Disarray
late, summer eventide ...
I lay on the rug, head by the
window, feet tended in the direction away
from your house ...
deliberately ... designedly ...
full moon drizzling its cornflower bloom
thru venetians, dividing into
soft, dripping strips of liquid sapphire that
slather my skin with somber
streaks of twilight -
shredded like the ragged raiment
of my heart, and what's left
of my shirt - my favorite shirt - the one you
always wore to bed, for me,
for passion ... for us
the one I just took off and tore
to ribbons, soaked with the unholy issue of
wet from my eyes, and strewn
across my bare chest ... in this bare room ...
ALL - clothes, love, life -
in disarray ...
the sea is breathing ...
regular balmy bursts of brine that push
the blinds away from the sill,
then relent ... push ... relent, making the
shadows part like lips and
purse, just as a wee child blowing
the thistle off a dandelion, or the way you'd
wake me each morn, parting my hair with
puffs of tea-scented breath,
until my lashes batted open and sopped
up the splashes of your smile, my
fingers tunneling their way through Egyptian cotton
to prize your softest, tickle-friendly spots ...
greeting the day with slow, sweet,
tender love-making ...
those thoughts quickly
perish, fizzling like white phosphorous ...
I am stone now, as cold and
sallow as the moon - bloodless and stark, with
no breath but what the ocean
gifts me ...
my only tie to you now,
this moonbeam, a streak of wan
light that I shall grasp like a wispy,
tenuous rope, and hold on
with what will I have remaining - with what
semblance of a spirit you've left me with ...
a rope of soft glow that is
now my only connection to you -
from my barren heart to the mocking moon,
from the mocking moon to
your mocking love ... and you ...
this strand of moonlight lustre will tie us, ever,
for if not, it will most assuredly find
its way 'round my throat, and I
can think of no more fitting or beautiful
a thread ...
from which to dangle.
~ 4th Place ~ in the "Disarray" Poetry Contest, Nina Parmenter, Judge & Sponsor.
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