Two Drops

Two Drops

This is not a time for passion. We fought. Or is it?
Afterward you showered. Washing me from you?
The mystery, though, is lying again now, in a towel.
Two drops glistening above your breast.

On a usual afternoon in the Sahara, or hell -- Nevada
these would evaporate for God's reasons in minutes.
But here we are in Princeton, cloudy, drapes closed.
What would even Jesus do? --- Not being Him

I lean in for an answer. Unfold you. And lick you dry.
Eyes closed, you do not see the wallpaper unravel.
Your smile is all I need to know that I said it right
when I said the words before everyone we know. 'I do'.

-- © Ciprianowords, Inc. 2013 --

Quake & Context

Quake & Context

Unwrapping a chicken sandwich the floor shook.
Panic is a thing, the unexpectedness of which, unites
everyone -- running like cattle to a burning barn.
Outside we watched pavement crackle open.
Still swallowing my lunch.

Only much later did I realize that there is no such thing
as an earthquake. Other places are quite -- stable.
But where I am is where I am.
And what happens there is quite -- local.
We huddled beside the radio when all was as before.

Laughing as I swept fragments of a broken coffee cup.

-- © Ciprianowords, Inc. 2013 --

The Fourth Thought

The Fourth Thought

Looking across to where she sat he thought several things.
Firstly, that surely the intention was a world without options.
A walk-in closet of many garments, and she chose this to stun my planet.

Secondly, his tie knot was off. He went for the windsor, ended in an ascot.
He wanted to cover the wattle. But now he looked frumpy, sure of it.
He was sure.

Then he imagined her lover, wondering how such a man could deserve her.
Had he also seen her sleeveless arms like this? From this angle?
[What single thing from my current vantage point could possibly be unique?]

Yet he gazed, when he could do so. She swizzled her drink.
Lecherous. How he would hate for anyone to think him so.
She holds someone within those sleeveless arms, his fifth thought.

She set some money down, gathered her things, and left.
He returned then to his fourth official thought, which was this:
I am very lonely. I am quite a very lonely man.

-- © Ciprianowords, Inc. 2013 --

Battle Cry

Battle Cry

Recruitment denial of reality submission basic training.
Boot camp maneuvers doctrine faux scenario simulations.
Sheets razor straight ship shape look alive. Say sir.
Salute. Buzz cut. Keep that transmitter charged, Eugene.
'Copters dropping in a jungle where we swat mosquitoes.

There was a sliver of moon when you leapt from the trees.
Throw the grenade. Your face was alight and I saw words
gunfire silenced. What can anything mean today my friend.
Or a toast to you recall. Or peace-time full moons flesh out.
When all I will ever hear is that last thing unheard -- Cried. 

-- © Ciprianowords, Inc. 2013 --

Dreams

Dreams

Funny thing about them --
When you are falling asleep they are not there.
Yet without wakefulness they would never arrive.

What does midnight mean when half a world
is eating breakfast and tanning on a beach?
Were we too close to ourselves to hold on to it?

Agree with me, girl. We were the poem rhyming.
The song that sang to an open window.
Two splayed cats in the grass, spent from play.

Dreams do not exist until we're sleeping?
As if the sun does not quite shine today
when all the while it is just moisture in the way?

-- © Ciprianowords, Inc. 2013 --