A hollowed weight descends upon the floor,
The floorboards creak beneath a phantom hoof.
Though sight remains a cold and distant proof,
A skeletal presence paces by the door.
I feel the stir of leathery wings that soar
Within the mind, beneath this heavy roof;
It stands in silence, jagged and aloof,
A shadow-shape from ancient, darker lore.
A sudden echo of a breathless sigh
Disturbs the dust like wind on barren graves.
I reach to touch the void where ribs should be,
And find a pulse that doesn't seek to fly,
But lingers in the silence that it craves—
A secret kept for those who truly see.
Oh Summer, let me count thy ways as I bask
inside the sunlight of your sunny spice
Oh Summer, may I drink from your flaxen flask
before winter turns my skin as cold as ice
Oh Summer, dance me to the end of August
then dance me to the end of love.
Oh Summer, before my memory turns to dust
come and fit me like a glove...
Oh Summer, favored amongst all seasons
with your golden rays of Yupik Mesquite
Oh summer, give me all your fiery beacons
lay your leathery heat on me, replete
Oh Summer, Oh Summer, Oh Summer,
you'll be gone soon, now that is a bummer !
We found the calico box crab man
with leathery skin and a deep, dark tan.
He gave us soup that was filled with nails,
squirrel bones and catfish entrails.
As he told his tale and we heard him speak,
the sky would cry, and the ceiling, leak.
Foppish fringe flutters..pianist tendrils tinkling..
Flitter finessing leathery fruits..
Caressing..stitched dreams tickled & tailored..
Swing..swerve in clandestine cahoots…
Curve…voluptuous velvety verve..
Wobble seam serendipity tempts..teases..
Sliding across creases..angle architect gliding..
Heaven sent tyro riding blazing trails..
Hellbent brio…Waggers & Trent..Timmy trio..
Touted trinity…selector trifecta..febrile fan affinity..
Tim’s timber hoicks topple Toblerones..
Schadenfreude stats sips.. Oiks suggest Timmy..
Ersatz Test imitator of Jimmy…
Naysayers…tut tutters spew from trolling gutters…
As Yoda may say…"Devil may care..unfair..flair in the air..this bowling pair share..'
Muffled murmurs of the goat..Hadlee float…gracing grassy notes..
Timmy..go on gimme one final shimmy…
Dare to dream…it will end.. as it did begin..
With that boyish grin..just beam..old friend
The Valley of the Forbidden
Sat under an oak in the valley of the naked woman
admiring her rounded breasts, a malevolent oak
took offence, not that I minded, after all, it had been
at the same spot for a hundred years, long before the valley had a name.
Suddenly, the tree slapped me
a leathery branch
Oh, pain makes me strong
I forgave the oak and
thought of the pope who, every Thursday evening
flagellated himself, in remembrance
of the day
When he was training for the priesthood, he nearly lost
His manhood to the cleaning lady
The Valley of the Naked Woman has a hidden fountain
is guarded by thorny thistles and impotent apple trees
Those who have drunk her loveliness will never be
sane again, loll in the sunlight of lost ambition
The wicked eye of the oak kept glaring when I hugged
An olive tree, the oak knew I was a lover of the ethical.
I ran away to the circus at the age of two
on a sad day when it was raining.
At first, I didn't know what I should do,
not having the proper training.
I started with an elephant and began to scrub.
His skin was leathery and rough,
but found I could continue with a gentler rub,
when his skin became smooth enough.
I shudder while peering at sepia photographs,
showing visits to my maiden Aunt Hilda’s house.
Even though I was very young
it was clear she didn’t tolerate children.
I was to be ‘Seen and not heard.’
Pa said I wasn’t to utter a word.
I loathed being pushed and forced to kiss her.
Aunt's wrinkled leathery skin looked like
she’d been pickled in vinegar.
As she waddled around with a damp duster,
wiping at my finger marks that only she could see,
the wooden floorboards creaked like old bones
for she was grossly overweight.
Her buxom breasts smelled awful
and emitted a musty, moldy, cheesy smell.
Stretchy tan tights were never able to camouflage
the vivid blue bulging varicose veins
which snaked from her calves to her fat ankles.
The old sour puss passed away when I was six
Now, as I reminisce, I will no longer remain silent!
A lizard eyes me,
and I, too, eye him
with mutual respect.
The sun warms
the leathery skin
we wear to great effect.
How it began
Men in green uniforms
ice blue eyes and leathery lips
saw me in the crib
and declared this child
is an Aryan
I clicked my heels and
sucked my thumb
Mother took to singing
sentimental lieders
and received the fab
iron cross
I became the kindergarten's
Fuhrer
To my regret, peace broke
into my dream
I circumcised
we moved to Tel Aviv
the rest is history
Beyond the wave-sacked pebbles
lie the pockmarked dunes,
sea-wind swept heaps,
burrowed by the claws of scaly thrashers.
Here they huddle, the working class,
flogging grim pleasures,
wolfing eggy sandwiches,
dipping tea-stained teeth into beakers
as a chill summer drizzles on.
I am a brine-spattered small fry,
a boyhood caught in a swirl
and flounder, bare feet
skimming the slimy kelp, stalking
an ankle tugging surf.
Mother, her demeanor
soggy and sagging at last,
pleads to be led back
to the creaking camper.
Father smokes a plug of leathery shag,
grunts upright, walks toward the sea,
looks to see God knows what,
then turns to drag me away,
from our holiday day.
When I get home and open the doors,
our little dog comes trotting to me
on his tippety tappety leathery paws.
He jumps so madly up and down.
I meet a greeting supremely happy
from our welcoming black and white clown.
All the time I was out he was sleepily waiting
Now, he expresses his doggiest glee.
Our little doggie is celebrating.
When I get home and open the doors,
I meet a greeting supremely happy.
Our little doggie is celebrating.
The soft clip-clop of the horse
echoed amongst the dark fir trees.
The tall man rode bareback
along the winding path of the forest.
Resting on his leathery gauntlet
sat an alert hawk, listening and watching.
Soon it flew off towards some poor rodent,
His prey for the day. The man looked up,
Towards the range of high mountains,
Snowcapped but with a creek sliding down
the side of the verdant valley, and under a bridge.
Soon they arrived at the edge
of the vast green plateau. There, birds flew
up and down and whirled beneath the fleecy clouds,
chirping their enchanting, lyrical melodies.
Oh what a sight to behold as the hawk
Returned to his resting place on his arm.
The man slapped his horse’s neck and both flew
towards the far-off calm sea for a rest,
there to meet his love waiting for him.
Such pleasure as they played in the waters
whilst the hawk took a short nap
on the horse’s back.
plums
scrumptious
deep purple
leathery bite
prunes
From an aerial view, the sight of a beautiful red train
chugging along down the railway track
takes my breath away;
One moment I am watching a funnel shaped smoke stack sending puffs,
up towards the white cottony clouds then disappearing,
and the next I am hearing the sound of a whistle blowing.
A melodious voice is heard as a conductor enounces,
"tickets please,"
Out of my pocket I produce an admission ticket
that was long overdue ...
With one cotton white glove he presses the ticket
between his fingers then holds it up to his gold monocle and smiles ,
"welcome aboard then !"
He traipses over to supposedly important passengers that I cannot see
and leaves me sitting there, wondering about our destination.
How I got so lucky as to enter this magical snow train I have no idea,
but the scent of this leathery Kirlian man, still clings to my thoughts
like a revenant moment from a long forgotten past.
To Be Continued...
Once, this hollow
in a washed up fish head held
an eye. Now it's just a skull,
an escapee from a crab pot
where it hung as bait to attract
a wandering claw.
I cradle it in my hands,
its flesh picked back to bone.
I see through its ghostly eye
into a submarine world of weed
and waving fronds tipped
with leathery fruit, spiked urchins,
dancing sea worms
and teeth readied
to seize unwary life.
All seems horror, hidden menace
beneath sand or tucked away
in crevices. There, poison barbs,
razor teeth, gullets big enough
to swallow whole lay in wait
and dream beneath
moving shadows.
And then, cast down from above,
a barbed hook baited
with subterfuge, sharpened
to anchor hard in flesh
and be hauled up to drown
a victim in air.
Fish….forgive me for having
commandeered your eye,
but I have done so to honor
your short life
before I lay your head down
on the soft sand and let
the tide take you away,
forever.
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