The Boy

The boy masked his face.

Pasted it black with a stroke, stroke,
the tack of the polish,
the smack of the paintbrush,
all joy, all grim, all primal and strange.

The boy wound a wire.

Wound it around and around his neck,
found the feel pleasing,
unexpectedly thrilling,
his reflection a thing to unnerve and admire.

The boy took the stair.

Trembled to think of the party ahead,
his heart in his throat and
his throat in his head,
a dreadful step taken - all - up - in the - air -

After

Drunk beyond
speech
we rolled into
sleep
folded like jumpers
all arms and
torsos
tangled the
sheets
with the blind, mashing
force of our
wash, our
dry, the
dark drunken sleep
of my darling
and I.

Mooncroon

cloudcloudcloudthefaceofgodthefaceofgodthefaceOFgodthefaCEOFGOdtheFACEOFGODTHEFACEOFGODtheFACEOFGODthefaCEOFGOdthefaceOFgodthefaceofgodcloudcloudcloud

In the Afternoon

I drift in the warm waft of the gardens, between
the sweet sting of things that have been. Tempted
by theft to thieve the things left but I leave
them. They belong here. And I've already stayed too
long here.

He was Sleepwalking

he was sleepwalking

called to a
red moon

thrown from the throne
of thought

all impulse
all want

The first thing I did when I got home from work was

get into the shower. It was all I could think about while I was in the shop. Shower. I needed to be clean. I needed to wash the fear and rage and hate away. I pulled my hair out of its tight, oily ponytail, felt my follicles swoon at the release. Ran the water, and as it warmed, stripped off my clothes like they were a part of the conflict, like the were vestments of that disgusting ceremony. Clean! I wanted to be clean. I wanted that woman's words to be washed out of my mind, I wanted the water to exorcise them from me like tiny demons and baptise my new, fresh, unblemished soul with a willingness to love humanity again! How I hated humanity that morning. How I hated its every low, selfish, mean, uncompromising manifestation. How I hated myself. Water. I needed water.

The Camping-Store Shaman

came and
cleared the air of
Her

at first
we'd laughed him
off

but soon
we asked him up the
stairs

and soon
as he went up he
stood

exactly where
Her bed had
been

I don't
believe in all that
stuff

but that's
the weirdest thing I've
seen