Balconies

for young women to play romance
as snap shot experience
when lovers of difference
Catalonian, Peruvian, Cypriot
look up, speaking the language
of zeal, desire leaping like a panther
to circle all hesitation.

for little boys from great heights
to gain the power of gods
blowing their might with water
balloons becoming the bullion
they reserve for the meekest heads
mother’s hand the lightning flash
striking flat all laughter.

for older aunts, uncles and
younger convenience seekers
to drop keys, shout market lists
tell the story the neighbourhood
should know
the nephew like a son, waiting
revving bike louder, wishing
the day wasn’t so certain.

The Highest Heels

We have found a way to snuggle
in our nail beds
feet curled into permanent shock
no cries of help me, help me ...
from Penelope, struggling to unbind
the rope knotting her spine
into a train’s vertebrae
we purr now, like innocent kittens
before they grow into their sex
and are snipped from all consequence ...
if we could tiptoe
above broad shoulders
see the world from
an unadorned height
(our tongues of neglect
supine, relaxed, ready)
then our fall to earth
would bare no bruises.

About the Poet
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