I’ve tattooed a line across
the veins of my wrist
and marked a down stroke
for every time
“you can’t wear red lipstick”
made me believe
I never wanted to in the first place.

for every time instead
I’ve stained my lips with cherries
learning how to tie the stems
so I can slip forget-me-knots
to the back of your throat—
do you feel my restriction now?

the razors that fly off my tongue
perk thorns on my skin,
another down stroke on my wrist
will teach me that
you were right,
shyness is a virtue.

no need to speak,
go spend one hundred dollars
and some percent for tax
to cover up,
even though I’m sure your mother told you
that cotton stains.

so make it black.
get your hair stuck
in the zipper of that sundress
and pray as you pull it out
that it will lose its pigmentation
in the process
mark a down stroke
for killing two flowers
for one bouquet.

hold it
close your eyes and throw it back,
I know we shouldn’t be wearing white anyway
but tradition can take a lot out of you
like what you really think—
don’t say **** in public.

instead drag your first impressions
all the way to the altar
and dress in your Sunday best
a flower on your lapel
clear on your lips
a stroke for the neat decline
of the son

I tattooed a line across
the veins of my wrist
and marked a down stroke
for every time
my image
was my fault.

For ****, Monica & Jan*

coming in by the side road
a winding path
to the stream
took us down where
we sat for a while
feet bathing in cool water
attending the natural theatre
so many quavers and characters in
the movement of rill and brook,
ceaselessly purposeful, over
stone, sand and moss

this going around, under, through
us, here as we gather, and have gathered for millennia;
we are the ancient flow
from first mothers first fathers first family
the tribe are near
coming out of the ages we
hear their call and chatter,
in time we come to know
this all of us, our story



MChallis © 2015

I put my earrings in
                                                                ­                        and walked away.
back to myself.
                                                         ­                                away from you.
and all the rest,
                          for eternity,
                                               blessed be the ones that got away,
for I am here.
                                                

                          now  and  for  the  rest  of  eternity

farewell,
                dearest lost autumn.

hello stranger, for I greet you with open arms.....

Just another soft spot to bump a thump for a thud that this time finally, proudly could be the long awaited announcement I'd been searching for.  

A deep and heavy voice boomed in reply, "I am Hollow, how's all abouts the Do for you today my dear?"
I was slightly taken aback by the fine display of manners.
"Oh,me oh my! So deeply obliged, you took a stop with a thought to ask so when I say, don't act surprised."

Since I surely had indeed been the party calling person, I'd better fancy making proper telling of my Name. But before I did me muster up some suiting gumption for a gab , I heard the haunting husk of a raspy kind of gasp, it was Hollow keen to ask me, "have You come about the Shaft?"

I excitedly replied,  "I've been busy bumping thumping thuds all across the Land hoping I would hear a hollow kind of thud coming from the Desert Sands."
But, oh my goodness if I truly thumped my thud in the mud, I wondered must I then descend down that deeply dark and doozy kind of danger way below?

Then it appeared out of nowhere!! I had the Magic Answer in a sing along song with a pocket tight rhythm gots me dancing and a'singing, "There's a piece of a part of the seat of my soul that's awaiting my return at the bottom of this hole. And as I do recall, it was surely you with your haunting Hollow tune and endless droning echo that reverberated my vertebrae so long ago, and so much so that I lost a litte piece of my Soul."

With one final question that I had left to pop, "Is it still with you at the bottom of that drop?? Cause, I've got a grand idea that will bring It to the top. It's a funky fly vibration called Acoustic Levitation!!"

So, I cheered up and down as I swung myself around in a turn to tell to Hollow, "When you kindly wind your voice up the scale from lowest note to high, then my piece of soul will riseth, it will hear my gladdened cry."
It shall float atop the soul note that IS perfectly wrote just for me and my Soul's harmony. It's been such the perfect ending, All's happy and together, at last finally!!!!!!

So never stop bumping for the thump and the thud that is you cause it's really out there somewhere and it's asking, what to do!!!!

the very beginning
    of the Big Bang,
did someone wise realize,
          he created, eventually,
achingly soft feminine
            firm voluptuous,
pendants miraculous,

          ultimate fun.
beauty  formed in a burst of
           magnificence.

Seriously, genius,
        the naked female born in an
explosion billions of years ago.

Unending wise, or
        coincidence, not ever,
I cup them, in reverence.

The night was like a jagged edge,



When the traveller arrived,



Shadows cutting into corners,



Where the light, was trying to hide.



Thunder reverberating like sheet metal,



Lightening quivering to the ground,



Spelling out prayers in the blackness.



Whilst the waves on the shore did pound.



The moon in communion with the night,



Telling stories to the seas,



As anxiety disturbing the oceans sleep,



Tossing and turning in turbulent breeze.



He entered the cave in silence,



Laid his prize onto the ground,



A waxen figure of immortality,



That could not make a sound.



He watched the waters foam,



Along the secret line of the spine,



Wishing he could prolong the bliss,



Before the sea proclaimed, it’s mine.



With human anguish the sea did roar,



And took the prize to it’s breast



The traveller exited his work now done,



Only unlike him,  the sea would not rest.

A moonlit dance beneathe constellations
      not Taurus or Gemini, Delphinus or Orion
                 but stars we named together
                   linking lines from star to star
       hands pointing in air so cold
a tear falls and
                           another
  leaving a roadmap on my cheeks
            that you
                            chase
                           ­            chase
                                                  chase
   ­         lifting the palm of your hand
                 so cold to the touch I shiver
            feeling the beauty of my tears
         that glisten like Venus in the midnight sky
             of this cold Parisian night
  you smile in jest and
     I misplace the space
  between you and I and that sky
  whispering "do you love me?"
    how could I resist the beauty of
                 our second to last kiss.

© Sia Jane