fill it up with mortar

any hole is a window
every wall is a door
all the ceilings are hovering
over all of the floors

all the windows are holes
every door can be a wall
the floors are foundations
or else the ceilings would fall

when the walls have no doors
the windows will replace
the floors provide catapult
and the ceilings give space

the walls are all stilts
so the ceilings can stand
and floors are the base,
the doorknobs are hands

windows opaque
door for the light
ceilings are clear
floors rise flights

the door can contain
windows cannot
floors mirror the roof
ceilings are proof

wall us in
window spin
door ajar
ceiling scar

in which doors are walking
reflections of ceiling tiles
silver like the floor
windows cracking smiles

oil mist elimination

argyle scarf, khaki pants and socks
soggy on the floor like deliquescence of ice (MM)
like a conquered chrysalis it lay
want only to be locked in a display case, set on velvet cushions (GS)

...and moistness wasn't the issue
though they had both just been in the river (MM)
- Baptized so that sins may be forgiven
for they eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - (GS)

Good being the before,
Evil being the 'side effects' (MM)
of memory's failure to grab each moment's subtle form
of a metamorphosis, told in time (GS)

And the second she got in bed she thought,
"Is this moment supposed to rhyme?" (mm)
"or have context, plot, or meaning affixed?"
"I can't even say deliquescence without having a lisp." (gs)

romance seems so old when naked skin
can't even shoo away the words (mm?)
A pregnant pause rings louder - wait
for silence beckons you to come. (gs)

All of the thoughts that buzz above
refract sunlight from the heavens - divine (AA)
though feet are scorched seeking water
on reddening fragmented shells and limestone. (O'R)

Undecided

I borrowed your bike because
I liked the ways the wheels went 'round
The gears make it a bit bumpy but...
that's life when you can't be found

I wouldn't have needed the bike if
something important came up
Like a new car donation
or hand claps from a standing ovation

I tried to catapult my consciousness
couldn't find the right words
a likely longitude for the undecided
or the latitude longing for change

No Name #1

In the beginning, there was me
you probably assumed I couldn't see
but with each turn of the head
It was clear that what began would readily end
Like eventual simmer of the wind

The Unshackling

Amber Fibula Gasoline Massive
Crimson Lips Straw Tiny
Burnt Sienna Finger Petroleum Coarse
Azure orbs heart infectious

Pegasus water caliente! 8:06 am eastern
Little Dipper Jagermeister blodig 2:00am
Cassiopeia Tequila Jeune 11:11

Venice salmon table! spicy
Ottawa halibut lampshade Phosphorius
Tokyo pilchard's alarm clock Tether

Questionnaire

1. Do you buy expensive socks?
2. Do you own too many clocks?
3. Do you leave Hershey Kisses wrappers splayed throughout your home?
4. Where did your last name come from?
5. What do you think of proportion?
6. What is too many?
7. Jeans or pants?
8. Capital Letters?
9. Do you consider teeth bones or souls?
10. Where do you keep your toes?
11. Quesadillas or Fajitas?
12. Capital Letters?
13. Can you carry a tune?
14. What day of the week is it?
15. 5:30 AM - what do we do?
16. What happens next?
17. Kiss?
18. Exit?

~By NS, MM

Yielding A Kite

Are we tangible, edible and if so, delectable?
Are we on our way out, and if so from where did we begin?
A line allows progress, severed branches and twigs
A word like love gets overused and underappreciated
(most words are)
(less words you make)
HOW TO AMPLIFY!?
Such a thought cannot be explained rather deteriorated
Progressive downward spiraling- is sober somber?
Repeating for the sake of learning
Experience it twice, never forget
But forgetting what was once remembered and lost
What were we thinking?
What would we endure?
We would endure poinsettias, brown sweaters, endeavors to please us.
Not forgery or coin trickery
No salvation in adapting to a world which is crazy
Did we lose our sight for small things?
Did we find a taste for fine china and lace?
Are we left drunk and blind from cinematic love?
The credits have become a thing of the past.
We held on to the wrong things and they start to decay
Like the languorous leaves from late fall lessons learned –
Brittle, they fall to pieces in our wrinkled hands
(melted icicles come with spring)
The leaves, at least, know their purpose
while ice shards on the roof dream haughtily of greater things.
Dive bombing and derelict descent
Engines idling mid-air
Two innocuous smiles, without a care
One of them thought there might have been a chance
poor humor biting on seeds of happenstance
Again, how to live through what so many could not endure?

~By BC, AA, PL, MM, NS, GS, JMH, and O'R.

Red Light Night

She smelled like the morning after, and her face looked like guilt
seventeen tattoos that etched nothing into memory
He always made himself a career out of taking dives
"Damn thing's broken," I said, "take it out of your mouth, Ms. Po-tato Head."
Where can we go from here
We go to the liquor cabinet to loosen our tongues
Jager, Absinthe, Vodka and Rum
Nothing of substance. Just detail.
Getting undressed didn't look like it was supposed to
Another shot, pause, stare. Repeated as necessary
Eyelashes zippered to make it go quicker.
Feel with your hands, not with your heart
For the heart twists sensation with it's own agendas
The only truth you'll ever know changes as your limbs embrace each other
But stays the same in scent and sound,
Especially after the whiskey sweats out
Then you can leave with your hand to your mouth and your eyes to the ground.

~By BC, AA, JMH, MM, GS, O'R, and NS.

Caja de Corazon IV

April is the cruelest month
its evidence washed away
something strange tastes of blame
punctuation was useful once
now wanton words wax poetic again
budding as eustoma petals purple
does not know dying is imminent
still crosses himself before meals
yet sets his feet below the table

Lying as March Lions malinger mendaciously
unreserved in truth as lucid bears grumble May
Seeing Dust in a handful of fear
the forgotten lamb's darling stands
a most inconspicuous spot
a patch within patches
pound for pound the better craftsman
shaven wool facade for a depilated attic
that Delilah once knew

February brings answers falsified in three
blind cries to god; a response: "je suis"
at the bottom by bound feet
Countertops wake only to flee
from December's death rattle discomfort
His cold is only a dream
an unraveling sweater: mental disentanglement
A thread remains hidden in the undertow
Like the suicide note set off to sea
in drowning bottle bent bewildered
Gone...

~By MM, NS, O'R, GS, and TS Eliot

High Coo Average

Day train rider gone wrong
Wrote out of his own song
Kid keeps watch on the sun
His eyes smolder over
Time always comes and gos
Dial broken- explodes!
Come for the view. Don't Stay.

A line break on his page
Same place that he sleeps in
Framed space of his dream den
Inane envelope seal.

Lick the ridge of airships-
Content feeling of age:
decaying wrinkled face
Forshadowing the steps
to his left-handed loft.

Can He Find The Way Out?

~By MM and NS

Wednesday Is Like This

Kellar's experience has placed him in the "Reluctant" pile on his desk
The outgoing mail has always been a thing of the past
(Shuffle the cards, pick one from the middle)
Systematic chance answered riddle
A grimy window glimpse ahead
As clear as the everything and anything you might have said
Take it- it's your only chance-string.

Hinder the way they walk if it makes you feel alive
Take it all in, each moment in each stride.

~By MM and NS.

Peripatetic Ogdensville

He's all mahogany
She's everything but shiny
Blank surface kindly sanded down
Blank surface petrie dish town
Microcosmic universe
Automatically converse
to your brain wave stalking thoughts
keep what you bought
hand over what you stole, sir
look under your soul's fur
burrow in and take a nap, thwap! aunt nettie wakes you up!
Uncle Harold laughs and grins, HA! The rest of the family sups...
Suppose extensive surgery took place next Tuesday on your face...
What would happen if you took face the next wednesday at your place?
ripped it off and screamed "My epidermis! OH my"
Epidermis means your hair, inside Uncle Harolds mind
CHOMP: she bites Uncle Harold's head OFF
CLAMP: He fights for laughs, a barrel full of
Sounds slurr under
He found surrender
(white flag raises slowly, steadily from the left side of his body)
Keep in mind the right side is nodding
coddling the dog
modeling the fog
into a smoggy paper airplane for later use
tossed away from his hand like day old refuse

~By MM and NS