Bird of Paradise

I was born between madness

and a hard place. Torn

by Sadness, I’m on guard. Forms

pass me by.

They saunter. They lie. I lie

I wander. I cry.

Tears trickle down haggard sighs.

“Another shooting?”

I ask the weary.

“Bullets just tickle.”

She’s hardly cheery.

I need to escape.

This place desecrates

my gaze with horror

and malaise. More

will come; I must run

within me

sin, karma,

and suffering cease.

The Eye opens to peace. Free

birds sing near, and trees

bear fruit. Mountains speak words

clear as spring.

“Fountains flow with drunken rain.

Drink, and quench your pain.

Soft scent of magnolias

wafts like Day.

A spent voice takes me

away. “Hello,” she

says. I pray she sees

the trees. No,

concrete.

“Did I die?” I ask.

“You closed your eyes,” masked

my tried tumult, latched

to languid longing,

her brass voice echoes.

A brash screen

bellows. Green

throats fiend for fellow fiends.

“It’s all a scheme by the owners.

They want us lower

than them. They want us slower

than them. Blowers

blow the leaves. On her

knees,

I grieve and hide.

“I try to lie, find

my Second Self,” I say.

“We act and play. Slate

skies clean plate glass gates

between death and fate.

Life’s an instrument

made by children. Like you,

child.”

Mild wind,

born wild,

meet the warm moment.

A swarm of symphonies greet me.

Sunshine razes me,

sears me with bliss. Wishes miss

the mountain.

Miss Doe misses the willows.

They burnt long ago.

Apollo speaks in song. Gong

crashes weeks long. Tongs

of tongues seek my ears

and lift me from earth.

I hear lyrics, “What

is truth worth to you?

Need you more?”

His crack soars

my body and WHACK!

Back into this sack of meat.

I meet her again,

my Sonya, though I lack her

name. Black fur

coats, clearly fake, make me laugh.

Cake frosting lipstick

and hopes for kicks lick

in my heart. “Start! Brick-

Headed dope.” She wails.

“I’m sorry I flee.

This haze wraps real ropes

around Cope’s thin neck.

It leaves me a wreck.”

“Not here? Must be nice. My dear

you must fight demons

Twice as small as your servants.

Dreaming all

day, the gaul. You live in this.

Death is your time to

play God. It’s all you.

It’s all me. You choose

your next life, on time.”

Then she danced, danced

like a bird of

paradise.