when the clock stops moving and the earth is full
midnight’s swan bows to my pillow in bewitching invite
magick returns me,
letting down its hair
flirting in the onyx
rolling cross my tongue
patient lips float in slipstreams wake
a tapestry of chiffon
and unequivocal grace
undressing in the liquid of time
til dawn’s flicker of sun
the words take breath along her secret scroll
as moon gods sip soothingly upon a gorged soul
fermenting the chaos from a thousand eyes of day
til darkness hushes all, hearkening but one pair to stay
waning the tides of dark and of bright
battling there in eyes swelled in the stillness of night
trimming quite reluctantly unkept thoughts to the quick
burning burning burning down to midnight’s wick
all as moon gods unfold a heart’s silken stole
for words to take breath along her secret scroll
at horizon’s last dance
i clench the sun
with unfettered wings
in waning stance
no great rush to touch the void
too much ado adjoining burns
with such a choice subject to learn
each yearn shall find its voice in turn
in ethereal parade
cluttering the sky
the dreams and fears
of pilgrimages forlorn collide
whispers of elpis ride the night
betwixt petals and diamonds
as a coronation of jewels take flight
even when asleep
our lips be pursed
we’ll tell a tale bereft of verse
weave me between the weeds of your sea
lapping slowly in the shallows of clover skinned pleas
let us babble in the salty brine
getting lost in the dawn
find our freedom amid the salamanders
get drunk on the blue wind
and find our way home
beneath our tree
where my lungs come back to me
for it is there
among borrowed ears
the cadence of you,
of i
falls freely
beneath blooming arms, those towering magic wands
those leaves, an artistic blend of hues
lent by the color of our words
birthed from our woes, our joys
now drip dropping in tiny doses
a repertoire of moments
gifts caressed from our swollen lips
beneath this our found sanctum
a secret place, a perfect hiding spot
where treasured scribing
and whispers in the wind
hold a love affair in soft reverie
infused within the veins of its hollow
beyond distances they traveled
weathered testaments of time
reaching for the sun
how they glow
how it flows
upwards
outwards
reflecting within
beneath our tree
where my lungs come back to me
Listen to me read Sanctum
take my hand
follow the narcissus plea
to run wild in unkept forests
to stilled breath in gardens
beneath the trees
take my hand
in the union of water and earth
where lyrics that burn within
speak to giants, and wander into your dreams
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Listen to me read Wild Geese
deep in my earth your words survive
there beneath
the ageless,
the night,
the moon’s silken eyes
deep in my earth your words quietly stroke
a palace of blues,
of grays,
of an artist reborn
as a lover awoke
obscure is the wolf
knowledge bonds with the morrow
in autumn’s echo
let us linger
let us crawl
in the crush of the waves
betwixt bare channels
of aching oaks and mountain veins
my rain, my rain
where my woodsmoke and spirit meditate
in the narrows of you