Suspense

Catch me hold me don't let go
I have 500 ft to fall
and the relief I cast
on this sheer wall
calls too much notice to
my singular state.

If a man draws near, level
with him. He will reach down
a hand, gloved with a grin---
You take it, why is it offered
while his hobnail boot bears
down on your hand
with muted force

I yanked the brake; they
know me here.
And barely,
barely can you grasp.

Shake the Baby

trebling wail not unlike the plaintive, guilty yowl
of the alley cat - those hands must work hard
day in day out of the darkness there comes light

i can't imagine
that what i do imagine
has true bearing on the matter;
what is the matter?

averting the light from those abalone-blue sleepy peepers
luminous with misplaced rage, the sort that bank tellers
must receive when the stock is down;
what if i shine this light in those tender bulging eyes
pupils contracted in cruelty; furious resentful won't forgive
me tomorrow; in self-constructed sorrow.

Shake the baby: see what falls out.
hard work to learn that hard work doesn't necessarily
accomplish what is greater than its constituent parts.

As Reflected in Your Eyes

and how does the moon,
with the force of a reflected gaze,
shine brighter than the stars
to behold the day?

clouds like strobe lights
cast dancing, disorienting effects
across the already indeterminate
surface of the bay

the liquid tension carves
up into withering peaks
that rise languidly
like the encompassing hills
but crash chaotically
like the encircling
cults of personality
that careen through our
quotidian days

and how your eyes do
capture all this,
to shine brighter than
the sunlight.