There are so many rooms in the house of sleep,
and for too long,
I’ve been pacing the hallway
listening to things clatter from behind locked doors,
and I’ve been too tired to stop
and search my cluttered pockets
for the keys.
It’s easy to talk myself into
believing this isn’t necessary,
that I have everything I need
in this narrow corridor—
but last night sleep possessed me
on the couch, still in my coat.
There was no arguing with it…
A discreet sort of madness
burns
in the raw opal of my iris,
a blue flame that sets me apart—
ecstatic, relentless,
intriguing and sly,
quick as a comet—
but this didn’t come from the sky
or from some stardust I swallowed
that forever poisoned me
with its brilliance
so I have to give credit
where credit is due:
you,
oh you—
the reason for me,
I can’t escape
geneaology…
salt and sugar
sugar and salt
the captain’s asleep
and the fevered crew
sleeps below deck
sugar and sugar
salt and salt
I am swimming too far
from the shore today
but somehow you’ve found me,
cradling me
with infinite starfish arms
in a yellow room
beneath this blue infinity
where even islands hide…
for L.T. Rest in adventure, friend… you are cherished and remembered forever.
if you read between the lines
that striate my iris,
you’ll find a hidden reservoir of blue
with a name written on the other side
in invisible ink—
a poem written so long ago
and with such a young and heavy hand
that pen trespassed paper and broke into sky,
until I cried because no page could contain
the words that could describe him—
for Tori Amos (who appeared in the guise of a guardian angel in a dream)
in a place safe from battle
she awoke me from my deathbed
gently in a dream
of mauve and velvet
and the starry crowns
of violet-green passiflora
exploding from a fire escape,
attracting sparrows—
the only indicator
of surrealism
and half-asleep and blinking
I waited at her wooden table
as a teapot whistled—
and as she rode through the doorframe
like a birthday candle flame
in a dress made of peacock feathers,
I just listened
…
…you shared with me the riddle
your ancestors passed down in secret—
if I solved it, you told me,
I would understand
everything—
it will sound too easy,
but wait, you warned me—
soon I’ll realize
that life itself
is happening
solely for this mystery
so I observed the clouds first—
since that’s where water came from,
but they told me to look to the ocean…
Did you hear the story
about the girl who loved too much?
So much she couldn’t have it.
She’d lived through famines
and learned to count rice-grains.
There was never enough cake
to eat it too (or eat for two?)—
so she’d take a bite.
Save the wrapper,
put it back on the shelf.
Wanted it to last forever…
Take these words:
they’re all I have to give.
If I wait for their unfolding,
I’m lost in the flood of quicksilver,
motive drowning in fulfillment —
too much satiation, too much matter,
and my mouth falls dry —
but words satisfy quietly
a distance from object you can’t hold
or let go of —
so take these words —
we can survive on them for years,
dreaming in their shadows,
dancing on their bones,
sucking them like bright candies
on a long highway ride…
I’ve lost my voice
all my vowels and consonants
are sliding down your throat
and falling into your stomach
I’ve lost it
because you swallowed my breath
when you took it away
and carried all my words with it…
My moon is full tonight
and the grass is growing blue.
The cool marble of my skin
is breathing
with the breath of your breath
before it touches you.
The halls between my fingers have opened
and are waiting for yours to crawl inside.
The night’s too long
and the space too far
tonight—…
There is this man
who’s become the man in the moon to me.
He watches over me
while I’m sleeping,
and draws down all the dew.
He’s the stones in my river
that disturb and dapple me,
and he’s the silt shifting
beneath my flow…
It’s only fitting
that a substance so yielding
manifests in this century —
an era of great
plasticity
where convenience
is prized,
anything is possible
and dreams can be
supersized.
Noun or adjective?
Mutant or mineral?
Impersonal, pliable,
everyone’s friend—…
