downtown street bench
crowded in haze of Clover smoke
Viktor peeling skin from his burnt bald head
and Ryan explains his theories -
how he knows he is
Edward Kelly, Crowley
in a newer life
Kaitlyn's consulting a book on herbs
trying to find a cure for morning-sick
and Sid's shrugging off Cara's advances
his eyes never leaving the blue man
sitting in his car
drinking his Dunkin Donuts coffee
his eyes never leaving us
speaking cryptic codes into his radio

I think Sid is itching for an excuse
to take revenge for centuries of his peoples' abuse
I think the blue man's itching for an excuse
to drive these undesirables from his beat
to lock up these youths that are assuredly
responsible for the lack of moral values in millennial U.S.A.
trust is not an option
Mexican standoff
in distrusts and prejudice

I just sigh
turn back to Ryan's occult revelry
and vainly hope
for UN intervention,
China condemnation

I haven't been alive for very long
funny how things are when age is relative
no longer limited
     to the constraints of a number
     a static ideal.
the Muse -- Life -- is calling
passing by, tossed on storm waters,
broiling and boiling in bubbling cacophony;
calling
calling
calling,
     "Merrrrrrrrrrrrrrseeeeeeeeeeeee....."
low and guttural
tugging at my innards
aching to seduce me
like some vagabond street wretch
     touched by the so-called caring hands of Open Heart,
"Come with me, childe
     Come with me to Babylon
where things are warm and passions flow freely
and the pain is gone -- erased in stupors."

Lifting, lilting
a summer breeze carrying the ocean salts
smell it -- alluring --
wanton need to bathe in its waters,
swimming naked in the deep
deep
deep
where dark dreams are wrought on crystal ideals.
She's such a cold-hearted bitch, she is.

Lifting, lilting
wanton need to bathe naked in its tingling sensations
Take Me!
My eyes are dry and conscience cleared!
Take Me, wrap me in the Ambrose of the undertow
and carry me smiling off to sea!
Take Me, uncaring, unwept,
wedded to shattered hopes I lost somewhere in the descent,
let me breathe in the honeydew
breathe in the incense
and mourn never more