Vertigo
The debt has been forgiven but
you paid the price in blood
her blood
yours
creation joins her groaning
and splits the virgin night
Push.
(push apart the ocean)
Tear.
(tear the sacred veil)
Bleed.
(bleed upon this alter)
Push
Tear
Bleed
One last cry
(hers or yours, it's hard to tell the difference)
as God breathes his first
between trembling teenage knees
The ancient scandal reavealed:
new born immortality
redemption clothed in rags
heaven's glory
traded in for gold, frankinsense
and discontended murmurs
(two thousand years worth)
of cold resounding gloria.
Grey
Grey like the snow, post-December
(cigarette palace and a cardboard crown)
grey like his eyes when it rains
walk a little fasterGrey like the gum on the sidewalk
and the tops of your over-priced shoes
grey like willful ignorance
hurry alongGrey like the weight of two dollars
and eighty-five cents in your pocket
Grey like the state of your heart
avert your eyesGrey like preventable hunger
and cold, naked backs in the wind
grey like the goats on His left.
Fragile
I'll tell you a secret...
I am not five foot six.
I'm only five five and a half.
But five six always sounded so much taller.
I'll tell you a secret...
I keep my eyes open, when others pray. I know I'm not supposed to,
but I have this weird obsession
Watching hands, eyes, lips
expressions that rush, like an angry cloud
across the face, when people talk to God.
I'll tell you a secret...
I only have nine toenails,
I eat chocolate chips by the handful
and the word
darling always
always
breaks my heart.
And one more thing...
(just between you and me)
I'm not really a cynic
not really courageous
not really so offended
by all those things you say.
I'm just....
fragile.
Just a Girl
Just a girl
She
wears her nicest dress on Sunday and
sits with her legs crossed in church
(even though she doesn’t buy into gender stereotypes).
Just a girlShe
hates pantyhose, perfume and lipstick
because it never comes in the right colour
for moving mountains.
Just a girl
She
can’t part the ocean so she just parts her hair
on the left this time
hiding her eyes
hiding what water can’t mask and make-up will never wash away.
Such as These
There’s a little park near my house
a big park
a big little park
a little park that was big
once
when I was little
and everything else was huge.
I go back there sometimes
to my big little park
where little children
with big eyes
laugh
play
sing
and run in big circles
Because their little minds don’t know any better
but playtime will end
in a few little words
when the first big promise
lies broken on the ground
in fragments of
joy
peace
innocence
laughter
and little pieces
of all those big things
that we’re not small enough to understand
You
I hate the way
you
capsize my life boat and make me
tread water
in the
cold
black
ocean of your grace
I hate the way
you
refuse to be held
by the confines of my poetry
and
overflow
into a thousand starless nights
I hate the way
you
always
calm my raging storms
before I have a chance
to
bury my tears in the rain
