I can’t help but feel
Like I am
Cutting my teeth on you.
Gums like ripe red tomatoes
Reply
Observational Distance
Of all the eyes I see
When I wake up
Yours are by far
The furthest.
Fingernails, silence and anxiety
A circle of salt
With me sitting cross legged at its centre,
Crosses scored into the backs of my hands.
Eyes burn red
from salty sleepless nights.
I see the blood chug
Thick through the capillaries.
Outside the circle the night
Like a wall of static sound
Dark and blatant
Encroaches
Deafeningly loud.
Some days the world heaps itself on top of you.
It pulls at the strands of your hair and rasps
its uncut nails over your semi-healed wounds
Snagging at the scabs and leaving little
Snail trails of your own half dried blood.
Some nights the world leaches into your life
Like an ocean of sand
Grain by blistering grain
Hot and slow
Until you are completely dry
And devoid of hope.
At those times I close my eyes,
Hum quietly to no one
And try and convince myself
That you are worth it.
If my heart had glass walls it would be a slaughterhouse
In the northern lands
Of ice and snow
Where the winds are born
You made your presence known
Among my thoughts.
Your eyes glowed behind my own,
Like shards of brilliant blue ice.
Your necklace strung with
Glimmering Germanic teeth.
‘You smile too much’
You stated solemnly,
Matter of fact.
‘I will take now what you owe me’
Toothless it seemed,
and thoughtless too,
I wandered for days,
In the heartland of the
Shiver and the prayer for
Safe return.
I gritted my blooded gums
And steeled my breath.
I feared we would not last the night.
Pps.
Because I fell asleep
With the window open
Waiting for you
I am now covered in
Hundreds of little,
Itchy bug bites.
I’m scritching and a-scratching!
I think I am
Almost definitely
In love with you.
Mignonne
When it comes to you
The words come rushing up
Bubbling so easily from below
Like natural springs of
Crisp, cool mountain water.
So many colours and images
Interweave in a myriad of shimmering symbols
From all the languages I have ever known.
Soft, delicate words.
Ferocious, powerful words.
Simple, sorrowful words.
Gentle, loving words.
Words I have never even heard.
Phrases clutter the back-passages
And corridors of my mind.
They slink about, beautiful and subtle,
With wry little smiles on their faces.
They shake hands with grinning similes,
High five the odd beaming metaphor.
They spin along in large open topped cars
Up and down the 6 lane highway
Between my head and my heart.
But none of them is ready.
Not one of them is quite
Perfect enough.
Not yet.
Not for you.
Manon
I have avoided my heart for so long
But with you it’s so easy.
I don’t have to second guess myself.
The pages of the books roll open
Coloured in ever brighter shades,
A rich melted green the most vivid.
At night I close my eyes
And dream of you
And in the morning
You are still there.
