MY OWN INFERNO

I've grown accustomed to the rack.
Once painful stretching of limbs
Now has only a familiar tug.
It's amazing what we can learn to tolerate.

My torturers are not unknown strangers
But familiar old acquaintances.
Expectation, the handmaid of Responsibility,
Guides their eager efforts.

Enterprise, at my right hand, sits silent to his task.
He does not suit me well as companion,
But supports me in my hour of need
And relishes not my strain.

On the left hand is Joy, whose pull is strong,
Gently whispering of phantom fields of ecstasy.
If I could loose my other bonds,
I'd follow her wherever she willed.

At my feet are those whose work is worst.
I see them now before me and I shudder--
The Creators on the right side,
Amity on the left.

The former encourage Enterprise to call to me.
Plaintively they goad him on,
Yet stubbornly he sets his lip and will not speak.
Theirs is the strength of disappointment.

Amity, I fear the most. Its ruby lips belie
The fangs that wait to strike at an open vein,
Its bite draining respect and fair regard.
The sweetest face hides the cruelest of torments.

Each of these captors I accepted willingly,
Choosing not to see their full intents.
I fastened my own chains with eagerness to please,
Then one by one they tightened round heel and wrist.

Now numb, I feel the pangs no more.
Distended, I hear the rush of time's car passing,
Thus dully waiting out the day
As an effigy of humankind.

I AIN'T NO BARBIE DOLL

Perfect plastic people
Leading perfect plastic lives
Who are they really?
Do they have invisible insides?

I can't imagine being them
I know I never could
I never was too malleable
Don't do the things I should

Or is "should" a possibility--
A tangible kind of thing?
It's probably better not to know
It carries quite a sting

But what if you would want me then
Maybe then it'd be worth it
If I could be artificial
Less complex and more complicit

Sometimes Wish....

I wonder if I'll always be alone
Or if I could be with you forever.
Sometimes wish I could call you on the phone
And tell you the truth, but it's always blown.
Instead, I try to be far too clever.
I wonder if I'll always be alone.
Woke after dreaming the real me was shown
To you--you said, "Keep it under cover."
Sometimes wish I could call you on the phone
To ask you if you feel like life has flown
Away from you, or if you say (ever),
"I wonder if I'll always be alone."
Is it only me who seems to have grown
Disconcerted with the simple answer?
Sometimes wish I could call you on the phone,
But would you tell me that I ought to own
Up to the facts--true love may be never?
I wonder if I'll always be alone.
Sometimes wish I could call you on the phone.

LOVE'S TRUE PHILOSOPHY

Vine and vine and leaf and leaf
Bind together each to each
Holding you and holding me
Breezes blowing tree and tree
Shivers from both sight and sound
Bodies clasping on the ground
Sighs together of devotion
Life is filled with sweet emotion
What is sin and in whose eyes
Does Nature teach these little lies
Eye to eye and mind to mind
I think the liar's humankind

Short & Sweet

Ticking off the daily wrongs,
In language both of how and why,
I scream a thousand sordid songs
And whisper, "Mother, may I?"

TRAFFIC JAM

Green or red is clear to me
I know just what to do
But I can't read your signals
They're yellow all day through

Which way to the off-ramp?
I'm lookin' for a sign
Which way to the off-ramp?
I hope you're doin' fine

Your stop and go
Is killing me
If I can't have you
Then set me free

Stay or go--I just don't see
Which way I need to look
I wish that you'd explain it all
In a user's manual book

I'd keep it in my glove box
Consult it when confused
Thereby avoiding accidents
With every page perused

Your stop and go
Is killing me
If I can't have you
Then set me free