Pedagogy ~ by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Pedagogy

My disciples listen 
when they should be speaking;
worry when they should be doing.

They buy my water from beside the river
when I ask: 
Why is the river muddy?

They dine on my marrow 
as I go hungry;
dwell in my house 
instead of building;
anoint my feet 
with snake oil and then

when my disciples should surpass me–
I am a prophet.

Rule of Thirds ~ by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Rule of Thirds

Every picture 
I take of you 
finds its frame 
on her wall.

Why the hell do I keep taking them?

Because the light loves your skin.

She invites me in 
for tea
and I find you there, 
stirring.

Why the fuck do I keep coming in?

Because you take cream (no sugar)
and the light loves her décor. 

Troth

 

Troth

I know 
you cannot love me
and leave me 
because 
you cannot love me. 

Kinbaku

Kinbaku

One is bound

and the other determined

our vanitas painting

Too Close to the Edit

Too Close to the Edit

Oh, how I miss the time 

when tenses were uber-critical

when we would rise (and/or fall)

into an overwrought tandem of incorrigible punctuation  

I shivered your timber 

once upon a time

but without a plank

I can no longer walk

and parenthetically

you're not mine

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Recurrent Afterthought

Recurrent Afterthought

I believe you 

meant it

when you 

said it

goes unsaid 

that you

don't

Spoils

Spoils

You, me hearty, 

have a secret

and I suspect that you 

hoard more than one.

What say...

we divvy them up 

between us,

here,

in private?

I wanna secret

of my own

before we're done.

ching I ~ by Shari-Lyn McArthur

a bridge to cross
and one to burn
the fragrance of orchids

Safe by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Safe

on his lap
she would finally be 
the good girl 
of daddy's
bad dreams

Course - by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Once, I aimed to be a comet;

a river to a moonless sea

named by you.



I'm allergic to the Moon, you claimed,

your epi-pen scoring out

its anaphylactic absence.



So here I am instead, a needle;

a vessel for that perfect fix

nested in you.

Repast - by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Times ain’t like they used to be.

Ever listen to Country?
Times have never been like they used to be.

Seriously!
Back in the day, the local palais
a kid could really stomp.
There were no fences
to our frontiers;
no collars
to fetter our breathmaking fears.
Nothing like this parent-supervised-play-date crap of today.
Be home for dinner, was all my mother had to say.
(And for dessert, she served forgiveness, rare.)

You stomp
still.
You take
a mile
and claim it
a metric inch.

(Conversion formula memorised. Please do not show all your work.)
Well, at least I never went hitchhiking.

Only because your boyfriend
was a drummer
in a punk rock band,
and drove a bedroom
in a custom van.

What’s for dessert?

Faust Us - by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Faust Us


Even the best 
of me
was not enough
for the worst 
of you.

Your rogue 
Diabolic
 
My fiend
Insidious

I would not trade 
a single moment
even for just one more. 

Intercession - by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Intercession 


My knees will pray the Rosary 
For I failed to count my blessings.
And Sister, she bends me over hard 
To administer joyful dressings.

I howl out, Sister! You married poor!
Father failed to make a dowry.
This lesson, Sister has taught before—
Now my knees will learn it, hourly.

I crawl to Sister over the beads 
For the touch of her luminous wisdom.
And Sister, she strokes my hair and prays 
For my tears, the juice of Christendom.

I howl out, Sister! You married low!
Father did not want to keep you.
This lesson, Sister will now bestow—
The wounds, the pain, the rescue.

So I'm kneeling on the Rosary 
For the touch of her sorrowful dressings.
And Sister, she takes me over her knee 
And I count her glorious blessings.

I howl out, Sister! Please! Teach me more!
Through the decades, be my guide.
I'm an open, empty, penitent whore
And Sister, she climbs inside.

Now my knees will pray the Rosary
For my Father failed to keep me.
And Sister, you're all he would have been—
Please, Sister! Sister, teach me. 

Dosimetry - by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Dosimetry

You take my measure
record and then
recalibrate  me
in the game titration
the poison is the same
as the remedy.

Gloss - by Shari-Lyn McArthur

Gloss

Sea change

on a dare

all of me 

depends

on knowing 

exactly what I mean 

to touch

The Vices of Fidelity - by Shari-Lyn McArthur

The Vices of Fidelity

I inhale you filterless
miasmal sigh and
horehound kiss

swig 
the dregs 
of your juniper wit

tongue the gutter for each and every drip

my mouth 
burlesques 
a taiko drum 

through the gorge down to the last molten crumb

see me wager on you past sanity

borrow from myself
sans recourse
to make the ante

your darkest matter
the lure
of my enlightened fears 

our felix culpa
the bond 
of your earthy gravisphere