Waiting…

Daybreak looms in the horizon. Why agonize over running out of time? Drag out the seconds by repeating secular Psalms. The candlewood is burrowing a hole in my hand. A counterfeit life has taken on a favorable margin. Don’t write it down, the promises may expand.

I envy the way you welcome pleasure. Everything stays the same in this letter to you. We’ve repeated the same patterns for quite some time now. Break apart my skull and glance in, I think something is jammed. You wear your grumbling mood to protect yourself against me. Isn’t it time to flip the script yet? Speak softly if you want to charm me back into your decent graces. I think something is jammed. Quick, break me open and repair the broken bits. We’ve repeated the same patterns for quite some time now. You enjoy life so intensely I envy you. I think something is jammed. We keep meeting at this intersection. Speak softly…the charm is starting to wear off.

We wait at the crossroads with a snack and an umbrella. Multiple waves of chimerical visions wash over us. You lose sleep over wasting time. Remember to pack boysenberry jelly sandwiches in case we get hungry. The clock on the wall has knotted up its hands into a clamped fist. The apple has a worm. Can you tell if you’ve eaten its head or its tail? How long should we wait for the storm clouds to gather? The sands continue to sift through slotted eyes. Neither one of us has a chance against the distortions.

You cut the dragons loose and left us unprotected. We have ten conversations between us to wrestle loose from each other. The signs have been collected, weighted, and dispatched via messenger. We have waited for the thunderclap to kick us into gear but we have not taken refuge. Instead, we stand there in the green light of a pouring rain, getting soaked to the bone, looking to the other for shelter.

***

Again I've been reworking some of the smaller pieces I finished a month ago and trying something out. Hmmm. Several lines surprised me so that's always exciting. Enjoy!

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2009 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Brash howls the nighthawk

Brash howls the nighthawk. Thin branches bend in a penitent way. Night sets in an unforgiving fashion. Fall asleep at the wheel while indigo visions tunnel me blind. We are never far from our true nature despite evidence to the contrary. Drama manuals are drawn up on crisp white linen sheets. Bedstead rules break while wearing maroon fingernail polish. Your sex is distracting me from ending things between us. Pylon pieces smash upon the hearthstone. If you happen to pass my life on the street, grab her and drag her home. I believe in terrible ghosts from strange places and the paper monsters that dangle from string. Your frailty skim my hands and I believe in my foolishness to make you burst into laughter. If you look out the window, a hovel burns down the stretch with licking flames. Your departure has left careless marks against my questions. Snail-slouching murmurs gather where raindrops have pooled. A metallic taste lingers on the tongue when there is talk of kinship. Thoughts hunker down; silence floats freely along an undercurrent.

*****
My thoughts:
One of the things I've been contemplating is the fine line between short versus long poems. This piece is an experiment of taking lines from shorter pieces and mixing them up together. Lewis gave me some decent feedback about the prose poems I submitted and I find the way these lines mash-up against each other working in a way I hadn't thought before. So if you recognize lines from earlier drafts you know why. Poets recycle, recycle, recycle to mine those gems.

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All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2009 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

06.16.09

Ai-ya-ya-ya

Two more weeks left of summer session classes...
two more books to read...
one more 2-page journal entry to write...
one more creative piece to muster up...
6 more writing center sessions...
and then I'm off.
I mean completely free to work on my thesis.
Hoorah!
I'm sure I'll whinge away at being bored in a couple of weeks but for right now...
2 more weeks is my light at the end of the tunnel.

Tunnel me blind baby!


******
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2009 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.