The Roaming

They came at night their faces in sores
they surrounded the house
its ragged wooden porch,
it screeched as they lurched
and silked through the door.
the lady in green
a traitor before
seemed to weigh up
the life and death of her hands
the left near the gun
the right at the door.
she closed the door
and left me the gun.

The wooden porch lurched still
they thundered before us
the bodies surrounding
waiting for resurrection.
in my right i hold the gun
its cold steel smile mocking my fear.
the bodies before us thunder towards us
they know not of fear or love or surrender.
the bullets are golden, of brass and steel
i close my eyes and aim for the centre
it hits the first, the second and third.
the bullets are eternal
they pierce the thunder and let in the light.
far far away i hear a gasp,
eyes re open a spirit re woken
the lumbering body of dead is alive.
the curse is broken,
my loved one has spoken.
the thunder recedes and i collapse,
shuddering.

The Loft

You walk up the stairs carrying your greasy lunch. Starving, you sit down on the duck blue faux suede hard chairs and gorge yourself ravenously. You hold the edge of the brown paper bag with a manic hunger as your other hand guides the burger to your mouth.
Your head starts swimming and you realize you have forgotten to breath. You pull your head up out of the depths of hunger and draw in air. As you do you catch a glimpse of a boy and girl sitting in the back of the room, seemingly unaware of any other presence, though the place is half full.
You pause to watch.

They’re seesawing back and forth on each others bodies. The girl is straddling him, a playful straddle, getting close to his chest, while his head lolls back and forth, a half crazy grin on his face. She laughs and pulls closer while he feigns sleep on her shoulder. She hopes to rouse him by lightly kissing him on the neck and brushing her hand through his hair, but to no avail. Giving up, she places her head on his shoulder, and soon they have both drifted off in a shallow slumber, twisted and mangled in each other arms. You avert your eyes momentarily, ashamed, and instead place your gaze on the chalky white ceiling.

You hear a few screams of laughter, and glance at the once resting couple who now seem to be involved in a feisty tug of war with their hands.

The girl, victorious, sticks out her pink tongue at him, as the boy grabs her tongue with his mouth and attempts to swallow it.

“EWWW!!” the girl shouts in mock disgust, as she playfully slaps him on the cheek. The boy closes his eyes and laughs.

The girl giggles and jumps off, her grey striped dress still slightly pulled up around her bottom. The boy’s dark brow droops down in a mocking sad look while the girl huffs up her chin and walks away, taking her wallet with her. No doubt to get a drink, you reason. The boy winks at her and as she strides down the wooden stairs, he takes a free magazine from the table and aimlessly flicks through it.

He looks up and catches your eye. You feel the familiar hot flush of embarrassment and look down at your now empty hands. The burning heat of his eye sears through your flesh. You pause, your breath still, unsure of what to do. You gather up the scrunched piece of brown paper and gather your bag and keys and wallet and start to walk down the stairs, painfully aware of the boys dark brow following you.

You nearly trip over the landing as you hurry down the stairs, nearly running into the girl you have been so intently watching. She doesn’t recognize you and hurries up the stairs, a bottle of coke in one hand and her wallet in the other. She looks familiar, perhaps you have seen her in one of your first year classes. As you dash out the front door, you wonder what will become of the couple upstairs.

You pause momentarily under the window and listen. Sure enough you hear peels of laughter, and the shifting of bodies on hard chairs. You realize you’re still holding the greasy brown paper bag. You search for a bin and throw it in, it falls to the bottom without a sound and you walk away.

Heavy

The sludge in your stomach
black and thick
rolls though your veins
a poisonous display
you breath it, you drink it
you cannot help it, for it stays.

A love
a seemingly easy love
a crown of thorns upon the mantlepiece
is that an elephant in the room?
can I even presume?
It rains.

It soaks your shoes
it soaks your bed
but why the bed?
An easy escape
the window is open
but the sludge thick and grimy
holds you down,
a wave goodbye
a sad display.

You dream of flying
hand in hand
a tree on your wall
painted black and tall
with your lovers hand.

A lovers hand
broken window panes
a screaming fight
a broken night
a poisonous display.

But that is love,
what more can I say?

Oh I wonder

It starts off with a buzz, a slow vibrating pulsating
shallow and timed
it flows
a current
the waves are equal, the pulse is stable
it deepens
it digs lower and lower
a hum erupts from the senses
it grows higher and higher
the waves are heightened
the pulse is faster
the breathing shallow
the motion rumbles
prickles of skin erupt in sweat
senses lost
uncontrollable
waves shudder
inside

It finishes with a hum, slow and calculated
pulse stable
body still

Imagined memories

Somehow we ended up with a black and white chicken,
it was of the exotic kind, a bastard child of a foreign bird of paradise and an escaped dinner.
I named it Ribena but I insisted on shouting 'chickenfeed' at it
every time it tittered around the house squawking.
You tried to feed it leftover meat and vegies
but instead it picked off the sesame seeds one by one off the bottom of the bowl.
It was Saint Patrick's day.
But you went away and now I don't know what holiday it is

Obsession

What is obsession?
It is not the lock of your love's hair
nor the whisper of a kiss at night
it is like a coil
unwinding and squirming inside you
its tail whipping and slashing its way
it gasps for air
it bleeds to get out
to release itself
but without you it does not live
yet it yearns for escape
into the cold dark night of your thoughts
where it will roam
fulfilled and satiated.

The more you think
your obsession will grow
and its tail will unwind
and its sides will slash you
like a rock in your throat it sits
heavy and suffocating
your breath becomes tight
like a string wound too strong
on a plastic coil
and each glimpse and thought and ache
winds the coil tighter and tighter
till it overcomes you and you drown
the obsession escapes and you are its tail
whipping and slashing your way eternally
lost

The dark bride

The dark bride summoned by her chastity

Is pulled forward on a knit of wool

Towards the man that she will embrace

Poison thorns circled on her head

Makes her glow where others bleed

Her cupid breasts milky white

Yet to be dirtied

Are cupped and caressed

Suspended in mid air

The couple dance

With awkward limbs and grotesque thoughts

Till light separates them eternally

They wait for the dark

When they can be together again