His words were occupying armies
Her laughs were an assassin's attempts
His looks were bullets daggers of revenge
His glances were ghosts in the corner with horrible secrets
His whispers were whips and jackboots
Her kisses were lawyers steadily writing
His caresses were the last hooks of a castaway
Her love-tricks were the grinding of locks
And their deep cries crawled over the floors
Like an animal dragging a great trap
His promises were the surgeon's gag
Her promises took the top off his skull
She would get a brooch made of it
His vows pulled out all her sinews
He showed her how to make a love-knot
Her vows put his eyes in formalin
At the back of her secret drawer
Their screams stuck in the wall

Their heads fell apart into sleep like the two halves
Of a lopped melon, but love is hard to stop

In their entwined sleep they exchanged arms and legs
In their dreams their brains took each other hostage

In the morning they wore each other's face

- Ted Hughes

Under the floorboard
Sylvia wept
Trapped in the bell jar
Or parachuting into some empty space

Walls slid upward
And cut you on the way back down

Shadows sing your praise
Fathers do not
Kaleidoscope sandwich
A dead mans dreams

Under the weight of a thousand manuscripts
Fallen angels
Disappear into dark circles
Ripples on a black lake
A broken pen

The wife of a twentieth century poet
He collected your sunshine
And you swallowed
Assia
You poured thick chalk in her stomach
And it bled into his

Ever wonder who had the last laugh
When you are laying in a gas chamber
Under the floorboard

Your safety net
was made from strong souls

a poet’s honesty
a sixth grade teacher’s laugh
the wife of an eternal student
a vixen in the desert

Your safety net
was secured

by a journalist in Denver
a dark face in Tuscan
the magnet of Seattle
the kindness of strangers
a sensitive spirit in Vegas
acceptance

Your safety net is indestructible

the generosity of a brother
encouragement from a sister
your father’s forgiveness
your mother’s crooked smile
built it in love to withstand every winter

Your safety net was woven by the finest hands

mentors that called your bluff
warm hugs at midnight
louisiana’s gentle ear

Your safety net
allows you to jump without hesitation

puts a microphone in your voice box
a foundation under your feet
a steel backbone
the strength to move forward

Your safety net
consists

of every shoulder you cried on
and every individual that believed in you.

This morning I ran twelve laps around the city
I was blindfolded on the first
Naked on the second
Both hands tied behind my back for the third
I ran one lap backwards
High for the fifth
I juggled three red apples
I severed the cord on the seventh
I ran one for us
I ran the last three for me
By the twelfth
I was free

Worms drop

puddles converse

blue stars sigh

hailstorm handshakes

nature’s exchange.