The great divide

The greatest distance
between two people
is sitting side-by-side
unable to speak
what is really
in their hearts

--

April PAD Day 4 - distance

My body, the betrayer

She's the gorgeous giggling girl
skipping along dusty
paths deep in the mountains;

a seductress flaunting a flash
of skin as
she dances in her bedroom

or bends into downward dog;
the temptress that
whispers affirmations in my ear

"I am strong,"
"I am vibrant,"
"I am healthy"

as I revel in the
sexiness of a
new curve or calf muscle.

She lures me into a
false love, promising
faithfulness as she pushes me

down the stairs, the subtle
sabotage of a
weak ankle or swollen knee.

"You are strong,"
"You are vibrant,"
"You are healthy"

I whisper, reminding her that
we are not
enemies, that she is a

warrior, perhaps too worn to
continue the fight
against each other. I surrender.


--

April PAD Day 20 - My (blank), the (blank)

I could

i could love you
if i wanted
could smother you with
the fast burn
of wildfire passion that
sweeps right through
and steals your soul.

i could love you
right now even
just drop this match
to my feet
and watch the cord
of connection between
us spark to life.

i could love you
next month maybe
when the slow glow
of affection grows
like fresh grass in
a field scorched
by her untamed flames.

i could love you
if you wanted
serve you sweet kisses
and wipe away
the ash if you'd
only say you
would not burn me.

--

April PAD Day 7 - love or anti-love

War paint

My warrior paint
comes in expensive little bottles
that promise youth

white cream streaked
across sun-spotted cheeks that
crinkle with glee

layers of invisible

masks promising protection from a 

wild western world

that tells me 

how beautiful I am though

its never seen

my real face.

--
April PAD Day 6 - not as they appear

Out of gas

He thinks we're at a crossroads 

that relationships 

are like bus depots 

where weary people wander 

bleary-eyed from their 

faded fabric seats 

across terminals crammed with 

travelers, seekers, 

and dreamers who hope 

their fortunes will change between 

stops in Little Rock 

and Los Angeles

And maybe he's right

But I already 

got off of the bus.

--

April PAD Day 4 - departure

Mother's bounty

I've neglected my garden
let the weeds grow heart-high
stealing sun for their greedy stalks

as my peony and peas'
roots wrestle to reclaim
the rightful riches Mother provides

--

April PAD Day 5 - vegetable

DevaSTATE

His was a madness that
whispered in his ear,
soft and sweet
dream-like

a gossamer that tickled his
hair and sometimes itched,
that made him
scratch

at skin that he could
not feel beneath the
thin blanket of
spiderwebs

as he plummeted deeper into
a world the rest
of us couldn't
see


--
Three Word Wednesday - devastate, gossamer, plummet

In the moment

I stopped searching for
happiness
and chose joy instead

--

November PAD Day 6 - happy now

Smothered

At first
you felt comfortable
and cool,
an old blanket
I could
wrap myself in,
never dreaming
that one day
that familiar
embrace of fabric
would become
like the
binding of bedsheets
prolonging the
terror of a
bad dream

No man left behind

I never wanted a man in uniform.
Though, I always did have the talent
for attracting what I didn't want, as
if life was teasing me

with some screwed up game of
permanent "opposite day."

No, military men were away too much;
couldn't wrap my brain around the torture
of loving and lusting for someone too
far away to hypnotize with

a flash of flesh, lotion bottles
in every latrine.

I didn't dream of sharing a bed
with a Marine whose nights were filled
with machine gun fire, whose train of
thought always returned to the

secrets that made him cry out
in his sleep.

He startled so easily. Called himself a
chicken for not wanting to go back
a fourth time; knowing no amount of
liquor could make him forget

how this war had already broken
him beyond repair;

no longer one of the few good
men, though Semper Fi still ran through
his blood -- a brotherhood, loyalty, gimmick to
sell all of us on the

idea that no man would ever
be left behind.

--
Sunday Whirl #182 -- machine, lust, liquor, tease, flesh, trains, gimmick, chickens, torture, lotion, hypnotizing, brains, uniform