Others That Do / Ancient Mariners Sing

would it hurt
you to riddle my
imagination.
sustained but not in pain
this draize trains runs aground again
blind, I might be
but

there are eyes
there are glances
there are imperfect promises
I made to no one
thank you merlin
lead the dragons to the slaughter
for the sins
of all your daughters
fathers
cast to slithering snakes
and doused with gasoline
saxophones and liberty hitting middle C
in the brief moment between death
distraction and promise
in my hand I carry change
lye crystals lay on my hand
burning like lonely boy
held down in the deep end
will the circuit ever make
a connection
or will the bed
just sit there
and burn


dream big
guitars and
boys screaming in imprecise
decibels
sun shines, park lines drawn
in the difference between presets and
what you get to match seasons
treason beckons for whiskey tango fuck the noise
wavelengths disappear in cardio dawn drenched
arpeggios sustained dreams ethering
dithering with hercules
arms wrapped
old films acting as arms
in a mirrored glass reflection

(this is not a) Photograph

what do I know?
grew up in
an inferno
burnt to a crisp
before I knew
fire, desire
lakes of mother's
ire in the floating
darkness, tarred
and feathered out
like strokes of paint
fainting bruised brushes
a likeness, cast as harmless
but somewhere
in there
is me
how did I come to be
a knight against oblivion
fighting for love's recidivism
flights across chasms
a trick of light crossed
with Genet's plight
no marble lions
at the gates of the temple
you created
trying to entertain
I see all the cracks
from the love
you confiscated
the blisters
I kissed to
bear the strain
you're king of utopia
in your kingdom never
a single drop of rain


(the man in the moon danced and turned his face away)
(they rip the vines from the earth while the mind of Venus withers)
(I'll hide under the bed until all the screaming stops)
(Will they ever find what I once was....in a great big haunted house)