Taking Chances

It swells in echoes of music choral in minor keys
a truth of sorts the clawing of missing someone
gasping for air so slowly it's like normal breathing
heartbeat like horses' hooves useless blood pumps
without another's to accept the outcome
the turning out of a light rendering room to shadows
nothing after this rendering the sideways grief even more poignant

Felt in clutching a fabric scented like coming home
flatfooted fall the branded skin of sharp-felt desire
glaring sun-slighted eyesight it's all halos now
pocket deep the determined flame for safe keeping
a wounded warrior has returned to roost with hope
so pierce again through armor just to have an apple spill you down

Draft 1 Another Poem

Drolling artic air around the specters,
bundling into the chill of it;
whispering without sound they
may be cursing or maybe they pray
their memories held behind me like dumbbells,
ripping out joint from ball;
rend my limbs from me I'm sworn
to divide into each of their heredities
forever fragmented however I lay

I came in the name of the dead,
their bodies held behind me like trophies,
hung taut for everyone to see;
look, I have suffered,
and here is the book on it -
their skin the pages and torn
by wringing frightfully to and fro
as though distressed by their display