mutants

condemned children
playing grownup
refusing to let time
rip them to shreds
tiny hearts cast in wax
and tweaked with a blowtorch
when necessary
to reinforce an image
or salvage false dignity

time change
the children change with them;
a new generation born
into pollution
awash in self-loathing
as the drive
themselves
around

carving a niche in a world
already cratered by greed
creating a semblance of self-worth
they beg and pucker
and pay
to be rich
the alternative is much
too embarrassing…

target

I feel more than hear
arrows slicing through the air near my head;
engraved with rain and blood,
green leaves and blue sea,
curve of hip and blessing of whisper.
My heart is perforated
from previous attacks;
the wounds seep and scab
and scar.
I stand among walls
studded with missed opportunities;
my bed is feathered
with mistakes and lessons,
and I find
more arrows littering the ground
with notes tied on with string.
Bending to read one,
I am shot trough the ribs
again.
I draw the thorn
from my side, and it says
I love you.

rain

it rained all night
black turned to grey but the sky
wouldn’t stop falling

dreams half-remembered
are soon completely gone;
but for brief glimpses
of sidewalks becoming streams
streets becoming rivers, carrying
houses downstream

all of it washed away
washed away,
forever.

single

dance, sweat, act
like you’re having fun be
cause
barring a miracle
you’re going home alone again
watch the lights connect
try and listen to what this girl has to say even though
the music is loud
drink
to improve your chances
loosen up, talk too much, and
at the very least
don’t stand around with
your hands in your
pockets
watch that fantasy girl
long enough to make
sure she’s not with someone
but so long that some else
asks her to dance
first
stop assuming a rejection scenario
and ask her to dance and
get rejected anyway
here’s a real fantasy: that girl asks
you to dance
go home
ears ringing and hand stamped
smelling like cigarette smoke but otherwise
no different.

hive

bees
everywhere
they drone so close to my ear that
my skin crawls

(i swoop
low,
through a dark hole
ringed by pulsing bodies
and glittering eyes
into the hive)

wings beat, tiny on my face
my eyelids flutter
as i recoil

i slap before i can think
(i sting)
ducking, running
(hissing away, threat
then darkness
i plummet)

red swelling blood
pinpoint venom
and it won’t stop
(hurting)

nemesis

now I will sing
and around my words
will be molten lava
so that to touch my song
you must be burned
seared, blackened
stripped to the bone

now I will dance
and around me will be the moon
so that to see me
your mind will be turned
to lunacy
you must become insane
like a void, like the smell
of chaos
like a madwoman
laughing at her own destruction

now I will write
and my poem will be
hammered into stone
and you, blind and burned
insane
will read my words
with your tongue