For F.A.M.

I caught you right
At the back of my throat
Where you sang
A rhapsody in E

My breath
Passed through
Your voice
It was nice

Copyright Cristina Cheng 2014

Glimpses

Frame this
A lea for grazing mouths
On a plateau
Clouds on blue sky
You and I
Away from the maddening.

But you are
Looking to the tree line
For crows
And I am seeking earthworms
To feed them.

It's not all green
Blue and white.
Sometimes it's crimson
Under the blanket.

I miss black
And you miss yellow
As egg yolks fresh
Into the silver pan.
I wish for coffee
To embitter this.

Sunrise sunset
And treetops bow
The wind takes its time
You and I gazing
At the horizon.

Frozen in time.
Bleeding in time.
Staunched in time.
Always in time.
Still.

Im not holding my breath
When I close doors
you've left open
Or pick up after you
Fall asleep holding the remote

Breakfast is eggs and bread
With blessed coffee
Work is a ticking clock
Rides are to and from
One concrete tomb to another
Evenings drown in stillness

Still when I look at you
From across the room
I'm not holding my breath
I'm breathing.

On Cheating

Why not?
Purpose and doubt
Form a trail down her face
And fade into
Thin collarbones.

She may as well
Be on the moon.

Cracks on sidewalks
Are craters for her
Or portals to a world
Where bones break even.
Whatever for

If we cannot?
It's a small thing.

Really, why seek
What is in the hearth?
Remains of another day
Another night
Old life.

She is a walker
Without a helmet
Oxygen on exhale
Long road breathed in.
She is. She was

Lost long ago
Lost again
In every blank roaming
A closed door.
Why not? What for?

 Don't know what this is about *shrug*

calling for gentleness now

is a hitchhike to the desert-

there ain't no way-

sweet knows its place

and the damned slot it in

round in square, full

slough it off.

a joke now might be nice

or off-color, so what?

last night maybe

it could have been right.

now just rip it off.

I had a lover once

but lovers tarry, turn 

to bulls taken by horn.

copyright Cristina T. Cheng

Fairest

This feels safe:
run against the gloaming
towards a child, to a mirror.
It is entirely safe.

Undrink the brimming cup
or awaken when the pin drops.
How? That is no bed for sleep
nor a cup to be denied.

The secret word is passage
to the dark forest. The apple is
far from the sheltering tree.
The only light is fireflies swarming

to please the motherless child.
The begging: "Girl, fade before you
are saved." It must come
with the early clarion call.

She runs for the horizon-no matter
that clouds gather. Shelter
is not under the bowers
of the stately and unbowed.

When will the orphaned rest?
Sunlight broke before the final
spoken word. No heart can
wound when it is beaten.

Girl, three times denied,
fold back the blanket of rain.
Step forward and touch fingers
with the woman in the silver sky.

Copyright Tina Cheng 2012

How's this
be here hands up eyes
down
to catch a rose
for grinding down

a pyre holds two thoughts
that you cry with the rain
and that I can return
what had flown away

be here sitting at the table
waiting for a gust through the window
to blow out your flame
to count down the years

say hello
to this scene
no master no slave no whip nor chains no beginning no relief

be here is all

Copyright Tina Cheng 2012