Castles down
by the sea
wash away
in fades bubbles
of once
a child laughed
for sun so strong
forever ebbing
in froth under foam
to sleep she counts
faintly discernible starfish
© Chagall 2014
Tag Archive: love lost
Inconsequential ending
how deeply then
were we bound
since the start
An untied bow, no wrapper
just a smile pulled down
way down
Can someone close
the window? I seem
to be losing
all of my steam
I gobble up Time
one twice daily
since I’ve heard
that it heals
Prescribed
to be taken
On an empty heart
right before
long
© Chagall 2014
As a samba goes
so does the summer’s
last dance in sand
while surf rolls
muted offshore
in whispers
she hushes you
to quiet small steps
fragrant embraces
and softer kisses
still she waves
a silhouette
in starlight
© Chagall 2014
The intent of auburn she always wears turquoise
simply and nothing else rarely
I love her best in astringent ether on tight lean lines
we extend a single pivot deep and low
more adrift than punctuate, solitude for two
Our clouds come in many colors
but still go, who knew the storm before that stayed
surely it rained a little sometime now and maybe less than later
I’d seen her on rooftops and feared she’d fall
she dropped once and I dreamed of bridges afar
where I’d fly though I had no cause to crash
on any but my own terms
How easy to have stayed aloft
to find her updraft if I dared
to release, let the guide wires catch
in graceful vines overhead
instead I fell bowed low in salted air
awash in radiation
The day
bakes me
I lose awareness in descent
over the surface tension of roiling water
instantaneous dreams of fall mix with actual falling
a swirl in the darkness between images is neither sight nor thought then
but something else awash in the eddies
Insight rather
into the nature of falling
and who we’ve come to be
And we’re not
till we’re here
then we’re not
© Chagall 2014
Elaborate schemes scrolled ornately
elegant passages etched
in a world at a time when no one wanted
more than any one
perhaps it’s vertigo
settled in
allow me my Hitchcock moment
God, I’m on the hour-hand
of the bell tower clock
again
and I promised myself
that this chance would not be
wasted
and so I jumped
with so much confetti about
I have no sense of falling
uniquely six-sided we are
crystalline in nature
curious to find
identical snowflakes
yet there you are
I’m
so
sorry
I
melted
© Chagall 2014
She’d hold me and sing
minted breath and curls of auburn
the darkness holds green swirls
there against the black negative
tension at the hollow of her neckline
ghosted images along the perimeter
her voice nary a whisper in perfect pitch
till she fades and succumbs to the mist
© Chagall 2014
She beats
sentience bursts from
every pore
she pours
life into buckets
she flings
wide-flung winds
alee, always
warm salt air
where all life
every permutation
jostled by
any perturbation
is
the possible
cherished outcome
an eternal wind she can grace
o’ wouldn’t she ride
forever?
© Chagall 2014
I imagine his memory of me, myself anew, image inverted
in polished specula, arranged to reflect the deeper end
where form and touch precede the vapors
An air too thin to breathe
grips my breast, this hollow where spirit resides
Tousled so giddy then, now my love
lacks legs so I hobble, hush and expel
warm breath from rounded lips
In steam I trace mosaics that vanish
once rendered, in a gallery I lie hidden
hands over ears, my heart squeezed shut
to count the fallen footstep
© Chagall 2014
Stick figures she’d draw on the mirror
appear in the bathroom steam
weeks after her passing
© Chagall 2014
by her, the past participles
– really the fine particulars
weaved in the brightest future
always was while weren’t
on the other hand both swept away. Slower living certainly
though purported to be an umbra. Above all else
above any smile, just once that I should watch
and she would see
© Chagall 2014
Alphabet City 