dandelion (i'm listening, i hear you, i understand)

you're right,
the buildings do look beautiful
set against the sky falling,
the sun sinking,
sweet, hot colors taking over,
and might I add,
as I'm watching you watch the sun set over the city sky-line,
your eyes seem to shine a lovely shade of green,
something in the way of a kiwi-tangerine.

-but imagine if the sky was the ocean,
and those clouds were waves,
and the sky scrapers were the tall, thin jetties on which they broke apart,
rolling soft against all the big smooth windows,
polishing the sea-sky glass, slowly wearing them away.

I can hear your breath smiling,
your toes tapping,
your bubbly finger-tips touching
the edge of your pocket's lining, fishing around for no reason at all.

pick me up and put me in your pony-tail,
like one of those little butterfly clips you had when you were a girl.

push me away to make room for your power politics
put me back just to touch my hand,
I'll hold your hand and listen to you talk about your plant-life politics,
best friend remix,
rearrange relationships,
ditch some of those shallow chicks,
or maybe just the bitch,
reconnect with a few old familiars,
a few old dragonflies waiting on some leftover lily-pads,
a few more chances to be real.

and didn't you know?
you don't just download the radio hits.
go out and buy the whole album, or all the albums,
and listen to them when you're alone,
then again, with a friend.

we're as different as black and white,
I could be day,
and you could be some other time.
but that's okay.
I'll let you be the sunshine.
I'll let you be a field of flowers,
a warm, breezy afternoon.
I'll let you be the best time,
better than any other time,
better than anything that's me.

and as you turn around again to face me,

I watch your beauty break apart
like a dandelion plucked from the earth,
and thrust into an exhaled breath,
your silly little seedling dancers sent tumbling out into the wide-open world.

and as you turn to go,
I reach out to catch one of those windswept little wonders,

I catch it.
and keep it.
I put it in my pocket,
all and only for me.

Maybe San Francisco

soft little goodbye sunshine,
you suspend my skyline on little wooden pins,
go across like a clothes-line,
hang up your clean wet clothes on the horizon.
hang them up to dry.
i suspect you of something slightly sinister,
but i'll pretend i didn't see
all of your strung-up sun-set laundry,
blowing in the breeze.

i couldn't care less if you air-dry your open-heart,
or sun-bleach your dreams.

superhero (revised)

for the first time.
        in a long time.
i tied a blanket around my neck.
              draped it across my back.
and became me.

no more superhero.
no more knight in shining armor.
no more shoulder to cry on, no more martyred me.
             
flying is hard.
the air is cold up there and the world looks little and lonely.
so far away.
from up above where there's no one by your side.

 i guess they build the skyscrapers bigger and better every year.
and i guess i just can't seem to jump that high.
anymore.

so when your bullets are all aimed at my chest.
don't expect them to deflect.

don't expect me to reflect.
the brassy lead.
i'll take the blow instead.

i'll let it break my skin.
i'll let it break my bones.

don't expect me to save you.
don't expect me to hold you.
don't expect me to whisk you away.

don't expect me to catch you when you're falling.
not this time around.

butterfly

she seems sad,
like dewdrops in spring,
but spring is a time for new beginnings.
(i guess no one told her)

I'll go try and make her smile.

Catchin' Fire

Darkness lingers
as he runs his fingers through her hair.

Romeo and Juliet,

fade away to silhouettes.

Turn on the radio
late at night.
Turn it way down low.
Turn on the radio
late at night.
Turn it on and dance real slow.

Take it nice and easy.
Take me by the hand.
Take it to the limit.
Take me to The Promise-land

            -------------

have you ever seen any thing so beautiful as the thin blue ribbon
            tied around the morning sun. 

star

goodbye sweet midnight
don't cry. its all
right
goodnight
sleep tight

sweet midnight
it's all right.

the window cries
the window sighs
to watch the earth
as it withers and dies

definition [there are only after]

a quiet kind of clean soon followed
away in the crematorium
kings and cool lovers danced slowly
a quiet kind of clean came suddenly
we followed it closely
but it got away

in the front room (soft satin touch of the blue carousel)

everything is
open
unbolt the door and
walk in
come in
slowly
everything is
open
take your time
look around
do not divulge what you have seen.

465 (i drew it in the dark)

you're my solid sunshine,
you're my only pair of shoes,
you're my science-fair volcano,
my big, fold-out topographical map of the moon.