These Ribs II
posted 4th September 2024
climb inside my carcass & I'll climb inside yours
my esteem is buried in the sand
that lies between the tides of our divergent ways
where you dug the hole and I closed it over
once we had paid for our brief times together with that price
my toes get cold trying to keep the wet sand patted
and yours kick at the ground,
you bark for it to stay
but not directly so do you
command me - you let me bury my own pay
then the sea on your side starts turning in
and mine on my side mirrors it
and we are pushed hard together to stand on that place and
is your esteem enough to save us?
soulmates
'bone of my bones'
Dominoes Falling
I have lost what happens when dominoes fall
in love.
Knock their chests, chest to chest. Exclaim, Hoorah!
Then bow serenely, swans on water.
And from there things grow.
What begins with because (as inane as that)
becomes outstanding; even ransoming the broken
poking bits of awkward and ill-gotten gains.
I have an empty belly. My bell jar.
No knock-on of high days:
the consequence of smiles,
tender and fevered touch, vows.
No nativities. Unbaked boxed cakes.
I have lost the follow-through of grew.
I am not a work of art to be re-imagined.
Worse: I am a tune, Play Me. There is no tune.
I have beat with a bear's roar; I am full as a bear.
I am a long-lost child's game.
Spools and ropes. Blocks and shapes.
Before dawn, I'd had a place.
me, your missing crescent
you, my missing mine . by shadow, by juxtaposition