your eternal bogeyman

the bogeyman gnawing on your shoe
once lived
in terror
just like you.

once again

this dawn the fall
jerked me from a ghostly dream
steel-toed shoes broke
my trusting feet
at the end of it all

I cajoled three ghosts
to visit me
once again
once again
once again

my pale repetition
converted them
I am old
I am tired
I am not even dead

there is no excuse
for the life I have led.

cornered vs. boxed

we are left
dispossessed, the squatters
upon your exemplary life

messy progeny,
growing horns and dragons' breath
smearing your legacy
with impostor theft.

oh Elaine, it's October again

missing twin, I tend
to dread to die
to dream about

your colours bleached
under slate October rain.