Gem-Like Flame

Do Not Despair

2009-01-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

To curl up in love

is to forget in protest

and remember every fear

as if it were victory.

After Running

2009-01-31T09:11:00.000-08:00

Open sky, I lie awake.
Life calls out
in soft breaths,
hisses out of sprinklers,
and feeds on adult hopes.
Now it's dark, it closes in
and shuts me out.

I've Heard This One Before

2008-11-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

Get shot in the arm.
Sit uptight.
Fret. Sweat.
There goes the night.

So, don't.

It's You

2008-11-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

safe, safe
ever always keep
you'll, I'll
me never weep

Douse

2008-10-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

A moment lingered upon us,
trembled
and sent the evening up in flames.

The Last Three

2008-09-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

We'll remember them as days

that held us in their snare.

Some drove us now to laughter

and some then to despair.

MCQ

2008-09-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

About Time

2008-09-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

What did take a while

Was never to be had.

Hope is a smile

That once was sad.

Opinion Poll

2008-09-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

is it the lot

of every man,

to be caught

in the plot:

i must while i can?

Page 3

2008-09-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

Under the arc lights,
But over the top.

The swines.

How Careless This Must Sound

2008-07-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

I was lost without a trace,
And then I was found.

Rapunzel-4

2008-07-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

say it well,
this we know:
time is hell,
all else snow.

Hurry Up

2008-07-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

Time to conjure up happy visions:

Sunday afternoon tea; a gaming stall;

vacations by the beach. Time to call each

'Still Life' and hang it on a wall.

Sadness

2008-07-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

Silence rends my every hour:

Your eyes neither speak nor start.

Shut out all light and devour

Savages who sadden your heart.

For You I'll Be

2008-07-13T09:06:00.001-07:00

I Love You When You Leave Me

2008-07-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Tongue-tied and tender.

Pretty High

2008-07-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

What are the odds
of love on the precipice of greatness
being thwarted by a crooked nose?

Our Unfinished Business

2008-07-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

Lies between covers
Of leather planners
And pleasant manners.
Suspended, it hovers.

It waits for our song.
It's a check on your list.
Don't get me wrong,
But do get the gist.

Conversation

2008-07-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

"Easy, it's raining."
"Surely, you're gaining."
"There's a fire in my heart."
"Oh, please. Don't start."

Bare It All

2008-07-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Be more to me
than a happy voice
and the saddest heart
I'll ever see.

Koregaon Park

2008-06-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Ten o'clock. A light buzz

rings through my head:

Love flows through seven lanes.

Love - it's dead.

Have you turned in?

2008-06-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

I woke you up
to show you how
I've turned out.

A Short Night We'll Make Of It

2008-06-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

Feed me to your
mind's curious touch
and let this idiot distance
between us crumble.

Your smile is a hand held back.
My game is a placebo.

My Way

2008-06-23T12:25:00.001-07:00

I wish it away.
I wish it would stay.

Fun

2008-06-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

It's almost laughable
that love, or anything like it,
should've made us
hold hands, share books,
see eye to eye, converse
and beguile each other
in general.

I think we're done.
It's not much fun.

Soar

2008-06-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Fill me up, vacant

hour. This lonely plain is

promised land. Here lie

primitive sorrows in wait.

When all is lost and

all gained, torch this soul

and let me soar.

Road Trip

2008-06-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

And so, my brothers,
we will grab
Fantasy by her hips
and bring to life
her softest thought.

This, then, is our resolution.

Clever Men In Search Of Love

2008-06-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Presently they were found, dead-in-motion.

In their ugly moment of defeat

they had, perhaps, tried recoiling

from the horror of it all.

I could have told them they didn't stand a chance.

The Story So Far

2008-06-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

Death by midriffs,
Resurrection by duty.

Please

2008-04-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Please mind your head. It is full of ideas the world doesn't care to know.

Clarification

2008-04-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

The pleasure of your company
Is not your boss.

Eventually

2008-03-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

He'll sell out and move in,

no doubt, solemnly, into an attic,

sundry badges of his off-centre life in tow,

seeking his place among the riffraff.

Calculated

2008-03-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

Since every

day must count

and each

life be lived

in its

own wicked

way, today

you shot my

hurray with

a harrumph.

Freedom

2008-03-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

Freedom is a rabid, world-weary writer.

Rapunzel - 3

2008-03-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

While it's light,

and we're deep,

let's flavour this coffee

with our fear of godmen,

and faith in deodorants,

without worrying too much

about falling in love.

Rapunzel - 2

2008-03-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

"Just as well" and "Serves him right"
are but two ways to meet this situation.

Rapunzel - 1

2008-03-07T10:21:00.000-08:00

What a pity
to see no proof
and have no option.

Beauty and the Beast

2008-02-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

Beauty is easier than the Beast.

Your View

2008-02-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

If the looker

were a hooker,

would she be

bad company?

Irony

2008-02-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

A man and his life
are assaulted by kin,
and spared by voyeurs.

Compliment?

2007-11-29T08:39:00.001-08:00

You are a treat
To a poet in heat.

Longing

2007-11-21T08:19:00.000-08:00

I love watching
the winter evening
cuddle up to you.

Too bad
it must leave me
out in the cold.

She's The One

2007-11-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

You will find her
on the other side of a sunny day,
tucked away in a greenhouse,
pickling her thoughts,
giving highbrow its bad name.

Let Down

2007-11-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

They said she would bloom:
She ballooned.

Cause

2007-11-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

His love for
her rises
in the morning,
travels up his knees,
and lasts almost a minute.

Effect

2007-11-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

she rides (with) the siloviki
masking thinly her
cold hatred of all things
not lorded over.

beasts of her burden
and slaves to her form
line the streets
and pretend they don't.

Point Of View

2007-11-01T10:21:00.001-07:00

love is
silent,
furious
and jaded.

it can be found
in the news
and on the streets.

it sounds
like a stifled cry
and answers to any name.

She Says

2007-10-15T10:03:00.001-07:00

Let's just say
that the magazines he reads
are self-help books
featuring really pretty women.

He Says

2007-10-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

In the end,
it figures,
the greatest threat to mankind
is premature balding.

A Dream

2007-10-15T09:52:00.003-07:00

It was a mossy evening
and we could all but hold
cold, grey, bitter hands.

It was a windless moment,
and the one fort did,
as only lonely forts can,
nothing but look away.

Us

2007-10-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

You are
a female assumption:
describing vaguely
an obvious could-have-been.

I am
a father's memory:
regretting once
the seven certainties.

Never Paperback

2007-09-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

Never
paperback,
folk-lore,
or even a parcel wrapped in brown paper.

Mostly
the corner seat
in an empty cinema hall,
or a midnight deal
at twice the going rate.

Always
another day
of fierce living.

In A Doll's House

2007-09-09T05:28:00.000-07:00

Forks to the left of me,
knives and spoons to the right,
I accept your invitation
with grace and gumption,
and declare this party begun.

I sip a sweet-smelling phrase
and roll it over my tongue.

"In you flows,
like this fine wine,
the milk of human kindness."

"The Ribeye Ettouffee
is an inspired choice
for the evening,"

"You really must spoil me,
with a second portion of your
what-did-you-say-it-was pudding."

It sounds right.

Beyond this temple of the bitch-goddess
I have no use for my cuff-links
Nor you for your coasters.

Good Food Guide

2007-08-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Early to bread,
Early to rice,
Makes a man fat.

R.E.M.

2007-07-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

We recur
in time's libidinous dreams,
rehearsing from dog-eared scripts:
a simple plot in legible hand.

Hawaiian Shack

2007-07-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

Dionysus,
Set your poison
Racing through my veins
and let it find its way
to that secret harem
of Kohl-lined eyes
scouting for tonight's worthy lover.

A Prayer (For Sandy, Avi, Kinny & Me)

2007-06-09T12:18:00.001-07:00

Our keepers in heaven,
grant us the exclusive rights
to spew unlimited venom
on your limited-edition world.

Leash

2007-06-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

You slam a 'do-not-enter' in my face.
It locks me out, licks its paws, and purrs.

I pray for it to sway in silence,
from thought to clement second thought.

The room is full of your perfumed arrogance.

Newspaper in hand, I wriggle
under my seat belt of etiquette,
and glance furtively at the weather forecast.

By Chance

2007-05-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

Will we meet,
Like we parted,
By chance?

Performance

2007-03-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

The time was right. I swore unconditional loyalty and a few other things. The dog, he was pleased. He was a patron and knew my price.

2007-03-03T21:47:00.000-08:00

A Wish

2007-03-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

Haves & Have-Nots

2007-03-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

Opinion

2007-02-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

A society kitten
Smitten by gross
Prose said to him:
Jim, your clever
Endeavour to write
Might never be
me but always you.

Old Monk

2006-11-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

Deity of good times
Play me your words, your tune, your song
Deliver me from sights of ugly women at the bar
Hold me in your grip after I've lost mine on you
Forgive me my weakness, watch over my girl
Make me a fire-breathing sarkany tonight

Resignation

2006-11-26T06:49:00.000-08:00

Hell over healer
Corruption over cure
Decay over distinction
World over will

Choice under duress

Gulita

2006-11-26T05:55:00.000-08:00

Drown the night in liquid laughter
Bushwhack through breakfast
Assemble in a grey gas chamber
Follow the terror-trail

Ninety-three charts
some participation
Five syndicates
some plans
Six cups of coffee
some acidity

Dodge the host, his contrived summaries,
Nod to secure release.
Survive the host, his rambling votes of thanks,
Nod to secure release.

Love

2006-11-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

Lip-service
Five days and a half

They loathe, they learn
They trick, they tire

Lip-service
Five days and a half

Your Signature Tune

2006-11-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

I claw at this playback
of falsetto notes
on late night radio
by an overpaid, self-sure jockey

The Party

2006-11-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

You leave behind an aftertaste of badly fermented smooth-talk;
Today the government guarantees your right to free speech,
Tomorrow, mine to file writ petitions.

Invitation

2006-11-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

Share my stare
Dare my face
Pace my ink
Think, sink