Dessicated

Those words I never said
Like circling vultures
In carrion waves of grain
Blackened by decay
Clouding my addled mind
With so many regrets
Pregnant pauses heavy
These unspoken sighs
Wasted in daylight
In twisted shadows
That obscure the truth
It shrivels in my soul
Gasping for satisfaction
Finding silence instead
Where words used to be
And only outlines remain
Fading in the setting sun
Of a hundred winters
This pressing utter cold
That once was desire.

Mirror Twin

Mirror twin reaching out
To make me his own
Glass polished clean
Reflection unimpressed
By keen posturing
Or incidental steam
Moving when I do
But trapped by circumstance
Like so much molasses
Thick and viscous
Though it looks so plain
Obvious like snow
In the middle of winter
I smile and he smiles back
But in a fractured reverse
Making a claim on my soul
This tortured edifice
Clarified by nature and time
Carved out of glass
To be displayed on a shelf
He peers back at me
This man who shares my parts
In his two-dimensional glory
Who fights for relevance
In a world that isn’t his
Until I switch off the light
And he slips into memory.

Misplaced Grace

This lingering gaze
While toes curl
And fires glisten
Way down deep inside
Makes me shudder
Deep, knees weak
You stare back
Intensely real
Painfully aware
Of this strained silence
Masked in entendre
Clouded in desire
Personally human
Like spinning plates
Before they fall
You wrest my attention
This fair focus
Misted in lust
Shackled to a love
That speaks in tongues
While eyes do the dance
And angels fall
Full of misplaced grace.