I danced for my muse,

Lit liquid lines ran across my eyelids

And busted into sunflowers,

      ripe for her hand,

      for the taking.

Words evaporated from my tongue

      and drew lines upon a

            dried crumpled napkin,

(Pumpkin in color).

then,

Elegance tripped and fell down a staircase

      with a racket like

            a ceremony to name Chinese children.

But still, she smiled.

The last few droplets of fire

            tumbled its way

      into my rumbling

red rivers

Swimming and scratching

the walls of my throat

lighting matches

and plundering

      my treasured library

with thundering roars.

Bitter drool

      revolted and

complained

            (tools of an inner war)

About the acidic

      dictatorship in my

empty stomach

Children around me still laugh

And my politician mouth

            cracked its unconvincing

            smile

No one can distinguish

laughter from sobs

                  anyway.

The rude hands of a midmorning breeze

      stole my

      paperthin blanket

And I met eyes with

      a curiously mindless

      roden

As it sniffed

the puddle next to

my face

            and left with a scoff

I looked up and

      wondered why the clouds are blue

      wondered why

            the

      blind cartographer

      begged for food

            from the garbageman

I can feel---

      even the blind man

      gave me a look of distain

I crawled into the bottom

      of this feature-less rock

And silent (doubted once again)

      my preschool lessons---

            I can be anything I want to be?

            Just need imagination.

The first golden leaf of autumn

      nested uneasily at my feet

I sang to the glow

      of streetlights

      and the crickets in the night,

begging for a smile ---

I composed medlies

      of lovely symphonies,

      (Even learned a new tongue)

Lady luck’s heels

then crushed my leaf

And stole my saxophone

      her laughter chimed in

my mind and

charmed the sunrise

How dare I disturb the night

serenading the past?

A stray loneliness invaded my house

            and

pounced on the porch

      ate my fern

and gnawed on my knuckles,

Reminding me that

            it’s the boss

I fed it my disappointments

      and it curled in my lap

      refusing to leave

So

      I spent the night

            listening to its purr.

Snuffled coughs

      and small creaks in the chairs

      did not disturb

      the surgean who

      intrigued the crowd

Performing for a circus

            minor heart transplants

      with chainsaws

            and popcorn oil

He juggled the organs

            like a master clown,

      As the spotlight

            melted his face paint

He can’t remember

            how to smile

But blood makes better paint

            (only if it clods)

Raindrops of music

      clung to

      her hair---

beads of ballads

bits and pieces

      of poetry

That whispered romance

      in her ears…

      and

She sang her song back to lady freedom.

We waded in the

      scattered light

      As I secretly admired

the droplets on her eyelashes

She childishly grinned

      as we dived into the street

      No longer caring about

      our wet clothes

But only the feast of music

            on our tongues.

We took the crumbs

and playfully left a trail of lyrics.

Her probing eyes

      tore through my ribs

And her hair

      brushed across my lips

As she reached for the

      (empty) man inside

curiously shuffling

      rummaging through

      the brittle thoughts

I let her mind roam

      along my heart

She then

      peeled a smilie sticker

away from the atrium

along with the scabs

Somehow,

      I’m willing to bleed again.