Elyse

Aha!
You have come across me
The masterpiece!

(I am perfection)
The flow of colors
making my milky skin
my berry-kissed lips
and my star-dust eyes
I stare from my confinement
and wink at you
oh so seductively

Made with crippled hands
and crafted by flawed minds...
Wouldn't one like me be such?
You can see that the corner of my mouth
tugs down awkwardly -
or that my hands are too small for my body
A creation is only as great as its-

No!
You are (right) mistaken.
I am perfection!
I am the essence of mankind!

Raspberries

This is the last love song
There will be no more heartache
Smeared across the bed frame
The sighs of contentedness will be scrubbed
Clean off of those damn sheets

This is the final church hymn
The gods will turn their copper hands
Over and let their broken children fall
They will make the red sun weep
And drown us all

This is the irrevocable dirge
Tears will not fertilize the earth
And grow ripe little raspberries
The silence that follows will be deafening
To all who slice their own hands

This is the concluding lullaby
I will breathe no more
in this valley seeping with opportunities
The corpse that I will be leaving behind
Will turn into glass in the wind

Goodbye.

À la mer

This monster can't stay one size
Above his kingdom, the sea
He can't be satisfied

Retreating or advancing
The seahorses whined and the starfish armed themselves for battle
They were prepared for the war
But you just lied there in your alabaster perfection
Crystallized in sea salt and sand
Above the crisp, white waves

You slid beneath my skin
And with the spattering roar of ancient engines,
We became one
Our laughter carved out of inadequate materials of
Sweat, bones, and scales

Tossed into the glittering, cold sky
I watched you from my imprisonment
Bathed in his salty, recurring fears
You had already lost the war
The crabs clicked and the eels hissed at the failure
Advancing or retreating

This monster can't stay one size
Above his kingdom, the sea
He can't be satisfied