Friday 31 October 2014

How You Are


Unknown, unsafe,
body-heat scent,
already too warm on visions of
spent time,
under a dragon’s fire,
request, resent
rebuffed desire – turn on a dime, a slimy smile,
dirty, greasy,
hot-breath all the while – “you know
you shouldn’t
dress that way,
body speaking differently
to that which words
say, attention, attention,
then brush it away,
enter the game and refuse to play…”

Levelled anger – apologise,
no intent to mislead cold eyes,
as far as I know, I rolled no dice; I moved no
pawn, no rook:
no invitations are needed to look,
equally none
were offered for touch -
but closer, closer, disquieting,
back to the wall,
you can’t come in,
vile whispers standing
between fear and escape,
paralysed steps to knowing ‘safe’,
that towering presence,
…that smirking rage…

the wolf is wearing
the clothes of a sheep,
a vision too benign for them all to
see the things that pitch
and churn inside,
pale and trembling beneath a thin disguise,
hammering heart, neck-hairs aligned,
no quieter now
with the passage of time,
and the turning
of the world 
under all of these stars…

Just one thing: old adage - ‘I’ve seen how you are’
- wound opened, fresh scar.