© Candice James, Poet Laureate Emerita
New Westminster, BC CANADA
I will lay down willingly
In the bastardized meaning
Of a cloyed metaphor
To clutch the heart of this dream
I’ve been chasing
Day after night after year.
I am a muted shout
Trapped in the zippered silence of a scream.
A shard of old film in the august dust
Ground into the cutting room floor.
I have witnessed
A heavy wet September moon
Spilling jeweled sequins
Onto the pages of a poet
Exposing the backlit tip of a diamond sky.
I am desperate for the edge of the razor
Dying to slide down the blade of your tears
Like an inglorious bastard
Seeking fame in your eyes
In your eyes only
I will willingly tear off the days of my death
To live in the dark of your darkest night
To bring light to the demons you feed
And loose the gaunt prisoners that wired your mouth shut
And held you hostage for me to rescue
That you may wander with me
In the bleak endless alleys I travel
To reach the corners of need
I left buried in the home I lost long, long ago.
I will bastardize the blood of the fignt
The cold of the night forever
To live in your eyes and your love
To clutch the heart of this dream …
This dream that is you.