———-

———-

Twelve for the Silent Queen

You never asked me to stay

before they gelded your god

Your skin smelled like almonds

reminding me of how poisonous you are

as deadly as arcane cyanide

Barely any color to your lips

you knock on my door with a sentimental odor

expecting to be received as penance

but all I see is a strange mysticism

that I once believed in

that I no longer can afford

She buys her love from magicians and charlatans now

they wag their cocks with fervor as though trying to make it rain

imaginations that could pervert a Burroughs stoned

She uses it up and then finds a new distraction

tracing a new foreboding foreword for her story

adapting lovers like shipwrecks to the rocks

no light from the watchtower

dark, trussed in the minds of poets

but that’s it

no smiling cherubs

no resolution to impart

a comely walk into the ocean

A remark underneath the floorboards

“she is such a lovely girl”

White scarves dangling in the air

the hair tied back like auburn twine 

she wonders where the creative animus hides its teeth

crushed codeine lined up on the writing table

pansexual desserts presented as Turkish delights

in different outfits

but I liked her bare

maudlin, but amused by my skin

“what a lovely, lovely girl”

now a mention in the dedication is the only coronation left

——–

From Leonard Cohen's "Book of Mercy"