The Crazy Poet Who Loved the Swan

Double-dose poet in torn jeans
My blue-collar bard-in-bondage routine
Sipping coffee, you wore blue
My hungry eyes devoured you

A stolen glimpse from just behind
You drew a breath, I heard you sigh
I glanced your way, you turned your head
"I liked your poetry, " you said

A million blossoms filled that Spring
Their scent was magic, don't you think?
My hidden heart was yours those days
From lump of coal to magic blaze

Orange blossom madness ruled my nights
Your twisted sheets, the candlelight
Our tangled bodies filmed with sweat
A glass of wine, a cigarette

Some days seem easy when they aren't
But the perfect moments line my heart
Your hand in mine in Old Downtown
The way you laughed, your pouty frown

A lazy Sunday spent in bed
Hermosa Beach, that jazz quartet
My Pentagram, your Pentagon
The crazy poet who loved the swan

I still reach for you at night
In tangled sheets, no candlelight
My twisted body cold with sweat
Have I let go? I guess not yet

The Winter has no blossom smell
Some days I'm good, some not so well
Some easy moments get diamond hard
Like flawless gems, they line my heart

And with the blossoms of each Spring
Come thoughts of you and everything
I muddle through, I stagger on
Still writing sonnets for a swan

I'm burning cloves and raising Power
You land in D.C. in an hour
I'm still the Blue Collar Poet-on-Edge
Your bustin' budgets and choppin' heads

Burned out on the coffeehouse thing
The reading for free, the self publishing
Thinking of you, not thinking I should
Pretending its okay and over for good

My Pentagram, your Pentagon
A poet's crazy to love a swan
I'll muddle through and stagger on
The crazy poet who loved the swan

A long-stemmed rose
Some Chardonnay
A smile, a tear
Good-bye

for crystal
12/14/1993 5th st
©1993 chas altvater