Southern Gothic

slow-sanded shuffle

tattered denim lifted
in curtsy clear of mud

plaintive wail cuts dull-edged
through valley gale

wind winding, seeking,
searching icy as mountain streams

counter-point tapestry of sound
where banjo sharpens fiddle

cleft of farm blossoming
in deep forboding pine

rough squared hole enables
railroad spike of light
to invade the living-black
of cabin

a bobcat's scream, woman-like,
electrifies muggy August nights

butchered ghosts pause
at periwinkle door frames

Invocation

God walks in your bones,
His footprints scar your lips luminous,
holy light etched into the details of you
are curling strands of pure delight,
see how the sun has braided love-locks
into the tanned creases of your eyes,
God roams freely in you, He has no
choice, you never let him free, even
when he bends toward the darkly
fierce Goddess in me.

Photon Valentine

curving through
the cold silence
of space
millions of miles

a ray of light

diffused, tamed, by
the roiling soup
of atmosphere,
dancing between
broad lime-tinted
laurel leaves,

forms a heart
on the linoleum
of the dull gray
bathroom floor

I disrobe, a cloud
covering me and
melting my fleeting
heart of light,
and descend into
perfumed water
sending fragments
of you down to
complete the journey,
my love in rivulets
sinking deep
into earth

so is the sun's
seduction of the
earth echoed as
you bend over me
and like a ray of
light, an opalescent
river, a salty rain
you pour forth your
love

confessional

oily oak doors shut softly
bathing me in dense silence
ghost of incense lingers
repulsive, my own breath
suffocates, laced with
tropic mold

I reach down with
my sinister hand
my dark hand
trying to recall
every moment he held
me captive, lashed
to irises of blue

primal scream
splits the dawn
cloaked in full-throated
despair
&
my voice is raw
from the salt-wound
he gave
&
all day long
I will drip
discarded honey