The Dangers of Falling

The sun is bright, and I narrow my eyes against its glare.
Underneath my feet the sand shifts treacherously, and the glaring sun glints off the teeth of this giant gaping maw in the ground;
This enormous beast snapping its beak, reaching up with slime-covered, fleshy vines to salaciously wrap around my ankle and drag me in,
Crooning all the while like its alien cousin,
That enormous man-eating plant that somehow manages to lull us into a false sense of security with his smooth Levi Stubbs voice, like honey.

The forest is dark and cool, and I narrow my eyes to decipher its shadows.
Underneath my feet the twigs snap loudly, and the leafy darkness shifts innocently while I struggle to keep my eye on the snatch of white fur;
That ever-tardy lagomorph, darting down that wretched hole and turning about,
Swelling grotesquely and shredding his minute waistcoat,
Daring me with glistening teeth and red eyes to come in after him,
Enticing me with childhood stories and half-remembered lullabies into the darkness where he will wrap his golden chain around my neck and mark the time with my fading heartbeat.

The clearing is silent around me, and I narrow my eyes to focus on the sparkling pool.
Underneath my feet the grass bends unceasingly, and springs up again unscathed when I step away to examine the unmoving waters of the lake;
So identical is this lake to the multitude of others that lay evenly spaced as far as my eye can see that I become doubtful,
and as if it realizes this and seeks to reassure me the waters do not move.
Inside this pool there lies a golden city of shining people and opportunity,
or an unshaped world of pure darkness, waiting for the Light and the Lion's roar;
or a crumbling civilization that lay in ruins, red dust blowing across broken bricks and statues alone in an arched hall.

There is a reason we are all born with an inherent fear of the unknown.

XII

I am the looming shadow on your horizons,
the face in the moon made of winged bloodsucking creatures.
I am the alligator circling underneath,
curved teeth set in emerald jaws ready to snap shut when you fall.

Driving Days

He weaved in and out of traffic,
So fast, metal-footed.
Where ordinarily I'd be curling my toes around an imaginary brake,
and carving crescent moons into the leather seats,
and biting back back-seat driving, what little of it I had to offer;

Instead I just strapped myself in
and watched the clouds cross the sky above the edge of my glasses.
So I gathered these words
and threw them up in the air
to fall back down silently
when I had a quiet moment.

Those Other Teas

It is not sweet, no, not particularly
But it is not bitter in the least.
It is the perfect fluid foundation
for hot creative experimentation
The flavoured anticipation
makes my water boil.

Those other teas--
They leave a bitter palm pressed
Against the flat of your tongue,
A sharp upstroke of can't-forget
A lasting chord on your palette
What they see I just don't get;
Those other teas are not Earl Grey.

December 16th, 2009

He walked up, nonchalant, the excitement of his adventure etched on his face, pretendingly casual. We swarmed around him, throwing questions like sharp stones. He worshipped the sting.

Smiling, he explained how his friend took his own fall. The news that all he got was a slap on the wrists was received with raucous laughter; the perfect punchline. It really wasn't my fault, he said. He had his own stuff on him. I hid my lighter in my jeans. They never even knew.

We circled him like sharks in a brief but fatal frenzy, swimming, circling; all at once it was over. We dissipated into the air, doors banging behind us as the classroom swallowed us up.

We walked to class, his arm thrown around me lankily. I glared idly. He had worried me. No big deal, he laughed. It's no big deal.

He spent the next hour convincing me of such. I had long since believed him, but I was entranced by the way his eyes read my words and the way his spiky writing stalked across the page to tell me silently of his love.

XI

Words were held above my head,
Tilting it upside, I could read
Understanding lingered there
like a Golden orb above my ear.