Reduce me to Ashes

Come, reduce me to ashes
Kindle what you call love
Within me and set to match
A fire that smokes and smolders
Torch my desire clear
Until it bursts into flame
And I am branded
And brought to my knees
Singed with passion
Go, when my glow
Has heated to a slow burn
And I flicker still flicker
Twisted in the blaze
Of your love

Newspapers

She was backed into a corned of crumpled newspapers from 1966
She caught sight of a snowman outside the window
A sign around his neck said "I’ll be dead soon"
This view was from the house that spanned two walls
One rested on dry land and the other was in the water
Bob was seen to be delivering all of 1967 on his bicycle
He was coming down the lane along the river towards her house

I Don't Need Your Help

I don’t want your help
Just leave me alone
I should have prefaced
My sigh with don’t fix me
Don’t fix anything
I’m not broken
I just need you to nod and smile
Even if you don’t understand
I don’t mind a question
Once in a long while
Please keep eye contact mostly
Please don’t glaze over
If I cry…
Maybe I’d like a hug
Even if it makes you uncomfortable
Because tears do that
I don’t know why
Salt is precious
And water is life
Just listen
If you need to…practice

The Snail

The Snail


Curled and striped
Still and dry
No will
No way
Stuck on the sidewalk
Two hours ago
It was a good idea
To venture out

What do The Gods Hold in Their Hands?

What do the gods hold in their hands?
If I err, I am smitten, and I may never know my error
If I am blessed, then I will praise them for my good fortune
I sacrifice to appease them and I sacrifice to give thanks


My many prayers hit stone or wood or earth
But their ears are bound up and deaf
I must go to the priest and he will exact a fee

 Why can't the gods talk to me?The trees grow strong, the river gives food
But my cattle are sickly and my son has a twisted foot
How can blessings and sufferings exist side by side?


I made the pilgrimage to the holy high ground
I brought offerings of all I had
I walked the three days back to our little village


Why did the gods take my children?
Don’t they have enough children of their own?
I was the one who needed three strong sons and a daughter
My wife is getting older and the gods will not favour her for long


Why can’t I see the gods?
Why must I only hear of them in stories and mysteries told by the priests?
Have they seen the gods?


I want the gods to show their faces
I want the gods to answer my questions
I want the gods to be kind and not capricious


I want peace
I want a happy life
I want to go to the dust with a full belly

　

Swimming at The Bottom of The Pool

Swimming at the bottom of the pool
Swirls of bright light dance around me
The filter morphed into a tunnel a long time ago
I am at peace

Voices whisper from the walls
I open my eyes and bleary grandma beckons me
“Swim through the filter”
My life sparks before me in rapid frames
I feel rewarded

There is a splash like a cannonball
A man with a life guard shirt
Is coming right at me
I feel a tug and then another
He lifts me from the light, from the voices, from the peace

Damn

Shushan

Shushan

The City of Susa where Daniel lived
Daniel in his white T-Shirt and jeans
Near the swamp where the waterlillies grew
Some days he would go to the hilltop
Strip off his shirt and feel the heat of the sun

In the near cool of the night he would dance in Susa
Daniel would dance with no shoes, on the dusty ground
In a club called Shushan, called Shushan
For the City of Susa and the liberation of the people
Daniel danced for all people in his white T-Shirt

Statues of lions in relief on the wall watched him
They growled without words “Make us one, give us opportunity”
Ivri drunk with sanctuary, sang out in one word over and over
“Let, let, let, let.” the rich chant bounced around the den
Shushan. Shushan. There is safety, there is release in Susa today

“Thus saith” is far away echoeing from minds long closed
Ivri throws his hands up and shouts in triumph
Daniel stops his dance, looks over his shoulder and gives a wide smile
Someone yells “tonight there is no wall, tonight there is no wire”
The ground is stomped and rhythm and music grow as wild as the lions

The dizzying burst of freedom and acceptance continues 3 more hours
Soon the lawmakers and the nay-sayers will be opening their eyes
Prowling with their list of “Thus saith us” and their list of dissidents
For now there is love, there is kinship, there is Daniel in the arms of an unknown man

With his white T-Shirt in hand Daniel walks past the relief on the wall
Stepping out onto the dawning street towards the high grafitti wall
He pulls back a sheet of wire fencing and squeezes through the other side
In the distance Daniel can see the hilltop, his hilltop, the sun kisses it
He hesitates and falters and thinks to himself about the kindness of God