Desires of the Phoenix


September came with
a sting at the back
of the throat
and such a harsh longing,
deep,
vibrant,
kept me up tossing
till 5 in the fucking morning,
hungry for
the night’s sweet touch,
for she was the only one
that seemed unafraid
at the prospect of my
fire skin consuming her,
phoenix licking my wounds,
even though sometimes
she couldn’t find me
through the storms
I formed and
circled round my eerie head,
hiding me from view.

Slithering through
the open window,
you flitted over
my aching body,
I sigh to the
north and east,
patchwork paces,
haunting on a continuum,
re-tracing soft footsteps
of my childhood Michigan winters,
magic frosts flowing to the rivers,
through the trees
we gather together
our senses,
hot sex rhythms
thumping the
top of the skull
to the base of the spine,
echoes repeating out
vibrations from the vocal chords,
sounds that came
up through the belly
to the head and
bursting out the top
of the brain
in moans erotic,
top hats taken off,
roughly thrust
to the ground who indeed
got a rush
from the thought
of hands and
fleeting frenzy fingers
stretched out to the angels,
gasping in pleasure,
casting me out of my
sorrow bones
which kept me
looking downward at
my bloody toes
most evenings.

And then there was the Sphinx ,
ever watching,
woken up on a Thursday morning,
to feel a sandstorm
round her waist,
and she thought to herself:
the wind seemed angry as of late,
a tinge of tabasco on the tongue,
vinegar dripping down
the earlobes.

Frenchmen leaning
out their windows,
shouting down
to the ladies in the street,
they turned and
gave him the finger.
Seduction should’ve been
a sultry swing,
Thelonious Monk
on the phonograph,
candles oozing and winking
in the cool twilight,
tender lips run along curves,
breath slow but then building
to heavy orgasm sounds and electric quivers
that shook the rafters
of even the most sturdy houses.
But in these tempest times
we settled instead for harsh tire squeals
and a short siren thrill,
pick your poison,
chug it down,
slosh around,
fuck hard and rough
without a hint of passion or embrace,
slink out from under him
when he fell asleep
and squeeze through the floorboards
before he remembers
what he whispered
to me
in the undertow.

You were a unimpressive liar:
women faking stupid,
men faking apathy,
the joker was the only one
found laughing
at the weary games we play.
I watched
cigarettes stain teeth,
apothecaries abandoned
with a shudder
for to bend and contort
to the idols of pharmacy
and forensics.
Media mayhem ate us up,
spat us back out
as gnarled stick figured blond barbies,
to mouth agendas for
Halliburton and Disney,
tango with the demons
of industry,
then tossed aside into mass graves,
screeching for sanctuary.

Oh please,
break the veils of ego
honey,
it isn’t always
about self-promotion and
what you can get out of
every sinkhole situation,
vampires in their cages,
gnashing teeth together
in time with the organ pipes.

Poor dear,
I could tell
in less than
the time breath took
to sink into the lungs
that you still loved her,
a flash of thirst in the eyes
as she walked by
and didn’t even care to notice you.
I could always recognize
a face hiding heartbreak and
it tore at my insides
to see the pain
you hid
and thought only your nightmares
could see,
but no,
I wept for you
in my dreams as well,
kind stranger,
and hoped for healing
in the dawns to come.
Tis so strange and wild
the way heart valves betray us
and how we are really all the same,
wanting to hear our names
shouted out loud through street crowds
with love and craving,
and hands on my hips
in the early hours of the daytime.

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