Cary Briel

I run my hand
up to places
I knew not as a child.
Mick sympathizes
on the speakers,
while I ask myself
what world that is
I see in your
fluttering eyes–
You left me
for seconds.

The sun does not flirt
with me anymore–
Snuff out its flame,
the dominion I wore
for many a day.

Away with the moon,
with its cycles of night–
How wearied I am
by its mimicry of light,
its stealing away.

The upper, the lower,
the first and the last
shall be over.
The ship with its mast
shall be one with the sea.

Alpha, Omega,
depart from my sight,
you cruel, lovely house–
Put away might
and come back to me.

Life ticks upward and dives,
an old rollercoaster,
the wooden kind,
with its creaks and groans
and its cedar rails,
we scream and moan.
Look, there’s my sister,
just tall enough,
the boys would kiss her–
but I turn and say,
as tears fall away,
not today.

If we erase
everything that
can be erased,
we’re left
with what can’t–
love.

Shudder you heavens,
for I weep–
Hear me,
you who stand
above the heavens.
He is revived!
His heart is kind
and meek
and true.
He has remembered
his rib
in his sickness.
He has remembered
her face.
Father, what fool
has penned this madness?
Plunge your hand
into the Deep and lift
my angel.

I heard of a man
who came into town
with his guitar in hand
and he killed the town clown
and his momma found out
and she got awful mad
’til he wrote her a song
’bout a clown who was bad
who made all the kids cry
’cause his makeup’d run
when the sun got real hot
and he stole away fun
’til that son came along
with a look in his eye
and he choked that old clown
now his momma knew why


Moths fly to
flames, so subtle,
irresistible–
as aged watch,
heartbroken,
with faith of
brave, small things.

If I’ve said
a thousand times
you have
no cause for that

your worry
misplaced arguments
I’ve stowed
beneath my hat

I’d run a thousand
miles for you
I’d bring down
all the stars

I’d gather up
the fireflies
and store them
all in jars

If you’d like
to run with me
amidst
the grinning trees

the grass
the winds
would leap for joy
abandoning degrees

our garden’d
hedge itself right in
in such
a selfish ploy

and I’d recall
years ago
the love that
found this boy.

You know me
more than anyone.
I hope you’d say the same.
I have no
diary or scroll
that tells the day you came.
But my heart
has such a place,
it’s stored you quite away,
until such time
as someone finds
your name in its array.

The sky contrasts,
left and right–
Thick clouds, my left,
while I take flight.
I enter from
the northern lands.
I dive down deep
and cross your sands.
I cross the line
that I laid down,
before you donned
your wedding gown.