Lot from within
The softest flicker
A conflagration
Sometimes both
The flaws
Demonstrations
Of easy humanity
Still moving through
Each moment
Certain and still
Gaining momentum
Run your fingers through
My beard
Whisper warmth until
I growl with quiet, fluttering
Delight
Such a simple idea
What wonders lie within
Being seen
Smiled upon
As though I am
Some kind of prize
Remember
It is all a game
With one rule
You must never be boring
Whilst also being
Calm and stable
Able to bear chaos and confusion
With a warm welcome
Wrestle the titans to the earth
And bring their arms behind
Their back
Until the snap of bone
Louder than a frustrated teacher’s
Chalk
But it is a game
Played with such focus
It is impossible to tell
Whether it is a game
At
All
But you play nonetheless
Resist the temptation to change
soften
Because when the lines snap
And the silence realised its
Potential as the signs
They’ve checked out
A roll of the dice
Thrown by your intuition
But all the games
Bitter and dark
Have one weakness
You’ve never
Played
Against
Me
Before
Exhausted seconds
Spilling from my fingers
Into a thick bed of minutes
In a house built from hours
I wander these rooms
A purposeful ghost
Alive to make
My mark on these walls
Crumbling as they are
I hear you
From another room,
But this house brings
The scent of you to me
And it is the bedroom where
We find one another
And our kisses
Stop time
Breath
And thought
Like a child’s dream
Of lightning
And we don’t waste
A single
Beautiful
Moment
We are at our most inventive
Transgressive
When there is no thought
Only action
Wrestling around
A spark of conversation
A bonfire of consent
My hands, large and dark around your wrists
The right angle in the dark
A feather breath of pressure
Soft laughter and then the tight grunt
Question
Answer
Experience
On languid waves of sensation
Your pale skin against my fur
Shivering with need as we wrap around
One another
Some mysteries are solved
In the warm, damp dark
Laughing like children
A feral ballet
Hills of the sheets
And I touch your face
Sending the ache you
Inspire through everything
I
Do
We sit
Same warm brown eyes
Equal amounts of silver
In the beards
‘So what did we learn?’
Persistence
I think I found God
After a fashion
And beneath his gaze
Real or imagined,
It did not matter
Some parts of me
Receded
Others thickened
I am leaner
Kinder to myself
But new hungers awoke
Whilst the compass
Pointed to my true north.
And still
I remain
Acute to the bitter bubbling away
Of chaos
But couched in the armour
Of purpose
I can lift my sword in defence of
Myself
Those who I love,
Near and far,
‘What about you?’
I still exist,
A tenant somewhere,
Perhaps a ghost in a dream house,
But leave me with your interest in
Self destruction
And the taste for t shirts with logos
‘I love you ‘
As you should,
I’m gorgeous.
One fades
And well,
I’m not even here,
Except
(And this will get me exiled from
Many a perfumed garden)
I
Am
Read
A single word,
And we can never be strangers
To one another,
You
And I.
To remain
As a tree remains
Unreacting
Yet responsive
Supple in intuition
the subtlety of
How we interact
when all my work is done
And I can then
Turn my attention to you
Because as glorious a distraction you
Are.
Nothing shudders to a halt
Because I bear it with a smile
Stronger for the resistance
And my root seeks the fertile soil
finding purchase
Your bedrock shifts
And you feed
Sustain something rich
As summer night
Shelter beneath me
I have you:
Just
Breathe
This year
Tried to break me
With anguish
Pleasures so acute
They were indistinguishable
As a mute singing
To their gods
The impersonal furies
Their heartfelt heralds
Sought to carve their names
Into my bones
But here I remain
Further forward
Despite a glacial pace
So deep it made me wonder
If I moved at allmade
But I look back
See the scarred ruins
Look down then up
The wine of persistence
Sweet on my lips
Still, reach beneath
My shirt, rough palm
Against a heart which holds
rhythm no matter how off the time
the world appears
I remain
Harder
Better
Faster
Stronger
And sat, smiling as
I consider how
Little frightens me anymore
And when I hold you
It is with the strength
Of grace
Remember, my love
I can endure anything
So let your winds howl
the rains fall
And my smile
Persistent buddha
A bear, gentle even as I lick blood
From my teeth
Nostrils aflare
At the honey of your
Presence
