Revise, revise, revise...

Andrea asked a question about posting things in progress - please do! As I said, I am finding stuff from over the past 30 years, and I am discovering I like a lot of it, and a lot of it I am going to revise. Its only finished when I say so. Anyway, please feel free to lob some constructive criticism. I am posting some new ones of mine, and then posting one contribution later for discussion. If you all know any other poets out there, invite them over!

Untitled

(late 90's)

I live in a world

I could be sorry for,

but that is the last thing I say.

I incur a price

that some find extreme

but that is the one I won't pay.

I choose

my reality,

make my own dream.

I refuse

to succomb

to desire

it seems.

My life

is the bait

and my heart

is the trap.

And love

is the head

that I find in my lap.

Untitled

(late '80's)

I'm as subtle

as a belt

across your mouth.

Proceeding unstoppable,

smack between

your horrified eyes.

I burn like a film

jammed into a projector,

starting pinprick

and spreading wider

and wider until

the whole screen is white

and clean

from the good bright bulb

that hides inside.

I have the grace

of a falling tree

slamming into

the defenseless dirt,

leaving bruised

and hollow tracks

where I've dragged myself away.

Ripping the rope

of a church bell

with frenzied pulls,

I clang until

your eardrums ache

with slow, dull throbs

and I reverberate

for long minutes after.