errant parabola and ezbake oven.

"AVE LECTUR"

so here we are again i say and he replies
yeah. here we are once more and it
wasn't that bad was it? i ask. he shrugs

i suppose it wasn't. he smiles back at me
hair unkempt and I note little things about him:
shadows under his eyes the sag in his shoulders
or glee in his laugh lines cookie? i offer one and

accepting, he bites parabolas are crumbs
which remind me of words passed in class and then
left to wallow in binders this is a history which
i will not forget

Shorelined.

Gold fish and silken barricade
Two beds beneath the windowshade
Unmade the world falling down

Will we laugh open drier eyes
As teardrops fall from greyer skies
The handsome man about town

Silver captain slighted blundering
Worldplay left at port is lumbering

The letters come remarked post haste
The winsome will remain unchaste
Assured of wind in their sails

The words unkempt by scheduled walls
An opera ends - the curtain falls
What rusty tears which we bail

Silver liner sinking sundering
Leaving shorelined still and wandering

But not wondering
I'm just wandering.

Would it please you if you were needed?

Would it please you if you were needed?
Do you feel the need to be pleased?

Young lady, you say
you're wasting away
so I'll say to you
these days, there are few
who do not feel the same.

Don't think your feelings are conveyed by a song
(as song's meanings are oft' misconstrued and oft' wrong).
And those who think thus are often bad poets -
who quote Linkin Park, though they don't really know it,
and say to themselves, "Well, they'll understand."
While the audience danced to a whole different band.

Now I'm not a poet, so I might as well say it:
you don't have to sing if you want to convey it.

Still the same childish.

Childish then, as he is now
He went about not asking how
Her hands have clutchd upon his curls
His hands have touched within her curls
Where lips will whisper words of love
And then descend to rise above.

The summer brought about an end
And eighteen months at last descend
In immaturity at last, into
The sea her heart he cast, whereto
She swam or sank from there he'll shrug
And hopes she thinks him not so smug.

Naive and young, and quite the fish
The course was run; so now we'll wish
And then believe it never was
Beyond reprieve yet still the buzz
Within his head: you asshat, true
How could she ever forgive you?

So then he pledged: not once again
Would he speak 'Love' to someone when
He saw there was at least a chance
That he could fall out of the trance
And leave her cold, alone, bereft,
Not knowing he was not so deft.

Of course, the point of love is knotted
If you're safe but remain besotted
And half the joy of love is lost
When you can love without the cost.

They played their games, and were engaged
In letters wrote on leaden page
And grew to love each other's touch
(Mayhaps he touched a touch too much)
But though she sat in windows east
He shied away from her beseech.

Kiss me, she said.
Why me, he said.
Romeo, she said.
Ylaylli, he said.

After all she's so young, he said
And I'm so old, my heart is dead
So I've no right to intercede
Besides! The things which she believes
Will lead us both to tears one day;
This is all I have to say.

But lust will work it's way through hearts
And draw the best intentions 'part.
And so one night, he leaned and slipped
A kiss into her lovely bliss
Impacted leaving bruises there
On freckled skin and tangled hair

Yet still the pledges made were kept
Though his heart was left to theft
For his mind moved, still he worried
"I will be gentle, not be hurried
And just in case we fall apart
I won't say 'Love', won't take her heart."

Of course, the point of love is knotted
If you're safe but remain besotted
And half the joy of love is lost
When you can love without the cost.

Long story short: the love is gone
A victim of the siren song
Of lovers wishes, which, like fishes
Wish to be loved more than full dishes.

It's only right, it's only fair
She took her leave, and left despair
In small amounts, which much like lead
Induced a madness, and then fled.

I know my place: I think I'll swim
Forget that you have met your twin
Forget the love, forget the kiss
Pretend it never did exist
You see, my dear, I'm not grown up
I'm still the same childish fuck.

A ballad.

They marched to war in rank and files
Wearing silver, white and blue
Singing songs to pass the miles
A band of brothers, fast and true

For war was called, and families all
Had sent their sons and fathers forth
To answer king and country's call
With laughs and smiles: 'twas all sport

The captain rode at company's head
And laughed to see his men so proud
With spears like trees, a forest dread
On sight the foe would be so cowed

Then word came from the scouts ahead
A foe was marching in their path
Ten miles east, their lines had tread
The captain spoke: They'll meet our wrath

Tents were pitched the night afore
And greeted stars with fires red
The captain spoke and reassured:
A bloodless triumph, so he said

Morning came, dawn stained the sky
Streaks of crimson, drawn askew
Men assembled, gathered swords,
Wearing silver, white and blue

Amongst them Michael leaned one way
Upon his pike as not to fall
A blacksmith's son now called away
To serve his king and country's call

And joker Jes, smiling eyes
Less for swords than irksome pranks
Always asked to apologize
Yet never did unless outflanked

And Arthur, barrel chest and arms
A man from farther fields of wheat
A coif to keep his head from harm
A tunic made from rings replete

Young men standing with their arms
Well-equipped, but incomplete
They looked to war without alarm
Had not ever faced defeat

All had come from separate lives
All were poor and most were young
All assured they would survive
And who would doubt the captain's tongue?

The captain rode, his smile gone
And horns gave forth a keening call
A sword he drew, was skyward drawn:
"Our Victory, afore nightfall!"

The horns again, that mournful cry
And voices rose to match the sound
The men marched forward, none denied
The foe would not be run aground

Then came a call to match the first
With wooden twang, foe arrows flew
Like sharks to blood to sake their thirst
The captain fell: red, white, and blue

They stood aghast: the captain fell?
Yet no time could be had to mourn
From 'cross the field, what came their way
But foe toward in one great swarm

Back and forth and down the line
Boys fought one aside his others
As if each fellow were his kine
And thus they fell beside brothers

And fall they did - by rank and file
As one they stood, as one they fell
Up and down a bloody mile
And stained the grass a red pastel

Then foeblown horns at last called end
And off they flew, the battle won
So Michael called out to his friends
Yet no man answered, not a one

He stood upon a hill alone
The green field stained red, white, and blue
And when he climbed upon a stone
He saw he was a one of few

The ruins laid afore his gaze
To see the husks of men laid bare
Where sunlight lit the ground ablaze
With broken blades and armor there

Then to his knees that boy did fall
And to the ground his helmet tossed
To serve the king and country's call
The battle won, but at what cost?

He cried aloud: "What madness when
These men who wear their crowns should send
Us to our deaths with nought but pens."

And here, I fear, you'll find the end.