Separation

gray,
shades of black.
the lack of color is cold.

only she has color,
only her color has warmth,
only her warmth has life-
her life moves ankle-deep
through gray powder.

the powder covers
living backs,
flowers, trees, birds
and the singled roofs
of dark houses.

the sky:
one shade of gray
except far on the horizon
where it is black,
one shade of gray
with gray powder falling,
cold, bleak,
forever
gray

Without You

winter; the woods
empty; the axe
sunk in a stump;
its thud a sob
startling the sleep
of a dreamer
waking, calling
where am i? who
is there?

Paper Afternoon

paper afternoon
a stage set in broad daylight-
life away from you

Perfection

my sensuous soulmate,
goddess of priapus,
voluptuous venus,
nectar of aphrodite,
charming beauty:

God has sculpted you
from a solid block of desire.

in your presence
other women are but shadows;
trembling, envious vacuums.
you are perfection!

Fossil Beetles in Amber

i ransack my mind
for poetry,
finding nothing but matchbox cars
and a piece of frayed string.

my brain has suffocated
in another day's rush and tumble.

a few crinkled words-
notions captured
on faded red and green
accordioned crepe paper,
dehydrated thoughts-
unfurl
dusty verbiage:
glissandi riffs
of separation's purgatory.

notions of your beauty
pleading to be freed-
fossil beetles in amber:
images of sensual perfection.

Op-art

i lay on the first stroke
of color:
a big, wet
hilariously smeary lip-stroke.
after that,
the canvas of your body suggests-
even demands-
i do this or that;
talk about liberal art!

Liquid Morning

in waxing light,
i rock with the motion of morning;
in the cradle of all that is.
i'm roused from half-sleep
by the spectacle of your
silver-tipped beauty,
cries of the sandpiper.
love is my will, and my way,
and my spirit runs, intermittently,
in and out of the rhythmic waves,
runs with the intrepid shorebirds-
how graceful the skitter before beauty's sea!

in the first rays,
all is a sacred scattering,
a shining.