I Understand and I Wish to Continue

I Understand and I wish to Continue


Oh dramatic content
of pierced lip and not on face
and ebbing flow but not from river
I stand at your gates.


Delight
and pleasure
and grazing sinful strands
of hair matted curled forever.


I could say no
and save the hour
but saying yes and giving in
that is my own power.


I understand powerless
and wish entry sir
because I'm tall enough
to ride this ride.


Censor my ship
but not my mast
because once in
I have still an hour.


-Matthew Koutzun

Sonnet of the Cage

Sonnet of the Caged


Stuck in this cage
here at the zoo.
You are my only companion.


They brought us here
and locked us up
and you are the only one of my kind.


Any other place
in any other time
and we'd never match or fit.


But on top of you as I am
as they document us
I feel sweet connection relief.


So what if we have to populate this place
because we think there is none of our kind.


-Matthew Koutzun

Orbitals

Orbitals


Like hailey's comet
you've ruined me with your
distance brilliance.


They told me that to glimpse you
at least in once in life
was an accomplishment in itself.


They say you'll return
back home
because things are always orbital.


The draw of the sun
our distant star
they say these things are science.


Science scares me with facts
that the space is an unknown
and filled with bouncing radicals.


One ricochet
from some wayward rock
could send you out of sight forever.


The astronomers are assuring me it won't
but when you come back changed
from free radicals and blinding speeds-


I'm hoping I catch a glimpse of you again
and slow you down long enough
for a touch and pause.


Staring across an ocean
I wonder if like our star
I have gravity too.


-Matthew Koutzun

The Massage

The Massage


The old seafarer
sea bound and haggard
upon the water
creaking in danger
muscle relaxants
and topical oils
away from the loved ones
covered in boils.


Starchy hard fabric
bundled and held
scratching and tearing
never once did he tell.


Left off for years
never came home
till letters received
years to late and unknown.


He found it one day
in the papers he hid
he read it once back then
then locked the tight light


Now the message it spoke of
spoke of the way.


So he packed
and he drove
on the water
to home.


Opening the door
to all that he left
was one left behind
waiting patiently in bed.


So the man then unrobed
slowly undoing his clothes
and dropped them right down
callouses on the ground.


He got right in
to the clean covered sheets
and the one right beside him
straddled right on top of him.


Then they pulled out the oil
lathered their hands
and pushed firmly down
on the small of the back
and cracks that had formed
started to break
but the form they created
was never defeated.


He was the man that he was
nothing could change it
and he started to weep
because the pain was descending.


Nothing to change
only take away pain
and the man finally got
the message.


-Matthew Koutzun