The vampire weeps

 If I said I am dying to drink from your fountain

would you slice yourself open for my benefit

oozing like a ruby red grapefruit?

would you shed each drop in an arioso of charming crescendos upon the xylophone that is the foyer travertine?

would you crawl to my waiting stiletto in supplication or 

resignation

or something else?

Looking like desire but smelling of desperation?

would you?

would you be silent knowing there is no plea to reverse your fate?

tell me, 

compass-less lover,

would you comprehend why you surrendered?

If I said I was dying to drink from your fountain 

I'd be a liar.

the vampire 

waits.

Death of Love

Giving up on love changes you
It slows you down
Even your pulse 

Bodily functions turn against you
Especially your digestion
Weight sees no reason to burn
Nothing burns,
Especially not your imagination,
Which used to run ahead like a child 
At a feverish pace
Gathering fancy frocks and bright lipsticks
To be the prettiest at the daydream
Your eyes even become fixed
A steady sage stare
Especially good for discerning the things you'd missed all those years
The way the crickets have multiplied
The starlings are disturbed by the weather
The way the house creaks and cracks like a splintered ship run aground
The books you can now focus on

Your thoughts plucking words like flowers to adorn your dreams

A wreath of sonnets and novels

An Easter bonnet of tales

For the long dark hours 

Especially for the way your body wants only rest. 

So tired now 

So utterly tired.

Modern Medicine

My doctor today said my blood pressure is a bit high

to which I say how could it not be?

The vine which has been growing from my intestines 

is crushing my chest with a bowline knot around my heart

clogging the well which used to send a river to my dry achy eyes

while thorns and worms wrap round

the hyoglossus of my throat

suppressing my tongue so nothing can escape

no words

and definitely not a scream

definitely not a cry or a shriek or

a shrill sharp edged syllable knife of stabbing pain

where my Adam's apple might have been if life were fair but

definitely not that 

all systems are on lockdown 

my soul even is trapped in this prison.

 so my doctor

with her years of knowledge 

and 

 papers 

she says my blood pressure is up 

as if this is news to me

with no response at all

I wonder at what point the vine will shoot straight up out of my head 

breaking open my honeycomb skull 

and then,

will the pressure be released?

3/3/2022