American Restless

Lay still with me here in the dark.
Let the rumours sing us both to sleep.

And in the morning, we'll emerge together
to carry on minding the gaps with such life
that they'll hear it back in London.

Cellophane Sugar

Lift my house up high.
Held above your head.
Jolt. Rattle. Rummage.

And when you're done;
after the whole of the unfastened
is trickled out its shattered windows,
ripped screens, and hanging doors;
promise to let me
stand quietly at your side;
where you'll look towards me
just like the first time
and say it all over again
—the way it is
when life is mostly hurting
and you can't handle things.

So the story will be.
Or the first one, at least.

Garden Colors

I've seen it happen
so I know how it looks.
And it looks the way this is beginning to.

Just some at first; only a few.
But then more after that.
And even more after those are gone too;
swallowed by the spaces inbetween.

Hearts thrown open wide;
the feeling of her held close
buries deep inside.

Modicum

Sprung forth in the life of night,
I hurdle towards the hinges between us
to throw free the locks and arrest the tone
of this cage's sounding bell.

Uprightly silent; eyes met 'fore the open portal
and violently aligned in hope
—that like a drive
through the dark and quiet of its deep black;
we might feel anything, finally.

Gunmetal Trinity

Don't get too close.
Don't reach too far.

Rather, do your best to make friends
with the fact that today is already
fifteen years from yesterday,
and twenty-five from the one before that

—while I have to sit here
and write somber words about it every time.

Magic Hours

Lost in time
—afraid to sleep for fear of a place
that I've seen in my dreams
and that I'm worried is where I'll die.

Neither followed nor lead—
left with arms outstretched
but empty
—I write my way
across the underworld
and through the afterlife.

. . . Too scared to apologize after this long;
nervous that I've missed any chance I may have had
while we were both still awake above.

Hovercrafted

The more I understand,
the bigger it gets.

And the more and more
and more I learn
I'll remember,
than I do that I'll forget.

But the better I am,
the worse it feels.
And the clearer I see it,
the sadder it is.

Cotton cloth beneath her toes
and she's so far away from me now.

Under the Tables With You

Fingers to our lips while they talk,
I won't make so much as a whisper
should you find a way outside.

Never a question, not a word
—I'll follow you there if you'll have me;
close behind and holding on
until we've broken free from beneath.