48 today

happy birthday to me

antigrav

There's no longer any place
for me to fall.

Even my mother's thorny embrace
has been relegated to graveyards,
though her spines still prod my exertions.

I've been bred to mistrust
so that now I shy away
from friend and foe alike.

My body is an iron frame
spun with medals -
dangling from the hangman's post,

and I have no soft place to fall,
only the harsh linoleum in my kitchen.

Fantasy Love

You came into my dream last night
into my bed in the warm dark,
familiar and sweet in my arms
like a long forgotten childhood toy.

Our mouths tasted of fresh water
in gardens where cripples learn to walk again.
I followed you into forests
beneath the pink dusk.

When my husband came in
I was afraid he would discover you,
but I felt the cold as you left.

At daylight a page of your words,
black rounded script on white paper,
was taped to my mirror -

'I love you' written in a way
only I would be able to read.

The Teenagers

He has a single expression in photographs,
she has the flawless arse
only youth and starvation can bestow.

They pose amidst a drift of stars,
each an echo of the other,
kissed with golden, dusted lips of fortune.

Dance in fields of mushroom-bred dreams,
postage-stamp orphans. Bless the winds
that toss you through nights of raucous harmonies.

When you're old like me, you'll remember
every lip that pressed to yours
as a gift of immortality.

The only things to remain real
are moments we glance against each other
along the way.

I just read a great poem

http://www.izaak.unh.edu/exhibits/kenhall/HORSES.HTM