At the Stuck exhibit

Sin like a mirror
half-smiles at me as I cry
and if that's not enough
Lucifer is there to remind me
how lonely it gets
when your only light
is a pale crescent...
Am I Apollo or Dionysus?
I can't tell anymore
damned if I do and
damned if I don't on this
big dark canvas of
forever twilight
Like Sisyphus it's the
same hills same valleys
and if that's not enough
the sky is on fire
and I find the symbolist anchors
of my childhood
I lie like Judith
I seduce and I kill
and what I get is more revenge
than you can shake a stick at
my own reflection cast
back to me as Sin
and Pietà, Pietà will always be mine
Pity my sons do not love me


Frye Museum, Seattle
Franz von Stuck
January 16, 2014

Ayia Marina

It's true, I loved you
my blue edges giving way
to your salty kiss
that warm summer sea
turquoise and flecked
with blooms of jellyfish
mountain vistas
it felt like bliss
it almost felt like breath
my legs wrapped
tightly around your waist
as we crashed with
wave after wave
of classic tantra
laughing buddha
and for just a moment
one bright moment
we became children

bitter dregs

Photo by Seth Anderson, "Bitter Dregs"

if i taste the bitter dregs
it's because i asked for them
to augment the pain

it's not enough that i left you
after the deep intimacy
that made us one body

now i'm bathing in the blood
of another restart
of my miserable heart

i don't know what is
wrong with me
that i can't fully love

but i know i must
stay alone
for the both of us