Acer palmatum

It's a surprise

To me it's a surprise

It's a surprise to me to find 

That we 

You 

And I

Are so alike 

I've known blights in my lifetime 

I've known sickness 

I've known the growth that comes from just a little bit of tenderness

of compassion 

I've braved elements 

And they've made me stronger 

I've taken in those forces that howl and bray and beat against me

Internalized them 

Made them useful

To the point in which I've wondered if it is why God put them there 

I've withered

Shirked back in unrelenting heat

Selectively undergoing apoptosis 

Watching 

Gleefully 

As pieces I no longer needed died back and fell away

Only to find 

That I'd killed all the parts that gave me life

I've stood 

Bare and naked to the world

With nothing left for anyone to use

Feeling a burden

An obstacle

And I've heard the mutterings of others

That we should just cut him down

He'll do us in if we don't

You and I 

I'm actually a few years your senior 

Though we both have this presence about us

That makes others remark on our

Ancient wisdom

Did that afflict you as it did me?

Did others count on you to remain 

Stalwart

Upright 

Well-ordered 

While you desperately craved nothing more than a 

helpful stake in the game?

A crutch?

A scaffold

A cross to die on if need be 

I have not known all of your sorrows

For I have not seen my children die before me

But for what it is worth I've had my heart broken 

Shattered into so many pieces 

I died back 

And for a moment 

It looked as if I wouldn't return in the spring

I've learned that growth is painful 

That it requires the relinquishing of so much

Yet it is necessary 

Those that grow tall without established roots

Are doomed to fall 

I see you

And the sense of intimate respect

Implores that maybe you see me too

And that we'll keep growing 

You and I 

And it's a surprise 

Mercury in Pisces Retrograde

For you to have nightmares 

Isn't nearly enough 

No

For you I have prepared 

True horrors 

Manichæn Monstrosities 

From a Long Time Ago

That wait for you in shadows 

Horrors that push thumbs into your eyes

Terrors that catch your tongue in your throat 

Because these are nightmares for you alone

They shall not be related to others 

What's more 

What's worse 

Is that in time you'll see something disturbing 

Something even you can't immediately place

The fact that the walls truly have ears

The human qualities to things inhuman 

And you will scream

Into the air

Into water

Into fire 

Into earth

Into the void that calls you

Sweetly

Alarmingly 

Is that your mother's voice? 

A riot of scripture

A carpenter ant is not a carpenter 

A carpenter bee is not a carpenter 

And I'm rather sure, there exists in hell

A place for well-wishers who wish you well

Who, in pity flock to church and thrive 

Never knowing Matthew chapter 6 verse 5

Who claim their right but never delve 

Into Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 

Who, when all things are said and done 

Cannot recall Matt 6 verse 1

Who, with their malice seek to hunt thee

While ignoring what John says in 4 verse 20! 🤣

Quite honestly it took me time not to see you as a mirror

To really get to know you and to understand you clearer 

I've loved

to love

to learn

to love 

to listen and to hear you

and I'm quite ashamed of just how much I've needed to be near you

It seems like whiplash knows no bound

with just how much things turn around

And I think, this time, it's finally better

That I'll soon be free from folly's fetter

I just don't want to jeopardize 

The bewitchment of your azure eyes 

The laughter raining in like thunder 

Your continued playful sense of wonder 

The wood tick that I found last night most likely from the garden mud

Has not been the only thing around me trying to feast upon my blood

But just as the tick learned very quick- crushed by my hemostat 

You might pay a price when I'm not so nice to those who feast on blood and fat 

It's as if I've been here before 

It's as if I've been here before

It's as if I've been here before 

Lab Grown

I've heard somewhere there stands a cathedral with panes of Selenite 

But I have seen Vermeil Glass aglow with such a light

Someone once told me nothing nothing beats a Diamond's strength and might

But scientists made stronger stuff from tape pressed on Graphite

And speaking still of Diamonds, of whose price has never fell,

Except to Padparascha Sapphires, Yttrium, and Spinel

The sheen and shine of mica is wanted for its electroconductive gleam,

Until formica ushered in a plastic-coated dream 

The value of these objects has been lessened over time

As God made things in his image 

We learned to trace his crude outline

And when someday this place is bled of the consciousness of Us

There will stand no more a living soul to tell the Diamonds from the Dust 

Cherry Springs

My G-D 

I've never seen anything like this before 

This is what people mean when they say

They have bathed

In moonlight 

My skin

Gossamer

Glowing an ashen blue 

A Lunatic's hue

My eyes

Are they adjusting to see something already there? 

Or could it really be

That these photons from the Dawn of Time 

Erupt before us 

Like some kind of cosmic fucking Lite-Brite 

Studded by angels

His hands 

Are hot as coals in this cold dry air

His gaze betrays the statement that there's nothing on his mind 

He and I 

Awash in moonlight 

Starlight

Car-light 

Streetlight 

Spotlight 

The incandescent light in the loft

Rendering the scars on both of us soft 

For years

I imagine

I'll think back to this oft 

My G-d

My skin 

My eyes

His hands 

He and I 

He and I

His hands

My eyes

My skin

My G-d