Hades

Oh, how his deft fingers play upon my heartstrings as easily as an accomplished harpist plucks each golden string of his giant lyre.

That silver tongue softly stroking each quivering note as it rolls smoothly from between his lips.

That soul, that tarnished soul, entwining itself with mine, pulling its hair and biting its neck.

Like the vines of his presence forever cling and choke the everloving breath out of my very being.

I will not be free. I do not know if it is me fettering myself or if he, in turn, is the one grasping my ankle in the quagmire of emotion.

This billowing swamp of turmoil and blind hope. Optimism and tumultuous misery.

The promise of something that will never be, those poisoned pomegranate seeds.

Friends

Though your voices have always been tarnished with cheap recording devices

And your faces distorted through poorly focused lenses

You are there

And I know you are

I feel your kindred spirits moving around me in sorrow and jubilation

My heart soars with yours

Your fears collapse with mine

The Animal

Growling, rustling, pacing
A small circle beneath its feet
Bared teeth and claws
Ragged, shallow breathing
Inside its furry torso
It tilts back its angry head and
Howls

This animal howls
For those of its kind to answer
Its call
Just to be touched
To feel
To see, hear, and smell
Its kind around it

It rears back, ready to pounce
Hungry for attention
Longing for contact
It will tear through creating
Broken limbs and
Broken hearts

It opens its mouth wide
The toothed gap yawning to be filled
With flesh and meat
To feel full
Sustained and satisfied before
Howling once more
Before bedding down
For the night