Monthly Archives: February 2015

Mother Can Remember This

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No one but mother can remember this.
No one except she, but she now is dead,
can testify about the light we miss.

A loveless breeze embraces my bent head
as lilies clad in wintertide touch stone.
These words were ripped from my chest to be read.

No one should journey through this world alone
or tether themselves to a bloodless form,
but feet almost collapse beneath old bone.

Yet, there is hope to find within the storm,
And surely we shall rise from the abyss
to go where hapless humans can transform.

That splendid dwelling where we cornered bliss
No one but mother can remember this.

convergence

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Our home, which protects
us from society but not from
ourselves, acknowledges the
conversion of speech to action.

Four walls tumble down
every night, falling upon
cold, firm faces that have
not yet learned how to break.
They reassemble themselves
at dawn.

The heart that cannot remember
is condemned to repeat mistakes.
As a result, incongruous chambers
plug away despite the fact that their
desires will forever be at odds
with each other.

100 Word Story/I

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Frank bounded up the stairs with flowers of forgiveness and a bottle of semi-expensive Merlot.  The smile on his face was so wide that he nearly tripped over it.  He fumbled with his key in the lock but eventually the door sprang open.   All of the lights in the apartment were off – every single last one.

“Gina?”

Frank flicked on the lights as the silence within the room washed over him.  The picture of Gina and her mom was missing from the mantle.  Finally, Frank spied her note on the table.

I can’t wait for you to change anymore.  Goodbye.

Five For My Eye: IV

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Our Lady lights the way
as
shift is done, but before
the fun, four flagging
feet round the
corner and
stop under a streetlamp
for a smoke of
salvation.

Is that her apple
in my pocket?

Face to chin under a
shorn Pegasus,
heels scrape down
on cold curb in front of
the obsidian twin who
prowls nearby.

Fingertips graze
tough red skin

Damp bodies huddled
in doorways and
ecstasy hold down
the
night with hot
sloppy kisses; without
them this street would
vanish – but this is
only
conjecture.

Sweetness rolls over
parched lips.

What crime shall
come
to this place
when souls of
the city can
barely stand?

————–

This is the fourth installment in a series of five poems inspired by the photography of Constantine Brassaï.

명복을 빌다/praying for the repose of souls

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Safety Museum

This is a piece of the subway wall from the 2003 Daegu Subway Fire, which killed 192 people.  After the fire, people wrote messages of comfort and anger on the wall.  The driver’s gross mishandling of the crash and subsequent fire led to the majority of the deaths.
This can be seen at Daegu Safety Theme Park/대구시민안전테마파크