What May Not Exist

When the space arrived at the end
when all else that day was done
there was nothing left to do about it.

The chatter, packing and unpacking of
the business day, banter of a shallow sort,
the very pretend was the reality that capitalism brings.

Those left quietly to their own just
desserts were holding empty plates as darkness arrived.
Those moments in the background static held sway.

There are no ends they will not go
to hold onto the pittance they have
acquired and turn it round again

as it wears thin
with this rubbing about
as the nuance wears out.

The part you are left with
is the same as the one
you started out with so

long ago before you
knew what is what
and what isn’t.

Plain Surfaces

For Kay Ryan

The table is always empty
in their house,
where neatness is kin
to religion.
The idea of the horizontal
surface’s power to hold
disparate refuse of the day
never flowers in their room
where perfection in appearance
becomes a tomb.

Part of the Time

We are so many
different places
part of the time.

Different places
define how we act, present
ourselves part of the time.

We are so many
turning about to hide
the others we show to no one.

I hold the hand
mirror behind my head
to show my leaving the others.

Alone with no one else to please,
no one else to be, releases
the others, and they leave.

What There Is To Believe

I am not interested in how
you put together your life,
only that you were betrothed
to me in your conglomerateness.

Paging back through the bits
that made sense or were interesting
holds us enthralled like watching
the life of the aquarium in the city in the dark.

Pausing to catch your breath
as you exude it into mine is solace
of a sort I had imagined comes
to this age, this day, as all else falls away.

Heart Be Still

Where are all the lotus farmers off to
Now the hubcap salesmen have up and left?

I come from a long line of coal loaders
Down by the rusted tracks of the B & O.

How the winds carried away all voices
That long enough ago is cannon fodder

For us all left holding the bag
After we dropped the bottle on the gravel

Ate crow bait year after year with the new
Immigrants in the somnambulists’ diner.

Get a crowbar and we’ll go hunting.
“Catch as catch can” says our jailers.

You Ask Me

You ask me…who am I? I am myself…I am every woman.
I sip the waters when I am parched. I eat the fruit to satisfy my hunger…….
I sleep when I tire and rise with the morning sun…
I dance to the music …I sing my own song…
And when I yearn…I yearn for you…my lover …my soul.
How you complete me…enhance me…stir up my fires and warm yourself at them.
I lay here next to you listening to you breathe as you sleep…….
your body still glistening from our joining…I see the smile on your lips and it is so hard for me
not to lean over and kiss you…
Instead…
I will stay here next to you in the glow of candles and watch you…my eyes reveling in the sight.
I am filled with joy…this man is mine.

Copyright Catherine Anne Hayes © 2005

You

Eyes locked
on eyes
then breaths
quickly drawn in
Lips pressed to lips
as mouths open
tongues glide
and
tangle…
tasting…
claiming…
Oh yes
Hands touching shoulders
then
arms around
pulling closer…
This I remember
Just hours later
I still taste you
in my mouth…
Feel you on me
In me…
Smell you on my skin
My body pulses
feeling moist still
Yes
You do this to me
You
make me weak kneed
You
burn me
You
Yes you…

Copyright Catherine Anne Hayes © 2006

Who Is

He brought me to the top of the mountain
and laid with me on a cloud
and with his kiss
bonded me to him.
There I touched heaven…

Now back on earth’s solid ground
with his scent still on my skin
and his taste lingering in my mouth
hours later I still tremble…

Who is this man
with eyes of the raging sea
who has planted deep within
my spirit…my body
seeds of fervid need?

Of him I know little
yet…
I am compelled to take his hand
and walk with him down this
unknown path
to embrace
this new world…
to be his willing acolyte…

Now…
My journey begins…

Copyright Catherine Anne Hayes © 2006

Unspoken

Desires in my mind
long to see the light of day
yet feel safest in the dark…
Sweet velvet covered dark…
You who fascinate me
tempt me
to feel these deeply hidden
unspoken desires…
wanton needs…
buried inside me..
firmly entrenched
covered in layers and layers
of dense gossamer.
Will you lift away each layer
strip them bare
coax them to my surface…
my conscious being?
Would you take said desires
and mold and shape them
to yours…
turning me into your willing,
panting vessel
that overflows with need?
Yes…please…do of what
you speak.
I tremble…
my breath short
as I look at you…
into you…
draw out of you
your deep….smoldering
desire…need.

Yes I am willing…
Take me…
Now…

Copyright Catherine Anne Hayes © 2006