aayoungit no longer matters
the vigil kept
fire lit
now stamped of air
i am weary of watching
for suspicious animals
who live low to the ground
mossy lock secured
done-my-time-card punched
i know a shortcut home
even the ghosts have gone to smoke
you deserve
not a moment more
but not a minute less
ruins of the fortress smolder
.
she has been unchained from the tyrant
freed by howling liberators
.
all cease to hail
the master of bloody card tricks
falling
he fails to find grace
or coins for his dead eyes
behind unfearing ears
.
the man who would kill the world sure in the notion
he was the sole heir
paraded backwards atop royal donkey
steam rising from his legend
he now knows the planet is round
.
she tosses her ring into the bottomless pit of him
.
grateful for life yet to be lived
her mind races to gather precious moments from the fire
optimism kindness mercy wisdom charity
all she has learned
placed into saint juliana’s reliquary head
carried in her saddle leather
.
gilded war horse mounted
her rosewood eyes survey the newly lost world
she follows the light upward
embers rise from collapsing thatched rooftops
becoming stars
as they reach azure firmament
.
around her neck
a rosary made for the christian messiah
silver crescent moon for allah
the seal of solomon
and a piece of amber for those who know
god is the sky
.
riding stick lashes across time
thunderously galloping
toward the gateway to the holy land
she seeks a new jerusalem
.
plumes of red and orange organza
silk and chiffon
explode from her stride
the dust remembering big bang theory
as she soars triumphant
towards a goodness
unlike any she has ever known
.
a place where tongues speak truth
hearts are brave and upright
so that any god may love them
.
surrounded by those
who have paid their prayer tax
she has made her own way
to the port of messina
.
behold the blue sea
.
cerulean wishing well
.
and the possibility
of a heaven
that will decide
what becomes of us
sweet louis
ignorant king
how crooked
is your manhood
to abolish any notion of you
amidst the terror
of your creation
we shall adopt
the republican calendar
within it
our july
becomes thermidor
no longer honoring the memory
of the fallen caesar
it is a time to destroy
superstition and fanaticism
know marie
never uttered a single word
about cake
creating a little napoleon
we eat the fire inside marat’s heart
three
ten-day weeks
choosing to annihilate
the existence of sunday
soon the people will forget
they ever had a religion to lose
controlling gods create common enemies
robespierre shan’t keep your head
from the national razor
we cannot save ourselves
from the undying urge
to be dying humans
i stop
to consider
the plus column
life’s gifts given
grace bestowed and exhibited
loved received
lessons learned
intuition inherited
immunity earned
via ancient dna
lately life
is all column A
universal humility
gratitude for my existence
glasses more than half full
my cup runneth over
i raise a glass for each passed away
day
when feet are held to fire
and your soul fails to burn
you cease to fear the
the flint and friction filled
happiness arsonists
it’s your sense of what is good
and what feels right
that burn so brightly
impervious to incendiary bombs
and tooth decay
i am lucky
i survive
i am alicia
for that
i am grateful
for knowing
for being
for breath
for the smallest things
for twin boys with blue eyes
for being secure
the bearer of joy
no fools to suffer
no mandatory litany lists
or force fed hurt
i am a stronger me
and
i am unswayed
thank you