Always something thereYour earrings are still beside my bedThey're on the floorGathering cobwebs and dust bunnies But they're thereI can't make myself pick them upBecause that might disturb the memoriesThat faintly shimmer Black and white like these mesmerizing ovalsTracing dreamlight-nights on your skinAs I rake meaningless mandalas on another's backI only ever worshiped youHeaped my lips like garlands on your breastsNever daring to violate a goddessSo desecrating an atheist worshiperTo remove all memoriesExcept a goddess's earrings on my floorA goddess who was only a woman But the only woma
LiesShe always covered herself in liesTracing 'unworthy' on her armsAnd 'never hungry or good enough' on her bellyHer masks were always artfully appliedAnd her made-up happiness as perfect as her make-upWe always ignored her realityTyping 'clichéd' as a perfect labelAnd 'pretender' as an explanation for inattentionWe hid behind self-satisfaction And laughter as artificial as our acrylic nailsHe always stood off to the sideTracing 'unworthy' on acts of praiseAnd 'for your glory and praise alone' on sunrisesHe never said a word to herAnd his shimmering silent life changed her forever
JoyWho wants to die to live foreverOr somehow stand for eons among the starsWhen the raindrops now waken With thunderstorm alarm clocksAnd life and love are inextricably twined
RosesI've been:Clutching roses too tightlyScattering their petals to the five windsNorth, East, South, West, and NowhereBleeding from paper cutsInflicted with velvet honestyPain from the most innocent bloomsI realized:Some underlying balance Never came in your armsIt was found in gratuitous charityI will always love youEven if my passion is elsewhereAnd my heart is more fully drawn to Christ
MayThere are diamonds, strung out like headlights on an empty highway,scattered and clumped into brilliant blindness.The velvet they scream on is frayingtwisted and shredded apart, like power linesswaying forlornly on a somber sky.This edge beyond the edge lights up,pop concert bright behind the jagged-tooth fringe,and I wonder:How many more must die before summer is born?
allow me to tell youi can lie and be happy to your facegenteel in its blushesand refined attempts to cast offthe lingering smell of cowsand cheap cigarette smokebut where there are no liesi must tell youthisishell