Death of Venus

•November 6, 2014 • 4 Comments

I am invaded by change
Old seams are too tight
Once humming zippers
Busting teeth giving fight

I am finding it harder
To squish all of me in
Parts that used to be shameful
Scratching free from within

The one that’s emerging
Craves braver blood than I
So I will let her gorge
Well beyond satisfied

I am finding her vicious
But I’m loving her skin
Hypnotized by her voice
Scars and weapons from him

This year I give birth
Full exposure allowed
I am unleashing my middle
A messy life begins now

-a.r.

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Statue: Death of Venus by Roger Reutimann

A reworking of a fluffier poem from a year ago, perhaps it is the time of year, the time of my life, or simply the push and pull that inevitably happens. That poem was authentic then, this poem is authentic now. Who knows what will be authentic in a year from now.

Dragon’s Eye

•November 5, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I stared into a dragon’s eye
She focused clear and looked right back
Without a blink, with sulfur stink
Our pupils met and mingled black

We rose and fell both with our breathing
Each jailed beast sizing up the other
Accept the kill, or risk, stay still
Annihilation left to hover

Let gray the scales we’ve tended
Our visceral fires feed but fade
Best not to think, too soon extinct
Two myths together leave the stage

– a.r.

Dragon Eye

Digital art: Dragon Eye by Aijoku on DeviantART

For my daughter…

Life Noir

•November 4, 2014 • 4 Comments

I am not a pretty penny
I am the train that runs it flat
I am not a purchased plaything
I am the bored and brutal cat
I am not a novel notch
I am the knife that nicks the post
I am not waiting to be asked
I am the uninviting host
I am not a bawdy bauble
I am the key that locks the case
I am not a pleasant picture
I am the scar that mars the face
I am not “just an” anything
I am as complex as I choose
I am not the flash and sparkle
I am the lit and hissing fuse

-a.r.

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Posted because someone I trust told me this was one of their favorite drafts that I had waiting in the wings.

Obvious Mess

•November 3, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I don’t mind keeping
My seasonal messes
Right there
On the front porch
For everyone’s peeping
While I try to make
Neat piles from chaos
Because I know
Eventually I will create
A narrow pathway
For clearing and carrying
This cyclical stuff
Piece by piece until
The piles are put away
Imperfectly but in their place
Leaving my living space
Open and available
For the next season
And all its new messes

-a.r.
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Hiding

•November 2, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Curled up in linen
Closet, shrouded safe and dark
Old film lights her face

-a.r.

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Artist Unknown

Ominous

•November 2, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Instability in the air
So I take pictures
Of my precious things
In order to properly
Put them back into place
After these winter winds
Scatter me everywhere

-a.r.

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Photograph: Storm is Coming, artist unknown

Found here: http://lastdaysofmagic.tumblr.com/post/13318042317/storm-is-coming

Control

•November 1, 2014 • 2 Comments

I like my skin snug
Pulled concave with its curving
Causing slight concern

-a.r.

image Photograph: Slinka By Sarah Thompson

Dear Moms (repost)

•November 1, 2014 • 4 Comments

You are an adult
And are therefore empowered rightfully
As you see fit, even aggressively, to explore your own sexuality

It is my job, and mine alone
To educate my daughter towards her own
Power and control, the right to say yes as equally as no

Perhaps you should feel some retreat
From someone else teaching children about sexuality
Not fear of the pop-star or TV, but of the quiet predator down the street

Our priorities are so fucked up
When we fear our own sex oh so much
That we scream louder at other women, than we do at this misogynist system

But how we all stay so shut up
About sex crimes committed, even against us
Where are we putting our power, in someone else’s thrust, No I will not hush

I will not be afraid of sex and talking honestly
Just because a pedophile once had control of me
I will love the skin I live in and explore it on my own terms, brave and free

My voice, my body, my sex, my right, my pleasure
If I can instill one thing in my daughter may it be to treasure
All of those things in herself equally, because she too was born an autonomous SHE

-a.r.

belle_dame_sans_merci La Belle Dame sans Merci by Frank Cadogan Cowper

One Night

•October 31, 2014 • 4 Comments

On Mischief Night I
Embody Lizzie Borden
Bad parents Beware

-a.r.

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Artwork: Lizzie Borden by Krista Huot

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE

Rebirth

•October 30, 2014 • Leave a Comment

A leafless tree bears
Down on me in monochrome
There is my tombstone

The feel of hip bones
Pressing cool on porcelain
There is life again

-a.r.

Tree TubPhotograph by Siripiri on Tumblr