wimp

to tower over a crouching girl

and pass her around in an ugly twirl

hand to hand in a stranger’s love

smiling as her eyes beg how

to blame it on her choice of dress

or how her lipstick shrieked yes

to call her a bitch and a whore

(see, she walked out of a pub’s door)

to fault it on her easy dance

or a casual sideways glance

to seize in God-given goddamn right

endorsed by bravado and by fright

to have her like a free Happy meal

eaten, burped, hey no big deal

to then beat the shell that she is

(what's a date without a goodnight kiss?)

is the sickest crime in the land

and no, not what it means to be a man.

ram cobain

you

somewhere a little child moves

prettier than a ballerina’s shoes

and what he lacks in easy grace

he makes up by the look on their face

these months have been such a blur

they know not even if he’s a her

starting from a moment of choice

that’s part decision, more surprise

for in the throes of sweet surrender

of an eternity way too tender

as they lie back and they sigh

the heavens conspire his first cry

and so the days quickly roll on

with each sunrise reality dawns

what was two between me and you

in a caress of limbs so swiftly grew

it shows up in a widening of waist

and a phantasmagoria of taste

sweet now, sour then, this longing for food

the husband a marionette of her mood

but truly it’s tougher on the wife

she carries complicity and also life

she is the one who must face the stare

and the breakfast that her throat does bare

hers is the body that swims and swells

that stays silent and even then tells

she is the one who quits ambition

career, growth and lofty vision

but he too is caught in a spider’s tease

where the webs of work never cease

aware thus he is of his human debt

to a blood born from his animal sweat

but in these tales of twin torment

like a rainbow that’s always bent

is a truth that’s as old as it is new

dear son, or daughter – we love you.

ram & gayatri cobain

Sshhh

there is a fear that I alone know
that hugs me tightly as I go

it’s with me when I blink an eye

and also when I scream out why

I caress it in under the happy sun

we snuggle when the day’s all done

I hide it well with an easy smile

that hurts when it lingers a while

and so we dance this daily dance

like lovers frozen in college romance

but through this macabre pantomime

of inhales, exhales and surviving time

and asking why it should be so wrong

I emerge braver, a little more strong

ram cobain