plummy

life lived miniature 

exacting and precise

perfect simulacra 

in Victorian attire

of plummy summer 

set in Somerset 

badminton batting

before teatime

recalling a novel

half remembered

her dreams defy

the neighbor’s 

car alarm

higgledy-piggledy

like boardwalk bought
taffy stretched from
dawn to dusk
days run together
higgledy-piggledy
in melted ice cream swirls
sunscreen scented
like winter’s dreams

volition

I would not of my own volition lie
but I cannot see the truth as aught
but complication muddying this situation
and all my allies, few though they be,
remind me that to omit is not a sin the same
and to reveal that which need not be revealed
would achieve naught but to sully my name
so I bite my tongue, swallow pride, avoid blame

acquisitive

walk the shelves
with fingers trailing
on perfect spines
the lines buiguiling
acquisitive heart
desiring every
story in the store
never to be sated
always wanting more

supersede

nothing more conceited
than the pricks who
think their dick's need
supersedes the needs
of she who acceded
in the hopes her hopes
would not be stampeded
by the deeds speed but
she concedes it may indeed

gritty

broken tooth
cracked on cherry pit
in delicious irony
the portentous tyranny
ignored as gritty blood
drifts over tongue
sweet and tart and
metallic and sad
at picnic gone awry
i should have known then
shouldn't i

contraption

laid out
like cogs
and springs
and wheels
and things
each part
of your heart
dissected like
some newfangled
contraption this
odd attraction
to reverse engineer
perfection sans peer

lade

take all your petty resentments
sort and sift the wheat from chaff
lade the wagon and wheel away
the greater part to the mill
where you may grind them
into meal to bake your hate
into loaves to feed you forever

puckish

summer solstice sings
its incandescent incantation
in grasshopper stridulation
and stars its lower atmosphere
in lightening bugs celestial dance
sending lovers glance astray
to draw you in
with puckish grin
and languid from
the heat of day dissipating
anticipating sweet disarray

tonsorial

oh i know this rodeo
your mouth on mine
your hands entwined
with my tonsorial lasso
i snare you, isn't that so

demeanor

i should not trust as i do
singed so oft my skin is raw
from liars' flames too near
yet i am taken in by
your demeanor so refined
and kind i cannot tell
if you are as seeming
or something else entirely
and so i err on the other side
of caution and of care

insuperable

crampon clamber
sherpa shepherded
the peak attained
restrain yourself
judge not the ones
who find the height
insuperable in their
bare feet, alone, unled,
no oxygen and unfed
and though behind
still, they climb

boilerplate

needle prick repeat
snark for humor
stab the earnest
belittle those
whose skin eroded
by false friendship
boilerplate excuse
to follow half apology
and victim blame
is the glow of
your gaslight

flounce

oh you petty despot
to flounce about the place
as if somehow you own it
waving your slight seniority
as though it were a trophy
of inherent superiority
and not a badge of privilege
unearned except by the trick
of being the loudest prick

assiduous

I build my tomorrows
in stacks and rows
geometry of yesterdays
and bygone choice
as assiduous as
an antique mason
chipping away at
the jagged edges
of unmet potential
and possibility
to pile upon each
constructing a tower
the top of which
from where I might
at such a height
peer into eternity
or crumble into ruin

recidivism

resolve dissolves
in the exquisite ache
of time expanding
into the infinite chasm
of all your tomorrows
broken heart recidivism
calls out into the void
between midnight
and morning dulling
regret circumspect

oneiric

colors bleed
in poppyseed
explosions
in Oz-like iterations
walking through
vibrant hue to
watercolor fade
dazed from the
oneiric expression
of artist imagination
spread like vivisected
aspiration breathing
its last exhortation
in swan song
contemplation
of the infinite divine
metamorphisized into
shape and form sublime

scrutinize

action accountable
to none but he who
rules in hells deep
upon his greasy throne
and those who
scrutinize are criticized
and those who dream
to dare to speak
will be euthanized
so be advised

equivocal

on fishing wire tightropes
our calluses all that keep
our balanced feet from slicing
as we soft shoe shuffle equivocal
between two choices forgettable
courage could keep us aloft
missteps plague the soft

chasten

methinks
this life
sent to chasten me
for a previous
wherein I was
a dastard sublime
so in this spin
of fortune's wheel
I must amend
or end

ineffable

if one
believes
in a deity...
a sole creator
that built a universe

and is to us
as we are
to the microbes
in our guts...

designer of
a plan ineffable...

why then
so many wars
to proclaim
certainty in a
hypothetical's
hypothetical

vocation

so young
I thought I knew
I thought I had
a vocation I was
called to
but the voices
of the world
were very loud
and while for some
talent seems endowed
I slogged
and stalled
stammered and
was stonewalled
I lost the calling
in cacophony
and now I wander
and wonder
who I’m meant to be

quibble

If I were to note

I would not 

But 

You did ask

And so

If I had to 

Quibble over

The tiniest thing

it would be

If it were

If I did 

It would be 

This

bombast

in the chaos
      be the calm
in the rumor
     be the truth
in the tempest
      be the eye
in the bombast
     be the whisper
be a statue in the storm
still within the whirlwind
perspective comes with peace

kinetic

the woozy ache
of insomnia jitters
leave you skittering
limbs a quiver
and discombobulated
a kinetic coffee punk
subsisting on caffeine
and nicotine and rage

malapert

arms akimbo in superhero stance
nose upturned, eyes defiant
feet planted like the roots of
a thousand year oak
this malapert mini mahatma stands
betwixt the world and darkness
her cape ethereal, her hair a tangle
the smudge of dirt across her cheek
the badge she wears telling ne'er-do-wells
BEWARE

amalgamate

i have never met,

at least... not yet,

the kind of date

with whom i'd amalgamate

nuance

the world in varied
shape and shade
with every hue
proudly displayed
in every form
and space arrayed -
requires of us this:
nuance in thought
empathy in deed
we, all of us,
same colors bleed
so be kindest
to those in need
or burn in the abyss

circumspect

yet still I heed the ping
of he who leads me
down the garden path
it loops back
so circular I repeat
I know I should object
archive or delete
be more complete
within and listen
when heart urges me
to be more circumspect
wait for one playing less
displaying more respect
but the waiting’s long
primrose’s pull is strong

nectar

morning fuel most days
necessity more than pleasure
yet rainy morning made
on a day that stretches
into the no plans of forever
becomes the nectar
of languid love