Water Bearers Turned Dragons

if you got a leader
take me to 'em

the fire breathers spat

the heat
of the infant inferno
stilled the fist slammers
who retroactively abdicated
the cindered mess
they had lit

if you got a leader
take me to 'em

the suddenly sentient
coil of cumulus hissed

seized scholars
captured engineers
coyly coded scribbled curlicue
concealed their offerings
to the coveted google
re-entombed
carbon, copper, and nickel
in cryptic ledgers

charitable charlatans
constructed defences; battlements
hastily tallied single-lines of binary
figured through
straw man theories
interlaced wire
splattered propellant
among wicker-man pyres

with their peers
well-placed puppeteers
they ignited an inferno
with fear and subterfuge
force fed via syringe

the sabine virtuous
mourners for a song
a little applause
influence and admiration
upped the tattoo
tik-tok
on their coin tempo
arms waving smoke signals
spreading
sacrificial and incendiary
fan dancing

water-bearers
turned dragons wept
from a once cerulean sea
now ash, smoke, and tephra
an airborne eulogy

take me to your leaders
if you got 'em

Ivy and Lil'Bessy

a pearl of a lady's dame is Ivy
quiet as a chamber mouse
you wouldn't even know
she was there, hidden away
nurse maid within a breezy house

she works for a six pence and keep
tending an aged, ailing Lil'Bessy
read the list on gran mama's tablets
but lose your cerebellum
if you let out a peep

74

For every task there is a master
For every master there is a time

The caterpillar knows when it is time
Time to relent to the dark
He does not rush
Spins the chrysalis not a moment too soon
With skill he was born to yield

Link to spoken word

The dark holds the promise of rebirth
From the chrysalis he emerges a butterfly
From crawling to flight
To the sky he was meant to inhabit

The butterfly does not fear his death
As death approaches so does the next generation

From sky to earth to rebirth
Forever serving life
There is no lasting death