BLOOD LETTING

It is important and generous to slice the heads off the roses with a vengeance

The sure handed surgery grows back a zillion blooms

Shearing and taking off wool or meat, comfort or story

All is the same dream shredded bloodletting

Grow stronger

Swallow the hard bits for strength

Good-bye can slide but I have to gnaw away at its rope with concentration

Sharp resolve

Rhythmical clanking knee jerk behavior makes dancing dangerous

Keep your eyes on the road

When I close my eyes, I see wide-open faces in the firelight

Carnations the colors of flame die in a blue vase

The red polish on my toes has chipped away

Did you know witchcraft is on the rise?

Old women keep busy just sweeping away with a broom

Making smooth the stepping-stones

They are invisible and just fly away

Stitching the holy fabric reaching beyond skin

Shells from the sea break loose the mirror

He shoots himself in the mouth

She utters secret obscenities

I gallop away

I do not look back

I do not look back

She turns my head and swears on love

If you go in after a drowning man he will pull you down

Everyone will sink

You gotta be stupid to jump

Oh, but your heart, what about it? Choose

I choose to eat apples and almonds and reel in the morning sun

I choose green hats with prayers knitted into the brim overflowing

Days like leaves falling in my twirling shirt

The sky befriends me, my arms need not hold

A major miscalculation

Slipping off the cliff

Masks in the sycamore bark

Eyes vow