Swollen Existence

 

Every night headlights

in my windshield glare

and grow brighter

on the highway

 

Downed lines strike ground

lightning touches containment

fuel spreads the breach

of stark growing cancer

 

Quarter review key

lagging indicators perform

projection sketch in chalk

charred for next regime

 

Flora dystopian north

July punishes boundaries

recorded history rewrites

in habitat dysplasia

 

Contagion arrangement

swollen sac feigned logic

missives self-justified

illness malicious

 

Transmission measures

past the sound barrier

weightless assassin space

decayed observance

 

Forty thousand push

bull-burn façade

mounts millennial floods

behind history’s limit.

 

MM 8.2021

Loved Ones in Denial

 

Public Domaine

Let’s very gently prod you
with our custom velvet brandishing iron
we’re very patient
and dutiful but that well runs dry
with everyone at some point
hopefully soon
 
frequenting signals
dark side driving reflects
whispered aspersions exponential
come whatever may regrets
hopefully we’ll be tuned in
as distraction
 
Send a text dial a call
sadistic voyeur shared sickness
some misplaced uncle’s parallel principles
sell this conversation
in several more minutes
of character study
 
on the radio
someone suggested checklists
morbid preparations
readying for dying
unsubtle prodding for loved ones
in denial
 
MM 7/2021

Lazarus of Bethany

Peering down into the vast
leering into the last complex
it swells
 
its seepage
elaborate webs of crusted slime
remembrance trailing
storylines on bleached concrete
 
tedious incision
scaping gray matter
sunbaked-thin
dissolving blades of grass
carving scars cross sunken limbs
 
bramble, knotty branches
extend the film on the water
dementia, a petrol rainbow
reflects fractured semblance
suspended, not hindered
circadian rhythm
 
interrupted flow
currents, debris, gathering
spread of chaos uncontained
contagion language
everything rationalized
noxious morning film
streaming on the skin
 
time wept in accordance
on schedule, measured doses
spiral parentage
in seamless increments
paper-thin, raptured
an incisive flick
ruptured finger
foraging surface measure
 
MM 7/2021

Project Fail

engrossed detail
pencil shaving strewn
clipped nails
mill about the table
every year
benchmarks unforeseen
foreboding
forecast
cycling degradation
 
can’t see the forest
imbedded
bug-eyed
malicious
burning
from all sides
can’t unsee
 
every night
a little blur
sleep becoming
vivid unease
recapture settling shards
waking
from pits of the stomach
 
dreams into realm
of living
shadowing
film sequence
earlier versions
anesthesia-scenes
 
set from carpet
grasping
glasses
device
for movement
water
morning’s breath
numbing
the dawning eye

MM 7/2021

Aspects in Gray

 

Speed of sound

at his behest

vapors peel off

signs trail

not far beyond

first steps

off the last plank

 

Every day, I look

into a web

castigate the lines

impossibly

until the pounding bell

dulls the sound

in my mind

 

From the plane

ground looks settled

patterns emerge like increments

dropping off

each margin, surmounting

submerged

circular firing

 

So parched

itching the throat

etching irritants

imbed the skin

dots in motion,

moving, form the corners

slowly encircled

scratching the center

 

I guessed the perspective

from which spokes

of the ground till

contemporaneously pulsing

pushing bulbs

seeding fields

of backward vision

 

WE were there

warmth in winter

flowering

awakening premature

immediacy

presumptive innocence

someone will pick us up

the brilliant, telling sun

won’t expose

our fallacy

 

MM 7/2021

Porch Lookout #2

 

Patterns in the clouds

run interference

 

sliver of the moon

sonic trail of crows

flutter of their wings

 

the sun

barely audible

inside your ears

inside your senses

 

crawling up your spine

shivering florescence

sounds glow

edge of twilight

 

white clouds

graying

orange tints

shapeshifting

 

sudden language

clicks and squawks

declare intent

 

ocean breeze

respite from sun

ends the day

beckons them

 

becomes me

resetting

anxious cycle

sets it in

 

digestion

the sky clears

darkens

as crows settle

the sun is down

 

MM 6/2021

Talk to the Hand

 

Public Domain, 1720, woodcut

Block-projection

into the stare

death on the other side

of this,

 

shambles set

leaves in wet concrete

crumbling paths launch

diminishing progress

 

words or two

syllables fall off the page

audible gasps

skyward scar surrounds

 

under water

sky chokes the airway

breath drawn

lower than the surface edge

 

lungs filled

sucked off the pipe dream

oxygen current

swept in a vacuum

 

we separate

razed along the path

charred remembrance

vegetation

 

MM 5/2021

The Mourning Sun

 

Great Western Railway, John C Bourne, 1846, Public Domain

Radiant energy

sun-bled-down

formation

rays

 

negative space

revocation

patterns cross

where pulses end

 

infinite state

duality

existence framed

in loops of feedback

 

reel to reel

the word details motion

photos read inscribed

precision

 

memoriam

descriptions of lives

mirrored before

passed eyes

 

given the sun’s

refraction

grafted upon

their roots

 

MM 5/2021

Dead Ellipsis

Public Domain Image

Afterwards

an ellipsis

you’re unclaimed in the link

 

memories of a tourist

together then

nestled in forgiveness

sins in wait

lay uncommitted

 

undertow

looked clear from here

so much to learn

such less to give

 

undertaken

out beyond breakers

fancied transcendental

floating back

in safety

 

the life you bought

pawns and currency

returned

 

MM 5/2021

It Stays With You

 

image - George Hodan, public domain

Left it in two places

seeds in your dreams

smoothness of skin

time suspends

withered word forecast

script fading

serrated

spoken lament

 

in separate lots

plied from the center

core, mounting tension

timeless touch

clamoring haze span

throwing shade

all in due time

 

no longer spoken

hands held plaintive

over blinded eyes

their story carved

in stitches

read elemental

bleeding in palms

 

no longer seen

ball gag biting

pressed tongue binding

seams that choke

swallowing

flowering

cusp of morning

 

feet down

 

MM 5.2021

Rabid Renewal

 

from fao.org

Components

felt edge

rounding out

angles

run aground

* 

we ran

a vessel

right into

stone

stakes

dry earth

sucking

ever-breathing

dry breath

* 

vacuum

removing drops

moisture

continuance

staggered

interrupted

constricted fist

* 

clenched elbows

clasping

trachea pulsing

sputtering breath

moisture

creeping

guttural instincts

* 

This is a sketch

a rookery

overlooking

inimitable

movement

in/out bound

* 

drawn

inhibited

concentrated

poisoned

dripping fangs

* 

rabid

frothing mouths

showing teeth

rabid venom

renewal

 

MM 4.2021

Dealing in Cover

Running in death

standing sunk

encaged

quicken, away

darkness-facing

corners staring

seeming impossible

nightmare

 

vulnerable center

hollowed core

patrol-weakened

execution-style

fear in license

or code

symbols

risen power

religious fervor

protection

the preservation

of what

 

given in darkness

where were we?

what protection

was written

in our wills?

what time?

what color was added

bled off

taken away?

 

wrong place

wrong body

projection

looks older than he is

doesn’t project

comfort writhing

wrong way

sending signals

down the corrosion

 

erratic prayers

hands of god

triggered

harbinger

vulnerable moments

dealing cover

favored clients

 

MM 4.2021