The Fourth Phase

THE FOURTH PHASE

Used to track shadows . . .
Used to. Now, warm in the dark.
Embraced by pillow, warped by sedation.

Blinds turned, just so.

Upstairs they sleep as in the

Third phase of death.

Wake me. If fear occurs.

Wake me.

Between slats . . .

Watching . . . interpreting . . .

Plotting the fourth phase

With daunting ingenuity.

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/spooky-hands-motion-blur-front-dark-window-blinds-scary-197244974.jpg

The Dead Thrush

THE DEAD THRUSH

Dead, you dwindle,

Caught your wing on a spindle.

You sleep now--

Will you not wake?

Pitiful bird,

To what net were you lured?

You're trapped, now--

Incautious rake!

Sorrow, you're hanging

Among the paintings.

You're stone now--

Oh, what you break!

https://images.freeimages.com/images/large-previews/c9c/a-clump-of-feathers-2-1576489.jpg

Heart, Collapse

HEART, COLLAPSE

Hearts feather,

Candied coats endure the weather

Of all tasting tongues

Out for licks,

Or kicks,

Or sugar lapses.

Hearts weather

What tests their tethers,

Holding hard to 

Chocolate sweets,

Chunks or bars or other treats,

Or pies, perhaps.

Hearts tether,

Batter into leather,

Sticking to grief
Or the back of teeth,
Overriding what's brief,

Blueprinting new maps.

Hearts leather,

Vessels congeal into feathers.

Overcrowded, they age,

With death align

Their saccharine design.

Then, heart, collapse.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/329159f0459f0b6b59d7ce08f29f9d6c/tenor.gif?itemid=13496236

Rumble

RUMBLE

There’s a rumble in my tumble;

When the wind blows, I might crumble.

If upon your step I stumble,

I will try to be most humble.

Why is your mouth all mumbles?

Do you turn me loose to bumble?

Now I’m lost and left to fumble

With this rumble in my tumble.

https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/69TU_MD-VIz-QoqcXXvrmm92a0c=/1885x1414/smart/filters:no_upscale()/GettyImages-993959156-9c2533b1ed7a42a2a148b5d30f0340eb.jpg

Bear Trap

BEAR TRAP

Caught up in your wires, a copper cricket in this web

Each tug on the lines an echo into emptiness

Fabrications become collusions;

No more pretense.

A doe in these deep woods, soft hooves on leather leaves

Approaching the twilit glade where you wait

Silence rich with downy breath;

Cock your crossbow.

Lock-jawed creature, dappled in façade, a voice in a void

Clairvoyance is an annoyance, sensing the iron

Teeth before they meet through

Tender flesh.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/sgp-catalog-images/region_US/9n8zi-J60TQKA2T90-Full-Image_GalleryBackground-en-US-1583441696994._RI_.jpg

The Art of Awakening

THE ART OF AWAKENING

Time lapse lashes, rise above the glow—

Movement through the iris.

First morning breath in the sunshine;

Absorb light.

Woke

In the warmth of

Electric blankets.

Must passion be red?

The art of awakening

Is peacock-aqua blue.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0895/4038/products/this-magical-night-8x10-650_1024x1024.jpeg?v=1446909121

Puppet

PUPPET

raise the curtain, pull the strings

hand in glove will make it sing

little handicrafted thing

play on, puppet, play

give it roles, give it wings

dance and clap in rosy rings

light to every face it brings

play on, puppet, play

takes on life of its own

stitched up doll of fabric sewn

sightless eyes, lacking bones

dance on, plaything, dance

with sweet sighs the watchers moan

puppet with their cares has flown

trials now leave them alone

dance on, plaything, dance

fingers shift limbs from inside

no one can from puppet hide

vacant mouth, it smiles wide

growl on, sweetling, growl

again! again! the crowd has cried

deeper into it they slide

feel their hearts and brains collide

growl on, sweetling, growl

puppet wants to play today

puppet wants to find romance

puppet now is on the prowl

puppet leaves nothing to chance

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/fe/78/74/fe787472a4f8ed671822f079d846ebaf.jpg

Legend

LEGEND

You hope it will-won't be revealed

What earthly laws by shame conceal:

The Legend penned

In caverns sealed:

A golden runner, dead-end dream,

Impregnable walls, stifling seams.

You break to bend,

So it would seem.

I’m Legend! cries from deep within

You made me thus, now let me in!

You deeper send

His vampire grin.

Imprisoned, lonely in his cell,

He weeps; he plays at casting spells.

A death impends,

This banshee yells.

This dwarf, this Hyde, primordial tale

Shrieks for birth to no avail.

What he intends

Can’t be curtailed.

You wrote him; now he’s yours to bear,

Though nonchalance you’re pained to wear.

Brave heart, defend

This Legend’s dare;

Your dark friend lives. Beware! Beware!

 
http://ilmfeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/prison.jpg

Secret Admirers

SECRET ADMIRERS

Sometimes my secret admirers

Are far too secret for me.

Where are the clowns and flatterers?

Admission here is free!

The tent is up, the rope is taut,

The trapeze awaits intrepid hands;

What fancies will fill full this eve?

What trysts have been fore-planned?

Don your makeup; join the masque;

Espouse the revelry!

Harlequin—spin, love, spin!—

And merry we shall be!

https://miro.medium.com/max/600/0*rwo3DzO3BYuK2GCh.jpg

The Expectations of Adam

THE EXPECTATIONS OF ADAM

He came from a plane beyond this one

With words writ on his heart,

With patches sewn across his eyes

And solitude his companion dear,

This Adam, cast from someplace pure

To move throughout this land.

 

Expectations made demand,

Took root beneath a callous sun,

And those who saw him were so sure

To play their ever-standard parts.

Simplicity reigned; he had no fear,

For what woe could be realized?

 

This Adam read through no disguise,

Offered every whim a hand.

His creed held hostage what was clear

To everyone who’s anyone.

Faith in fruition was his art;

He’d not been warned there was no cure.

 

Elusive prospects were his lure,

But luster masks disastrous lies.

Constrictions nibbled, picked apart--

Harbingers of dwindling sands.
He fast lost hope, was forced to shun  

What once had given him such cheer.

 

Twisted brows and mocking sneers

Into real disdain matured,

But none of it could be undone.

What never quite materialized

To eternal isolation damned

This one, an end before his start.

 

So from this world he did depart,

His dreams in rot, desires smeared,

Unwilling sacrificial lamb

Forfeited to reassure

Believing expectations wise
Is foolish when the wheel's begun.

https://storge.pic2.me/cm/2880x1800/828/54a994dc61570.jpg

Nectar Words

NECTAR WORDS

You made her do it.

Nectar words,

Sugaring layers of corrugated steel

With glass.

She wandered halls

Infinite.

Waited for ambrosial speech,

The phraseology of the gods,

Honey-dewed lips

Formulating the unformulated.

Entertained the notion of discovering

Pleasure in self pity,

Satisfaction in sadness.

She waited.

Waited.

And you made her do it.

Speak now only sweet nectar words,

Sugaring, 
Encasing what writhes beneath.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzNFH73WQAEa2XO.jpg

You, In Your Calm

YOU, IN YOUR CALM

How light fills the bottom of

raindrops settled upon the glass

Of a train bound for the North

of a distant land.

Your eyes are a kaleidoscopic window

I can use as my compass

On the long trip before me—

Please hold tight my hand.

The windows of a city I fear to leave

are honey-combed squares of gold

Against a black backdrop of buildings

too tall to climb.

The wheels of this transport

are iced-over moulds

Of shells that lived once,

that counted the beads of time.

Why is there sorrow in your voice?

The way you frown—

It brings an ache

to my own pale heart.
White fingers trace your sighs,

touch the line of your crown.

Did I pull you with me

to this place where shadows dart?
No, you came of your own volition,

with knowledge of the chance.

How deep my love of you still glows—

You, in your calm.

There are dangers in letting

infatuation dance,

But I feel your name always on my lips—

a sacred psalm.

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Constellations

CONSTELLATIONS

Frosted fog blooms,

Facets effloresce,
Fracture into reflections,
Reveal tiny spots

Perceptible to seeking eyes.

Sparking threads trace

Pictures in the stars,

Destinies cross, zip through space and time.

Ruminations scintillate,

Indigo veins

Ramify, carrying

Blood fired with thoughts of the divine.

Wayward tangles!

Atropos makes kind cuts

To remedy the cruel knots her

Sister weaves,
Connecting dots not meant for constellation.

http://41.media.tumblr.com/9c1938dd3afcd7fe2fb921a4a25cbce4/tumblr_nljm8vufnR1txygfho1_500.jpg

Curiosity

CURIOSITY

pretty little thing

he is

wrap him inside a bell jar

display him on the console

amongst the geodes and glass skulls

attracting attention

curiosity of his cabineted world

mossy bi-orb

supporting life with life.

lovely golden thing

he is

set him on a pedestal

a sideshow stylite perched on a pillar

contemplating velvet folds

while whispers multiply

in the sweltering silence

accompanied by the night creatures

always watching.

impossible thing 

he is

a collectible amongst forgetables

feathered heartbeats

tread on little toes

cross the grass expanse

wet with midnight dew

trip over themselves to be first

in a line that laces into delicate lights

right angles in the wrong places.

http://lemag.delyss.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2010-shotbyjake-com-8929.jpg

Harold

HAROLD

Trot-a-long, trot-a-long.

They beat Harold,

So this is his song.

Sat in the fields, a quiet lad,

But they gave him Hell

When they were mad.

Eyes fell off, and hair fell out,

Cause scarecrows aren't tough,

Ain't no doubt.

Stuffing unstuffed till just a rag

Hung on the stick,

A sagging flag.

Then a dim and dreary day,

They weren't at work;

He came to play. 

Dragged through fields of spiking plants,

Wanted to see them--

Make them dance.

Got revenge; got his win.

Left of those fools

A pair of skins.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/JCHetJSenOrdRKdWgYVDojx-BpGbF7X4GiA8OS2pEj6HRqdofM-qkqBCCeCE85YSlsmjdA=s85