A corrugated carnation
attempts to coax stubborn antagonists
out from the moist recesses of a
commuted cavern.

wiggle – jiggle – aah!
Warriors clad in ivory overcoats
solemnly prepare for the long-awaited successors
to ascend.

Coarse cobwebs, cradled in cotton,
divide sunshine and
smiling spies from a rambunctious band of
miniature moppets.

Skin, spinning in the wind,
grazes daffodil silk;
from two callow hearts, sharp auric arrows
are pulled.

Strutting secretly by my side
in his thick
licorice coat, King had been a most
loyal friend.

But, when summer sang, he
abandoned me at
last—or, was it I who had
abandoned him?

When he beholds the anguish
of his ally,
hot, briny rivers begin to gush from
quivering eyes.

The caustic thorn which punctures
a cherished one
will crush your own heart into a
thousand fragments.

Two cumbersome drumsticks slap against
oak boards, straining
to turn their aimless rhythm into a
graceful cadence.

At last, the unyielding determination
of youth tumbles
onto an emerald labyrinth of rose leaves
and cries.