A Song

apples

sharing apples in the sun

i picked them,

they’re from the heart

the core is soft

as i bite, in deep

the flesh hums

and writhes a little

the waves (for tomorrow) - a song

soft sounds of the rain

i feel like a child in your presence

i wish someone had told me

that all beautiful things

may come to an end

you don’t need to remind me

it’s that time of the season

i can’t get my brain to hold it down

my mother told me

you kill all you believe in

so how come i believe in you?

As the sea I swell

I used to know myself well

Before you became my mirror,

I could see myself clearer

You’ve broken my shell

round or chords

how could we have known

words betray me

our innocent drive

that purest belief

of our beautiful youth

i want to resist

these powerful ties with the passing of time

with all of my mind i try

but instead

i will bury my pain in the shower drain

i will do my best to remember

if i am to live my life full of beauty

i will, too

live a life full of grief

As the sea I swell

I used to know myself well

Now I can feel my walls breaking

please don’t mind the shaking

and swear you won’t tell

As the sea i swell

you used to know yourself well

but as we grow with the seasons

the one thing that’s not leaving

is your spell

Mother

Mother was kind on loss today

she laid me a bed of roses

they prick lightly, almost lovingly

as the bare of flesh exposes

almost, almost

lost in the folds of skin so dark

the earth here is red and bleeding

into the leftover green of dying grass

two hands intertwined while meeting

for the first time almost believing

Mother lay me down in the deep

where the walls surround and plunder

pluck away at the skin of the living

the dog smiles with a crow, a murder

in its open mouth

almost dead, almost

blinking in the mirror

confused

long night

softly bruised

a French perfume

cloth on skin

a hand

bluntly sovereign

held open unarmed

intentionally…?

softly palmed

there in the wrinkled sea

… a clementine

i’ll lap your words off the floor

where they fell, revealing

thieves of reason are my baby and me

humming prayer into

each others mouths like poison

lilacs - a song

by the lilacs there she grows

and under the willow she knows

but who wants to

collect her too

except the moon and the stars

there he came a shade of blue

so am i so are you

thereon my love

reach up above

and pick him off the apple tree

my lover’s basket

thoughts spill out like the flowers

in my lover’s basket

lovely little things, both

her mouth runs laps like a panting dog

unwilling to compromise

for existing ecstatically

flowers spill from my mouth

hanging there, still

as the presence of a dead loved one

fool’s gold (one verse)

helter skelter, hand to mouth

willow’s hair stray and spoiled

mercy’s eyes roll blindly back

‘till reapers return with fools gold

disciplesong

you’d sing the disciples right to your door

that pretty mouth can’t hold it in

preaching, as a bird of prey

spreading gospel like honey

do you believe the lips’ chorus?

if you listened, would you pray?

hands and knees scraped, trembling

on the ground from which they grow

the fruits of your labor

bitter and soft-cored