New Blog In Town...

    I want to thank everyone who continues to read my work. I appreciate your support, your feedback and the wonderful feeling of community we have managed to create here.

    I will continue to post poetry here occasionally, but I am moving into a new direction with my work, and my life. I am publishing a chapbook of new poetry and photographs,  and I have created a new blog to chronicle some of my life, and a lot of my nonsense ;-) The blog will be public, but not listed on my profile, so if you would like to read further, please comment, and I will send you the name privately. If you read my poetry, and do not have a blogger account, please email me at mxavier17@ymail.com.

  
  Thanks for all the fish,

     ~ Max
  

   

Wisp...

 Like
    a
     vaporous
      curl
      of
      sweet      
    smoke,
   memories
     gather in           
         the dark.
          slipping
         under
      doors,
      drifting
     into
     dreams,
       easing
           into
        the
   heart,
 circling
  the   
   mind,
     and 
         lingering
         forever
           in
        the
      soul.
     


 
         
    

          

All's Fair...

 The battle
   is not yet won.
  I still hold
       my ground,
 though I am tired,
    so damn weary,
   I have not
          given up.
    Bitter
 is the war
    to reclaim
  what I have lost.
     I will have
  no mercy,
   I will take
no prisoners,
   I will grant
 no quarter.
    What was once mine,
    shall be mine
       again.

Letting Go

 So fragile,
easily broken;
   we hold our breath
lest the tiniest vibration
   shatter it into
 a million pieces.
     But trust
 cannot grow
  under watchful eyes,
    untried by fearing souls.
    It cannot reach
 the light
  when shadowed
 by the darkness
     of  unforgiveness.
 It cannot breathe
    when smothered
  by suspicious hearts
     and grasping hands.
    It cannot live
   where there is not
         love.

©Vivid X Photography ( Dragonfly)

Heart Chime...

How is it you do not
  hear the rattle
   as I move ?
  The pieces of
   my broken heart
       tinkling
   together
         sounds loud
 as carillon bells;
    but the melody
  not as sweet.
   
              

Chores...

  tiredness
sinks bone deep
settles into soft tissue
makes a home
  where your love
 used to be.   
      The efforts of
mourning you, us,
 wearing me down.
I've hollowed out
 the remains of my heart
   swept the floors of
      memories
 and dusted the last remnants
     of this need for you
 into a pile,
   pushed it under the rug
to deal with later.
   Ive folded away
the dreams, and packed up
  the  hopes
    you left behind.
 I've washed my soul
of your fingerprints
        and now
it is time to rest
 in the sterile emptiness
 and allow the grief
  to take the
 place of my love.
      

Surrender

metal gleams,
 in the dingy light
    of the single naked bulb,
throwing shards of
   sparkle onto spotless, white
tiles.
  steam fills the air,
  comforting
   against naked skin
       obscuring the face
  in the cracked mirror.
near-scalding water
    pouring from a
porcelain tap, fills a
freshly scrubbed tub
    a gentle step into the
    pooling warmth
a slide into a heated embrace,
   the slosh of water hitting the tiles
     unheeded.
A moment's breath to remember.
         To reflect.
    To make peace.
     The edge is scapel sharp.
and it takes only a moment .
      Life flowers  from damaged veins
 Pain, hatred, anguish
          bleed out,
     fillaments  of deepest red
   swirl into the water
  Thoughts become dim
       quiet
... peaceful...
       the pain of loss
  flees  into the darkness
     a  freed soul slips
into the light....  

Hollow

 Once,
    I thought you were everything.
   You were my world
      and the space surrounding me
        the stars shining on my life.
   You were my sky
      the rain on my face
            the sunshine stinging my skin.
    You were my anchor
      a reason to take my next breath
          to fight until my last.
   Once, I thought you were everything.
Now I only think of me
   and the nothing I have become.
    

If...

 If I could tell you
  everything
that hides from my tongue
   All the needs
 and wants
   and wishes
that lay still and silent
  in the depth of this heart
  that still loves you so..
    all the words
that are afraid
to be heard
  for fear
   you wont understand..
If I tell you everything...
  there wont be anything
            left of me..
 

A Matter of Time.

Time does not bargain;
  it has no sympathy,
 no conscience.
Time does not stop
  to smell the flowers
to watch the sunset.
 Time does not give
quarter .
    Time can only take;
memories,
     friends
       lovers
          Nothing is sacred
Noone is spared.
It ticks on in measured
 constancy.
  It marches through our lives.         
 Trickles through our souls
  and our hands      
    as we helplessly watch it
slip away with our
      youth,
        middle age,
          golden years...
   Nothing is sacred.
   Noone is spared. 

Quarters and Cleavage...

 
    I know
you'll read these words
      and remember
   sitting in a booth
     spinning quarters
 eating french fries
    and daring me
 with those beautiful eyes
     to misbehave.
      Your gaze deliberately
       sliding
  into the zippered opening
  of my shirt..
    caught by diamonds
    nestled into lace
Smooth words
    coated with sex
and sugared insinuations
dripping from
   your dangerous smile.
and the intriguing echo
    questioning the taste
    of silver...

©Vivid X Photography (diamonds in lace)

Words to the not so wise.

 When setting upon the road,
choose your path wisely;
there may be no going back
once your journey has begun.
Bridges are easily burned
be sure you are not in the middle
when you set them aflame.

A Poem for September

September creeps in...
The year slides by
so fast
it leaves no trace
but lines on my face
and new gray in my hair.
 friends washed away
new friends ( and old)
  return with the tide.
and life? Well..
   it moves on