Tartarus

How fragile is this hand
as it gentles the ferocious coils
which abide below the halfway mark
of belly, making discords of dogma,
and soothes the grinning sibilance
as the ravenous maw bites through
this tenuous grip on new realities.

Oh Mercy! The poison is luscious as lotus!
Desire welcomes the monstrous tongue
in the throat beyond question
of what will become of these bones
once the leviathan has picked them clean.



Inspired by the artwork, Thieves Blend by the artist, Eli Evangelidis a.k.a. @eliedwardart

Utopia

How beatific the ghostly face
as it turns from grim reality
of painful flesh beneath taut skin
unaware that heart is caged
and lungs are slaves
while bones remain as shackles
to the absurdity of decomposition.

Oh God! Time strikes like a meteor!
Life always ends too soon
to disregard the searing blaze
and ascend beyond the embers
of immolation until consciousness
becomes one with oblivion.



Written in collaboration with the artist, Cemal Eker a.k.a. @abreathinutopia, inspired by the illustration entitled Ayesha.

Elf

Kerry O'Connor
@skyloverpoetry

I've been weaving the web of stars... Listening to the whispers of time...

Dinner

@skyloverpoetry
Copyright Kerry O'Connor

Caterpillar leaflight ~ What silken threads will you spin around my dreams?

Hammer

@skyloverpoetry
Copyright Kerry O'Connor

My heart is shield enough for your hammering ~
Defeat is only ever yours.


A Three of Swords Valentine.

Balloon

@skyloverpoetry
Copyright Kerry O'Connor

Coruscating in silver ~
jelly-balloons ascend towards sunshine.

Serpent

@skyloverpoetry
Original pen & ink artwork by
Kerry O'Connor

Harbinger of underworld colonnades ~
Bless me with your crescent fangs.

Shadow

@skyloverpoetry
Copyright Kerry O'Connor

Winter passed and then the Spring
like rusty shadows of old songs grown cold.

Flight

@skyloverpoetry
Copyright Kerry O'Connor

The canary-throated raven grows roots while she whistles her platitudes.

A Skylover Word List ~ Apparition

@skyloverpoetry
Copyright Kerry O'Connor

Apparition

I am the voice in your dreams
the apparition who turns her back
upon the moonless night
and climbs into your solitude,
wraps her weightless legs
around your hips
and combs her fingers
through your troubled mind.
I am your yearning.
Made of flesh and memory,
so close, my scent is upon you.
No wonder, then, why you tremble
when you wake to find me gone.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


This poem is written with words from my Skylover Wordlist for January and in reply to my own prompt in the final Play It Again! prompt in the Imaginary Garden: Poetic Voice.

If anyone would like to join me in writing poetry from this list of words, and would like me to read and comment on their post, please paste the link to the post in the comments below or you can tag me on Instagram.

@skyloverpoetry
Kerry O'Connor

A new Skylover Wordlist will be shared on the 1st of February.

Ripe

@skyloverpoetry

Too damned tempting to refuse the ripeness of six pomegranate seeds.

Catch

@skyloverpoetry

Crest of foamy wave reflects the fulgent sky along its silver fin.

Injured

@skyloverpoetry

My words can't heal you now, but I am here always, a small bird in the rain.

Ride

@skyloverpoetry

You watered my mind into existence: I chose your body as my bed. The past drowns.

Coat

Harley Quinn
@skyloverpoetry

My world has this Harlequin to greet me with the tremor of her tail.

Dark

@skyloverpoetry

I'd be content to live in a lighthouse by the creeping, curling sea.

Tasty

@skyloverpoetry

Downtown, 1.30 am, Friday. Urban fox shifting through shadows.

Dizzy

@skyloverpoetry

We are water. We are breath. Endlessly circling between elements.

Ancient

@skyloverpoetry

Most things are made of nothing but spaces between atoms: no matter.

Ghost

@skyloverpoetry

She gleams like a magnolia. Marble-white: Memory of Loss.