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Star SwallowerShe's
an enigma.
her head, a stadium drowning with applause.
yet its seats are empty like the notebooks
where armies of words should be marching.
instead she dismantles clocks
thinking she can play with time.
behind the mountains lurks a darker reasoning
a twisted labyrinth of rationalizations
hidden from the suns brilliance.

Years alone beneath the bleached fluorescent
reading those already dancing in the moonlight.
she is living a literary half-life through them
hiding from the symmetry of the writer.
licking salty rocks of excuses.
saving her secrets for posthumous excavation.
decades of productivity left for moths to chew.
you're throw

starspunobserving the romanticism
of hooded cemetery kids,
smoking cigarettes pretending
they are not dead.

you were always so sure
about my uncertainty,
you watched
all my pick up lines
drop things.

we built the heat
of the evening from the solidity
of starlight,

pretended
that two teens at the park
at midnight
is the stuff of teen novels
(cliches dim on
our leaf-gold horizon)

your eyes darted
from the gray expanse
of the churchyard & wandered
in thoughtful
paths.

i wanted to ask you
if i could follow. shove
the words aside &
remember that i came here alone.

i remember our innocence
in the static b e t w e e n
stars

Sharing Communion Amongst Creation -DFC Day 30I.
The sun stretches her caressing hands.
Balancing on the horizon, it seems.
Last rays of day scatter across the lands.

As through a glacier, the light gleams
Over meadows and memories past,
Dripping off cardinal's wings into azure streams.

Galloping alongside stallions unsurpassed,
Golden beams falling with prancing leaves
And slipping into cracks of canyons vast.

Shadow wraps around illumination like sleeves.
Billows as smoldering incense in sacred art.
The day has left, has hastened like ghosts and thieves.

Shade stands resolute and rampart.
Rapt with the veiled, vanquished moon.
Hidden in devious clouds, the waves devoid o

Justifications and Salted Smiles"I don't think I'm holding on any longer
I'm diving in.
I wish that you would see,
there's a magical land at the bottom of the ocean
where waterproof lungs let you be
everything you've dreamed.
You can bury underneath the sand
and not be found-
it's the land that's been promised to me
in late night whispers
and burnt tears
wasted on things that don't matter.

I know it's real,
broken minds can't lie
and I can feel it in my bones-
there's something more.
What other reasons would we live for?

They say you inhale saltwater
and exhale enlightenment.
The waves pour over you
and finally make you clean (pure)
No one knows where y

Christmas on the Border of England and Over ThereIt's snowing on Christmas Eve, and half the men I've ever known in my life are dead. But that was in the war, supposedly a long way away from Oxfordshire, where I am standing outside my brother-in-law's beautiful brownstone house watching the snow quietly cover the hillside beyond. The daylight is dying and it casts the once-white ground in pink, and the pine trees are black against the hillsides, and the truth of it is that the war is not far away because it has followed me here. I am smoking a cigarette, watching the hill, and my mind is slowly counting down the list of men that I once knew, now buried under hills and snow, all of the way f

in dark eyeethereally floating there
envying the lust of life
luridly at a rolling boil

expansive outcome of supernova
distant alluring signal
behind fine line lashes

comet trails pioneer the iris
tease of civilizations incalculable
ancient creation secrets born anew

granted before wish uttered
just a shy blink leaves me
ethereally floating there

J'AI VU TOMBER UN EMPIRE - I SAW THE FALL...(English version below)

J'ai vu tomber un Empire.

À Marie.

Cité désagrégée par les vents de la guerre
Murs d'airain éventrés
Coeurs froissés à la peine un espoir comme cendres
Par-delà les tertres froids
Dialogue d'un être et d'un néant
Soi contre moi
Te bercer dans les bribes balbutiées
Fils d'argent d'un discours sur l'or de ton coeur lourd
La feinte d

Radioactive Snowflakes Oh boy, boy, boy
For the last shall be,
and that arctic disposition will melt away in time
written on a hearth rug, read it and then
turn the dial back and tune into Goodbye FM

"Oh boy, boy, boy
Goldilocks should have been clad in HazMat,
bear in mind the Gouda enacts the rat trap"

For the last shall be,
when fractals free fall from the sky
thickening icycle eyes, cementing prisms with time
...and I
measured it all in half-life

Oh boy, boy boy
That arctic disposition will melt away in

we should celebratei.
i tried to think of pain as a flower,
first it blossoms

  and then

  it wilts away.

but i won't let myself disappear
along with it,

i won't
give you that.

(it's not the agony that makes
me scream, it's the flavor).

ii.
and you whispered softly
"i'll rip your heart out and replace it

with a song,

it's christmas soon, and
we should celebrate".

  you've always used my scars
  as a calendar,

  as a way to remind yourself

  "today is tuesday

  and i still exist".

iii.
(it's morning now because
i can see
the sunlight

through my eyelids

and imagine

EurydiceHis voice enveloped me, and I became
Myself again--I heard it in the song:
A mordent on a note he held too long;
A stutter in his voice. I heard my name
In these and felt a happiness the same
As when I saw him first. Oh, I had longed
To hear him sing again, but this last song--
It was so beautiful. And it remains
The best of human works, though none shall hear
Its sorrowed notes; the lyre's meand'ring tune
Through vast arpeggios and Death's expanse
Except the dead. It will not disappear
'Till all the world's destroyed, and hell's exhumed--
Such music must be worth a backwards glance.

Counting SheepIt's in the way you
press your spine, bare
and firm, against mine
as I shiver -
The molecules of
our make-up
moving faster,
heat radiating
between naked flesh.
It is an instant
of consciousness
before I am lulled
back to sleep by
the rhythms that
translate to you.
It's in the way I
sigh sleepily
into the nape of
your neck and count
your heartbeats with
my breaths - more
mesmerizing than
lost sheep jumping
fences, more peaceful
than the resounding
of waves lapping shores.
It's in the way your
arms find me in the
coldest hours that
I know I am home.

AntiquatedYour rose petal hips
Will always demur
To your ivory lace slip,
The stockings climbing
High on calves and thighs
Like a garden trellis
Near the blooming soul
Between your open legs,
The place where he
Could love you the most

Harvest MoonThree a.m. moonlight
across lazy dust motes; a
tree scrapes the window.
Your arm weighs on my hip like
whispered promises of love.

earth circuitAnd when the sun sinks, the earth's skin crawls:

I.
I wonder if this awkward creature would notice me the way I notice him.
He's so tragic at his throne
I stare after him longingly.
And yet,
He never realizes that I'm the one
Who forever basks in his brilliant beams.
If only he knew how much brighter he could burn
[with me]
He'd light up the universe.

II.
I heard him speak of thirst, once.
The quenching lust of the stars had run dry.
So that night, I brought along a jar of acid.
(And how it gleamed in his glow).
I handed it to him, wrapped in taffeta ribbons,
screaming
I wish curdling joy
On my gurgling boy

Apologies to LaoEach day is its own microstep--
since I woke from my mother's womb,
I longed to mimic new words, trammel
the sound until it blossomed

like a newborn, and oh how I birthed
stories--told them how I wanted
the author's sacrosanct title
once I've grown. But growing meant

learning the practice of citizens
and their due contribution: beast-slaying
nature of please, thank you,
an apology: sincere

or not. Then there is time--the first
breath of nine, exhalation
of five, the suffocating mandate
of overtime. You grow used to it:

the cyclical disappearance of parents,
pervasive need of sleep, a home-
cooked meal's gradual transmogrific

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Death Is The Journey To LifeHe said death was the journey to life,
But I just couldn't understand
How it could be, the key to living
Is to just embrace the end.
He assured me it would be scary,
"Death will take you on a ride
Through the darkened streets of sorrow,
Homes of fear and selfish pride.
All your sins will come to haunt you
Taunt you, feed on your missteps.
Each mistake and flaw will come to light
And dance with your regret."
He told me all my darkest hours
Would align and lace with pain,
And when I think I cant get lower,
I'd get drunk on dirty shame.
He said, "Darling, don't you worry,
Only the best of us make it out.
Just remember, death w

Return The LightFloat on like a raindrop on the ocean;
Stand out like the color red against the sky.
It doesn't matter the song, if it moves you,
Let it return the light to your eyes.

Breathe in every day that you're given;
Let go of each moment slipped away.
It doesn't matter the words, if they move you,
Let them return the light to your days.

Rejoice in each storm that brings challenge;
Embrace every wind that threatens change.
It doesn't matter the boy, if he moves you,
Let him return the light to your face.

Dance in the rain that pours to wash you;
Stop to watch the sunset and moon rise.
It doesn't matter the girl, if she moves you,
Let he

This Old Flame...Full title: "This Old Flame Has Finally Burned Out"

I take back what I said about forever,
"I'm sorry" wont ever be enough.
You led me to believe we were special;
I led you to believe I was tough.
I'll forget all those words we recited,
Every long conversation at night,
All those whispered endearments have faded;
I'm no longer a moth to your light.
I'll sing all your songs to another,
Without wishing I was singing to you;
I'll let go of everything we started -
Unfinished, dishonest, untrue.
Our "story" is no longer being written;
I've written you out of this scene,
This time you wont be returning.
You're no longer who I see wh

Everything I Never Want To BeYour words slip through my ears like poison,
And I wish I didn't have to listen anymore.
I'll beat myself up later for caring,
And allowing you to make me feel so unsure.
I'll always blame you for my downfall -
For every single doubt I've ever had,
For every choice I may have regretted,
For every fault and every feeling of dread.
You were the voice saying that I couldn't,
You were what told me that I wasn't enough,
You were the one who made me fearful,
Mistrusting, closed off, but mostly, tough.
You were the reason I tried harder;
You were the reason I had something to prove,
And as much as I hate to admit it,
I wou

Falling In Love With...Full title: "Falling In Love With Night; Song of The Insomniac"

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray to god I might find peace.
But it's that hour where anything goes,
When I can embrace being alone,
And count each minute as a lifetime
Because every single moment is mine.
I can let my quiet music play;
I allow my mind to run away.
Get lost in thoughts of being at home,
And tell myself I'm not alone.
It's that time when the whole world sleeps,
And I can take my time to breathe.
I'll tell myself that I'm alright,
Allow myself to fall for night.
I'll love the darkness; praise the sky,
And tell myself it's not a lie.
I love the nig

And It Was All Just A DreamMy yesterdays are all a blur. Each day was just the same.
I feel no tie to things I've lost, or hearts that slipped away.
I replay moments, hours, days, they all feel like a dream;
Faces past, lost hands to clasp, they're but a mist, it seems.
I search my heart for long lost love, or anger, even hate;
I beg for feeling, plead for passion, I guess I look to late.
I squint at memories of lovers, maybe some regret?
It could have been a drunken fling, but I seem to forget.
I close my eyes and drift away to days under the sun;
I breathe in rain, but feel no pain, my colors seem to run.
I place my hand upon my heart and feel it's steady b

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Submitted: December 26, 2011
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Holiday Tableau

by *RiseandBe, Dec 26, 2011, 12:29:43 PM
Literature / Poetry / General Poetry / Traditional Fixed Forms

Crushed tinsel, sunken
spirits littering
the melancholy
atmosphere of the
holiday after-
glow - It does not shine.

Torn garland, empty
bottles strewn across
abandoned party
rooms, reminiscent
of the previous
night's festivities.

Colorful wrappings,
packaging tape, bags
stuffed with boxes and
tissue paper - trash.
Re-gifted rejects
left behind, thoughtless.

Filled coffee cups the
morning after - warmth
to replace fading
cheer. Resolutions
revised, for the fast
approaching new year.