sea

froth forming around the corner
of your mouths
tongue meets teeth
black bile like ink
spreading

Mermaid

she swims through open waters
drifting like a slithering electric eel
held tight by his withered marble arms;
she was always his beautiful mermaid.

Anatomy

my lungs are collapsing,
shuddering
apart a hollow bird's nest.

Salem

dust settles between my lips;
unused to the delicate parts of speech.

honey darkens a slight course
amongst the virgin snow
resting in your hands.

eyelids grew heavy;
my mirror fades to black.

Midas

Midas
could never have Touch
like Yours.

God's hands spread, eclipsing
the sun
and casting a grey
Shadow
on us All.

Up, Higher

I twilled, breath baking in the chatter-slick fog:
Chicago heaves its industrial arms up,
knees trembling under an immeasurable mass--

Your scars run down the length of your spine,
History runs its bloody course,
shuddering down muscled skin.

Your bulk, was that of a child swinging her bruised legs
underneath an uneven desk, in a classroom with 38 other students.

She doesn't know how to read the history books about you,
but she likes beating up the boys in your Backyard.

One day, when her neck grows long, legs more than stumps,
and her back curves up as it does,
Breasts pushing out of her worn shirt,
those boys will hold her, quiet protests muffled against chest,
She will accept the cold, crumpled dollar bills,
pull up her jeans, and stumble out of the car.

She does not cry.

You love her, as you are a City, so magnificent in its Glory:
pull her close to you,
and Kiss Her, as you would, on her forehead, her cheeks, her lips.

You taught her to fight;
How will she Love?

Kelvin Scale

kerosene
was my affliction--

Temperature: my sweet drug
coursing
through
my
veins;

ice heat,
a Whimpering Dog
gnawing at numb
fingers

Grace
was your disease:
selfishness--
a Knighthood of Escape

Dickinson believed
273 degrees
was
just
Enough.