I Want To Die While You Love Me

I want to die while you love me,
While yet you hold me fair,
While laughter lies upon my lips,
And lights are in my hair.

I want to die while you love me,
And bear to that still bed
You kisses turbulent, unspent,
To warm me 'til I'm dead.

I want to die while you love me,
Oh, who would want to live
'Til life has nothing more to ask,
And nothing more to give?

I want to die while you love me
And never, never see
The glory of this perfect day
Grow dim or cease to be.



Jesus Christs' Wrists
[This one won an award from the National Poetry Association.]

I need an empty face so I can
paint you.
I'd put a wire round my neck
to prove my love for you.
I'd cut my arms, Valentine,
yes, I'd do that, too.
I want Jesus Christs' wrists.
I need to double check the lists
for any angels that are due.
I'd suffer this all for eyes
that are true.
Eyes that are blue like a
moonrise hue.
I want Jesus Christs' wrists.
I need to double check the lists
for any angels I have missed.
I need skin so white that light
passes through.
A barbed wire crown
for the monsters that I slew.
Iron nails in my wrists
and my ankles, too.



Normal

Normal is average, something I'm not.
Normal is plain, instead of hot.
It's the majority, what everyone expects.
But I'm the minority, what no one accepts.
Why must we walk around labeled?
When in reality, judges are cradled
In the normalcy that they seek,
While the rest of us stand on our original peak.
Where I can express myself without all the looks.
In a place where I can be free and not live up to the books.
Self-expression is a right I take advantage of.
On who expresses one's self may be one who is less loved,
But I'll continue to be who I wish to be,
As long as I have the right to be me.



Endless Brilliance

foreign coins
dusty silver keychains
second-grade notebooks
locks without keys
pants too small yet full of meaning
photo after photo
pictures of your life
pictures of your face
before the hell began
pictures of a room
we spent so much time in
when time stood still
for a moment
and every moment
was a slow caress
in the endless brilliance
of bright afternoon
leaves shaking
eyes shining
hands waving in the air
quieting the world
-together!-
sharing a slip
of a green grass strip
before the end comes
quickening away