase after you
now while I can still see the octogan prints on my skin
where yo utold me to stop
stop
stop

and yes this is about you
of course it is about you
and he comes in sometimes and I pause
it is bad manners to mix men in a poem, isnt it?
at the very least risky

so can I write here
I am done with you done with you done with you motherfucker
and mean
no
not you
but him
and he keeps creepiing in I left a trail so he could find me
right into my brain
salt and pepper crumbs
I gargle him down and spit
he is not you

we all want to be wanted
yeah yeah tether me in
life jacket tie

something between my mind and fingers redirects my words
I left my spontaneity in arkansas
someone give it back

 

[Maria2394]

an old bird contemplates November

she knows it's coming, the cold
and the time for breaking out
the big knife and silver spoons.
Special plates, cups, bowls, etcetera

Family from everywhere descending
plucking memories and insults
from each other like feathers
from a live and unwilling bird.

Grandmother has passed, she didnt leave
her spacial platter to me but to the bad sister
that never cared much for her potato salad
or her particular smell of old lady Avon
and stacks of musty newspapers.

Perhaps we'll never know the secret
ingredient in her creamed corn
but i have a feeling it died when she did
that special touch she took with her

 

[KittenishJane]

My Obnoxious Tupperware Friend

In Kelly's basement
there is a shelf lined with tangerine
and lime Tupperware.

And to the far right,
beneath a solo window,
waits the liquorish black container,

just like Kelly said it would be.
"Fetch my soul, Donna."

Kelly's soul is dated November '97.
I carry it upstairs
for her to open.

Pop!
"It's still fresh,"
she says smugly.

 

[KittenishJane]

"it's my job as god
to love him.
otherwise,

i'd feel the same as you,"
god told me.

the juniper outside my window
did not have to burn
for him to tell me this.

he simply sat down on my bed
and had a talk with me.
i knew god didn't really love bob.

 

[KittenishJane]

Flypaper

"They are good children."
He bowed his head
as he spoke to me,
perhaps prayed to god.
A wire of light

sliced through mushroom curtains
and fell hungrily
on sticky paper. Wings, legs

hung above us. How dare we
discuss his good children
while pain dangled--

almost carefree. I heard
the buzzing flies,
the drone of his voice,
as he told me how I must care for them.

"They have curious needs,
peculiar appetites."

He rose from his kitchen table
and led me to the children.

 

[vampiredust]

"They are good children."
He bowed his head
as he spoke to me,
perhaps prayed to god.
A wire of light

sliced through mushroom curtains
and fell hungrily
on sticky paper. Wings, legs

hung above us. How dare we
discuss his good children
while pain dangled--

almost carefree. I heard
the buzzing flies,
the drone of his voice,
as he told me how I must care for them.

"They have curious needs,
peculiar appetites."

He rose from his kitchen table
and led me to the children.

This is fabulous, KJ. Glad to see you here

 

[RhymeFairy]

beef ... steak.
hot, and so tender.
made to sink
your teeth into
and just feel the taste
ooze ...

 

[vampiredust]

Sister

I remember when they brought
you home; a peach skinned
metaphor that spat out everything
I chewed

I'd watch you crawl and fall
as if you were navigating a maze
that I had never seen, let alone
get through

That was you, the explorer. You
loved to dive into the parts of
people they never opened up,
coming up for air when you had
seen their dreams

That was the only time I heard
you weep

 

[vampiredust]

Sundog

I watched packs of sundogs
chase after the approaching
lightning as my Aunt did the
washing up, the plates slipping

through her fingers like the beams
of lightning slowly easing their
way through the cloud, avoiding
the barking of the dogs.

Some plates fell that day, littering
the kitchen floor like rain. Others
sat proud on the drainer, cursing
the sky as she swept up the pieces.

 

[vampiredust]

Camera Ready

The little girl posed for my
poem as the drunk lesbian
cooed at the dachund on
the old lady's lap. I watched

her Mother in the background,
an object part of a landscape
that would always be paused
in part of her mind. Scene

changes like a roll of film and
she clicks at the girl, hoping
the dummy will fall out of her
mouth and she will say something,

anything. But that never happens
and my poem rolls on, capturing
everything; even the rolling of eyes
trying to avoid the aperture of my
journal.

 

[vampiredust]

The mating rituals of androids

She wants me to attach
contraptions onto her manifold:
screwdrivers, jigsaws, drills

so I can use my large diving
apparatus well, only coming up
to see her melt the sky with screams

01010101010010001
is the sound of our love tonight

 

[vampiredust]

Canalside Run

I watch old wellies, supermarket
trollies, tyres float in the water
as if suspended in jelly. A scene
meant to be captured by us

as we run along the canalside
path. But we are not allowed to
think about these things. We
must run, not smoke and walk,

looking at the boot wrapped in a
fishing net muzzle. We must not
try and retrieve these things, so
we can lay them out like retrived

pieces of archaelogy. We must run
and run and run. That is the only
rule here. No one is allowed to break
it, not even God himself.

 

[KittenishJane]

weary of pretty girls

eight beauty heads:
one on a sun-washed sill,
seven in the heaven
that has descended

below my climbing stairs.
i don't know how to tap,
but i stomp my feet
and dance them up and down.
bad girl to lift her skirts

and whirl above such glory.
forgive me, you angel hairs.
now let those blessed strands
shield your god-like faces
from my naked beneath. legs

scissor to and fro.
want to crew-cut you all,
but light remains
in the window.