kimono (haiku)

weeknights in silken
somnolent embraces
make me luminous

do better

shake off the shame
and let the lesson in
you can be kinder
 

thursday/january

sitting on stone walls
where memories call
out from the mortar
and across the street
a santa claus lingers
long forgotten 
listless in an upstairs
window of a building
project poised for
a new life

cover to cover

we scribe in triplicate

all the things

we can’t say out loud

we speak through touches

and teeth

but he doesn't bite

worse, he savours

every serrated edge

of my armour

a snake of sweat

is all that separates

his hands and the

spectres that surround me

our infatuation

rewritten as affection

and indexed under joy

transcribing my instincts

he has made me a

harlot languishing restless

for his honeyed tongue

a calligrapher of daring

moves along my spine

paints me with desire

my reckless heartsong

is rapid percussion

he sings tone circles

syncopates a connection

our bodies bound

polyrhythmic pulse

travelling unmapped desires

strike a new backbeat 

he leaves me breathless

speaking tongues with untidy

tattooed calling cards

we scribe in triplicate

all the things

we can’t say out loud

we speak through touches

and teeth

now, then, always

when it's all
gone back to black
i take my shoes off
and raise my voice
i let my body
do the screaming
and my head 
do the aching
to save my
heart the trouble

smoke

i wanna talk about love
but our house is on fire
i wanna talk about hope
but our house is on fire
i wanna talk about peace
but our house is on fire

forward

jumped in the deep end
landed on his spitfire honesty
scorched but otherwise
unscathed
put myself back together
and marched on