and then

when you're as tired
as i am
reading too much
of that serial thriller
killer stuff

just dropped reality
the polished marble
rolling across the hardwood
bouncing off
the authentic oak baseboard
to settle out of reach
behind the chesterfield

you fall asleep
to dream
the crazy jagged dream
of that serial killer
thriller stuff

undead seasons

Some days, zombies roam in me. Their pungent decay
fills my senses - eyes water, nose runs.
Cold fingers with still-growing fingernails
claw my insides, chill my heart, promise
immortal mortality with their groaning, slavering,
insatiable mouths. Bite down

on moonlight - gliding through urban streets,
colliding with puddles and bouncing back, penetrating
homes' windows (patch on the bedspread
shifting with the night sky), and laying siege
to rooftops, balconies, sidewalks, parks, empty
lots. Catch my breath, swallow

air down the right pipe, pulse with each
beat. This autumn air braces, brings heavy frost
to coat the ground, harden the mud... losing
the barefoot connection to ground.
"Keep your feet muddy," Sakaki says, meaning
fully. Sakaki also says, "Let's eat stars."

Nourish the soul on starlight
for in the oncoming darkness of the night
season greenery recedes, gives way to the barren
fields and bare branches, dried crisp flower stalks
- and up rise the dead inside through frozen ground.
Eat stars, and don't let that winter dark consume.

to-do

Scribble a to-do list, then post it on the fridge. Look at it daily and wonder how life could be better if I could snap my fingers and have it completed. There's always something that could be written through, whether it's a list with boxes to tick or a line of poetry with words made to fit. But still, there's a list to post on the fridge next to posed pictures of family and friends: the one in Kananaskis with my friends; the one with my niece in the arms of her grandpa and grandma; and a really fine one of my lover and me on a beach in the Caribbean.

I need to remember to include that on the list: Write more lists. Because when I hang them, I am reminded to pause and look at those pictures on my fridge.