Scalded still August 17th 2012

the August heat stirs it all up to a boil

even when we do not want it to

 even when the heat of what once was

 has diminished

we are all lost in space

looking for a place to land

or an orbit we can settle into

while she shines brighter

and more intensely than ever

 we are not meant to live like this

 being scalded by her own desires

unquenched

 rejected even

the gravity of it all

 either so heavy as to plunge us to doom

or not quite enough to keep us afloat

the August sunlight slices

open the world

as it cuts through these windows

 as deadly as a bayonet

 each beam beating against me

boiling me up from the inside

I am helpless to do anything

But accept it

 suffering through it

scared to let loose of its steam

these summer days

 we once treasure

now ticking out

towards autumn

until the temperature might decline

and this stirring will diminish too

 letting us survive

email to Al Sullivan

Two tickets April. 1, 2014

  

How does she get back

to the life she left

does she want to

 dragged back to the train station

 holding tickets for several destinations

 the place she came from

 the place she might go

 only not yet knowing what is the best choice

 having known one which still speaks of decay

she  fears the one she doesn't know

there is comfort in what once was

 even painful

and yet fears taking the ride

to a place she never been

one ticket in one hand

in the other the scary ride

she needs to take yet

reluctantly clutches the former

 does she go back to what she knows

 or to what she knows could go nowhere

 is she better off going back

 to where the train derailed

or to keep on the train

whose wheels stay on the track

 to god knows where.

 

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Days of heat aug 8,2012

 

the boss is away but the mice

won't play without him

 he is stretched out in the midwest sun

 while we bake here in the city heat

 I wonder does he still check

 his text messages as often there

 as he did here

when the two were apart if not quite so far

 and I wonder if he thinks as much

about her there as he did

when she was underfoot

 does he miss making love to her

 or even remember how good it feels

to have her pressed up against him

and I wonder if he is as good

 a lover as she needs

or just one more in a string

 of trickling up or working things out

and just who fills his shoes

when she needs to be with someone

and he's so remote

 is the next guy adequate

does she even care

just needs someone

anyone will do

 anyone of course accept

one person

 I need no imagination to figure out

in these dog Days with all of us

 in days of heat

 

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