4.24.2013

Astronomy of Love and Loss


The planets tingle down the spine.
Is it the cold eye strung to light
or the furnace of madness spitting dust
into shapes of us?

Your love burned me into man.
Is it the morning gravel sigh
that made your lips a fusion gold,
or the cavity it left in my chest
when I knew the stars had been a lie,
the space between them cold,
undreaming?

Your death froze me on the stand.
Is it the night we dreamt of boats
under a flourescent moon
or the words dripping from my tongue,
or the noises that my spirit sung
when the tubes fell in your throat,
when the warm pulse had left your heart,
when the constellations fell apart
and heat and cold were all the same
the patterns of our bodies lame,
even as they shivered
in death
and splendor?

4.18.2013

Like my Father


I have seen the honest man shake with rage,
eyes lost.
I have seen the liar cover eyes to safely gauge
the wisdom streaming down,
the rotten teeth the plastic crown,
the empty car whose engine revs and idle drown
the noises in my mind,
the phantom of his voice dead
but the headlights still shine.

I have seen the weak foundation,
I have seen the cost of fear,
I have seen the courage in the man that shifts the gear
out of the rotten roots of road.

Now here safe from shadow,
I am ready for the heavy load.