The fizzling fax’s flames have set afire
A fuse, whose tandem strands ignite, entwined —
A fluid yellow flame envelopes both,
While follow smoldering crimson points, aligned.
Diffuse, the fire flickers as it fly —
In wind, though it cannot follow every gust —
From brightest flare till almost it expire,
Yet winds its way down spiral twine on trust.
The twin red tips yet never stop their growth,
Illumining, though faintly, through the flare,
With warmth, fate’s hearth that would confound the eye
Which wonders, blinded less by black than glare:
How closely are these flaming fuse strands tied?
Two, one too soon, might never coincide.
Reluctant Troubador
He who says that love can't be unrequited
Never was so soothingly spited, never,
Pining, sought delight in whose arms would ever
Spurn, yet invite him.
Love Song to a Wall.
My heart of hearts among the nations stands,
Rooted in these legendary walls,
Trunk embroiled with waves and frothing white
Learned standards, flapping leaves; before
Amalek or the vengeful pilgrim's flight.
Hear the trumpets echo, amidst
Life consuming flame! where were the
Waters then to quench the parchment hills'
Flagrant pennants? Narrow valleys of
Smoke and bones, stars and peaks were blurry.
There was black among the heavens; the
Stars stretched out as glimmering sons, over
Pale white stone. Four masts arose from
Pallid domes — the black, the polished white,
Crying, calling; mottled wan verdure;
And flagging, wind or calm balm, the last.
Crimson juts the coating of the first hill's
White Jerusalem cut stone. The zealots plunge
Into fire, burning mountains hot,
Blue with passion, white with righteous fury.
Tekhelet skies, unheralded, announce
The morn. A sentry squalling wakes up the
Whitened soldiers, donning mourning dress.
Lone exultant dances above two green
Spiteful minarets with thrice the worry.
Wake the bugler! Sing anew, that the
Bluest waters shall erode into
Clay the blackest bones and whitest sand!
Gallant, ensign raise! the horizon call
Forth a golden convocation of light,
From exiled stars' white and azure beauty!
Listing after You.
Lists to do and lists that won't get done,
Lists for crossing out, lists for fun, lists to
Try. Here I've begun listing sighs; I list you.
1. You are listless.
New Wave
Floodwaters yellow
From the muck on the bottom,
Stopped behind a dike,
Churn below.
There's natant flotsam underneath the wave —
None know.
Sandbags soaked in a spasm
After each wave strikes
Its pervasive blow.
Eddies combined get freedom
For the water
Is depraved.
With the new flood flow,
You will gasp, unknown the reason.
Always thus, a new wet spike.
Barbie School
I go to Barbie school,
Skin-tight, one size fits all.
The bosom of my brain
Must fill the bra, not one
Iota more. Contort
Creative curves! Conform,
Contort, and stifle: fill
Those goody-two-shoes,
One size too small, and smile
A never ending smile.
Triumph to conform,
For life's a game of rules:
Leave artfulness aside,
Success lies for intelligent fools.
Glass Doors
Glass doors can close without warning.
You can close glass doors without warning.
Glass
Doors can close,
Without warning. You
Can close glass
Doors
Without warning. Glass doors
Can close without
Warning. You can close
Glass
Doors without warning.
Horizon
I can feel the free fall down the tracks.
Is there a chasm just around the turn?
Will bridges break under the load
If further tumble we down this blind road,
Add that weight our vehicle now lacks?
When too late to turn around,
And what the danger is of landing on the ground:
Where is the point of no return?
How fast is the speed of approach?
Alt Neu Haiku
STOP BUZZING AT ME
DAMMIT! You're not one a those
Wonderbread angels.
Window-pain, why do
you let me watch? Miragia,
Irrigate me, please.
Ode to Red Roof Inn
Denounce I for absent fridge and 'wave;
For well advertised wireless internet, and
Badly advertised premium; for sneezes
Snuz and wheezes whuz to Kleenex yet
Without the dignity of box or brand;
For omitted stationary; for sinks
Put inside baths, and soap that, washing, shaves one;
Oh motor inn! Your sticky bar soap stinks.
Shampoo for one? And which, a portion sleazy
In a packet hostile when wet, containing
British poison ivy, leaves the strands
(Those, unrent by rinse, it leaves remaining)
Of hair dry as if washed with the clammy bar soap!
I say down with your inn. Forsooth, I hope:
May your ink bleed redder than your roof!
Grey Amoret
I dreamed last night of you, and in my dream
You said that should you choose a love among
Your many suitors, I would be best suited.
My heart leapt, restrained then but by lungs
Agasp from donning fiery pillars skyward,
Vaulting into star-illumined space
And landing, landing on the moon. Oh, could I beam
To walk, or float, to run around that place!
Ah.
As you step outside, to green, acutely
Vivid lunar sands, I follow you;
Then I remember: helmetless, I'm mired
To the earth. Yet, I dreamed of you, and through
Imagined grace or dreamed lucidity,
You accidentally professed you loved me.
