in two plush hands
with the pitiless gesture
of a sparrow

We part the leaves in breath,
arouse trees in envy.
I sense colours more vivid
than your tongue
after wine,
explosions to cap the wind.

To enter you in argument--
a bough creeking in underbrush,
svelte panthers hiding.

And afterwards, sheets are open galleys,
oarsmen ploughing breakers
across both sea and night.

POETS ARE MAGIC BEINGS

She sits within the Magic Lantern
--that facsimile for pleasure,
decor of wineskins where
at $2.50 a garment
extravagance comes extra;
skin like rosy flames
the whisk of smoke
at hearthside
sunlight about her face.

Cherubs arise from those lips
and battle lines are drawn
about the sweet curvature of her breasts.
A tight cashmere sweater rides
comfortably two of the finest King's
deer headstrong thru Sherwood Forest.

And, Merry Man,
firmly planted in Lincoln Green,
the plodding turf growing at odds within my soul--
give this brief to the Sheriff at Buckingham;
I cool my heels, the soft doe lies prostrate at my feet.

She's loveliness,
hair drawn as curtains
signalling the clouds,
eyes that beckon twin doves
to flight, in swift passage, like the arrows.

CASHA

A child-like fawn
moistened nudging &
joyous breath,
an allowance for leave
as her gentle hand
budges my sibling cupping.

And walking in a field of gardens
--our Jardin des Plantes--
a molecule in depth
flowery pennons
near Picardy wet.

Casha tendrils here pinion the eye,
little Annabel Lee
with the sunshine wet in her parting hand
that all the birds in grace sigh
at Saint Francis breathless.

THE JOLLY TUPPER

Sun on the eiderdown
breaks tiny corners off the bedspread, declares green plants its bidding
before summoning Fragonard's maiden
off her swing--so richly dressed
in picture from the sunlit wall.

Expensive tabac from an imported humidor
etches tiny leaves
their stems as faces against the glass,
rich aroma, tresor, like the Jolly Tupper print
preparing his bowl,
drawing on the clay stem
as if from a height watching ships come in.

Smoke cold as blue fungus over outside buildings
follows horses with hooves to split cobblestones
stuck in the city's eye,
more than mountains around
the stone filled ravines
of the rich man's heart.

VERTIGO