Monday, April 26, 2010
“I love you”
She said.
And then wrapped her tentacled arms around me
Pulling me down below the surface
Fathoms deep.
She said it was for love.
She said it was for love
And I trusted her.
She kissed me hard
Salty slippery tongue darting
Through her oyster pearl teeth.
Maybe
She really did not know
That I would not survive
Without oxygen.
I held on to that kiss
Hoping that I would
Be able to breathe.
She might not have realized
That with the speed that she
Was taking me down in those waters
That I was experiencing the bends
As she dragged me deeper
Even more quickly
Caught up in the passion.
Her seaweed entangled hair
Rinsing about me is
Probably the last
Concious moments
That I can recall.
I have to wonder if she gave me a funeral
Before they found my body
Bloated and blue
Horseflies a buzzing
Lying with the shells and starfish
And driftwood
On the beach
After high tide.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The video starts
With some slick
Overly produced
Commercial Metal guitar
To induce fake excitment.
Some
Generic looking
Twenty something guy
Comes on.
He wants to look like he just came
Out of the shop
With his spiked dark hair
Goatee and chiseled sideburns.
He’s got some very safe, common
Tribal tattoos up and down his arms
That only he thinks are cool.
He’s a wannabee
A manequin.
There is no grease under his fingernails
There is no sincerity, no spirit.
He probably wouldn’t even spit on the sidewalk.
And so
Sitting solo on a stool
With rolled up sleeves
With a plain black curtain
As a backdrop
He speaks...
“Hey everybody! Welcome to PoetryTrix.com online poetry lessons. Looks like you
were checkin’ out some poetry tabs and clicked on our ad lookin’ for a little help with your
writing! Thank you.”
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cause a lot of frustration if you don’t have enough of a background for it.”
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and this is the important part...all of the videos are interlinked step by step so that each video builds on what you learned before...you can be on here hours at a time!”
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Enter
Slick
Overly produced
Commercial Metal guitar
To induce fake excitment
To fade.
The image of you
Beneath me
Arched back
Muscles taut
Smooth ass
Flushed red from hungry hands
Moving
In tempo
To the agni
The fire
That you and I
Tend
Arousing smouldering lust
Into an engulfing
Fervorous
Combustion
Of animal noise
Words
Sweat
And electrical currents
That flicker and pulse
Deep
Beneath the skin
Between kinetic chakras.
The portrait
Of your framed face
Upon a pillow
Hair falling
Eyes closed
In ecstatic
Bliss
Wide mouth turned up
At the corners
Showing a slight
Wonderful smile
Of perfect satisfaction
Happiness
Peace
And content.
Lover.
Tonight
Over pasta
And pizza
Fried calamari
Salad and canollis
A bottle of wine
Sprite and a coke
We just went
A little bit deeper.
Amidst
Waspy early retirement yahoos
Playing their
Trivia game
Loudly
I bonded with you ever more so.
Even if we were just friends
I would’ve had dinner
With you and my children
And the evening
Would probably have been
Much the same.
Enjoyable and entertaining.
But because I dig you
And I am into you
Much more than just a friend
Plus the fact
That you were so comfortable
With getting your
‘Toilet Humor’
On
We were four approachable people
Sitting at a table
Sharing good food
Bad manners
Laughs
And conversation.
I felt a bit closer to you
As I told my children
To stop teasing each other
And eat their dinners.
Showing off my exemplary
Parenting skills
I reminded them
That they were in a restaurant.
And then
Oh my God!
You shouted
‘Hannibal Lecter’
In answer
To the dorky serious guy
Running the trivia contest
Tonight.
We weren’t even signed up to play.
His face showed it all...
Shock
Dismay
Disgust.
He actually looked like he was
Ready to cry
When he realized
That this one question that might’ve
Stumped everyone
Was of no use to him anymore.
And yes
Like a brother and sister
Teasing each other
At a table in a nice restaurant
You broke the rules.
That is when I felt you
Even deeper still.
You lie and tell me
That
You were not
In the house.
But
I find ashes
From your cigarette
Dropped on top
Of the green metal dresser
In the dining room
As you smoked
And drank
Most liberally
The richly expanding
Green syrupy contents
From within the antique
Chartreuse bottle
That sat there
Atop
Patiently
Waiting for those
Wonderful
Bits of time
In which I would uncork
That fine bottle
And value
It’s contents
While walking around
In a snowstorm
Befalling
The Victorian town in which I live.
The expensive
Meant to be sipped and appreciated
Apertif contents
Drained wrecklessly
Within one half of an hour
Like cheap barfly
Fortified wine.
You lie
And say that you were not here.
But a single earring of yours
Lies on the floor
In the hallway
Where the dogs like to lay
As the light of the sun
Passes through the thick glass lens
Of the front door
Warming their fur and the soft pine
Upon which they sleep
Dreaming
In color
Of heaven.
The sun
Falls upon a tiered
Hoop earring
Made of inexpensive brass.
It’s unmistakeably yours...
Probably purchased
From a flea market vendor
Or from a store that sold
Trinkets from India.
Now it is here alone and lonely.
There is a half of a cigarette
Put out carefully, neatly on the front step
To the house.
It is your brand.
You tell me that you weren’t here
But there it is...
A half of a cigarette
Ready to be relit and smoked
Down to the butt
As you sat out front on the porch
Or the stoop
Taking pleasure in your malady
Caught in the throes
Of the precious green nectar.
Your sauced and plastered mind
Forgetting about
This partially smoked
Piece of evidence
That you were here
Inside this house
Dancing with the ghosts
Of the past.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Toilet Humor
When I saw this crude drawing at a jobsite
I had no idea what a life it would have.
Someone drew it
Probably not expecting anyone to see it
Secretly hoping that someone would.
Well I saw it
As I was throwing some trash onto the side porch.
It was drawn in carpenters pencil
On a sheet of gypsum board
Stacked with a bunch of other refuse
Against the wall.
Some day it will just dissappear.
But I found it and took a picture
And sent it to you.
This Michelangelo
This Rembrandt
This Van Gogh
This simple cave drawing of a man and a woman fucking
Has taken on life anew.
The woman on all fours before the man
Her crazy hair blowing forward.
The man standing behind her shooting bullets
With a big ass dopey looking grin on his face
His genitilia grossly enlarged.
You and I have shared so many laughs
Over someone elses crude drawing
That would normally be found in a public toilet.
It's too bad that they will never receive
The praise that they deserve.
It’s too bad that they will never know
That the resemblance to us
Is uncanny...
That you really do have crazy dark hair
And I really do have a big ass dopey grin
And grossly enlarged genitilia.
And like I said
It would dissappear.
I tried to get it
For a souvenier
And it was thrown out in the trash.
And yet that stupid drawing
That crazy depiction
Of you and I
Copulating
Continues to live on in still yet
Another venue,,,
In a crude and simple poem.
Baltimore
I was high.
It was one of those summer nights in Baltimore
Where the humidity was affecting everyone.
The air was wrapped tightly around the glow of streetlamps
And everything moved slowly in the thickness
Even the cars.
I was loaded with two of my friends.
We had shot dope back at their place
And were now on the prowl.
We moved like mercury
Casual and with stealth, like rats
Softly spoken slurs accentuated with giddy laughter.
We hit the steps of the Brownstone at which I lived.
A transvestite neighbor was perched like a proud bird on the stoop
Smoking a cigarette indifferently.
The drama was all there in the theatre of the doorway.
Tight shimmering skirt, a ripped Blondie t-shirt stretched over
Pretty, hormonally induced tits...her nipples were strong and big.
Long, reflecting fingernails lay by her side and held the cigarette.
Her face was a mix of self made beauty and punk rock tragedy.
I had met her before in the hallway
Always in outrageous clothes.
I’d pass her door
In and out
And hear the speed of the Ramones behind it constantly.
Tonight it was quiet.
I said “Hey baby, how about a kiss”
And puckered up with my eyes closed.
I felt something crack my jaw.
As I sailed down the steps
Backwards past my two friends
I looked up to see a pair of heavily smeared lips screaming
“You waited this long to ask me for a kiss!”, “You punk ass white boy!”
“You AND you’re jacked friends!”
The screaming continued as she went inside
Taking the steps in high heels in a fury.
“That pretty boy passes my door every day and he just now asking me for a kiss!”
I lay on the ground
Rubbing my jaw where she hit me.
My friends laughing their asses off.
Between the air, the junk and the punch
I was pretty much done.
It took me several minutes to come to
But I did.
My friends, still laughing, helped me up.
It was a summer night in Baltimore
And the humidity was affecting everything.
Yet I just got kissed by a glamorous queen on my front doorstep.
How bad could things be.
Laundromat Love
My clothes dance with your clothes
In a wet collide-o-scope
As I push you up against
The detergent heat of the dryer
And kiss you hard.
Your head against trembling metal
Shakes us.
With your legs around me
I suck on your full lips and tongue.
Fill turns to wash turns to rinse
Turns to spin
And I turn to jello.
My head is filled with dirty thoughts
As denim, cotton, lace and cordouroy
Are carelessly thrown into washers and dryers around us
And quarters drop
Into change boxes.
We are here in flourescent glow
In view of everybody
Half dressed and careless
Hot passion pouring out of us
Like liquid soap.
Fuck everyone
Fuck us!
Your sexy silk and lace
Wrestle with my hard and lusty cotton
In rumbling machines
And like our love
They tumble dry endless.
Tammy
I was still in a dream
As I climbed your grand staircase.
I had just finished taking a piss in the bathroom
On the second floor.
The burning incense
Thick and intoxicating
Entered my veins easily
As the Virgin Prunes played their lusty grind music on your stereo.
We were fiery animals!
What violent love we shared.
I could still taste you on my lips
As I reached your dimly lit bedroom.
And I really was in a dream.
I was light as the morning sun now trying to break through
The dusty windows of your house.
I was still gone on the heroin
And I could hear your birds singing
From the tropiary high on the fourth floor.
Classical piano drifted from one of your friends rooms from above
And fell down the stairs like powder at my feet.
I could imagine you behind the door
Lying naked in the warming morning sun
Sebastianne lying just above your head.
There would be an occasional flinch of his black tail.
You’re both remarkably beautiful.
And when I opened the bedroom door
You were.
Red Sundress
To be a red sundress
Touching skin that is soft and brown
The fabric moving sensually
With gracefully swaying hips
To filter in this glorious
Afternoon sun
And dance with the
Harbour breeze
Spirited and carefree
Straps lay on sculpted shoulders
Yearning to be kissed
By a lover
That sits in the grass
To be a red sundress
Scented with ardorous passion
Radiant and flirtatious
In the cool shade
Of a tree in a park
To reveal just enough
To make mens hearts quicken
And jealous wives to redirect their attention
Wishing that they too
Had a red sundress to wear
A Dream From Last Night
You were here in my dreams last night.
You were on top of me
Your dark hair falling down around my face
As you kissed me
And spoke soft encouraging words in my ear.
We were moving together
Building on a rythmn that was natural to the two of us.
My hands were holding your hips
As you brought your body down upon mine.
Our lips were wet of each other
And our mouths were hungry.
Our radiant bodies mapped by
Tongues and hands and eyes and nose.
In this dream there was no time.
There were no responsibilities.
We could just be us.
We could be devoted to each other completely.
You rose upon me
Your back arching.
Release and pleasure shook from you
And passed through myself
To my core.
You fell upon me in exhausted peace
And we lay breathing
In a spiritual bliss
Upon tousled sheets.
And as I felt the weight of your body press against mine
I knew that this was real.
And I thought to myself
That I must be dreaming.
Bob
Bob was a fat fucker.
He had a coupla faded jailhouse tattoos.
One over each nipple.
One said “Sweet” and the other “Sour”.
Classy guy, Bob was.
He had a few more on his arms.
“Bob” and one that used to be a cross
But the top point of the cross was faded out
So it looked like a child’s drawing of a limp dick.
I told him that and he got pissed at me.
I always made fun of Bob to his face.
He would get all mad
But he was pathetic and didn’t do anything.
His friend Billy gave him the homemade tattoos
When they were fourteen
Using a needle, India Ink and a shakey hand.
Me and another guy worked for Bob
Painting and skamming.
We needed the money
But Bob would also get us high.
The tradeoff was that I would have to bang Speedballs
Into the hanging flab of flesh on Bob’s forearms.
He was such a pussy.
I remember being crammed into this tiny bathroom
Of someone’s house that we were painting.
Bob alone could hardly fit in there.
I had a hard time manouvering and my arm hit the wall
As I drove the needle in
Completely missing
Blood spurting everywhere.
It was exhausting.
Bob was a pig.
Sharing a needle with him was out of the question
And there would be days
Where I would just go home
And get high on my roof.
Bob was missing some teeth
And the rest were yellowed and rotting
From chain smoking Benson and Hedges Golds.
He had a bad heart but he liked his dope.
He always had something...
PCP, pot, dust, meth, coke, heroin, downs and ups.
He grew up with the Beatniks
With pills and the Golden Oldies on the radio.
My nickname for him was “Mr. Sometimes”.
He wasn’t always there.
I’d ask him a question two or three times
Before he’d hear it.
Or he would just sit there for a couple of minutes spacing out.
We would be talking to him
Or laughing at him, making fun of him
Until sometimes we actually kicked him in his ankles to bring him back.
“You fuckers” he would say.
Sometimes he would just drift off mid sentence.
I don’t know how he got us jobs
But he was loyal to Billy first.
They had been friends since childhood
Growing up in the same neighborhood.
Billy was an alcoholic who would show up to work occassionally
But their blood was thick.
We never made fun of Billy.
Billy was just a sad case
But Bob would curse him out when he didn’t show up.
Often I’d see Billy in the streets
Totally shitfaced
Playing the buddy routine
Asking for money
Barely able to speak or stand.
Bob was a fat lazy slob
Who wouldn’t even wipe his own ass.
He sat in front of an off color tv
In his dingey basement apartment
Rolling joints
Or boogers around on his fingertips.
He would fall asleep right in front of people
Amongst the filth and debris.
He had been divorced for some years.
At the time I knew him
He was fucking this humongous white trash slut with bleached hair.
A real hog.
They would scream insults at each other often.
She kept working on me if I was around.
I stayed away as far as possible.
I’m sure Bob’s dead by now
And Billy
And the white trash slut.
I remember the tattoo
On Bob’s upper right arm.
It was written legibly.
“Born To Lose”.
Car Trouble
Tonight we stole cars.
It wasn’t my idea.
And I didn’t actually do it.
Chuckie did.
He had done it before.
I don’t even know why we did it.
For fun or the fact that we were all guaged out,
But here we were cruising through the city
In two cars that were not ours.
I was in the back seat of the car that Chuckie was driving.
There were four of us including him.
There were three in the other car in front of us.
Now you’d think that if you had just stolen a car
That you wouldn’t want to attract any attention,
Especially if your gilled on drugs and alcohol.
But Chuckie decided to ram the back of the other car.
We were driving down one of the avenues.
It was late at night, but it wasn’t exactly deserted.
Chuckie hit the back of the other car again, hard.
We were like “Oh shit!”, “What the fuck?!!”.
Now Chuckie was laughing.
He sped up to the left side of the other car.
The other driver was Tee and he had a big fuckin’ grin on his face
As he swerved his car to the left
And smashed into the right side of our car.
There was a collapsing crunch of metal
That came in through the windows on the passenger side.
The boys in the other car were laughing and screaming at us.
And so we roared down the avenue
Inflicting damage to each other’s cars
That weren’t ours.
Laughing hard.
Screaming insults at each other.
Encouraging Chuckie to “Hit ‘Em again!”, “Do some Damage to those MotherFuckers!”
Slapping him on the back after he made contact.
The bastards in the other car were doing the same thing.
The more the cars were damaged
The harder we laughed.
It was hysteria.
I remember at one point
Looking at the other junker and just thinking to myself
How ridiculous it looked.
Crumpled like a car in a demolition derby.
I have no idea how we made it as far as the piers
But we did.
Clean.
No cops.
It was a miracle.
We stood outside
Of the two trashed vehicles
Smoking cigarettes
Laughing and ribbing each others skills.
The adrenelin had made us even higher.
I broke the rear view mirror
Out of our car as a souvenir
Before we started pushing those cars
Down the pier.
We pushed hard
Racing each other to the water.
At the piers edge
We took turns dumping the cars into the black water.
First our car.
It took all of us
Because once the front wheels went off
The car’s frame got stuck on the wooden lip of the pier.
It dragged, scraping.
We pushed.
The car fell over the side and hit the water’s surface.
And then,
It was rather crazy.
We all thought that the car would just sink
But it just floated there.
We pushed in the second car on top of the first
With a loud crunch.
The first car went down
engine first
Slowly.
The second car
As the first
Bobbed on the glassy liquid surface
Until it too started to go down nose first.
I remember as I watched that trunk disappear
Into the harbor’s depths,
A sense of eeriness
In the absolute quiet around us.
No one spoke
So I sense that I wasn’t alone.
We watched foamy bubbles rise to the surface.
Quiet.
Absolute quiet.
Moments passed.
The group turned to walk home.
And we were silent.
It was a while before anyone spoke.
Epilogue:
I held onto that rearview mirror
For many years
As some sort of accomplishment.
It was the source of a good story.
But at some point
It became meaningless
And I threw it away.
My life had changed
And it became one of my dark secrets
Less and less revealed.
The silent image of the trunk of a car
Sliding down in the dark, dark water
Still haunts me to this day...
Jasper
Sometimes
You ask to sleep in my bed.
And other nights we might fall asleep
Reading a story together.
I remember when I used to carry you
Around with one arm
Until my arm felt like it would fall off.
Yet I would continue to hold you
Out of selfish pleasure.
And now your four foot white frame
Is sleeping twisted next to me
Dreaming boy dreams
Of superheroes, legos, pirates, bugs and dirt.
I put my arm around you and hold you.
I feel your bones rise and fall.
You are a beautiful boy.
I know our lives are different now.
I wonder how you must feel
Being a boy of few words.
But I want you to know...
And I promise you this:
My world to you is of pure love.
I will do anything for you,
To bring you peace and understanding
As our lives continue forward together.
My bed can be your cocoon
On nights like these.
You slumber tonight near an open window.
This beautiful night
Slips in with the breeze
And softly moves
Your long blonde hair.
Jennifer
Take me to that place
Within the deepness of your pillows
Loose from dreams
And the black silk of night
To hear the city and woods scream
Outside your window
Folly to the sweet breath
Passing hushed as a whisper through parted lips
Take me there
Where dark hair falls
Upon flawless skin
Bloomed with desire
Perfect and momentous
Twice a week
Sugared laughs and puppy antics
Are charmed displays of affection
And the rest of the week
I think of you...somewhere
Extraordinary green eyes
Take me there
Morning Love
Here I am
Fucking myself
As the early morning light stretches across my bed.
And fucking myself
Thinking about you
Is no simple jerk off.
I lay here writhing and squirming.
I need every nerve in my body to feel something.
My neck
My chest
My nipples and thighs.
My back
My ass
I dig my feet deep within the sheets
And stretch muscles taught.
I focus on my breathing.
I become intoxicated, high
As I fuck the furniture
And the rug
The wooden floor
The door to my closet
The metal of the bed.
The intensity reaches a fervor
And my climax builds.
Slowly.
I want it to last.
I want to feel.
And when it comes
And my eyes roll back in my head
And my belly is awash in warm love
And my body is shaking
And I’m falling back into the comfort of the sun drenched bed...
I realize how special you are
And that this could never be just a simple thing.
NY Thruway
I’m not gonna lie.
I missed not one
But two exits on the thruway
And I was an hour late.
I was wrapped up in your soft thighs and ankles,
Brown sculpted back and arms,
Long neck and throat.
The way that you tasted on the end of my tongue.
I thought about how you looked so beautiful
After so much time.
You were there today
The same person that I had wanted a long time ago.
Tanned and laughing as you threw
Weeds down my shirt.
We had lunch and talked and became familiar.
Maybe we were too beautiful
For that small waterfront
But I didn’t notice.
I was there for you. Completely.
When I missed the first exit
I thought about how I just wanted to turn the car around
And find you
To lay you down in the shade of a tree again
And do the things that we really wanted to do.
And as I drove past the second exit
I’m sure I was remembering how pretty your ass
Felt in my hands
As you were bending into your car
And I know now that
I must and will make this drive again.
Pornography
With all of our sexy talk
And dirty texts
And fearless lust
With all of our graphic innuendos
And potent metaphors
Steaming with pornography
It would only seem fitting and appropriate
That after a two hour drive
To a town that I have never been to
That as I go sit by myself by the waterfront
And wait for you
That among all of the boats
Bobbing in the marina
The first that I set my eyes on
Is named
“Take It Deeper”
The Moon Through A Telescope
You and I will sit on top of the grey moon
With an orange fire tickling
The underside of the black sky.
We’ll drink paisley wine from conch shells
And touch each other for the first time.
We will dance from steepletop to steepletop
The world over
While you hum your songs smiling.
Stars will sparkle.
We’ll dive for all of the gold in the warmest of Caribbean Seas
Never coming up for air.
We will make love
On an Indian Blanket
In the middle of the red prairie.
Jealous wolves will howl
In their wet dreams
And the prairie grass will sing us to sleep.
You and I will sit in a clawfoot bathtub together
Smoking cigars in a bubble bath
With the TV on
Pretending we are movie stars.
Once and for all we’ll prove, in fact
That the moon really is made of cheese.
What words are your eyes cast upon now?
Are they simple and pure like a child’s book?
Stuffed with complexity, fragrant of the Oxford Dictionary?
Are you discovering secrets in words even now...
Light as lyrics
Or falling leaves.
Casual as a stroll through filtered sun
With a good cup of coffee.
Or discriminating such as the adjectives used for a rare wine.
I am sure you are in awe
And wide eyed
At the beauty that surrounds you completely.
Honeysuckle
The honeysuckle is glowing
In the early dark of night.
It lines the complete length of the canal
Where I am walking my dogs.
The softly luminescent trumpet flowers
En masse
Between the abandoned railroad tracks
And the stone edge of the canal’s wall.
The odour of the honeysuckle
Fills me
Washing out the day
The boredom of work
The stress that is my life
The uncertainty of tomorrow.
It is all bathed away
By thousands of white and yellow florets
Singing.
On the walk back home
I see the shadow of my smallest dog
Go down to the ground
And start rolling and squirming.
I shout at him!
It can only mean one thing
And it ain’t good.
Believe me
I have experience with these two dogs.
He runs from me
And yet I know that it is true.
Inbetween the sweetness of the honeysuckle
I am reeled by the futid smell
Of shit.
On the way home
People tell me how cute
My dogs are.
I wait for them to catch a whiff
And see if they think that they are still so.
I arrive home
And immediately start a bath.
Clover and Jasper
Freak when they smell Elie.
The smell fills the house.
I throw the little bastard
Into the tub
And get in close so that I can wash him.
I am thankful that I won’t be
Doing this twice tonight...
Because that has happened!
And I have to wonder
As I wash this wretched shit
Out of Elie’s fur
What ludicrousy
Goes through a dogs mind
On a new summer eve
To make the decision
To roll around in a pile of shit
Instead of enjoying the surrounding
Warm scent of honeysuckle?