Idiomatic
I could carry a torch for you,
but that would be arson. I am
afraid such a blaze would only
create distance between us.
Love is made difficult by
incarceration.
Sick as a dog, I searched for your
muzzle, offered to let you outside,
thought of a treat and reward system,
but these efforts were in vain.
When you told me you were on
the fence, I looked for you next to
the blackbirds that visit every morning,
but you were missing in their song.
Instead, I found you clipping toenails
in the sink. Next time you could at least
offer a bath there so that the metaphor
means more.
Finally, you said after while, crocodile,
and I checked myself for rows of teeth,
looked about, and understood when I
saw the swamp I was creating,
a neurotic miasma that surely
must have seemed as rough as a reptile’s
unwelcoming hide.
Loud Music
first appeared at Jellyfish Whispers
thumps of vandal music
fade as we rise
around the hill,
a lake finding us,
a water fall discovering us
and our escape
right before our eyes.
Caretaker
first appeared at Pyrokinection
Like the image of the old
bound in balms by the young,
the girl in a meadow, just
a painting I glimpse.
She cares for the weeds
the same as the tender floral dots.
Her voice is an uncommon
invitation to the young, and her
eyes float the roof of the world,
considering her next phrase,
or the next petal to drop.
One finger pointing, indicating
someone, something, just
beyond the limits of canvas,
an invitation to jump in, invent
the other face in the portrait.
Sloth's Sway
first appeared at Pyrokinection
In the considerate movement
of the sloth, I see my own
sanguine approach to this day.
Problems without solutions
gather in my mind like a mob
at bedtime, and so I carry these
voices with me all day, more
worn by the night than I should be,
slowly turning my head, munching
a leaf, preparing to hop down from
my perch, but thinking better of it
in halting concentration.
High-Back Chairs
first appeared at Pyrokinection
Indecorous, the table
belongs in another room.
The wallpaper crisis,
aesthetics peeling in piles.
The high-back chairs join
the wing-backs for a seasonal
migration up the stairs.
I recall pictures of hollowed
out buildings, shavings, rust,
an artist who captured
ruin photographically.
One day my most carefully
preserved art will be nothing
but curls, hardly an insect
preserved in amber.
JD Dehart
