verse
should I leave Erebus
to his own device
what Chaos
when the curtain rises
and the houselights dim
with whitecake
on my face
the actress backstage
contemplates
laying a Universal egg
still a broken heart
is a broken heart
and Illumination
is in fact
Performance
chorus
In the dark
In the cold
In the sky
I can fly
I am old
But I can see
For miles
And miles
I am silver
I am gold
I am white
I am blue
I am rock
I am chaste
I am time
I am truth
When twilight falls
among the stars
I sit and tinker
with your moods
I hear your thoughts
I move the tides
I am your God
I am your Muse
I can be fire
I can be war
I am the daughter of Zeus
But tonight
there won’t be light
’cause I can’t shine
without you
Downright tired in this winter white
Though my best sleep is dressed in black
Ample hours to dream, still I lack
Repose, and wander through the night
A drink or two, blackjack straight through
Till dawn, ever unrequited love
Nothing brings peace, Heaven above
Send Morpheus to me, for I am due
Will you sing softly? Will you keep
Watch as the light begins to wane?
Steadfast and sweet, will you remain
God of my dreams, and let me sleep?
cold as stone,
possessor of bone-chilling beauty
I, alone,
wanting but not wanting to be
scratching and clawing at this
waiting for something to give
so give me a sign
a shiver, a sigh
a look in your eye
a reason to live
fantasy still
captor and captive are we
strangers until
desire and goddess intrigue
a slanting and movement of hips
a flush, a warmth of the skin
as night falls I wait
for breath, for fate
the sweet salty taste
pressing lips on lips
unrequited love
is what I know of love
spellbound
I will stay
imagination may be for fools
imagination may be cruel
to be kind
at the end
of the day
ivory girl
chiseled and cooler than clay
icy reserve
is provocation. will you betray
eyes that linger and hold too fast?
if you stumble, if the mask
should crumble or fall
warm blooded after all
the longer you stall
so shall I last
Verse
Everything is food, everything is fair game.
The second it’s gone is the second I crave
more animal, vegetable, mineral feed,
more fodder, more fuel, more cake and ice cream.
In Scythia, where the pickings are slim,
I’m gorgeous and grateful it’s “in” to be thin.
Wan and pale, I court emaciation
in high style and endless mastication.
With cheekbones and ribs that tighten my skin,
wildly attractive and seductive as sin,
the closer you come, the more you want me,
the more you want, the more you want to be free.
There’s no slaking of thirst, no quenching of need,
and there’s never, ever enough to eat:
chorus
When the Gods get even They think of me
While you’re fast asleep to your bed I creep
As my breath you breathe as I give you a kiss
As I take my leave I leave you with this
As you wake so you dream of fish fowl and beef
And there’s never ever enough to eat
Where inherited wealth meets fine French cuisine
Where oodles of truffles and tarts and terrines
Where gavage is an art and foie gras is fatty
Where quail, duck, lamb, sugar, butter, and spaghetti
There desire is infectious and fulfillment is lean
And there’s never ever enough to eat
bridge
does an ocean deny a river?
would a fire spurn the wood it craves
for heat?
like Narcissus and his lover
you can never have the other
you can never turn away
you can never lick the plate
clean
When the coffers are empty in lieu of defeat
As I deal my daughter for camembert cheese
Here the story leaves me to my own device
As lips, teeth, tongue savor self sacrifice
And now the hunter is prey and the Hungry are meat
And there’s never ever enough to eat
Intent, a wooden lattice is placed
feathers are waxed and laced
reeds are stockpiled, patiently cast
and curved, each longer than the last
it is a perfect design, a boldfaced
attempt to fly
Back off the boardwalk, at the Midtown
dressed in chiffon, dressed in her best gown
an angel black as the color of her hair
begins to sing and play and dare
it is perfect design, a boldfaced
attempt to fly
falling out of the middle
the air begins to thin
from light into darkness
into the light again
gravity conspiring
with the forces of drag
so nose up and farewell
to those who lag
and who didn’t blow the whistle
took calculated risks
who didn’t push the river
who didn’t use their fists
who didn’t go to great lengths
nor to great heights
you’re up in the air now
Divine
Moonshine drunk, you’re smug as the Sun
larger than life, baby You’re the One!
with wings, rising over the wall
falling out of the middle, away from us all
it was a perfect design
a boldfaced attempt to fly
These days, I have become a collector,
Tender of the flimsy, yellow, and still.
Putting one foot in front of the other,
I take the formless to heart; and I fill
Pots with dirt and myself with cold white wine.
Utterly beside the point in straw hat
And fussing with flowers, I am consigned
Neither to here nor there, to this and that.
Long since the Furies cried, I’ve been alone
For gods don’t rejoice in the death of two.
Doggedly, like Sisyphus and his stone
I push, but second chances are so few.
When I stumble, kind eyes avert their gaze
And we fall each time I look back, these days.
verse
Summer pales, like a ghost of stubborn Spring
This itch, this prayerful longing for heat
Belies an angel’s desire to take wing
So as you fall, then fall into me sweet
Persephone now your poet and guide
Night after day after night, I’ll complete
Your saintly goodness with its darker side
As one without the other is naive
Past Limbo, to the Second Circle we slide:
chorus
When first you whisper that little white lie
The gods will laugh
The gods will cry
In this soft circle, Reason’s slave to desire
This feels like fun
This feels like fire
These small indiscretions get lost over time
So much like love
So much like crime
As fine fine fabric slipping over your skin
This feels like silk
This feels like sin
bridge
Like a gentle dirty dream
Like a room where you can hide
Like confession in your sleep
Like expression sanctified
Like a devil, like a friend
Like a doctor who can end your pain
Like a pillow, like a kiss
Like a party, like a pill
Like a priest my lovely lips
As redemptation will fulfill
Every spectral midnight fantasy
Each and every damning desire to be
Complicit with me
And as I leave you softly under the stars
Without a scratch
Wthout a scar
Like hell on earth slipping under your skin
This feels like love
This feels like sin
i’m falling in love with her
hopelessly smitten
and strangely driven
to stop and stare and wonder
how have i been here before?
and why do i want more and more?
each into the other, this
plainly forbidden
fruit that has given
form to what was private bliss
upon reflection I find
i’m losing myself and my mind
can I woo her through the looking glass
this refraction of light i see?
in the pool face to face we match
like ghosts, like family,
like angels
translucent and
in-between
i’m falling in love with her
brazenly object
willingly subject
as sunlight through the moon
like a soliloquy or two
forever as one, me and you
I arrive in the jungle
in my new khaki clothes
make a splash in a pontoon plane
bought and paid for by those
who demand a tally
of the dark horse, the bad seed
poking and prodding progenitors
of respiratory disease are we
Whiteworld
I have institutions in the West
to make institutions in the East
I historically revise
with Deconstructionist ease
to name is to own
to market is to steal
I’m a gangster in a Hummer
and this culture will yield to me
Whiteworld
my policy is straight
my publisher primed
the natives will not
resist this time
’cause I’ve got celebrity
I translate, I teach
I give my heart, my soul,
my brains, my body, and my
batteries
Whiteworld
bridge (Sophocles)
I came on my journey
to a juncture of three roads
two men in a chariot
made it impossible to go
I struck the driver
for pushing me aside
the old man struck me back
so that I
had to kill them all
Whiteworld
I can change water into wine
solve the riddle for the Sphinx
I like the perfectly primitive
cause they desperately need
my sovereignty
over Third World Thebes
I’m a First World Oedipus
and Mother Earth is
down on her knees
Whiteworld
blinding my eyes
as if Heaven sent you
son of the father
son of the Sun for whom
the Hours attend
and the East Wind waits
holding her breath
because she’s afraid
bewitched and belittled
by daddy’s light
crowned and cloaked
and ready for flight
on a chariot drawn
by fire breathing steeds
as the stars scatter
and the Moon retreats
slapping the reins
a dilettante drives
winged horses of the Sun
into the open sky
divine fire in the hands
of mortal man
a coarse charted then lost
for lack of command
dust to dust
and dry as bone
hot as hell without trees
without snow
mother Earth now choking
on soot and ash
begs for life
for those with one
last chance
who’ll save us now?
verse
as I shower and shave
night is growing old
as I recount my days
you simply count
and coldly mark time
this performance in fact
last, and sweetly in vain
so human, dressed and packed
let me entertain you
one more time
chorus
you watch it turn
from dark to dawn
you don’t seem
to need much sleep
you’re unconcerned
day is breaking like a wave
and the water’s much too deep
more faithful still
than God or man
quietly you’re
clocking me
ordained to fill
a baneful hourglass
without pause and without grief
if Heaven can wait
talk to Fate
give me just
one more day
as you attend
won’t you please
won’t you bend
won’t you stay
this breach
this gold
to airy thinness beat
you watch it turn
from dark to dawn
eyes and lips and hands
I forsake
you will endure
long after we are gone
and these hearts and this wave
will break
