only the haunted hear
i have heard whispering in rented rooms
these structures hold secrets
only the haunted hear
creeping over heavily veined floors
one maps wounds – scars
torture concealed
within putrid walls
each day i try to break the code
of a hidden life
stare at my reflection
in the piety of a mirror
nailed to a dying cause
i chase hairs
round a cracked basin
leopard’s piss
oh darlin darlin
its too late
im finished
mama threw out my
Bear’s nose
set my white kid boots
in copper
used them for bookends
oh darlin darlin
its too late
im finished
a panther behind bars
at the zoo
sprayed piss
in my face
people stared
pointed
mama wiped my face
with her floral handkerchief
oh darlin darlin
its too late
im finished
a gang of boys
peered under the venetian blinds
at my bedroom window
spied on me whilst i wanked
oh darlin darlin
its too late
im finished
arena
will there be room in the arena
between shrieks and groans
will they recognise me
will the lion know
when to eat me
acropolis
a blood-red sun hung over the harbour
summer of my 6oth year
summer of bush fires
my sister came from Greece
bearing a legend in the curve of her nose
she entered my courtyard
poison ivy grew in thick ropes on the walls
my stone burial mound
piled high
with legs
arms
i could not tell her
of the ghosts
the dust I honoured
she spoke of the acropolis
the parthenon
she spoke of agony
some of her teeth had fallen out
a dentist had screwed bolts
into her jawbone
to hang new teeth
2 gold bracelets
sang
on her thin bronze arm
she cried out
i bring fresh water pearls
for the women
we ran forward
stumbling over
stones and crosses
ghosts of lovers - pukerua bay 2008
flung far from Kapiti Island
my heart an ancient canoe
filled with ghosts of lovers.....children
their voices echo over the bay
in the summer of my twenty second year
you appeared outside my broken door
long naked feet
groping dry yellow grass
hot face on mine
laughter exploding
our shadows
flung
out to sea
in your house
at the end of the bay
we lay in your sighing bed
bodies coffined
hands and feet crossed
throats ballooning
with the rush of unborn words
illusion's hump
We are the Legend
reflected in its singular eye
we try to possess it
squatting on illusions hump
we pitch into
the velvet womb
giving birth to our own image
in the seductive shadow
of life - death
We seize the shimmering flesh
galloping to snatch the breast
to suck the milk
we stare at our bloody reflection
attempting to possess
the singular Eye
the isolated Heart grinding its own monkey
wheezes out broken tunes
on Loves concertina
The Mind speculating on a distortion
of
The Legend
laid out
in a shroud of dust
