Miss America

Miss America

Miss America takes off her crown,

Tosses her roses in the trash,

Shouts, "bring down the patriarchy!"

And leaves, arm in arm with her new girlfriend.

Sponsors withdraw.

Miss Runner-Up, whose talent was playing the piano

And singing "Wind Beneath My Wings"

Is hastily trotted back out.

Meanwhile,

Miss America sits in a queer coffee bar with her girlfriend, who is wearing

A low-cut red dress and a black choker.

"There goes my apple pie image," says Miss America with a smirk,

As she kisses Veronica's hand; for that is the girlfriend's name, and anyway,

A pageant is for now but love is forever

When Veronica's long canines shine white and

Beautiful as she smiles.

Numerology For Lovers

One moment was all it was.

Two people and circumstance...

Three times we made love.

Four quarters of an apple, on a china plate...

And the wet it left;

We slept beneath a sectioned window...

And though it did let the light in later,

I should have known, even as you still lay beside me,

That nine is the number for endings.

"In Time" by special guest poet Kelly Dickson

(I've been given permission from my dear friend Kelly Dickson to post her poem "In Time" here at the Word Garden. I think it's a special poem, by a special gal. See if you don't agree.)

In time

The heat of your breath felt on the base of my neck
Shhhhhh. Kkkkk. Shhhhhh

The tip of your nose draws an imaginary line, along my spine
What. Next. What.

The pulsating tingling exuding from your fingertips, find my own
Beat. Stop. Beat.

i have found my way but yet i am not quite home
i have found the immortal in mortality and i...
can barely speak for finding...
barely move for feeling
i suspend all time by
being in time and
on time
i am..
here

Caroline, Created

Caroline, Created

When the world begun
It was done on a dare
The moon and the sun
And the rocky shore there
She has shaken them all
From her long and incomparable hair.

It was only to bring
A tuesday in spring
With a fan turning lazy above
She wore only her glory
And you not a thing
When she taught you the meaning of love.

There are flocks in her eyes
And night in her bones
And she is never
Never
Alone.

When the world begun
It was done on a dare
With the yin and the yang
Of your hands everywhere
And your precious beliefs
She has shaken all these
From her long and incomparable hair.
_________________

August

August

Emily,
Were you waiting for me?
Did you find me in your garden
And speak my secret name?
We are wicks
Twinly lit
Darling, we hold
The flame.

Emily,
Did you press an oak leaf to your lips?
Wishing for her lips
That never softly came?
We are women
Who burn for women
Darling, we hold
The flame.

Emily,
Did you see me?
Another bound in books
That fair Divinity contain?
We ache for night
And fever bright
Darling, we hold
The flame.
_________________

The Mermaid And The Moon

The Mermaid And The Moon

The mermaid said,
"I am sad, for my love is far."

The moon said,
"My love is far
But I feel nothing."

The moon said,
"I am dry...so dry
For I have no tears."

The mermaid said,
"I have nothing but."

The moon said,
"All of my light is reflected;
I myself...am dark."

The mermaid said,
"Even by night, my love will find me
By the glittering of my tail."

The mermaid said,
"I am neither fish nor maid
But I bear the body of both."

The moon said,
"I bear two faces, but neither one can smile."

The mermaid said,
"I feel empty when my love is far."

The moon said,
"I am sometimes full,
But only with madness."

The mermaid said,
"Pull me closer to my love
And I will kiss you for the favor."

The moon said,
"I will pull you closer
By pulling on the sea itself."

The mermaid said,
"I am less lonely
For being nearer to my love."

The moon said,
"I am less lonely
For your sweet and gentle kiss."

"Thank you, generous Moon."

"My pleasure,
Beautiful
Miss."
_________________

Blood

Blood

Blood
Is the first thing
Did you hear it In that salt sea?
Blood.

Blood
In birth
Did you see it in the passing years
As the mirror showed your mother's face?
Blood.

And music
In a rhythm
Like a heartbeat

Blood
In the flush and rise
Did you feel it when she touched you
In your place of deepest need?
Blood.

Blood
In your fingertips
Did you ever feel the river tides
Flowing in, flowing out?
Blood.

And music
In a rhythm
Like a heartbeat
_________________

Garden Of Love

roses,
clover,
then it's
over;
love made,
price paid;
belladonna,
nightshade.

Ablutions

Ablutions

A faucet weeps,
It says,
"Though I am steely and cold,
Something inside of me has given way...
Pity me in my desolation;
Now that tears have come,
I cannot stop them."

The basin says,
"I am empty.
I am a porcelain chasm of need;
And though you give me your endless tears,
Still I cannot ever be filled."

"Is anyone there?" asks the mirror.
"Although I reflect all who stand before me,
I can only listen;
Never speak.
I wonder sometimes,
Am I really here at all?"

A pretty woman wearing a silk kimono walks in...
She smiles at the mirror,
Places a stopper in the sink,
Turns on the tap and holds her beautiful, delicate hands in the stream
of warm water.
"Sometimes,"
She thinks illogically to herself,
"I think my bathroom loves me;
Celebrates my arrival."

And then her soft laughter
Rings pleasingly off every surface
Of her little domain.

Joan Of Arc

Joan of Arc

I wanted to just play my silly-girl part,
But I'm heavy with visions, old from the start;
I wanted kisses, dresses, a canopy bed--
But I am holy and lonely Joan instead.

I hear voices, which are my poems.
I see saints, which are my better impulses.

I have my horse, whose soft brown nostrils flare,
My sword and my cross and my short-shorn hair;
The sun bakes down, my saddle creaks
And it goes on like this for weeks...and weeks.

I know the night, which is my sister.
I know the want for a woman, which is my sentence.

What can anyone do to me, or do for me?
They've already reduced me to smoke and glory;
But inside my armor, I've re-formed and I sear
And I'll smoulder like this for years...and years.

I love the high grass and the red-winged blackbird.
I long for a French girl and la fin de la guerre.

I only wanted some charm and some looks,
Never my face in old history books;
No statue all pigeon-shit, stood in the park,
Not this lonely and burning sweet bitch Joan of Arc.

The Menger Hotel

The Menger Hotel

They say the Menger Hotel is haunted.
When it rains, The reflected lights make the street seem afire
And when you walk into the Menger,
The inside seems outside
Adobe walls and windows behind which lovers sigh
Line the corridor to three floors up
Like a street in a dream.

The Catholic cross against your warm olive skin
Made me feel exalted and trashy all in the same moment;
Made me want to take you upstairs and pray to you
With every dirty word I know.
In the Menger Hotel
The reflected light made your black hair seem to blaze;
I joined your dress on the floor and you
Sat on the edge of the bed and
Laughed like the summer's most beautiful devil.

They say the Menger Hotel is haunted
So is the St. Anthony
So is the riverwalk
So is every place we kissed in the shadows
Haunting me still when the night is dry
And I am Alone.

Blood Orange

Blood Orange

Mira
A wooden-handled knife,
A coil of orange peel,
And the fruit itself, on the table beside the bed;

I bleed at every touch, Love,
But it's a wounding so exquisite,
I can't help but offer myself
Section by section.

Mira
A table with its tableau,
A bed with its patient fool,
And the sweet bloody fruit, held out in my open palm.

The Girl Who Loved White Lilies

The Girl Who Loved White Lilies

A girl she loved red roses
But she loved white lilies more
She found them by the water
Rose and Lily by the shore

A girl she loved red roses
Red like blood when hearts are torn
On the stem in warmth of evening
On the water in chill morn

A girl she loved white lilies
Blooms a bride or corpse adorn
She found them by the water
By the water ever more.

Crow In Love

Crow In Love

A crow flew
Three feathers fell
One to the wind
One to the earth
And one straight down into hell

The trees turned to ice
Then into sand
The crow couldn't look
The crow couldn't breathe
The crow couldn't find where to land

This is the country of love, said the other birds
Make three chicks from the feathers that fall
One heart of ice
One heart of sand
And your favorite, with no heart at all

A crow flew
Her loneliness turned her black
Her wings turned to stone
So she couldn't fly on
And god knows, she couldn't go back.
_________________