Tumbling down
a leaf as i leave you
with smokey memories and warm nights
I guess the Fall came fast enough
but there were days that stagnated
i needed
Reading the signs of change
like clasped hands cluctching knuckle skin
so long summer
catching weedles in the weeds
stinging needles from fat rains
immaturities
brown eyed honesty
i guess we both knew the end would
come for us
always,
always and never.
-A. Long
To the man who made
the tin men with no hearts
you tinkerer
no love of your own
so you built them to entertain you with pretty lies
and oily smiles
but the glassy wax on his eyes
gives away the show
what if one had went rogue and ripped out Dorothy’s
while she was still breathing
so desperate from his manufactured affection
like food he swallows
or the words he mechanically bellows
all hollow
To the builder bent over
precariously at his bench making metal men in
his own image
to pry open the ribs of others
and take love wherever given
how dare you force life on
this dead scrap of bolts
then bid him sing and dance
a small hair sprouts
defying the odds
bursting through the surface
only to crinkle and bend
like palm trees in the wind
coconut oil eases the shaft
from root to ends
smooth, dipping my curls
into the Atlantic
becoming one with the island
and the wave
and the nappiness
of my kitchen
the way she might have as a child on family vacations
her thick black locs hang
like freedom
and nooses
and mangoes
strong and sweet as sugarcane
standing up
resisting gravity
and the box that bottles beauty
i fell in love with my bestfriend
where the tall grass grows
in the shadows
that which we call friend
by any other name is as sweet
so we played hide and seek
with our hearts
until the colors ran out of time
drowned in an awkward silence
i walk about my emotions
he ran
into my arms
warm
as the ground after a sand storm
bitter jazz
dripped from his cheek
as we speak of
the first days spinning into ever
fades the call of the trumpet
for something new
not friendship but the best of us
hidden
like a foreign constellation
among galaxies
colliding
syncopating
burning our music into existence
from humble beginnings
we danced
the world into a circle on its axis
broken winged
an eagle could not fly
so she dove down to earth
caught the pharoah’s eye
he liked the hurt bird
and without a word
ordered her taken care of
nights they’d watch
the moon unfurl
itself from the sky
his love healed her heart
but still she could not fly
deep in the darkness a coup
burnt his palace to the ground
and slaughtered his child
dethroned
he wandered
the desert alone
broken hearted
the king could not sing
so he laid
in the salt to die
above the cloud
he heard his eagle cry
with swift wings
she brings
a sack of water and gold
days went by
and the water went dry
fearing for her life
he left
while she slept
plunging into the depth
of the sun
he bargained his soul for her to be spared
where she lay in the sands
rose a lush mountain
she screamed to the heavens
abandoned
lonely
until her claws were stone
awaiting his return.
cold salt sinks into brown skin
babies laugh, and fall in
the sun perches on top of fat clouds
sinking
blink back the heat from the shade
barbecue and merengue
drift with the wind
high tide begins
angrily
the waves crash into the cove
the breathe
is fire in the belly
the soul
nurture
fill your lungs with the flame of desire
hurl hesitation on the pyre
and jump into the arms of lovers
holdfast to dreams
discover
an inner torch
can burn
and breath
finer
–A. Long
there’s no holding a rolling stone
greatness looms
liveliness
take a challenge
and feel alive
The Poetry Corner 