Dusk

Four daughters
Three sons
Seventeen first generation
Down underlanders
Pay your passage
To that golden shore
The ferryman whistles
He is eerie, featureless
Yet you are serene
Returning to heathered
Heaths far beyond
Our ken, with coins
Upon papery lids
Hiding those eyes
Bluer than dusk
Deeper than dawn

Still Here

The clan is keening
The kin are kneeling
And I am spinning
As all their prayers
Cut through me
And all your words
Speak through me

You are cold
So cold
You long for the blessed
Moment of commitment
Just to be warm again
To be next to your first love

You are weary
So weary
You long for the precious
Peace of eternity
Just to be calm again
To be with the lost ones

The clan is crying
The kin are pining
And I am sinking
As all their tears
Cut through me
And all your dreams
Speak through me

You are here
Still here
Although only we fey ones hear you
You are ours
Always ours

Grandfather

Sleepless I speak at length
With your restless phantoms
Now standing over me
I am receiving all your pain
Every toothache, every boot in the ribs
Now piling on top of my own
I am a whopping great weight
Sinking rapidly into oblivion
If only I could curl myself up
Until I disappear and join you
And my lost children
Three sparkling jewels in your palm
Wafting about the ether
But instead I endure
Reminding myself to breathe
And live justly, for your sake

Patriarch

One red
One gold
Both pale
Milky skin
Bloodlines blue
Underneath the ink
Paths colliding
Were you shamed by me?
Or were you bashful?
I never could tell
All I know is that
You bled Pict
Just like me
And you loved words
Just like me
And you sang with fervour
Just like me
Albeit to praise different gods
I know it hurt you
To look at me and see
The heretics of your past
The heathens left behind
But you loved me anyway
In your twisted manner
Your hands upon my shoulders
Eyes boring into mine
I will never worship your gods
You know I can't
I am of the old kin
The ones you pretended to forget
You saw it in my darkness
My wildness and wicked ways
I know it hurt you
But you loved me anyway
And now you sing to me
This time in dreams
Instead of in a church

Radio Silence

You left without warning
Leaving me cold in the sun
With a stubborn chin
And a love of words
These gifts are yours
I merely carry the legacy
Our love was stronger
Even than our disapproval
Of one another's passions
And your madness remains
In each of us, nudging
Dreams and visions forth
I have lost my voice and
My heart is shattered
All is silent and dull

Weaving

I inhabit a departure lounge
For vagabond souls
Steering them toward
Doors unopened
They may return
To feast or fast
To make an offering
Of verse or visions
Profound and peaceful
The may wick away
At puzzles or play
At palindromes
Borrow or rob
From one another's
Dream vaults
They may laugh
To themselves or unseen
Abstract concepts
Lost in the wind's weft
Weaving new worlds
As they wave
Farewell

Skin

From rake thin runt
To sumo wrestler
Overnight
Thank you puberty
For the perspective
For the pendulous
Breasts so heavy
And for the big
Beautiful belly
From sickly and skinny
To hefty and healthy
In a few short months
Thank you
Country air
For the strength
For the fearsome
Shoulders so broad
And for the sculpted
Strong legs
That carry me
And my victories
My story is my skin
My skin is my salvation
My salvation is my body
My body is my nirvana

Imaginings

The days feel sharp
But your skin is soft
Under my nails
And your quiet murmured
Pleasure a perfect foil
To pressure so dreadfully
Deafening to my delicate
Ears made centres of
Sweet sensation under
Your caresses
How I yearn for your smile
At week's end
How I long for your eyes
To drown in
How fortunate I am
To find myself enfolded
In your fond imaginings

Footlights

A chorus of marionettes
Conducted by cursed icons
Faces flushed by footlights
Feet numb now the act
Is closing, counting bars
Barely breathing now the
Wings speak to them
Sighing in approval
But the curtain never falls
Enchanted they remain
Upon the ancient rostrum
Repeating recitations
Even as the flesh falls
From their forms
Even as their bones break
Brittle and dusty
Crumbling
The puppets perform
Perpetually
Pitch perfect

Thief

Strange creature
You are set on
Cheapening me
To enrich yourself
Which shows off
Your stinginess
Rather than your worth
Which is dubious
Held together
By the flimsiest
Ideologies
Stolen not earned

August

Springtime teases us
Leaving a trail of clues
A hint of blossom here
A touch of a sunbeam there
But she has yet to show her
Glowing face so radiant
And brimful of hope
We must employ patience
A little longer yet
And we shall be gifted
With a transformation
Remarkable for its fertile blooms
And bowing branches
Blessed with bonbons

Hangnails

I'm all hangnails
And hairy legs
Poor memory
And melancholia
Classed as a clown
Yet I am fierce
Not just funny
I am strong
And sensitive beneath
Observant despite
The awkward obtuseness
Which colours my
Interactions interminably
A rare bird indeed
Cage-less
Clairvoyant and careful
Not to be too clever

Gateway

I'm the gateway girl
A rest stop between
Epiphanies
And preferred poisons
Immovable
Distracted by dreams
Of Basquait
Of Ginsberg
All the time being drawn
Upon to feed fevers
In addicts too blind
To see my beauty
If it exists at all
On this plane
Of this I am uncertain
But I know for sure that
I'm no-one's
Drug of choice
I'm no-one's oasis
I am merely the gateway girl

Vagina

I trust my vagina
She tells the truth
My heart is hurt
And hides away
My gut is greedy
And gives in
My mind is a minefield
And makes a mess
But my vagina
She's wise
She's survived horrors
She's fought for freedom
She has a mohawk
She's a punk
With pink lips
And she's tiny
But mighty, nevertheless
She's a bullshit detector
Of the highest calibre
She's mine
She's me
And she lives for integrity
For autonomy
And for pleasure unbound

Memory

Wretched bones
Clicking reluctantly
Ready to rise
And meet the day
Of disaster
The body remembers
Despite the mind's
Best efforts at numbness
Dumb from disillusion
The memory comes at twilight
Paralysing me and my
Poor old bones

Riptide

Blood suspended
In the surf
Drifting on the riptide
Saltwater
Selling my soul
For scant sustenance
Swimming in circles
Searching for simplicity
I am yours
I am yours
But I am a slave, too
To art, always
And never again
I am yours
I am yours
But I am a burden, too
To patience, always
And never again
Will I bleed for nothing
I will breathe
I will breathe
But I will choke, too
On words that sting
On melodies too morose
To be sung
I will breathe
I will breathe
Until the flood arrives
To claim its quarry

Nevermore

Alles lookenpeepers!
The penmonkey
Yodels insistently
Although my body
Yearns for sleep
It longs for loopy
Nights nipping
Away at nicotine
And ratchets
Reggae rhythms
On repeat, risking
Certain silliness
Sounding out
Soliloquy after
Secret soliloquy
Settle, I plead
Rest a while
Jumpy pixie
Writer-child
But protest is futile
Facing off against
The nevermore
World of winter's
Words

Barefaced

Stage-fright suddenly
Seems surplus
To requirements
As the curtains
Close on a tired
Player, mask already
Slipping away
Revealing reality
And its blemishes
Barefaced before
A startled audience
Of one
One without cruelty
One without malice
One without prejudice
One who sees beyond
Narrow judgements
And worn out arguments
To gaze upon
New scenes
Broader and warmer
And full of wonder

C**t

I saw that
I can read lips, bitch
While you were
Chasing boys
I was chasing dreams
While you were
Gossiping
I was studying
While you were
Tanning
I was working
But I don't insult you
I'm busy living
While you smirk
And call me names
And enjoy the comforts
Of your class
You think it's acceptable
To harass me
You think I can't hear you
You think I can't see you
You think you're untouchable
You think I care
I don't care what you say
But I do care that your kids
Can see you
Watch your language
Kids can read lips, too