Strawberry hook with
A sunset drifting to the samite
Dance, dance and dive

A jazz staff with a melancholy chord
Eighty-eight minus a sharp
Flattened into everything
But expanded into nothing
Just a word, soaking with
Convenience

Because there was nothing better to say

Carve our initials in cherry trees
Forget about the things written
By frightening knifepoint
Anointed with oil
Blistered royalty and
Cobra coiled

Don’t want to vie anymore
Or battle for your bite
Don’t want to try anymore
So let’s just say goodnight

Oh, striking sight

Cover me with cushions
And blanket me with kisses
Like so many feathers
So many tickles
So many vapid vacancies
While we race to an
Inept irresponsibility

Oops

The laser gaze
And limelight
The sparrow haze
And high tide
The after trace
In hindsight

Yeah?

Like a bubblegum hook
Or your favorite book
Or a reading nook?

A southern wind
Or mountain grin
Jagged jaw like rusted saw
And an oceanic gulf
Between?

Keep my shadow haunted
Like a daunted hero wondering
About the time between dreams

And hang on ever-lasting
Feasting, not fasting,
While your blackened feathers
Swat the sky in vain

And plow on ever-lacking
Sleeping, not napping
While my rocky fists, grasping
Grip the shape of your name

From my unreleased collection of poems, Letters from Lions (and other missives)