Swords-and-Bandages

Dearest Fluttershy, I suppose since I’m already writing letters of apology for my customers, I should also write this letter to you. I feel that you deserve an explanation and an apology from me as well, so that you can understand why I cannot give you your heart’s desire. Even after all these years, and despite the fact that we were never able to start a family like we both wanted, my heart still belongs to Golden Fleece. Though circumstances have parted us prematurely, I still think of him every day. Some days… are harder than others, but happy or sad, I will cherish every moment I spent with him for the rest of my adm

It starts with a girl. It always starts with a girl. Somebody you gotta protect. But you can’t. That’s not how the dance goes. Because someone always snatches her away from you. Someone always does. You dive down to the dance floor after her, Bust some moves twenty years too young for your body, Make a moron of yourself. You wonder why you came here in the first place— At the invitation of your “dearest friend” To be a so-called protector, some “Great American Savior”— To be a rent-a-clown for some rich idiot’s amusement. Go home, old man. Drink some of your favorite scotch, Straight out o

Down a shell-strewn beach I walk with feet bare, and take my first steps into the waves of the Atlantic. The water is clearer than I imagined, clearer than my wandering mind in the winding streets of this strange city, a stranger growing stranger still with every familiarity I remember from every city I ever set foot in and drank my fill, laid my head down to rest and dream of better places. The familiarities I see here are just reminiscences and reminders of hours that came before, places that exist only in my memory. The reality of the past will drown under the weight of memories— crimson images of sunrise remembered in glittering eye

Names etched on seawalls Bells sounding mourning calls Ringing hollow in the grey skies above Dressed in black below the naves Syllables echoed in the waves Tearful soil falling into the grave I look to find nothing within A place in my heart where you should have been Beating slow and living still Your voice is missing as the earth is filled Dying flowers accompany the dead Asking what could have been instead And the wind whistles on, and gives me no answer. Forgetting you aren’t there Daylight turns in gear Receding with the sun as time moves on With darkness rolling in I come back again And the room echoes lonely silence I look

Summer died last night, alone. The piercing swords of morning air stabbed deep, deep as betrayal. “Sic semper tyrannis!” Farewell, oppression of heat and humidity, days baking and nights broiling. Then there was quiet. What will be left by the end of winter? To come from a place where summer is barren and to settle where winter is lifeless, to live two seasons in absence. To not sow, and to not harvest. To thirst and hunger, to be trapped in the falling expectations of a season of turning leaves, when ghosts return to the earth between two oceans and far away to both, away from my place of belonging. I can feel the color leaving

“Why did you call me?” “Your mom’s in the hospital.” “… What happened?” “It’s her heart. She’s in ICU.” “Yeah, but what happened, Dad?” “Honestly, kid, I don’t know.” His father sounded hoarse. “You know she’s been like this for the longest time.” Ian stayed quiet. “… I’ll cover your plane tickets, Ian. She wants to see you.” “… Okay.” “What would be a convenient day for you?” “I’ll buy the ticket, Dad. I’ll be home by Saturday.” &ldq

How my deeds pain me as time stretches long How could I have hurt them this way? So rest easy now, my punishment’s mine The weight of my crimes are my own But into that stillness you brought me your song With your voice my company kept For your tired eyes and sweet lullabies In exile I pay you my debt Once did a pony who gleamed like the moon Look out on her kingdom and sigh Dejected she cried, “Surely there is no pony “Who loves me, or finds any love in my night.” So great was her pain, she rose in rebellion Against those who cared for her most She let the Nightmare fall on those she ruled And threatened to grip th

  On nights when I rarely sleep I stare out of my window where wakeful dreams flood my landscape twisting streets into rivers  Tranquil tides rise against cobblestone beaches then all is quiet when the moon leans against the water starlight glittered lapis  My room submerges thoughts floating away with my books and poems I am Svidrigailov  In the water I am sleeping  Stars reflect into the Pacific portals to remembrance woven together in night's liquid tapestry  If I swim out I can reach each one hear the blinked whispers of their lullabies comforting notes forming gentle waves rocking me in their cradle of warm music where I close my e

What does it take for a glacier to fall? Simple. When spring comes piece by piece the ice recedes cold meltwater flowing away Dikes and dams can't hold back deep waters,                     love-in-loneliness. The levee breaks, sending your pent-up reservoir crashing into once-safe harbors. The flood splits streets into new rivers, shreds our measured walls to pieces. Roofs fall to the primordial chaos of whirling water, the lives they sheltered devoured. Panicking, you fling yourself to the only high ground you know and when I s

Blue Rose of Illium, entwine me with your thorns, for the scars you leave on my skin give more honor than battle-wounds. Let my hands carry you from the shadows of steel towers into the hot sunshine, so your petals may grow deep in color, your leaves and stems more supple, your roots firmly gripping the earth where love plants you. Blue Rose of Illium, may I die with your name on my lips, and fall close to where you stand so my blood may enrich your soil, and my bones wall you against any who would uproot you without knowing your true worth.