there is a snake in the grass
curled calm in scaled flair
trespass not for torpor taints
this sallow serpent’s lair
peerless peccadillo
her fangs are burnished;
bare
.
convoluting coils of stillness
a flick of forked tongue
tread lightly heedless pilgrim
lest her venom freely run
retreat to shadowed sanctum
for she seeketh
only sun..
unforeseen and out of character
when you released me
i soared high; i spun
shimmer saunter, aloft
taunting tassels at the sun
.
rainbow shadow skipping over ground
chase it, heed the fluttering sound
rich reveries release
and a polish on palm remained
friction fused memories
a scar there ingrained
plastic tattered trailing
crucified on splintering frame
to soar and dip
in giddy refrain
.
predisposed to lure of flight
spiral of slackening string
i am a kite
we hear what we we choose to hear
staccato of ponderous piccolo
amidst the woodwind flurry
or tense tympanic tantrum
to harmonize uneasy worry
.
we feel what we want to feel
clutch at a single stem
to let the thorns bury deep
why not instead the petals
velvet soft in palm to keep?
.
we dream what we want to dream
that even the barren meadow
basks full
so full of sunshine
i am content to be a scavenger
sparsely feathered, trembling
with a stench of carrion from window
ajar, yet chained
.
i linger, watchful
preening wings and
tentatively twisted talons
yet, with the filtered light of dawn
twist of neck….
shall I move on?
.
how i envy the entitled bird of prey
i know only shadow…
detritus
and decay
distort my shadow with play of prism
elongate and fenestrate the light in godly prison
subjugate such spectrum with uncanny precision
.
i watch as you deftly twist the beam
with sleight of hand, perverse
and palm unseen
when fingertips are pungent,
this air is kerosene
.
you want me fire
intensify
to heated point,
but I am rainbow
lavish
set to page anoint
my skin
won’t break
though tainted from scratch
and taunted by branding iron
tremulously inked with tattoo tint
dehydrated, despite monsoon
singed when sun fires through ozone
it shall be a resilient dermal shield
when unsuspecting hearts yield
to the treachery of time
..
there will always be skin
pulled tight over bone
bending
presumed to be a smile
unending
grimacing curve of lip tension
errant betrayal of intention
when puckered with piloerection
wrapping, sealing
neuropathic unfeeling
your skin
where once I was a field of wildflowers
shaded cool near open plain
caressed by breath of winsome breeze
cooled by kiss of springtime rain
.
summer saw me serried and root bound
in servitude of crumbled ground
oh that you, young traveller
should find me, found
.
patiently in seraphic state
a scintilla of self, I did but wait
with drifting seeds
and scion stretch
yet autumn wasted
to weed…such wretch
.
for the dark, duplicitous skies
disturbed the dance of butterflies
and lured away, through savannah grass
far from my field
you then did pass
