BROWN COTTON SHEETS

Gently he parted her thighs

With passion filled eyes 

and trembling fingers

Then unsheathed his instrument

Surgical steel pierced her 

Searing hot and sweet 

Melting in the heat of her passion

Body and soul became one

Forever intertwined in time 

Yours and mine faded to ours

Locked in loves womb 

They made  secret vows

That were never given voice 

To speak of, neither values,

Nor goals or depth of intimacy

Wrote their own history

On brown cotton sheets

In a cozy little cottage by the sea

Where he gently parted her knees

On brown cotton sheets.

-Mo Pen

STARING OUT THE WINDOW

Ravaged by pain

My heart lost sight

Of the horizon before me

All else but pain blurry 

My lot weighed down heavy

I screamed out 

come get me

But no one heard

No one ever hears the screams 

Yet they're loud enough to summon floods

drowning our dreams

I sit staring out windows 

At far away moon beams

Trying to decipher exactly what life means

Searching for some small vice to cleave to

Some sentiment  I could lean to 

To salvage a sliver of rapture

Somehow recapture the fervor 

To heal this contusion 

Perhaps my heart needs removal

That my temperament may improve

Life without luster is frightening

When all the excitement turns to fear

And the voices that you hear are all negative

Contorting perspective 

Our eyes look without transduction 

Not seeing where salvation lies

We cry tears of fire

That scorch our faces

Our hands are blackened 

Gathering tar and cotton

Our morals slacken

We adapt to our surroundings

No matter how confounding 

In fright of our light out-shinning the crowds

Rather hide in the thick than stand out

Rather be silenced quick 

Than speak out

Lest our voices crack 

and the pain seeps out...