Thirty-six hours passed with no rest
but I am now deep within a dream
of strange substance and color
my emotions strained and stretched
my body turned inside-out by
floating lights
this is the price paid when one denies sleep

I blink from a nightmare of glistening
silver probes
to see in my awakened state
the blank stare of almond sized black eyes
a gray
silhoetted against the vanilla ice cream colored
shades of my living room window
the contrast visible
even in this monicum of light
he leans a bit to my right as I jump into consciousness
and I know he is surprised
before sending me back

When the morning Sun brings me around
my body
head to toe
feels worn
with fever
my daily aches
routine with age
are maximized and accentuated
the gray is fresh in my mind
the first clear thought
the clarity of his presence
undeniable

A quick check
testicles intact
coffee to chase the headache
a shower to
wash away the abuse

be my therapist

massage both my temples
from whence these poems originate

will your fingertips perform tailored alterations,
will they insert strange spices and your favors,
unfamiliar but imagined overtime desirable flavors,
thus resolving the question that my answers perpetually fail,
to satisfy my unending need to understand:

how do my temples
speed the heart
bring forth whole poem utterances inconceivable,
reminding me to remember what has yet to occur?

she grins, whimsies me and suggests:

that’s why they have been
appointed anointed announced as the
Temples of You

2:19am 2/19/18

She walks in the cool mountain air.
Her imagination cannot be concealed or reined in.
She hikes in dawns first light
And dusks last breath
But, even beauty has its limits

Life stabs her in places
Only hope really knows .

In the soft light of an
Early moon
From her swirling Smokey dream
an undertone
You can barely hear .

Into the backwaters of
spiritual rigor and solitude .
Vaguely off balance
Kissed with regret .
Slaying words
Like petals flayed
From the softest rose
Inert and harmless
She rolls over.
A Psalm of praise
To beauty .

But like fire made
of ice
It masks the arc
Of illusion and
Shields the proclamation
Of amnesty.
Of an equally enthralling
And dangerous Woman .

she knew all that I was
and I her
this is what I miss
this is what I remember
when her name is whispered
in a distant corner
so that I cannot hear
but I can
I can hear her name
in the glint of a star
not yet seen
on the crest of a dream
not yet realized
she knew
she knew that I loved her