The Coming Storm

Sometimes the storm, it's just coming.
No matter what you do.

And you can see it coming.
The skies darkening. 
The storm clouds gathering.
The change in the winds.

And you can feel it coming.
In your knees.
In your gut.
A twitch that won't go away, deep down inside.

It's like depression.
When you can see all the signs.
When you can literally feel it closing around you.
And you still can't do a damned thing about it.

And then, it is upon you.
The darkness crackles and burns.
The skies open up, releasing a pounding cold soaking rain.
The winds roar around and through you.

Then. Quiet?
The clouds fall away.
A ray of sunshine tentatively peaks.
Then another.

You unfurl from your protective crouch.
And stretch out your arms to the sky.

It Happened.

It was my fault. 

I shouldn't have smiled that way.

But if I just don't talk about it, I can make it not be true.

* * * 

It's just. 

I can't stop thinking about it.

The teapot is whistling. My mind wanders. And there he is again.

I feel him. Pressing against me. Testing then advancing. 

I close my eyes. I wish myself away from there.

* * * 

It's just. 

I can't stop thinking about it.

On the subway. I feel someone's hand brush against me and jump sky high.

But it was nothing. Except there I am again. 

In the small room. My room. Bright pink. My dolls hiding scared in the corner.

* * * 

It's a good thing I'm strong now. 

I can store away the bad stuff into porcelain container. Seal it up tight.

I can keep him away from me now.

If I just don't talk about it, I can make it not be true.

It's just. 

I can't stop thinking about it.

Gerunding While Poeming

"Do you mind my asking you?

              I have a writing question.

              It's about the parts of speech."

"In the composing of a poem, what of I-N-G'ing the verb? You know, do you ever noun-ify it?

"Well. The truth is, it's hard to get away with a gerund," he said, with a tinge of wistfulness.

He looked up and paused. Imparting this small teaching made him smile.

Was this the issuing of a challenge? Or a warning?

But my questioning found no mark. I didn't speak it.

I just dutifully recorded his comment, my day's workshopping now complete.

Rise (A Haiku)

Split apart, lying
A heap of useless pieces
Before the rebirth

On Our Way There

"We're going to a place where sad washes out cleanly with just a bit of soap and warm water. 

Where joy bursts in brightly and then settles in for the long haul."

Wintry Mix

The plows come. The salt is laid.
Puddles of quicksand slush gather at the curb.

The Words Between Them: Desire

She is covered with the dark smudges of his want.

The words leap across the crackling space between them, 

and tumble across her, forming small bridges.

A deep red tumbles down her arm, 

a thin line tracing out a single cursive word, 

Freeform prose runs together and then bleeds apart.

The letters gently slip over her skin, snaking and rearranging. 

The 'D' spills out first, spreading, pooling and finally taking shape on the top of her hand
Trailing behind it, as if on a kite string, 'e' and 's' and then 'i,' 'r,' and 'e,' follow.

He imprints his want first onto her body,
then her soul.

What Was That Energy?

Like an energy that is looking for its right place

Warm and achy and longing until it finds its mark

Then It can settle into that band - where it belongs. 

And then everything feels right, like it clicks.

Like that.

Like electrons, they belong in a certain energy band, and they give off energy until they settle right there. 

Where they belong. 

Like home.

The Forgotten Poem - In Verse - Untitled (1994)

Mind-Body

Your mind in those panties is the sexiest thing on this earth."

He said to her, eyeing her dimples, and her mischievous budding smile.

"You should see my soul in that bra."

Her words were bold. But she shivered at his touch.

Fog (Haiku)

A fog blankets them.

Wisps of him tumble and drift

A panic but then calm.

Perfect

"But the laughter part," he said. "That was perfection."

The Cure's Disintegration - A Cento

The Cure: Disintegration*

i ran to your heart to be near,
     and we kissed as the sky fell in; then you smiled for a second

i will kiss you - i will kiss you - i will kiss you,
forever on nights like this.

the soft and the black and the velvety up tight against the side of me

let's move to the beat,
sweet [and] wild...
i tremble[], stuck in honey

whatever words i say, i will always love you
....you shatter me.
the happiness of falling down laughing,
      and i really believe[] that this time [is] forever
     
if only i could fill my heart with love,  
be still - be calm - be quiet now, my precious,
[I go] down on my knees...hungrily.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*This poem is composed of lines from each of the tracks on The Cure's Disintegration album (1989). 

The songs are: Closedown, Disintegration, Fascination Street, Homesick, Last Dance Lovesong, Lullaby, Pictures Of You, Plainsong, Prayers For Rain, The Same Deep Water As You, and Untitled

The Words Between Them

He writes them on her heart.

Imprinting himself there. 

So she won't forget.

He writes them.

Until the words cover her.

Until she is covered with him.

The words, slick on her body.
She is marked, for all the world to see.

The letters move

sliding over her skin, snaking and rearranging, 

by magic

freeform prose, runs together, bleeds apart

forming small bridges to his soul.

Electrons fall to their band,

particles scramble themselves into chaos, 

flowers arch towards the bright sunbeams

Everything bends

towards its natural state

He bends towards her. 

He arches his back; reaches to touch her lips. 

He scrambles - he is her - and she is he - and they are one - into chaos; her wild hair everywhere

He falls into her bed.

When he thinks of her,

she knows.

The words burst from his soul but out of her heart,

And tumble across her, 

She is covered 

in smudges of lust.

And she won't forget,

Because he has imprinted himself, etched their story on her body and soul.

On her heart.

 

Night Rain (Haiku)

And now it's raining.

A cold wet blanket descends.

Harder and harder.

Kiss Me

On your soft lips,
that fit into the grooves of my mouth,
so perfectly.

In My Smile

"Is it true?" she whispered.
A little girl, at bedtime.

(It's true.)

Stay in my smile.
Stretch out. Sleep.

And she saw his eyes,
looking at her own.

And she knew.

The Day Vanishes

I finished scratching out the lines,
The two thin pencil-drawn lines
- along the top and along the bottom -

                leaving black smudges and specks of pink rubber.

It's a little trick to writing straight.

The boundaries are gone, and between the ghosts of the lines, is a bright white emptiness.

Falling into Sunset (c. 1990)

Did you know that the sun doesn't rise each morning --
It just sits there.
And we fall.

Shakespeare Is In Dire Straits - A Love Story For the Ages #Mashup

What light through yonder window breaks?
I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
It is Juliet.
Juliet is the sun.

He's underneath the window: "With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls"
A lovestruck Romeo steps out of the shade.
Says something like, "You and me babe—how 'bout it?"

Juliet says, "How now, who calls?"
"Hey it's Romeo.  Hey, la, my boyfriend's back."

"Juliet, when we made love you used to cry.
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs.
I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die."

Silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night, like softest music to attending ears.
Now all I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme

A pair of star-cross'd lovers, two of the fairest stars in all the heaven.
I'd do the stars with you any time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A #mashup of lines from Shakepeare's classic play from 1597, Romeo and Juliet, and The Dire Straits' hit song from 1981, Romeo and Juliet.