BLOSSOMING STONES
                Dr. Charles Frederickson

No Man’s wasteland off limits
   Undyingly devoted population eternal flies
      Vacant lot scarabs living forever
         Captive insects leafy foodstuff stuck

   Half-rotten trunks crawling with buggery
      Corpuscular insects thousand bulging eyes
         Craving blood fixes communal wine
            Crisp saltine wafer saliva meltdown

      Coarse cockleburs prickly thorn snags
         Trailing bramble tightening clutch grasp
            Pitted blackberry druplets arching canes
               Deserted wildflowers struggling to survive

   Wadi multi-hued bedrock cuts deep
      Watercourse run dry save rainfall
         Semitic roots quenched skulls afloat
            Pilaf seasoned tapering ribbony saffron

Raw black plumage Old World
   Necklaced vultures pecking resolve scavengers
      Ripping apart carrion decaying flesh
         Skin useless as percale pillowcase

             FOREDOOMED
     Dr. Charles Frederickson
 

Clouds sucking in dimpled cheeks
Bleached murmur whispers swept away
Daylight slumping in prayerful solitude
Sluggish sunrays emerging from shadows

Same pure cobalt firmament overhead
Vast measureless universe washed out
Tide keeps asking mindless questions
Echoing grotto holding its own

Minnows abandoning nibbled hook illusions
Monkfish gurgling underwater fathoms deep
Squirming burbles lungs becoming gills
Bony skeleton iridescence scaled back

Sparks of darkness kindling fears
Anxious raw stars spitfire doused
Great and small bears hibernating
In oblivion black hole caves

Preferring to remain in dreamland
Breathtaking leaps ending in disenchantment
Demons slipping through stucco cracks
Previous life mortar wallpapered over

Faceless expression wiped off mirror
Leaving streaks of unpolished smudges
Gilt frame chipping away inevitability
Waiting for heartbeat to stop
 

 

          RETURNING ECHO
          by Charles Frederickson

A future Me vaguely remembers
Déjà voodoo all over again
Haunted hoof prints trampling dreamscape
Dust settling over quicksand cave-ins

Tip of forked tongue recall
What seemingly could have been
If only come-backs too late
Enough is never enough said

Better forgotten worrisome present tense
Rundown fast forward remote control
Recharged batteries AC/DC unplugged
Boomerang thrown for loophole evasion

Distorted time warp mirror image
Reflected in bottomless drowning pool
Earthworm dangling from bent hook
Buoyant gutsy spirit kept afloat

Past Me sensing didn’t happenings
Trying to stop spinning globe
Intent on getting off merry-go-round
Calliope stripped gears whistles blown