Evolution

We wrestle with a bright, shining night
Chafing the milky curve of the moon
And speak to stem the starlit tide
Blinding our tongues, whiting out our words
Under a glowing talcum cover of linen snow.

We are grappling with ourselves alone,
Embracing the empty, glaring moon
And holding back the living starlight
We curse instead as glittering chains
That pale, trembling hands are pulling taut
In our callow and cowering hearts.

Soft, clutching hands squeeze the night from me
Freeing me to ride the sweep of the moon
And inhale those waves of starlight
Falling on her fingers, pooling in her palms.

Trusting The Light

So many colored days,
When sun-bleached skies are like oceans
And plumes and pillows of clouds
Are like islands and peninsulas drifting
Beyond the reach of storms.
When green bellies of bushes bulge,
And silver summer heat sparkles
Like glittering mist lingering in the air.
So many colored days, so long ago.

Once I could turn the world upside down
And dangling from green limbs of grass
Shake loose sunlight from graying skies.
I could fly between the thick brown trunks,
Wooden pillars of stalagtite trees
Reaching to the skies below.
All things were ascending, enlarging,
New, equal, and within my grasp,
But even dreams can fall to the earth,
And even the brightest colors lose luster
And bleed with time.

Time turns the world in the other direction,
Hemming sunlight in fading fabrics,
Its white shine dulling to autumn brown
Like oak leaves after fall's first blue chill.
Clutching colors still swirling within,
Words like purple sparks fall from my fingers
And burn apart the strangling black knots
That leave me gasping for grace to grow.
I will mold new shades from my soul,
Streaming blue shafts of light will pierce silence
And surround each touch of my hand
With a glow, illuminating what I did not see.
I cannot turn the world upside down now
And will never trust sunlight again.

Bloomington's Best Betrayal

I didn't want to be there
In the dishonest florescent glow
Of a Steak and Shake parking lot
Fanning the fires of another.
After creamy flirting over milkshakes,
Her mouth was convulsive and tart.
After kissing her again
I slid my tongue across the roof of my mouth,
Clasped our hands together and smiled.
But I swear,
I didn’t really want to be there.

I wanted to be with you,
But we even drank our coffee too.
Bloomington's Best Betrayal
Served by a slack-eyed college girl
Lacking the sparkling aplomb
Of her televised counterparts.
When I say I thought of you.
You can believe it, 'cause it's true.
Your home was a mile away
But I wondered if my scream
Could cover such space.
I would shout
Look, look at what you've made me do,
I don't want to be here.
I want to be with you and you won't let me.

I followed her home,
Driving through hazy globes of light,
My hands flexing and contracting,
My eyes stinging, my sight in misty tatters.
And in the dark, cluttered patchwork
Of a single mother's apartment
She glistened like a raven in the sun
Just before I clutched her wings.

Though I didn't want to be there,
I did not leave,
The icy threads of my lust
Tied me to her bed.
And when she thrashed greedily into me,
I hissed there would be no other
Until the icy threads uncoiled
And my slurring promise dissolved

I didn't want to be there,
I wanted to be with you
And I wept in another woman's bed,
You can believe it, 'cause it's true.
The ties binding us in betrayal
Were a stain between us
And we laid awake until dawn
Like preening penitents
Now shaking at the scope of our sin.
And since I didn't want to be there
I wouldn’t see her again.

Bring me another coffee
To thin the filth and bile
Inflaming my stomach
When I recall my guile.

This is the poem for when all else fails
To blacken your broken tears
And a paper cross you can climb
To show your love of nails.
This is the flavor of your betrayal
That you will taste when you insist
It was her who left you in the end.