hallucinations

Pressed by her 

longing for him

time tries to convince her

he never really existed

that the kisses and the whispers

were a mere hallucination

an illusion

of her own troubled mind

in the night, the sensation

of his arm pulling away  

from under  her neck,

as his ghost leaves her bed.

The Other

moments

my eloquence

could not capture

or perhaps articulation

fails when

first embraces

are as light

as young leaves tickled

by spring’s youthful sun,

as bold as a rising wave,

engraved as the first taste

of loss.

Who decides?

who belongs with who?

and what loves to condemn?

standing at the kitchen sink

washing clean dishes

a futile distraction

repeating ;

you belong with her

she belongs with you

and they  who decide

will always condemn

the other .

I love you as I love this anger

that comes with losing you

thick and heavy, the stiff anger that

denounces hope,

denounces truth,

then returns wave like crashing

every bit of bone in this skeleton desire

The six days old tulips - erect in their glass vase

(elegant and feminine)

shed their mature petals

quietly

shedding the weight of their beauty

submitting to time

reconsidering inevitability.

When they first handed you to me

I wondered where I’ve seen you before –

Not in a dream

I thought of all that I’ve already given you;

my temper, my guilty conscious

I thought of all that I’ve already taken away.