Sleepless Winter*

Winter nights bring quiet chaos -
Snowfall on a frozen lake,
Leafless trees shivering in the cold.

I reach to the left and find
An empty bedside,
dead skin cells and a cold lonely imprint of where

your frame

once

fit.

Time passes in Tokyo,
Milan,
Barcelona,
Beirut,
Tel Aviv.
The world ages and greys but you,
My love,
are ageless,
swallowed in youth -

Your curls are cherry blossoms,
Your eyes sprinkled with pollen.

My skin is snow white and yours
is kissed with rays of gold -
You are my exit,
My refuge from this
sleepless winter.

--

*Tentative title

For some reason this thing isn't letting me visually structure the poem the way I want. I don't know why. Hmm.

(3/3/2010) I decided to change the line "stuck in my mind's perpetual spring -" to "swallowed in youth -" thanks to the constructive criticism I received. Plus, I like sexual imagery!

What did Man say to the Hummingbird?

"Slow down, my child, your heart moves too quick for your mind.

Don't you know that your heart

can only take you

so far?"

The Old House.

Aged and fragile, I creep up the stairs

of this old house.

I navigate its narrow corridors and

pick at cobwebs along the windowsills.

There are pictures on the walls--

black and white still frames of picnics and piñatas,

smiles and surprises--

but their frames are cracked,

dividing the photos into tiny, fractured memories.

Though the paint is peeling, the moldings are fresh--

a vain attempt to try to preserve something once cared for.

I’m trying to admire the antiquity, the architecture,

but the floorboards creak and groan,

and with each step forward

I’m afraid I’m going to fall through.

I can’t step anywhere in this damn house

without destroying something beautiful.

My Eyes are Filled with Sounds.

my eyes are filled with sounds-
melodies written by your movements,
etched forever in my retinas,
soaking slowly into my mind.
your sight makes me sweat beads of anxiety
and i,
i am overcome by your rhythm,
knees knocking, hearts pumping,
eyes locked, smiles set,
you and i, i and you and us
coming together in close sincerity
surrounded by the music that our bodies make.

i Am

i am nothing...

but sin & skin
a mistake left at the doorstep of your heart.
crushed, by you
into one thousand pieces
that i do not deserve.
i wish you'd ground me harder
until i became the nothing
that i am told to be.
the nothing
i made myself.

the nothing
you loved once.

Streetlight Serenade

the walking man leads me onward into anonymity
where my skin turns blue and humid
and my hands shape forms of gold and wisdom.

where the walls rot into rainbows
and the sky melts away into the sea,
converging at the horizon
leaving man in a drunken stupor,
besotted by the splendor of God.

i am beside myself,
the feeling has fled my fingertips
and i am swallowed by a smooth melody
soft and warm against my ear
cold to the touch--
death in song.

but when the sun comes up i am lifted
and the ruins left behind me are too massive
to ignore in sleep.

In your Sanctum

seeing you towering over me--
firm and powerful,
parting the seas--
i take refuge in your shadow.
your movements are fluid
and they engulf my body in whispers and waves.
kisses like prison bars,
i succumb to your wishes,
my fulfillment is hidden in your satisfaction.
raid my body and my soul,
touch the deepest parts of me,
let me swallow your essence
and taste the thoughts your lips can’t release.
my fingertips trace the outlines
of your conscience
and our spirits intertwine in ecstasy.
we are freed from physical shackles
alone and united
in the confines of your sheets.