self pity

chains
of
invisible iron

intangible
shackles
bite my flesh

leaving
bloodless wounds
that

fester
and
itch

while

i
channel
tantalus

performing
a sisyphian
chore

screaming
verses
straight

from
cassandra's
throat

first kiss

frozen
water
and
time

we
worked
all day to
carve out
a trough in
white
snow now
gray and
muddy

she
was filled
with
the terror
of jesus
and
hell

but
as we
tempted
death and
injury
thumbing our red
noses at
fear
the way only
children do
and have
always
done

and always
will

she
leapt up
and
kissed me

i fell

in love
before

i knew

what that
meant

that
moment
remains
frozen

and
the wound
has
never
truly

healed

summer twilight

sun slides down beyond
gold
and red
crawling
across fading
azure
deepening to
violet

sweat
makes faded cotton
sheets cling
to
my hairless limbs

drawn curtains
filled with
brown
and
yellow
flowers
illuminated in full
bloom

boredom fueled
anxiety
inflames my
eyes
my mind spilling
over
the oil of resentment

in the gloaming
a woman's scream
faded and
echoing
from distance
wraps
around

tall
spider armed
silhouettes

the howl
of
longing
despair
agony
calls
to my
timid soul
cowering in loathsome
flesh
hiding
from the
rage
and mercurial affections
of god

haunting
the silence in my
dimmed hearing
and i see
through the cataracts
of time
a place where
fear was easily
seen
and heard
leaving behind the
longing for those
beautiful
wails

in deepening blackness
all fades
leaving the bitter taste of ash
as my limbs
grow
numb
and my sight
fades

true nature

she moved
like
a 40 year-old whore
trapped
in a 20 year-old
ingenue

a laugh
straight out
of
moscow

purrs
straight from
a dream

hiding
a
nightmare

who else
could
move
whisper
moan
grind

in

smooth

beguiling

charm

easing the prey's
caution
diffusing the prey's
fear

until

the
emptied husk
is left

swaying in the breeze

wondering
why
it didn't see this
coming