Stage 1

When petals pale
and flutter to the floor
in musky pelt

Peel away the layers,
pretend it was never Spring
with blossoms’ blooming
yet to be discovered.

Even at curtain’s close
a stage remains to play:

Use rhythm wisely, tread
carefully; savour this,
Breathe in.

Mostly

her hair hung askew,
clinging
to the curve of cheeks
risen to the hue
of blossoms burnished
by a blush of gold en
-crusted dew.

asker

samomeubitisada

Hello there! May I ask if you are referencing 'The Chrysalids' in your self-blurb? ^.^

Hi! Sadly, no. Prior to receiving your message, I’d never even heard of the book. Now that I’ve wikied it I’m curious to read it, if only to understand how you made the connection. Also, I hear it’s a pretty fantastic read so, thank you for bringing it into my frame of reference. =)

Chaff

No sooner than the mill begins
a stalk appears to quiver —

No quitting when the mill begets
a stalker for the spinner.

Busy

Beneath red lines,
the tapered edge, your
catacomb, a cold cocoon.

Spring blossoms bloomed
and grew to seize you,
shearing through the hedge

So you held the blade
to pace it’s prick, hiding
from the heft of it

But light caught up
with ash to find us
sifting for the threads.

Echoes

In the wayward depths of distance, voices of a thousand men are bolts unto the ground. Before their feet, a faltering, a tremor clipped of sound.

Who charred the vast horizon and replaced the lathe with man?

To study landscapes boldly, shift space and mark the plane. These are my footprints, my fingertips small caverns for the clams and the carts we place around them topple as they drag.

Your shape against the sand devours a shadow where it shakes: make it quake. Thrust your hand before the firmament, damn it with a din. Then let us plait these braids together. Let us sing.

Ripped

Our lonesome sheet of paper ails
tonight. She longs to fold herself
into creases of aligned symmetry,

devour a drop
of liquid ecstasy
and succumb

to the experience
of being torn
in two.

Countered

Day descends. Before the break
you will attempt to charge the distance
between hand, mouth and a second
cup of tea. On the countertop

letters lie, begging to be read, but I cannot
string sentences to satisfy or justify this state
when time is toast and a bite
left over is all there is to taste.

(April PAD Challenge – Day 23)

Ascendance

Before the precipice
of belonging,
some vision of falling

and an ache
which is the antithesis
of longing.

Footnotes

Here in this book the corners lie
with shadows for a soul to hide.
What leaves were shed now cast aside
to ferment by the riverside.

And there I lay you down to rest,
recalling every manifest,
and beg the breeze to soothe the breast
that broke before it could invest

in treasures that the world once sold
and doled out to the manifold
who know now not to fear the cold
that comes before the pages fold.

And so, be gone but not aggrieved,
what will was left must not be seized.
For all that we choose to believe,
no stirring yields once efforts ease.

(April PAD Challenge - Day 6)