Elemental

your eyes are parched blue

  a sky amidst the thickset trees

       your words are seaweeds 

           fresh as limes in my japanese cup  

               and why am i breathless

                  when   i   see   you 

              drilled down to the elements, 

           you are 65% oxygen

       & 18% carbon 

  & 10% hydrogen 

& 3% nitrogen 

  & 1.5% calcium 

     & 1.0 phosphorus 

         & traces of minerals    

             found in rocks & trails by the lake-

               you  have  no   roots 

                 nor wings to anchor your moorings-

             you can slip through my

        fingers like the eel or disappear 

     in a flash of elephant's rage

or rust cold in the depths of sunken ship-

but    you   come 

   every     morning

       hungry for each rush & pull, 

          fascinated with

              sun's play on the sands,

                    wind's drum on the conch's belly-  

                       beyond bones & rags of our flesh,

                   we tangle spineless

               and the sea 

            cradles us, weightless, size of the planet    

        this love

     a mere drop in canvas of endless mass   

   but it's precious dew

on our lips

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Poetics:  Water, water, everywhere  ~  Thanks for the visit ~ 

grapeling with words

you find

            your words are fire

            without flint or wind

            but with fury & shrill of the night

            how your words growl

            at the touch of another’s urge

            making your skin itch, surfacing nose

you find

             your words are water

             to the curious brow & sweet lips

             striking a cadence undeniably yours like a

             forgotten heartbeat

             your words have colors

             unfactored:   still-born moon, tender-lit sky, dark-grit storm  

             shading your heart, now spilling your guts

you find

            though you can make words

            disappear quickly

            as summer fireflies

            how they slice you open

            blue & shaken

            vulnerable as a root-

Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Get Listed:  The Grapeling Way

picture credit:  here

Where we will carve our names

Soul Mates by Canadian artist Maxine Noel.        

She signs her artwork with Sioux name Ioyan Mani, which translates to "Walk Beyond".

With my four eagle feathers,
       I stir the air and fly to your hand

Bare of rings & ink, you seed my footpath
      salt & foam, as far as my raven's eyes can catch-    

A pair of seagulls circle eight times
       above us, wingtips white as falling snow

The yellowed river whispers songs
       of our mothers, we cradle them as precious stones

Native drums beat & shatter the evening
       crimson and lush as your skin, soft as knotted leaves  

An owl hoots, we hear the northern winds keel
     and rise its mast towards the blue ice-mountains

A cry from a distant coyote pierces sharp as my spear,
     then night wraps us silk-warm as crackling firewood- 
     
The wind rustles restful & plump as blackberries
    your face is silvered lake, stardrop & ebbing waves-  

Reach for me like a spring bud to rain,
     Pull me under your fur, shivering for your touch-  

I will be the soft sands & sturdy bark you call home
     I will bear our names in the deep belly of the mighty tree

The thick-green forest hears our words &
     loops our rib bones under one skin, one spirit dance-

Let's climb the skies together -
      Let's feast with the candles melting like the moon -   


Posted for OpenLinkNight of D'verse Poets Pub - Happy Anniversary and cheers for more ~ I am vacationing in British Columbia and may be slow (but surely) in returning visits ~  I am enjoying the scenery and basking myself in the local arts.   

In rhapsody

                       

                         The music sheet trills & exalts 

                  Notes so blue, a lingering sky 

           A wind breath, light as a caress

      Drips on dappled page, murmuring profusely 

           Verses, in ballet pirouette, flower slowly, then     

                    Allegro beat, sweeping both of us to peaks &   

                           Unimaginable spring, floating on edges, tumble&fall

                                                     We don't speak as stars slide unbalanced  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               into the night, gravity finds us trembling-   

                                       

                                                                                       The m a g i c  is  s t i l l  here-  
                        

                   84 piano keys galloped in the wind-

while 4 violin strings quivered the garden in throes-

        music unlocked his tongue-tied words into red wine-

                   she drank them,  one s u g a r  crystal at a time-   




Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads  - Kerry's Challenge - Rhapsody
& Poets United - Lock

Picture credit:   Tumblr.com

Sonnet: Hungry eyes

How is it possible that no sounds come 
from your red lips, but I can hear the cadence,
lilt & fall of your words, weaving a spell, fragrant
as tulips & delicate as your thumbs 

Lingering over my verses like dewdrops.  Drum-
ming fingers whisper as I catch each sentence, 
smooth as beads, twined of summer &  patience.  
My hands braille your face, golden as our wedding bands.

I want to leap & curl between the spaces of us -
I want to drink & drown in this heady brew -
Of these & more, I will gladly profess:

You nourish me with your hungry eyes.
Speak in any language, my heart follows you
like the sun, blooming yellow & new of us.



Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Sonnet challenge by Kerry
and Tulips by Hannah - The title was my inspiration ~
Shared with Poets United

I quietly watched this middle aged couple, communicate in sign language during the train ride ~  It enthralled me to no end ~  

Thanks for the visit ~  

Us, the puzzle

you place me  
         puzzle knot by puzzle knot 

unto a canvas  
         my hands curl towards you, like vines

the colors of me
         fan like seeds, crimson as summer blooms 

above the sky
         i stretch like wheats in the field, shuffled gold-  

lean on me, you say & i do    
         entranced with the boldness in your eyes & words -  

how they drip & suckle the best of me
         my lips murmur sounds strange to me & i let 

the unfamiliar become familiar, from
         the hard taste of your tongue to the soft back of your knees

the shape of your hips 
         drowning in the night, cryptic as the crescent moon    

over time, each part of me falls into
        old chinese box & you are gathering them like pearl 

tiles, stacked neatly & over time, i learn of a 
        paradox: some part of us will never fit & will remain  

solitary,  uncut diamond rock,  
        unpredictable keylock-
        
like the weather, we are always on our toes,
        trying to push&fit the pieces of our days, 

yet leaving some things un/
       angled, a mystery, unfolding still -
        
there's beauty in waking up to see the sun rise & 
        paint our sky 
                                             unfinished  &    

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub -
Puzzled - Hosted by Brian Miller

Thanks for the visit ~

What I find along the shore

the sands are soft pelt on my toes
    and here I meet myself gazing at the sea shells

broken empty, scattered bones along lake shore
    the water pierces, cold needles,  yet steady is its pull

& turning:   a young voice, so carefree, echoes- 
    collecting shell by shell, scooping fine coral sands

into an empty water bottle, lying awake at night
    & listening to their stories as waves break & I fall

asleep under the simple bamboo hut of an island, 
    the whole world is a spiral conch on my tiny hand

& falling to pieces, I leave these all behind:   
    a box of school photos, old family recipes, party    

dresses & typewritten love letters with fading kisses-
    in search for something greater/beyond the sea,  

cities became bigger and wider, the roads  
    multiplied & crisscrossed, stretching far as my eyes can fly,

but the words & the look in your face never leaves me-
    beautiful as a seagull gliding amidst the warming summer sky-      

& the tide turns ever so gently
    and here I meet myself gazing at the sea shells



Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - It is my pleasure to welcome you to another OpenLinkNight.   Thanks for the visit.   

Inspiration from Love after Love by Derek Walcott - Thanks to Kim of Real Toads