MULCH for CONCRETE - #2

L A U S   K A U S

I take comfort in my vices. It’s the only thing that keeps me going. There is no one else to sooth me, to calm, to give me safe harbor. If I crave booz, so what? If I smoke a joint, who cares? If I pop a pill…or a hooker, or even a housewife, what’s the difference? Let me be. I don’t have a virgin mary or a mother theresa to save my soul. It’s too late and frankly I don’t care. It is My self destruction, it is my Own disillusion. It is my garden of sin so don’t come tromping in with your heavy boots and expect that you will save me. I don’t require salvation. Move along. Find another lost soul who might ask directions to shelter, I am not looking. I have mine. Label me a lost cause and move along. Shake your head in disbelief, but bear no sadness or regret. You do not owe me a thing and I expect nothing. You are not your brother’s keeper and I am not your brother. Move along. 

LA LUNA

La Luna met the dogs as she crested the hill overlooking San Juan Portio. She was so looking forward to slipping in silently and seeing her reflections in the bay below - mirror glass still, a cool pool of luster on which to preen, shimmering, anxious and waiting to take her in. Instead, Her elegance met with the madding howl of a pack of baying beasts shredding tranquility and snapping at the nerves.  The hounds of Mad Sol, would have none of this nightly visitation, none of it at all. HE would have her slip by, a mere sliver of herself, but she did so love to bloom, and tonight was in full glow. A monthly tidal episode neither one could control. A cold dark orb, he called her…void of anything of life. But he followed her, as others do – no more special in his majesty, than she will allow or give him credit for.  And for the ruler of all, this was enough. He would rage in the frustration of his need but longed to glimpse her shadow, linger and taste the scent of her passing. La Luna was here but moments ago. We shared the same air.

LILLY'S BIRD

Lilly's little bird,

Pale and frail

As it could be,

Sang sweet

Daily

Perched inside

It’s narrow

Round cage

Though thin

Its song

Reedy it’s

Tiny tweet

Earnest it

Did repeat

And repeat

And repeat

Tweet

tweet tweet

tweet tweet

retweet, retweet, retweet…

Through rice-paper walls

All day long

it’s Tinny Tune

Whistled

Like a teapot

It’s steam

Endless and

Relentless

so frantic, it seemed

Until the day I screamed

And Lilly screamed back

As the balance tipped

And judgment snapped

The heat relentless

Our goodwill sapped

And pretty soon

It went from room

To room

Out to the hall

We screamed

We vented

Over panic bird calls

While she swore

I pounded walls

She slammed the door

To end it all

And from that day

It was heard no more

Though I miss it now

I have to wonder

Did she set it free?

Or

Put it under

The fate

I must admit

The fault

You may convict

Shame sits

As the silence now

Rests heavy

with me

Lilly never speaks

When oddly we meet

There is no look

Nor nod from

The Cold old bird

Now grown wary

She utters

Nary a peep

And as a gentleman,

I know not to tarry

Or to Ruffle

Her feathers

Never more

The canary

Next door.