Sick Day (2007)

a puckish fever
rapes my brow
see the stale sweat mingle
with my limp locks in single
file down my nose now

pale skin so clammy
like a mollusk from the sea
pasty like kindergarten glue
oh this will never do
i must get healthy

my gut gurgles
and grumbles like a beast
it twists and contorts
and makes nasty retorts
when i try to feast

so now i'll lay me
down to bed
and try to drown this unrest
oh i'll do my very best
to rid this sickness from my head

Dream Analysis (2007)

perched on a grassy lawn
a stranger named Love
cradled me til dawn

then alone in the sea
and shipwrecked remnants
floating beside me

baptism of vision
below the surface
i see my mission

save that which i hold dear
from great white danger
fierce and piercing fear

mad eye shark advancing
mother still swimming
why is she chancing

this painful agony
from this foul monster's
harsh acrimony

call her from the water
safe on the landing
with both her daughters

i seem the only one
who notices what
the brute might have done

the analysis clear
my heart is heavy
with man angry fear

Insomniac (2007)

i raised myself from bed
so angry so angry
these dreams filling my head
so full of rage and dread

i find no peace in sleep
no relief no relief
from rankling thoughts, this grief
that weighs me down and keeps

the bright light of morning
so lovely so rosy
from salving my yearning
my grey eyes adorning

every night the same scene
so tired so tired
as i lie in between
beautiful sleep and mean

ugly dreams that curse me
suffering silently
with no draught from Circe
Morpheus spurns mercy

and so this war is waged
every night every night
ever my night mind caged
my waking mind enraged

A Lover's Oath to Her Hunter (2007)

dearest hunter
i do not love you
of that you needn't be bothered
for i cannot give myself to someone
unwilling to take me
so you, dear one, are safe

find in me
the temporary solace you seek
use my body
like a security blanket
to wrap round you when you're feeling
needy and selfish and angry at her

press your face between my thighs
and feed on my creative juices
let them sustain you
in your bleak period
of mourning

i will make you no promises
i will hold for you no expectations
i will hold my tongue to your flesh -
kiss your sweet wounds -
to keep it from asking for your secrets

i will not love you
nor will i seek love in exchange
for this fleshy commerce
for love is a foreign blasphemy
which you have had stolen
and for which i cannot
find a taker

Bathwater Baptism (2007)

this is a season of drought
yet here i sit in a bath
full of water
guilty pleasure for a girl
with a guilty conscience

let this elemental baptism
cleanse my sinner's soul
sweat beads boil and bubble
on my brow
my breasts
the nape of my elegant neck

coaxing out the impure thoughts
the unclean desires
that make up my insides
thrusting and pulsing through my limbs
coursing through my cunt
salivating wetness
awaiting foul kisses
and hot beer-soaked breath

water wash over me
end this damnable dryness
purify my womanhood
and make lush groves
where long the cacti
have held prickly parliament

make me into a mermaid
fair and ferocious
give me the song of your sirens
so i can open wide my mouth
and howl at the moon
and the man in my room
to come love me

Curse of the Mad Hag (2007)

let me cackle like
a howling mad hag
in a room with thorny walls
and muddy floor
and pristine rose-colored ceiling
that can never be reached
only prayed to

deafening clangs
of the stones being laid
round my fortress
clangs like angry church carillons
bursting eardrums
shaking souls and
defiantly professing abstinence
from all things precious and pleasurable

who will come visit me
in my well-guarded cell
my dungeon of intrigue
built so fastidiously
round a sappy soft center
that would melt
on your tongue
if you'd let it

hungry rats' and spiders' eyes
peer greedily from
the cracks and crevices in the corners
praying for death and decay
as i huddle, mad hag,
in this threadbare blanket of trust
that no longer warms
old bones and dried flesh

curse those foul vermin
and curse the fair sky
that riddles prettily
with sugar-coated lies and false promises
curse the ripe moon
and this womb
and the empty dead hole
beneath these breasts

and curse you
who never comes to claim me

Little Girl Wounded (2007)

there's a little girl within me
so small and so eager
covered with wounds
and scratches and barbs
bruised from experience
silenced by memory
pinned down by fear

she curls up in my womb
fetal and frail
cursing what men
may come visit there

untrusting, unsure
unable to breathe
the big belly breaths
of release
she holds tight her past
and hides it from me
and it's strangling
this woman's uprising

i seek to console her
to hold her
and know her
so that she can recover
and transform her misery

but she's built a wild
fortress around her
pins and needles
a carefully placed grid
around my carnal cavity
through which only
the bravest of hunters
can navigate

go ahead, girl
cry your stale tears
and moan and mourn
for your losses
then pack up your baggage
and leave me
so i can once again feel
and succumb
and become