Poetry - Half Asleep On A Monarch's Wing

Finally kicking this thing into gear with a poem I wrote in 2006. Enjoy.

half asleep and I want to cry
ocean tears
for the expanse of what I feel

a sullen saline
stings the edges of untouched lashes,
and the pain is
d i s c o n n e c t e d
and irrational

I want to spill out emotions just for
the sake of spilling out emotions,
and no, not for anyone else

just me

that's what happens when you
run out of ideas to
drown out the sound of the ticking clock,

hitched unwillingly to the wall like a new
Christ nailed to his own martyrdom,
splayed hands stretched round

West and East
Nine and Three

the connection ensured by polar opposites;
magnetic and alluring as the
pull of his scent on the wind,

the sensation of whispers on naked flesh,
promises kept, and
promises forgotten

we don't know yet, though
so I'll just place this butterfly's wing
behind opaque glass for the
time being

and when the air strikes in its final release,
perhaps it will crumble without the scaffolding,
and the wind will sting my eyes

and

ocean tears
will fall for the expanse of what I feel,
just for the sake of feeling something

sooner or later
we all have to wake up,
and half-asleep will disappear
—a sacrifice with the tide,

a lone Monarch wing in its wake