Too Soon, Way Too Soon

In Memoriam

Heath Andrew Ledger

April 4, 1979 - January 22, 2008

Christening (first revision)

I.

Call it ritual send-off,
call it amulet for the soul—

the smearing
cleansing a past of fault

—breaking an innocence
at the outset, in the hope
a smashing god won't try again.



II.

Vessels shatter—
a brow whets,
lonely waves afflict the prow.

A poet is launched—
transparent love
the glass crashed without ceremony.



III.

Ships, which are always spoken of
as women, and for that matter
so is the sea.

Cheshire Smile

Imagine stepping into Alice's Wonderland, among the mad people. Condense down the stress of trying to keep fifty kittens neatly corralled in a circle of chalk. Boil frustration until it gets real sludgy, then use it to fill a quagmire the size of Rhode Island. Walk down into that mess with nothing but an English degree and some poignant high school memories to protect you. Your words transubstantiate into little lead pellets, and in exasperation you chuck them wildly into the tar. Following the teachings of Homer, you try to extract your words with your hands, and then extract your hands with your teeth. Gets hard to breathe, doesn't it? And the whole time—every minute—you hope to Joe Pesci that nobody notices you are completely naked. This would make a fantastic nightmare, if only it weren't a metaphor. The best thing I saw all day was a river in flood, ignoring every human boundary with gleeful abandon. Cold January air tastes so good...

Put that on your Excel spreadsheet and smoke it, world.

Darja, Winter

My voice is cold asleep.
Down-to-your-bones naked
you stretch white legs and
darken eyes ever earlier.
The flowstone fields where
cars freeze to nothing harden
beyond what we are willing
to believe. I mound up heatless
bits of word and suck your
crystal fingers, tongue-stuck
and waiting for clear roads.
I shovel your hair from my
alley mouth; you roll over
sigh, and steal the covers.

When Flying Pigs Freeze Over

All evidence to the contrary, I have neither:

(a) died, nor
(b) dropped off the face of the planet

Happy Holidays, Everyone! The great beast of an office isn't through with me yet, but I braved tonsils and scaled the larynx just to pop in and say "hello."

Hello.

There will be many New Year's resolutions, up to and including:

#1 - Increasing my presence in social circles & decreasing my presence in business meetings
#2 - Reconnecting with all of my online friends
#3 - Making more artwork in general, be it drawings or paintings
#4 - Attending writers' meetings regularly (and getting Charmi's book back to her!)
#5 - Using more images on my blog, now that I've refreshed myself on the HTML syntax

And showing up at Chicory for readings again. This last time I skipped-out to attend my family's holiday function--totally selfish, right? ;)

Now, I'm off to Livejournal to spread holiday cheer and further evidence of my continuing warm-blooded existence. Fa-la-la-la-la!

Later.