Longterm
Care
I. Body before mind
she tried to make something beautiful of his fragile body
he did not want to see it
instead he rendered a description of thorns, the smell of
neglect
he wished upon himself for being weak
for not dying first
refusing a world he can no longer hear
“just leave me alone”
II. Across the ocean
The paper boat she rode across the Pacific has been taking
on water
She bailed it out
to no avail
she can no longer call for help
She musters a smile
It is enough
To keep the angles coming back
III. Pilot
never believing in angels, she sees them now
their faces float in and out with her name
they lift her heavy bones
when flying, the most common cause of death
is overcorrection
and now she is trapped,
over correcting
flying, arms pulled in
legs folded like landing gear
she dreams of delicate bones
muscles that respond on command
in sleep she is a bird
IV. Nirvana
words are so long
cyclone out, a labyrinth he gets lost in
there is a girl next to him, her face a smiling moon
he remembers he has a smile too
it comes over his face like a sunrise
the people here who claim to be his wife, his son
they are disappointed, wanting something,
he tries, but lays a waste
becoming everyone, looking with silence
admiring the kaleidoscope of his name
V. Going home
she has unwound
the ribbons of her mind puddle at her feet
a Chinese finger trap, a cocoon
a wad of memories
clogs her mouth
words escape like moths
she waits
for her sister, her aunt, her mother
she puts ribbons in her pockets
to sew together
she makes a paper crane,
her hand crumples a flower
the butterfly has gone
she ends as a worm
in the summer
a discordant tune
she can change it
if we left her in ribbons and went away
she could fix her butterfly into a crane
and wing back to her mother
then there would be rain
and she could find her way home
Boomerang
I watched you fall in love
with,
what we agree, is the best thing in the world
she, a soon to be five year old fire ball,
sleeps
in your arms.
now you know
how
trust feels.
and you are afraid to stay
to
see how it feels to break it.
this is the greatest journey one can take
it
is a boomerang
and we are learning to throw
if
it doesn’t come back we learn
to throw better
thought
there is no sure way to know
if it will come back at all
Death of a
Barfly
And here you stand your hand nailed to the bar in an act of
crucifixion.
Your head voice ringing so we all can hear the discontent
vibrating in the palm of you hand.
Nail or
not you will find a way to drown it.
For how many can arrive so conflicted without a sorrow that
bleeds
behind their eyes, worshiping with the determination of a
solider
heavy in borrowed boots,
Wearing the shoes of the dead is enough to weigh anyone to
the floor.
Yet somehow your back remains straight against it’s liquid
cross.
I offer you something to wet your lips.
You blink back the blood and tender an idea to wash it down
with,
making confession, keeping your Hail Mary’s to yourself.
Northwest
“Here
we are plain. We don’t have much culture.”
Our cultures
smells of soul:
briny fermenting thick forest mosses
sounds of salt water rain
dripping tarps, damp rubber boots
Bravado backed by a mountain range
prone to operate outside of law and limb,
Humbled treading water sheds
Observe in the fall, worship
within state regulations, The sacrifice
innards spilt, forest fertilized
we bond with knifes and silence
fiercely independent
native peoples of the pacific northwest
Born in 1903 to an exotic slave owner, Thena West fall started her poetry career in the womb with a pokey stick of death. She witnessed the birth of Jesus Christ, and to this day it is unclear as to if she had anything to do with is crucifiction. She also helped edit the Declaration of Independence, probed Thomas Edison (if you know what I mean), and quite possibility caused the Wall Street Crash. She has a Greek God for a brother and the Antichrist for her daughter. She had 6 other children in her life, all of whom died in an exceedingly tragic coincidental bathtub murder spree the likes of which the Zodiac Killer could never dream of. Her hobbies include: belching the alphabet, stealing Christmas trees from the neighbor's yard, and getting discount steaks from an employee in the back of the Safeway parking lot. She has been known to enjoy a good tire fire. In her life she has traveled to all 12 continents, Mars, and various alternate dimensions. It is also interesting to note that her mind was so far evolved that it had to develop an electrical shock in her face to slow down the evolution process that will eventually blow up the sun. She once owned a camel, a crocodile, and a toy dog that she conducted a circus with and took to the World's Fair. She is fond of alcoholics, sinners, and the lot of humanity who likes to live a little. She is the founder of the cult of the Church of Overindulgence and enjoys watching television shows about the paranormal such as Ghost Adventures, the Xfiles, and Bachelor in Paradise. She once thumb wrestled Sasquatch (and won), became the next Dread Pirate Roberts, drew a dick on Daniel Radcliff's chin, and helped the German's invade Sequim in 2015. If you are a person who enjoys a metaphor for things that are but never were (but are most likely true somewhere at sometime) you will enjoy the works of the fantastical Thena Westfall.