Letters
(a poem for Katie)

Short story days
like small swallows
in the hot summer
weave in and out of my thoughts

Somehow just one word
struck solid in the sentence
the still glowing trace
consumes me

And with that moment
comes the thirst
for the sound
of her voice



Spinning

spilling words
scattered patterns
sketched lightly
on the surface-
lines I would
seduce you to
float across


Still

“so hush”
two fingers across my lips
echoes of wind through dry leaves
and in the naked silence
I listen for you…


Play

All the restless pages
splashed in ranting lyric

sculpted impossible petals
in the flat white space

and I am absorbed by
even the slightest trickle
of who you are

Tattoo

Tattoos
grotesque
taboo
enticing
wandering across her shoulder
or along her thigh
frightening and delightfully dangerous
decorating already perfect flesh
in permanent display
provocative
sensuous paths
followed by breathless fingertips
entirely captivated
by the
dark designs

Ink
Derek Machen