Tag Archives: Ariana D. Den Bleyker

for Rev James O’Connell First light pulls stars back into themselves sparks of holy against the body, & when they tire of darkness, color spills from them into the wind, gentle as breath, the sweet air rising in my throat … Continue reading →

You can tell I’m the kind of girl who burns out light bulbs. Call it a tendency to forget. More like a simple formula of cause and effect. (An effect. A result. A consequence.) Call it living on the edge … Continue reading →

You were always asking me to replace the agony, devour all the emptiness & tell you how full I was. Funny how the heat still lingers in my mouth & truth does not. You said your body was the sunset, … Continue reading →

i. The smell of sad, odor colorless, musty invasive, well-closeted, saddling, saddling in place, good wishes/good intentions/good prayers. Our mirror’s hiding inside, warped, wet weft-woven into the palms of our tree-hands covering our faces. The odor lays down bamboo-strong roots; … Continue reading →

i. I see you, wide-stanced, braced & arrogant on the windblown ocean’s edge, waves sweeping foam-frothed from the sea to flank you, to join battle, to join forces with wind & dark, & you defy the shining fighting kites holding … Continue reading →

My mom tells me I’m a gift. She says love is what keeps the atoms in you & I— is the moment, is the day she had never tasted something so sweet. When we were little, we played kickball and … Continue reading →

Here we go again— there’s blood in the water. Holy Mary Pluck a flower & give it a name, label it, base nothing on a whim. Holy Mary, Mother of God Each time we tear ourselves a little more under … Continue reading →

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.” –The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Blake “Reality is just one red pill away.”–”Psychésthesia,” Mydriasis Aletheia i. The iridescence on the neck … Continue reading →

for Rev. James O’Connell i. Every atom leans toward the human being streaming up from the deep root they spur, laying down the perfect descending of stars. The slim fit sharp atom knows all the shortcuts. Tragedy & me, we’re … Continue reading →

smells the same—garlic, regret, oven flame. The menu hasn’t changed. The Antony and Cleopatra: Italian sausage and snake meat. The Macbeth: Cooked in a cauldron. Sauce won’t wash off. The Julius Caesar: Served bottom side up. You have to knife … Continue reading →

And yet, she wouldn’t have dreamed the colors— crimson & black—a fire guttering; storm cell building to thunderstorm, or the texture of heavy gray wool. I take her arms in mine, soft body, strong grip & as I hold her, … Continue reading →

We watch the flames, pass time, vicariously live other realities— broadening our view & exploring new things, shrinking the world into what we can view—both dirty & beautiful. We roast marshmallows. And, as we taste the sticky sweetness, suck the … Continue reading →

You take a deep breath and you walk through the doors… The words go blaring from their tomb, dark stranger of stars. It isn’t fair because he can’t see the highway for what it is, the chance he might die, … Continue reading →

We sit against extinguished emotion— feeling a relative term—void of heart—a punch, a last word reminiscent of the past, naked, vulnerable, yet invincible, riding the world on a mechanical bull, backs tall— our highest, brightest selves tossed perpetually backwards, spines … Continue reading →

The world is silent, not still, faster but more silent, which is how it will always be. The end, if it comes, will be quiet darkness, rain warm as flesh, gust of wind—a mercy—a forgotten tree ripe for the imagining, … Continue reading →

I didn’t have to trade my life in compromises when winter sprang at me, daring me once again to tease or test my resolve for just how much I can stand after going home. I didn’t want to go. I … Continue reading →