Girl in the Window
what privilege!
to watch her lean against the windowsill,
gently resting on her elbows,
not even a splinter would dare to bleed
this holy flower of a girl.
the wind pulls at the linen
and drags it tight against her skin—
her hair in seashell ringlets,
damp with ocean and flakes of salt
she casts her net across the horizon.
trees shiver nervous under her gaze,
and sailboats skim the icy gray.
join the ocean and whisper her name,
are those her eyelashes,
or just a wave?
Asteria
mysteries dangling like cigarettes from her caked red lips.
a dark music box for a bedroom.
a thousand peacock feathers,
eyeing her wherever she went—
she was all jewel and silk.
while oily flashbulbs winked and leered,
the softest breezes waltzed through the window
to talk with the dust on the hats—
she was all brassy jazz and moonstone,
weary as Hollywood Boulevard.
the red sun slanted and the soot river groaned;
she crossed eternity again and again,
always in step with the gaudy foghorn trumpets.
Yesterday
I remember how we would sleep
Curled together, lost between cushions
A daydream now and then to pass the time
I might meet up with you in my mind
Bound by strings of soggy hemp
Twisting from our fingertips, what to remember?
We ran apart, and we talked in the dark
Illuminating rooms with the light of our words
We lay down beside railroad tracks
And shook as the trains rattled by
You may have grabbed my hand
Even though you said you weren’t scared
The violins swirled around us,
A bow defined us
When I heard a B-flat
I cried for the rest of the day
Lecherous vines wrapped around my ankles
And bound me ‘til you pulled me free
In your warm arms, I would unfold
Destroyed by all the good in the world.
Caligula
I never intended it to end
In thirty incarnadine slices to my skin;
How I wish they had understood!
How I wish they had felt
Those clammy hands coil up my spine
And rest upon my brain.
They clawed their fingers into every fold
And, shaking cold, squeezed me tight.
I could not breathe;
I could not think.
I did not choose this life
Yet it rendered me lifeless.
Oh, Cassius, dearest friend of mine,
How will I repay your thoughtful deed?
By striking me down onto the ground
You allowed me to be free!
C.G.
Shoot, coward - you are only going to kill a man.
A bullet through the bones,
Shattering, flaking glass
You might be spinning softly
As your words begin to blend and slur
But I know you can see my face
Clearer than ever,
And this is what you want,
And this is how it ends.
In a hot spit of metal,
You have brought a legend to his knees.
Are you proud now?
Will you even remember the moment
When you destroyed a man
And resurrected a myth?
Or will that cold defiance
Be lost forever, in the dark,
Velvety recesses of your drunken mind?
Will I disappear so easily?
Am I destined to die invisibly?