The Twisting Voices

Each pocket holds a ticket
Each ticket bears a number
One child likes to lick it
The other stares in wonder

Old metal moves unbroken
Blue twisted rails cut out the sun
And between the rusted gates standing open
Confetti silhouettes chase air and run

Wrappers trace the beaten pathways
Crushed by little rubber souls
Feasts for flies in dim flickered rays
And pain for love in dark bouncing strolls

Dirty lights drape the complex surface
Flickering as the fat flies flutter
Leaving the moon a cold gray purpose
And giving small hearts a warm flushed stutter

Cities of steel curve through every scream
And the children climb every structure
The metal connects and breaks its seams
As small feat jump the gaps that rupture

Electric songs pulse through the rails
Sung by the voices hiding in the night
Their faces spoken soft and pale
Their words heard loud and fiery bright

Synthetic flags herald each winner
Smoke rising from their crowns
As smells of burning plastic simmer
Over smoothly cracked concrete grounds

The great metal contortion forever grows
Feeding off hotly contested tickets
Trampled by rubber feet that never slow
And picked up only by those who risk it

Each pocket holds a ticket
Each ticket bears a number
One child likes to lick it
The other stares in wonder

Water Marks

Cool liquid glass fell on our rigid house
Gushing like rivers from iron rusted spouts
The tall foundation saved its frame for some time
But the dark fluid snakes slithered and twined
Down the steep hills that protected our feet
To quench the rising sea so eager to greet

We crept on top the roof under thin paper cover
Waiting for blue sky and its dry burning lover
Damp heads fell low between soaking cold knees
Looking down upon our God's angry rippled seas

The darkness consumed so fierce and so fast
From storm cloud militia and the shadows they cast
Striking the sky blind with silent jagged swords
These armies marched loud with a viscous accord

Their thunderous clashes brought terror to the ground
Shaking the house with rough metal-born sounds

These booming cries of war grew loud and louder
Chanting to the winds who grew proud and prouder

The strong iron beams began to waver and shriek
Under the invisible fate the drizzled air seeks

I wondered if the house would fall before the waves
If the crying iron would bend to the rest it craved
If the wind could conquer before the seas could quench
If the water would scavenge us inch by inch

But soon the sea broke the crest of the foundation
Each drop adding depth to our drowned salvation
And soon the water slammed up against the tired walls
That briefly held us from a deep breathless fall

As moments seemed to reach their final hour
And the waves reached our faces closely cowered

The azure sky opened as quickly as it came
Cloud warriors bleeding through with a yellow flame
And we stood on the iron just feet from the sea
Holding the hands of us, the final three

But the water never fell, never receded
And never gave way to the land our hearts pleaded
So the sea held us captive and drowned all the trees
As we lived day by day off the liquid glass sea