Lullaby

when you wake tonight trembling
sensing presence on your brow
each Bellagio faux cloud
on your wall leering
through the quiet dark
pointing hidden teeth to streetlights
glowing crimson through the Roman shades
remember daddy put them there
washing the clouds on the Behr Eggshell sky
with natural ocean sponge

when you hear a murmur from above
your head a monster speaks
the mattress creaks
the bedframe squeaks
subglottal noises from a ghoulish
flatulent throat threaten to eat
the little girl that lies in the bunk below
remember daddy built your bed
the ghoul is just your brother
fighting with a nightmare

when you hear a shivering
gust that shakes the flimsy window
frames in frames in plastic sheeting
water beating
off the storm frame air is freezing
trapped in plastic pillows scraping fibers
of that crimson Roman shade
remember daddy tacked it up
capturing the wind and weather
you feel the radiator, instead

when the teddy by your pillow
starts to shake while you hear gentle
engine sounds like a motorbike
next to your ears not unpleasant
unexpected yes but friendly, soft
paw reaches out and pets you silent
the cycle sounds were Whisper, purring
remember daddy brought this cotton
ball of caring teaching you
you can bring a purr to her grateful throat

with tomorrow yet in leisure
hours in the future over Greenland
you sense the noiseless paw falls
of your pillow partner, then a door
calls you forth into the hallway
you and cat into my room creep
both alight on my bed I sleep
remember daddy’s soul forever
opened like a sand casting
like a casting just your size

Fibromyalgia

factory opens
haze precipitates
precious sleep dances mockingly away
from my gnarled form

millions of jagged crystals
each unique beyond remediation
millions of crystals
myriad million sawblades
whirring abrading debriding

diamond grit spread on a grindstone
flay fibers in a fan like a
fishmonger lays out flounder
cheloid chemicals cut my soleus cell by cell
diatoms fillet a million mignons
from mangled muscle

On the First Green Tendril

was that the manager of the water ice
shadowed by the lattice of aluminum
sheltering the window from the impact
of an errant snowball

did i see the quickening of the vital sap
lifting up the greening tendril of ground pine moss
twisting up the muddy brick, still clad in grey brown crystals
seeping life and sun admixed

has the crumbled edifice from the snow wars
toppled in a reckless rush born of deception
ending in an eight-year-old's body slam,
grown a stubble beard of grit

as one more nor'easter threatens icy havoc
twigs waken roots, stoma open eyelids
tubers bathed in thawing runoff shiver, swelling
school's closed while my world opens