Plywood windows

If I could wear soft and loose clothes
every day
                and be taken seriously,
forgetting for a moment
that comfort is for lesser creatures,
I would be less ill
                              at ease
and more sensitive to
zippers and seams.

I lost a drinking habit years ago
and found every thing
                                    sharper with age,
which does not clot the
bleeding, or numb the
site                     I remember I last had it
with me,
my cups are bone dry since this thirst
has all
but evaporated
making the air thicker around me.

If I found a diamond encased
in every silver lining,
                  carbon acting under the pressure
                  of those that have convinced me
                  to forgive
                  in these conditions
                  with sparkles on top,
I would have tasted love
                  on the rocks,
and choked on the hardest facets.

Time is our only personal property.

In-kind, community property
has foreclosed upon the pearl gates.
These lips have been boarded up
to deter any passer by's
                                       from dwelling.

It may not be safe
to live this way
without proper uniforms,
window dressings
and with naked wrists,
lacking a steady leg to pivot upon       
                             in order to see things
as they are
and find slighted contentment
enough of a shelter and shield
from monsoons and bad moons rising
every weak day.




Photo credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Kinney County, Texas. 2014 [Public domain].

Monkey bars

Vacillation in the non-
sense
of getting out of your
own damn head-skull,
not all oohs and aahs.

Fidgets and itches, twitches
pangs signal the need to flee
for your Life

But trapped-
as we are
to-gether-against
the wall closing doors
pushing on the pain-
body, as a name does
Nothing

to rectify, identify,
but objectifies, justifies,
the lies and immersion
in madness, a persistence
in
Obstinance

won't let go, cannot make
either one
unknow the chosen
words.

Painting by Evelyn De Morgan, 'The Gilded Cage' c. 1919 [Public domain].

Strong brew

'Heady' is the word used to describe a strong flavor
in a frothy beverage which elevates air bubbles
atop like a crown
posing as liquid
refreshment.

Ritual reminds us of our human places
since we have lost our short memories to
long distant goals in a wash of faces.

Denial dislodges the grey dust in the river
Lethe,
making banks
to hold all the silt.

On one side
the body wants
crossing over
the other
side, the mind seeks
an abundant place to camp,

this way,
we will never thirst
for fresher air, mineral waters
or will-power.

Currents consume us in a present sense
of temperature and surface speed
while wading and resisting the pull
to go deeper and deeper
filling the mouth and
trapping air.

It begins
to sink in.


Photo credit By Paultoff [FAL or Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons.

Stinky Drunk Skunk

Image "The Drunk Father" (c. 1923) by George Bellows (1882-1925) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

You have smelled, seen, known or are
the kind whose mind
can be enhanced by a potion
Aqua Veleno filled vials
vices of vitriolic spew
chemical concoctions
a mixologists malevolent
remedied reliance
addicted amnesiacs antidote
with spites of bitters
a splash of nasty
a sardonic sprig of superiority
chilled on thrown rocks-not nice
yet neat, to shake things up,
stirring in apathy
nefarious nincompoop
Salude!
Three Cheers!
Four for Health!
Down the hatch!
Fun's always quicker with liquor
unless you get sicker
Someone just un-corked a bottle
when they stepped in the room
Their stench phumes
see those invisible plumes
Pig-pen couldn't even contend
unless you took a swig too
or three
(with goggles it's hard to see)
That those kind that swill and fable
often act unkind, but don't mind
themselves when propped on bar shelves
Sickness, weakness or just casually blind
In your consent, treatment, or term
absent-minded of why you're there
stuck in sticky mire
bereft of any real desire
no garnish or zest
straight up
dosage of liquid courage
inebriation amalgamation
that mires the sane mind
slurs the world, skews the scale
towers built of sand
staggering and fallen stature
amplifies the tenor
increasing crescendo of blasphemy
while tone deaf
like your own ghost
who you've never seen
and claim is dead
incanted wild shiny eyes
fixedly unfocused
stained by devils blood
smitten with the sauce
hankering for the hootch
smiles and red cheeks
moonshine aglow
a vicious taunt
evil spirits foretell
a warning to be
en garde
in battle with Will
meddler and contriver of bad deeds
sower of bad seeds, spreading like weeds
laced with lascivious looks
just sad drowned trodden
sappy fears, soggy years
or claims wished never true
things you wish you didn't do
or maybe were just over due
but can never be undone,
now empty bottoms up
whistled empty wish on crystal lips
stashed, sailed in unread messages like ships
in the night
open seas surround an isle of regret
swimming on swills
repulsive, manipulating,
blind deaf and dumb
belching the way through dizzy
delusions and chortling hiccups
injecting idleness
dumbness
numbness
to turn it off
but it never comes back on
when your bottle is your only friend
until
The End.