Fair Flying

Chewing blue lips, I retrace steps through stars, flirting with moons. I choose to peruse stardust, not blood. Maybe this mess is crucial, a reverse foxtrot of love, where I stumble over toes, numbing spines to dip deep and long. Maybe this mess is sacred, a puddle of black matter flattening my frills, clipping me to the edge of God’s belly ring.

Draw out venom With pens. Roll on ink Like perfume. Feel bubbles behind eyes; Draw those out too With sharpened pencils And plates, knives And ceramic snakes, Like someone who’s blind But sees .

Bruises are illusions, Spoon fed through pores, Stored at the surface, where wounds Relish their looks. Bluish gold, bruises fold, overlap, Then fade into clockwork veins, Steam-driven, harp playing machine. Bruises are illusions Fused with fear. Color appears thin But remains a stain for life.

Stomach spirals, Twirling tornados, Serpentine silence. Sage smoke Seeping violent veins, thrumming raspberry threads. Violet lips tremble, wet velvet, scarlet puddles. Lilac livers flutter, shuttering wings fan fire. Peppermint gasoline, methamphetamine. Sticky sap encapsulating lungs, tickling throngs of fat, skin. Wedged between thimble limbs. Simpering mouths Salivate clouds. Huddled, flushed, puckering Teeth grip the cup, gulping For dear life.

New book skin, leather bound bones, Diamond spine. Eyes so divine, Stars cry. Words spill from your mouth, tipping, Colliding with my lips, a smashing Azure cracking teeth. Vicious vice, delicious black ice, Coils of smoke trickle down, fanning Outer space. You lean over me, a twisted cavern of knots And knives, bending, close to snapping, but I break first.

We're meshing messes, hands dressing One another in water and wine. Gems Upon dreams longing to be held. I’m the crooked arrow lodged In the tree’s bones. You’re the light turning marrow green.

Dedicated to Courtni Mitchell Weeping willow that doesn’t weep. Eye of an ocelot who never sleeps. Wild centaur raiding kingdoms for roses. Wise child Growing up in tree houses. Autumn leaves shimmying down rivers, sinking Toward bottomless troves. Tension of the bow; release of the arrow. Huntress’s smile; goddess’s child. Sky crackling, smoking like steak in the summer. Ocean’s desire for simplicity. Felicity found in Sipping jagermeister. Superstitious leprechaun feasting on fireworks. Lilies Growing underwater. Heart of a new mother. Fist of an old father. Crystallizing throat when hugging another.