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Strings
Merlin rests on marbled porch
weaving music into wind.
Wizardfingers touch
lovelorn strings, strumming
wisdom; memories drift,
melancholy
on violet clouds.
Red-dust sun sinks, pulling
crescent village moon
skyward.
Lingering, he porchplays,
whispering frosted poems
to Evening Star.
Mermaid swims to his weary coast
and begs for legs.
Merlin strums in blackberry night
braiding songs with
secrets. Porchcat sleeps
curled on Merlin’s
sweet-tea toes.
He beckons Alabama
baybreeze; his
indigo melody
quiets mockingbird,
brings Mermaid back.
Merlin strings sorrow’s song.
Mermaid cries his iceblue tears
and begs for legs.
Merlin pauses at porch edge,
corners strings,
considers granting mermaid wish.
In silence, wizardfingers
spark twinkling
cascade. Spells cast,
stargrass
glows green;
seaweed curls float
on frothy waves.
Merlin pulls Mermaid to chin,
grows fins,
jumps in.
The Bargain
She spied him from under the watery
deep
That fair captain who set sail every
night
In blackness well past purple sunset,
Away from his city of light.
She wondered if ever they’d chance to
meet
And she cursed her silveryblue fin;
So different were they, & from places
diverse,
She lamented they’d never begin.
Yet one night, when the captain was
sailing,
On violent seas of emerald and teal,
His ship’s hull split in two while the
moon laughed above;
With Triton, Mermaid struck a quick
deal.
“Let me take him,” she begged, “’til
he’s ready
To walk again on the Mediterranean
shore.
I’ll care for him in the sea I call my
dear home
‘Til he’s well, then I’ll see him no
more.”
Triton nodded in agreement, and
Mermaid wasted no time
Doing what she now knew was fated:
She slid her apricot arms around his
shoulders and chest,
Swam home, let him rest, and then
waited.
And when he opened his eyes, he saw
she wasn’t a dream;
She went to him and touched his strong
arm,
And lightning shot down from the
stormy ash sky
Warning Mermaid of what certain harm
Could come from taking this dear
captain
Into her cerulean bed as her own.
She longed to love him in her watery
world
But stood by her word, & so with
silent groan,
She kissed him once softly and cast
her dark spell;
The captain fell into a deep sleep.
She delivered him to the Mediterranean
shoreline
--Her promise she did faithfully keep.
And when the rosy sun lifted a sliver
Above dawn’s bronze horizon line
The captain awoke with blurred
memories
Of shipwreck, tho’ he bore no bodily
sign.
Then a flash of memory showed him
A mermaid with long gingered curls--
A mermaid who treated him gently
In aqua depths among starfish and
pearls.
And this memory stayed with the
captain for life;
Many more years did he sail
trouble-free.
Mermaid perched near the point of his
old ship
Watching him traverse the volatile
sea.
And she hoped that he knew, as he
traveled the world,
His mermaid wasn’t merely a fable;
This mermaid, who couldn’t love him in
every possible way,
Loved him every way she was able.
Pythia
Scarlet priestess, ivory thigh,
Apollo’s messenger, hear my cry!
Look into bronze bowl & scry;
speak your visions, tell me why.
Leaves of laurel, bleached moon on
high,
gaze deep in midnight’s onyx eye—
breathe my future’s vapor sigh
from serpent’s crevasse to blackened
sky;
my destiny, your words imply.
Do not this meager request deny;
The truth on your red lips is nigh—
Love, loose my crimson heart to fly.
Bride
Under a
vanilla magnolia
crescent,
corset-laced,
Archer’s
Bride ambles,
wearing
peony silk & glass
slippers; a
pearl princess adrift
among
sleepy poppies.
Angry
clouds gather & roll,
scrying
moon secrets.
His pale
Bride pauses,
hears her
sisters’ watery song,
trades her
snowy veil for flame;
glass
slippers splinter.
Blue stars
streak thundering
midnight
with icy fringe; Bride shakes
off angel
wings, gold ring,
& pasted
pastel smile,
scattering
turtledoves
& exposing
her true
scarlet
seams.
Archer’s
Bride whispers
to a black
raging sea,
asks
Amphitrite for release,
longs for
peaceful sleep.
Soon, swift
Nereid fingers
help
gingered curls escape,
they spill
past ivory shoulder
to jeweled
core; peony silk
unbuttoned
floats to
flowerstrewn mound;
restless
Bride heads for shore.
There,
under slivered moonlight,
in ebony
silence on damp foamy sand,
milky legs
merge & are welcomed
as sapphire
& emerald fin.
Bride is no
longer Archer’s
but simply
Mermaid again.
Troubadour
You come to me in whispers & white
moon
showers, summer’s troubadour.
Wrapped in midnight’s ebony
velvet, we recline, entwined,
under this high star
carpet; your thirsty
secrets pass to almond
shoulders & pale apple
blossom ears. Whisper
again your crystal promises
& songs of July’s deep
jasmine. Your words
are nectar & my neck
is ripe for the wet sugar
of your ravenous
gingered
mouth.
Yours
When the
sun presses higher in pink morning mist;
& the
grass, ultragreen, with cool dewdrop, glistens;
& the
traffic flies frantic past my small windowpane
In a rush,
I hear your
voice.
When the
clouds float by in the shape of wild tigers;
& the sun
arcs high at sweaty noon, blazing;
& the boys
on the job sit down to ham sandwiches
& a nap,
I hear your
voice.
When the
storms roll in from the east side of the state;
& the cars
hurry home on the interstate, late;
& the rain
plummets down from the silver ash sky
Soaking
concrete,
I hear your
voice.
When violet
rings spiral around a lush moon,
& Orion
asks me to be his pale bride,
& the waves
crawl onto the empty seashore
With
secrets,
I hear your
voice.
It’s your
voice
When I’m
alone under midnight’s spell,
When I’m
counting the seconds ‘til the teapot shrieks,
When I’m
locking the doors at the end of the day before sleeping
& dreaming
of you…
yours.
Gemini Hearts
Emerald clover
blankets the toes of tall oaks;
on this cool carpet, removed
from July’s white heat canopy,
dress me in rose
petals & cream kisses;
I am your scarlet Queen
of Wands.
Clouds whisper,
charming sunset
into black lilac,
unveiling
night’s full ivory
curve. Stars spill
across a feathered tulip
sky, ringing
our Gemini hearts
in shifting gold shadow
and light. Clover cushioned,
we spiral, braiding
breath & limb,
arcing into dawn’s
silver wash.
New Dawn
Crawling through
solitude’s deep jade
labyrinth carving pale paths,
sore fingers scratch dust
on twisting endless roads.
I choke
on gray shadow days; hungry
scrub pines claw
my spine; chestnuts bite
bruised knees. No milky moon
glows to guide me.
It is missing;
so much is missing.
& then rain tumbles;
cool platinum teardrops
pour from flannel clouds, cleansing
craving from blue bones.
Scarlet angelwings
feather my cheek.
I rise,
arrow-straight,
calling silently into an obsidian
starless sky for the cherry
blossom pink of a New Dawn.
& day breaks, blood orange
on the plum horizon,
promise-rich
because of your honeyed
jasmine smile.
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