Lament for a Modern Danae (DRAFT-A-LICIOUS)

I
There were nights of motion, of wetness,
of weeping and pleasure, of ghasping for air.
Once, she lived in desire. She woke in the night
to the feel of you between her legs. You were
her Zeus, your hand sliding into her was a shaft
of moonlight melding her life to yours, creating in her
a divine pregnancy. [...]

It’s morning again

I keep expecting to run out of new mornings.
I got a new vacuum for Christmas, I ran it twice
last night after putting it together using the cheaply
printed instructions. My old vacuum hadn’t worked
in months. It collected a trash bag full of dog hair.
I put it in the trash can immediately. [...]

Seal these wounds

I’ve been drowning my fears
in astringent and slitting them
open with the tip of a knife.
Your words can dissolve
the edge of my anger, but only
motion can wipe the residue
of horror and sadness
off of my skin. Only the feel
of paper against my index finger
or the warmth that lies
inside your mouth can seal
these wounds I created.

An unknown illness reveals need

Then the world blurred into color,
sound, and the lack of ground
beneath my feet. This would be
death, but for the cool porciline
of the bathtub against my sweaty
face and the question of what to do
with my last moments. Getting up, struggling
thru double vision, arms and legs dancing
towards the bed, a sickening marionette.
I hold in my mind [...]

Readying to Run

It’s the morning again. Breezes invade
thru open windows, but I am alone
again. I pull on my lime green shorts,
my purple bra. I drink gatorade
and do not miss some meaning
in every movement. Thirteen miles
are all that’s between me
and my self. Once, there was something
more than these sounds, this passion
for something so pointless, something
noone knows but [...]

The Death Sentance of Promise

It was all promise then,
promise the color and texture of
the purple clematis curling up
the wall beside my grandmother’s
back door, edged midnight dark
with a vein of magenta at the center.
I always knew it would end,
promise like that burns
too hot, turns to ash,
and floats away on whatever
breeze happens by. I would
play in her back yard and feel
that [...]

Archival work

She worked in the archives of a small college university for a year. At first, she used a little vacuum to clean the dust from the delicate pages of ancient, crumbling books for eight hours a day. She loved teh work, carefully, slowly hovering over a wealth of knowledge, having the power to [...]

They

all come to me
in search
of love.
It starts
as an inkling
a quiet need
that blossoms
rapidly into obsession,
into passion. It blossoms
only to wilt. Why can’t
I quit using the word,
why can’t I leave it
behind to the archives.
I want to cut thru the air
like a knife. I want to feel
sweat evaporate. You forgot
time and time again that I [...]

A young woman with enormous wings

She woke up. The sky was so blue she thought she could cut a piece of it off and suck on it. She thought it would dissolve bit by bit in her mouth. It would sustain her.
Years ago, she woke up, too. She woke to find wings had sprouted from her [...]

The dead

You have to see this, a photo collage on NYT that has pictures of every soldier killed in Iraq. Too moving. Here is a poem.
These dead
We have all been
a tomb
for your ashes,
you men and women
we will never know.
Where are your accolades, where
is your coffin? I never saw
any evidence of your existance,
save for [...]