The Grand Stardom of Forever

They put him into the warm ground

but his body was without the heat of life

no red drama of being

He was going back

going back to the first mother

to an earth's embrace and a kiss of sky

in a land of nothingness so vast one could only laugh at its freedom

Laugh and dance within the grand stardom of forever

Hold a cherry within your lips

taste this very moment

Love is everywhere

An Honesty in Blue

a thing of beauty

passes between hearts

a known moment

intangible, unexplained

but explored

and given

as a piercing or a softness

alchemised

I dreamt of a man growing clouds from plant pots, I called one Love and the other War, I dreamt I fell from a fun ride and couldn't get back on, losing all my belongings forever, I dreamt jasmine was growing in my bedroom, a flowering at the end of my bed before a wide window

you and I sat together

it was enough

the kiss, our bodies

an honesty in blue

of night and stars and eclipse

of bright day

your face in the light

your beautiful face

I looked again at the first verse and knew I was struggling to say what my heart remembers, I remember a moment, I remember more, one uncaptured timeline, one which is a warmth in my chest, an opiated sensation in my body, a closing of my eyes to a serenity with a brightness behind

this poem could go on

and I would never be able to say what I want

for how can one explain a gloriousness that was once held in the hand

I did not ask 'Who are you?' for I chose to watch how you leaned towards me, how you smiled and the depth of your eyes. I chose to feel your skin next to mine, the trace of your hand, your lips. I chose to listen to your heart and then to your words and try to see what lay between. I wished for your presence as the Sun rises or the flower opens; gifts that come freely without bidding; something true to know.

And yet it seems that one never knows.

And the truth changes.

And the depth of one's eyes can be a cruel reflection.

I dreamt of a man growing clouds from plant pots, I called one Love and the other War.

Being Elsewhere

I was born from The Leaving

before I could walk I had travelled across the oceans

my father's diaspora in my veins

my mother's exclusion

in my youth I was a dancing light

a chatter of storytelling

like a changeling found within an urban landscape

always aware that I was part of a place I could never return

and so I wandered

and I was joined by gods and goddesses

by nymphs and satyrs

by fools and poets

we sang to astounding stars

nectar upon our lips

heat within our thighs

a drum in our hearts

yet the dark water overflowed me

and I swallowed my fire's ochre tears

as the thieves took all they wished

my execution forgotten in their damp hands

this city wanted me to pray

it did all it could to put my head to the ground

I cannot reinvent myself

not now

not until the wind comes in the horse's mane

for I have gone far away and noone looks for me

I, unembraced for so long

yearning for a soothing kindness

Love is a ravenous creature tearing the soul