Lovers? Tramp-stamps Or Epitaphs?

And We Use The Night's Light
To See All That Lives Under Our Skin
And Hear The Names And Words
We Both Tried To Keep In

And While Your Room Distracted
You Found One Under His Rib
And Another Who Has His Name
Tattoo'd Above Her Hip

And We Both Know These Names
Are Things Better Left Dead
And Silently You Can Agree
With The Words He Never Said

And It's Then He Takes His Turn
But Won't Know Who The Past Are
And The Boy Who Broke It First
Or The Man Who Left The Scar

And Pretend Until We Forget
Those Sounds We Wish We Didn't
And The Pillows Talk So Silence Fills
What The Names Left Absent

And It Is All That We Can Do
To Find Space On The Other
And Etch Our Name Until One Day
It Will Be Found By Another

And Wonder What It Is That's Homely
About A Funeral Home

CK

Rumored

My Sleepless Nights And All The Other Lesses
You Have Caused
The Name I Knew Before And Now Lost
You Have Caused
Coming To Me Through Stories Friends Tell
Circling Lost Lovers
Pointing Veiled Banter Always To A Similar Place
Circling Lost Lovers
Until You Hear What You Came To Hear
And Leave Happy
And Maybe You'll Reciprocate So They Laugh Too
And Leave Happy
Until You Are Home And Still No Him Or Her
Or Whatever
Ready And Waiting With Your Dinner Or Supper
Or Whatever

And No Matter
How Many Times You Hear Shit About Them
And No Matter
How Many Times You Call Him A Four-eyed Prick
It Won't Matter
Because He Slips Between Sheets Lined With Her Body And
It Won't Matter

Maria's Apologia

You Feel My Absence In Your Drawn Breath
And Know You Can't Love Me
Holding My Hands To Trace Away My Veins
Marking Your New Boundary

Which Almost Breaks In Absences Of Words
But Inside Echos And It Stops
And Last Nite's Recited Sentences Spills
Like Rain Off Old Rooftops

You Whisper Tears That Shadow Mine
As A Means To Make-do
You Repeat Yourself "You Are What You Love
Not What Loves You"

CK

Being Use To The Winter's Darkness At 48

A Beam Fell From The Roof
And Into Her Flower Garden
Like Incense Burning Her Nose
And Reminding Her Of That Candle
She Had Forgot To Put Out In The Hallway
She Loved How Nearly Everybody Commented On It
"Festive", To The Popery On The Kitchen Table
And Themed Pillows In The Sitting Room
On Which The Week's Guests Reclined
With A Glass Of Red Thats Well
Out Of Their Range

But It Was The Time Of Year
To Set Windows Alight With Candles
To Wrap Over-sized Bonsai Trees In Lights
But There Would Be No Crib Scene, A Bit Too Typical
Instead Just Her Pruned Flowers In The Garden
And Her Swept Drive Un-noticed
By All Of The Night's Guest

But All The Candles And Flowers
Lit Up By Flood Lights
Or Cara Matches

                  ---

Two Rooms With Radiators On
And The Guest If It Was An Overnight
And Candles Burned While She Was Alone
Enveloped So You Couldn't See Flickers From The Road.
That Day She Was Spent Down The Couch's Back
And In The Empty Ash Tray Of The Micra
To Be In Before They Shut At Four

Phoning The Company While
Returning In The Early Evening's Dark
For Her Guest Would Be Arriving At Eight
Over The Last Hedge She Wonder "How Quick?"
And Thought She Must Have Left Ever Single Switch On
She Felt It Was Almost Like Lighting Her Family's Tree For The First Time
But Her Estranging Neighbor In The Bungalow Took His Time And
Left Her Only To Retrace The Brigades' Fire Resistant Footprints
A Handsome One Held Her Line, Statement In Hand
It Was All She Could Do To Keep
The Other From Her Hair

But All The Candles And Flowers
Were Burning Her Nose
And Her Night's Celie

CK

Merry

It Was A Sound
A Rumbling One
That Rumbled Up
And Rumbled Down
As We Pass On
A Meddling Cough
A Hair In The Throat
A Crack In Her Pipe
Which Breath Broke
As She Gasped Air
Passing 7 In December
Covered In Bags
Knees Hitting Bags
Or Legs Under Bags
Filled With Jumpers
On And Off
Till Soon We Pass
More Doorways
And Hear Another Cough

CK

There's Always A Stain On My Sleeve

There's Nothing I Can Do
That Can Change Your Mind
Few Know What Can Break You
For A True One Is Hard To Find


But My Love Is Without
And There Is Nothing I Can Do
But Watch All Else Fade-out
For I Can Love No One More Than You

CK

Fragment #39

Frost Bitten Night Roads
Shine Tiny Moons Of Light Till
Killed By Morning Salt

CK

Snow Blindness

Seeing That Missus Claus Dress Hold You So
As You Danced To Fairytale In New York,
I Remembered The First Of Last Year's Snow

Stale Curtains Hid It While We Slept
Till You, Shy In My Tracksuit Bottoms
Broke What The Night Had Kept

For I Felt It Too Soon But I Held You
As We Looked Over My Neighbor's Cars
Covered Like I Hoped Winter Would Do

Now I Don't Live There Anymore
And I Haven't Seen My Trackies Since
But Ain't That What This Year's Snow Is For

CK

In Transit

The Sun Cracks And Drowns Down The Stairs
Sneaking Between Buildings As High As It
Waking The Homeless To The Change Of Fares
Though The Subway Lights Are Always Lit

Unheard Cries Of Fought Rats Over Breakfast Scraps
But There's Always Their Piss And Our Spit
To Fill The Real Routes Of Defaced Maps
With The Subway Lights That Are Always Lit

It's At Dawn That The Booth Gets Personalized
Where A Middle-aged, Middle-weight Will Sit
Broken With Desensitized Sleep Caked Eyes
And The Subway Lights Are Always Lit

But Off Platform, In A Carriage
Is A Man They Can't Re-admit  

The End Of His Beat And Sure It's Typical
To Find One With Twenty Before He'll Quit
Putting Him Off His End Of Day Bagel
But The Subway Lights Are Always Lit

The Officer Leaves Him As If Unseen
Sitting In His Own Junk Induced Shit
Till The MTA Does It's Sunday Morning Clean
Under The Subway Lights That Are Always Lit

Till Then Mothers Point With Their Daughters
Warning Of That Man's First Teenage Hit
There's Less Than Reflections In His Distilling Waters
For The Subway Lights Are Always Lit

It's Not What They See
It's What We'll Admit

CK

College Noir

This Place Is A Kiddie Disco With MC-ing Between The Songs
Though It Could Be The Re-heated Pre-poured Pints That Have You Cranky
Or The Lack Of Hanky Panky Though It Is Fucking Tasteless Fosters Tuesdays
And Did That Bitch Just Flick Half The Ash Off Her Joint And Into My Pint
And Then Continued Talking About Her Bullshit Theology Degree She Picked Just So She Could Disagree
God Let Me Go Home So I Can Vomit The Night's Emotion On To A Page
And Revel In It Offstage At Least Then I'll Be Satisfied In My Dis-satisfaction
So I'll Wait Till One Is In The Toilet And The Other Pulls
And Bulls Through Another Group Of Girls I Have Little Interest In
No Matter How Easy Or Thin He Says They Are, So I'll Slip Off
With The Promise Of A Jerk-Off  Like A Car Slowly Passing At Two In Morning
Without Warning They Wanna Jump Me, Oh Shit Them Guys Wanna Jump Me
At Least The Ride Is A Guarantee, Please God Let Them Jump Me
And The Headlights Pass And Leave Me Be At My Front Door
So It's Bed Where I Force Myself To Dream Of My Bestie
Plugging Away In The Next Room And My Voice Comes Too Soon
But I Can Only Use Crude Words For Cruder Ends
And Make It Worse In Print And The Two Of Us Are There
So I Ain't On My Own In A Mutual Masturbation Poem

CK

Fragment #38

A Gunman Who Robs
Flowers From A Gas Station
That's America

CK

Green Lights On The Walk Home

Again Your Head Rests Upon My Shoulder
And From There I Feel More Than Closeness
As I’m Tensing My Arm So Fingers Dig In
And I'm Hoping You Don’t Notice

It’s A Short Evening As We Fight For Ground
And The Other’s Body As An Arm Takes A Neck
Till Both Of Your’s Wrap My Stomach
And I Do Not Care That You Won
For It's In That You Become Unstuck
And I'm Sure To Come Undone
     
Your Scent On The Jumper You Let Me Borrow
And On The Blanket You Pulled From Your Bed
To Cover Us In The Fireless Sitting Room
And Under Which Hands And Legs Re-thread

The Company Talks Away But We Speak More
And It Was Only Heard Between The Two Of Us
But It's Over At The Door With A Goodbye That's Kissless
And All Too Short In Those Prolonged Stares
But It's Relived Walking Home Wondering Was It A Success
And My Shoulder Is Covered In Your Shed Hairs

CK

Do We All Start As Substitutes?

You Never Seem To Get As Far
As Some Other Guy Did
But You Were Close
Close But There's Never A Cigarette Shared Between You
Close But Only A Walk Home At The Nights End
Close But Not As Close As Him

                     ---

Inbred To Fuck With Housemates And Friends
In A Rally As Old As The Anchorman Quotes
Your Damn Friend Keeps Repeating
Leaving Dicks That Only Extends
Forming An Awkward Meeting

Some Are Tight Others Only Retell Sex Stories
Of All The Lost Fingers In Groped Hands
That Only Strengthens The Cause
And The Wankbank Inventories
And You're Alone Because...?

There's Always A 'Him' With Them Did You Ever Notice That
A Him Who Somehow Laid Claim Before, A Him To Outdo
But Then Stops Smelling Like The Perfume He Bought
And Last Nite She Calls Him 'A Bit Of A Twat'
Remember You Were Once Called That

                     ---

You Never Seem To Get As Far
As Some Other Guy Did
But You Were Close
Close But You've A Cigarette Burn By Her Accidental Hand
Close But She's Carried Your Drunk Body Home
Close It Goes And Soon You Are 'Him'

CK

Making A Hat

And Where Did It All Get You
Here With A Blank Sheet
On Which To Ebb And Flow Your Love
For Somebody That Is Less Than The Words
You So Carefully Choice To Colour Them

A Description That May Live Longer
Than You Or Your Wife
A Description That Can Only Add
To Others And Convince Them Otherwise
That What They Feel Is Love

And Not What Is Hidden In The Craft Of These Words

CK

Jump

It Was That Look Shoot Into The Rearview,
You Knew That He Never Had Trusted
No Talk Of Shared Course Or Work Forces
Had Convinced Him Otherwise

So Your Hand Remains On The Door
Was A Subtle Warning On The Last Corner
Ten Seconds Till One Of The Boys Says 'Bail'
And Our Feet Match The Tyres

All Of Our Feet Except Sammy's
Whose Un-tucked Laces Snagged
Forcing His Face To Wear The Fare
For That Extra Five-teen Yards He Was Dragged

CK