Rebecca Lu Kiernan Hosts The Eternal Poetry Project. WEB- ROCKIN' YOUR WORLD!  You write the next line! Follow my apocalyptic series, "Timewave Zero" and the escapades of Lucy in "Lucy of the Valley" appearing in  OFFCOURSE and Bewildering Stories. CONTACT-  Geckogalpoet@hotmail.com
WELL, HELL HAS FROZEN OVER AND HERE IS THE PROOF!  WE GOT MARRIED ON BASE! 

Welcome to the Eternal Poem Project.

Feel free to submit up to 6 lines.

I choose the best work I receive.

This Poem will Run Forever.

Eternity Begins Here.

Enjoy the videos in the Fun Zone, but remember, I select the subject and videos can change without my approval, according to new web content.  If you see anything odd, please shoot me an email. (Hard to define "odd" for this site, I know.) You can expect to see the real Guns N' Roses here. If you see a teenage band performing in a basement, let me know. If they suck, I will go back and tweak things. If they're good, I might just feature them. 

THE ETERNAL POEM

The memories smoldering like a dream

That lingers in the blood,

The aroma of fuschia and fire, 

The crystal ball subsumed by time
Suddenly standing still.
Alien emergent, dark self
Dressed in the transparency
Of my own skin.






















Blackcurrant leaf, tiger lily,

Cinnamon sticks in the excavated rock vase,

Champagne flattened by silence.

From the faded curtains

A darkness crawls

Through the clumsily painted olive walls.

Burn with me as if never we had met,

Come, Stranger, Forget.

Unwrap the ribbon-festooned box,

A lock of your blonde hair

Dancing against my skin

In the sugar sweat of night,

Arrows bent, launch reports

From the future.

Do not uncrash or undisaster

The path that led to home,

Hostile worlds we have destroyed

To live ghostless in this Eden of laughter

And unalterable truth.

Synthetic light shines like dawn,

Your whisper ripples

Through space and time.

Are you from the future or the past?

Drape your life over mine

Angel, terrestrial and divine.

What will we do if the moon falls,

Catching us in a starless net of night?

The ghosts who spoke to you as a child

Were not asking you to save them...

But save yourself.

Is enough of you left

To reflect in the mirror?

I will avoid ghosts

In the driveway and the bed

I won't talk to them, even in my head.

No spell to break the chameleon

Taken in as a pet.

Who brought this ice-blooded monster

Into our buttercream dream?

Every bird and leaf in its place.

Reality, what a symptom of withdrawl.

Please excuse my absence from myself.

Rain fire. Run, wolf. Poison pill.

Rock, paper, scissors, a slash of words.

Rake the crippled flowers

From the ice-glazed yard.

The haunt of this house is lifting its fingers.

Seven bats were just a confusion of crows.

Nothing is exactly as it seems.

Nor, is it the broken tooth

Of a vampire's dream.

Remove your black cape, Goddess.

The time has come for you to fly.

One should not speak unkindly

Of ghosts who went blindly and alone
Into the darkness of the self.
But thank you for delivering the secret.

You must have looked like Jesus with his cross

Hauling my present across town.

I  am moving it around like Warhol's final piece,

Switching it around to see where it fits, what it means,

Covering it with a sheet to discourage burglars .

Nowhere, the Answer,

Sigh

Soft comic book kiss.

 Pink cotton candy
Funnel cake
Memory carnival

Deceit
Blooming in kaleidoscopic hues

You on the page

Hiding in plain sight,

You are

How

My voice

Would sound

If I were half as strong.Had I nine lives to spend

All of them would be with you.

Will you accept this humble

Singular one?

Would I get one of yours?

It is only when

I am neither above

Nor beneath you

That I understand

Your lucidity.

Everything else

Is a drugged blur.

This broken door is a window

To all possible suns

Of which you are

One.

I cannot guarantee my affection

Will outlast the hour.

Had I nine lifetimes

I would stretch them end to end

And use each final breath

To warn my next life,

Trust no one,

Least of all myself.

You have been beside me so long

Cautious, as if we are loving

Spy to spy.

Does it matter if I have changed you

Or won you?
Why are there leaves in your pockets?
Did you think you would forget the fall?
Fill my hands with the faded days
And the matches that struck the fires.

Last night you took my book away.

I was terrified of what was coming.

Instead, you blossomed in my arms

And I was covered in silky petals,

Fragrant fields, swaying oceans,

An undiscovered world.

I could not get inside fast enough.

Base multiplied by height

Divided by two,

Such a student you are of equations and codes,

I want to get lost there.

Today you burn the edges of eggs

And laugh like there's no tomorrow,

Like you don't know, or, God, like you do.

Exactly what you mean to me.

Swirling fog of night swept with rain.

A knock on the door makes me reconsider.

Perhaps the face I fear will go away.
I do not have to know if it was there,
Or if it considered coming
At all.

My virtual girlfriend
Shudders when I touch her,
Not with excitement, but disgust.
I think my real one
Has reprogrammed the app.
I do not want to get a new one
Real or un.
I want them each to suspect
The other exists,
But never ask
For fear I would choose the other.
Spinning for logic at your circus,
I can never win.
Watching you fly in slow motion
Dressed in glitter and pulsing pink light,
I gasp as you slam into another man.
Dry ice smoke, confetti,
A violet falls from your hair.
Posture perfect, you don't blink.
You never fall like that for me.

Dear Pot, You are Black- The Kettle.
I would tell you before the fact.
You have a demented imagination.
I was dancing in the stupidity
Of shoes you picked out.
My God! Go to a museum or the mall,
Or slide a shrimp onto a hook.

We will discuss
This parallel universe in your head
When you get back,
If, of course, I am
The present version of myself
At that time.

Come to think of it,
You really can't trust Time
And I cannot speak for
What another Me might do.
Another Me might not even meet
Another You.

Funny the artifacts people discard
At a fire sale.
Cinnamon candle, dragon shaped,
Never used, serenity stones
From what was the hyacinth patch,
Stone lion who blinked at its guard,
Perfect guest towels
With hand-embroidered angels.
We carry our trinkets to the car.
You turn your head up to the October sky
And say you will never get tired
Of the way the sun feels on your face.
I say the sun is set to explode.
Disenchantment bites your lip.
Not today, my love, not today.

Red-robed, emergent from my bath.
I have forgotten the day's question.
You are reading art news in bed.
Your opening arms
Signal me to fall.
You say the things we bought today
Had to be released from the house
They are
What the Fire saw.
You show me da Vinci's
Long missing Salvator Mundi,
Christ holding the globe,
One hand in blessing, raised.
You say it's a comfort
Even Jesus can get lost.
I read the report
Thinking how many times
I have underestimated.
"And Found.", the last words before the kiss
That silences the fire and the abyss.
The bats that once encircled me are
Icebound.
If they had not come
To scratch my flesh,
Savage my garden,
I may have never reached
For the sanctuary of you.
Your kiss unbraids
The white ribbon
From my hair.
Where are my shoes?
Another country?

I will not take it back.

It's too big to move

Without taking apart

And, Goddess, I am no good with tools,

But you may find me skilled

In small repairs.

I insist you keep it.

It has always belonged to you.

I cannot sleep.

You keep me up with your invasion of bats.

The exterminator is coming on Monday,

The exorcist will arrive Wednesday at 4.

I was decoding your message

And a button fell off of my shirt.

I wish you wouldn't do things like that.

It is a scary world as it stands.

There must be better uses for your powers.

Do you have a needle?

Do you have thread

The color of my shirt?

No, no, give me red thread for a blue button

So I can never pretend

This thing did not happen,

Me falling under your bats and your train,

Crawling blindly following your laughter

Anywhere, to the edge and over.

Let's take the Rolls-Royce PhantomV1,

We can drive all night till we get to that star,

Hop out in our diamond studded sweat suits

And do body shots off each other

In a dark corner

Until they ask us to leave.

Is there any dark place on a star?

Or would the light just be unbearable?

Would anyone be there

To ask us to stay or go?

Baby, I really think I need to know.

You are the one with the secret.

I think the cat is wiggling out of the bag.

I will be there when he gets out,

When there is no more denying.

I will put a bell on his collar

So he can never get lost.

Loving a new cat

Is not cheating

On an old dog.

A name is about to be called

In the dark church

Of poison candles and plastic flowers.

Words are worlds.

I will never confess

Unless someone asks

And I am cursed with knowing

When that day will come.

The future has split off

Into so many stories,

Some so stunning, only angels

Can look directly into that light,

Some so car-wreck disturbing

One cannot look away.

It's not like you can save anyone

By closing your eyes.

Like a hybrid
Snake's tongue Starbreaker orchid
In flickering funeral light
Elsewhen
Ever I called him Friend.

The marks on your neck are fading

And my guitar is waiting

To play the song I wrote for you

Before you ran away

With what I can only see

As the drunken punchline of a bar room joke.

It was heaven talking to you on the phone.

I am bringing something to our picnic,

Something you should know.

In all cultures, in every language,
The most frequent lie is,
"I am fine."
How are you today, Truly?
Naked and from the inside-out,
Without pride or accountability.
Pretend the God of your Understanding
Is asking.
The answer may surprise you.
The answer may overwhelm you.
The answer may change everything.

Out of the fog and into the glitter.
Old photographs? 
Lost in translation!
Crosswinds strip city signs
From the street of cluttered minds.

Kind word on an endless day
Spreading the dark secret
All under town.
Nightkitchen, I catch you
In your pink snakeskin gown
Brown sugared pears and hot chocolate.
You never left. I reach out
Wondering not if it's you or your ghost. 
Whatever happened there
Returned you to the sea,
In my reach, if not my grasp.
Venus is set to sun-cross,
A once-in-a-lifetime event,
Like every time
You unhook your pearls,
Slip into grapefruit-scented sheets
The color of the sea
In a blind man's dream.
Brittle star
Beyond the fuller moon,
Weepless willows wait.
Questions fall into the wishless well.
Flash of communion flickers
Peppered with circumstance
Parallel, not convergent
With our dark desires,
Synapses of hard wiring
Sparking, sputtering,
Catching quiet fire. 
When the light is perfectly wrong
Casting improbable shadows
I remind myself
I am only cheating on you
With my identity. 

Goddess, you twitch in your sleep.
I worry you are running away.
Why are you so fixed on the apocalypse?
If it comes in December I will be so pissed
That I didn't quit the band 
To follow you
Into worlds I will never understand.
The dog wrecked the car again.
The sky fell into my cup, so I drank.
Please come quickly.
I can only hold up so many stars.
Until your plane arrives
Everything
Is wrong with this picture.
Everything is right forever tonight.

If I thought the apocalypse was coming
Already, I would have
Kidnapped Brad Pitt
And have him
Tied up in a nicely decorated dungeon
Performing lewd acts on me,
Fingerprint bruises on his neck,
Claw marks on my leather.
I kind of want to convince you
The world is ending
And put on a famous person mask.
What should I wear?
Kidnapping you would be
No fun
If you were dressed up and ready.
Put up a slight fight
Or I'll get bored.
How would you dress for abduction?
I would wear, you know
Nothing complicated, the pretense of
Protest. You'd discover my
Obedience.
What will you wear?
You speak almost as you have forgotten
You are the prisoner here.
But I would wear lace with your tooth prints,
A smile from your treacherous future.
It is my privilege to service You
In any way you see fit.
NOW THAT'S HOW TO TALK TO A DOMINATRIX!
Goddess, what the hell?
You are seriously breaking my concentration,
You little Poetry Tart,
Which is worse than some stranger's mouth on you,
But it isn't a stranger.
Something familiar is here.
I am going to write a song
That makes you look legally insane
And sing it every night,
In front of girls MUCH younger than you.
But you are still coming to the show on Friday,
Right?
You are more twisted than ever I could be.
You deserve me.
My fingers tap the Go-bag,
Bullet-proof vest is cumbersome 
Through radioactive branches, and what good
Are my terrestrial tools
Of covert operation?
Earthling,
Forgive my glacial decision.
I know you appreciate the irony
From one who has outfoxed
The speed of light.

Do you have any idea, Goddess
What torture my silence has been?
How I shook, how my muscles tore
Cutting loose the rope
That brought you in?
Here you climb on our shared love of rhyme. 
I am broken with joy to see you,
But don't f***ing ever do it again.

The lions have come to the yard for fireworks. 
One is running wild with the hose.
Who gave them Walmart champagne?
Where's the dog? Where's the dog? Where's the dog?
I missed so many things about you,
Even things you won't do
Like wear girl shoes.
I missed how you don't pick up your cell phone
Just because you're listening to me
Ramble on without a point
And I know how crazy it drives you,
I've got so many extra words
That don't even make a puzzle.
But I feel your phone vibrate
And you don't even check to see
If it's God or the Devil,
You are the show I want to be the star of,
I know my words are never right
And yours always are.
Rolled out of my tent for coffee, 
Saw my demented wife
Feeding cigarettes to an elephant,
Ran to stop her.
"Don't you know you're feeding
Poison to an innocent creature?"
"You weren't worried I would get trampled?"
"You're not an innocent creature."
What kind of maniac
Paints with toothpaste, matches,
Dental floss, strawberries and glitter?
Got to love her,
Useless trying to make sense of her.
Also, it makes her cranky, so I'm like,
"Why didn't somebody think of that?"
"This isn't messy at all and I'm sure if you spray
Some more of that Godawful preservitant on it,
The smell will go away.
But even the stink is kind of minty.
Scary and loud and can't talk without her hands on her hips,
Got to love her.
Don't tell me you have not seen it
As the Island sun is setting,
The green spark,
Someone changing channels between shows. 

Stay, stay on Earth my love. Mars is cold.

Oxygen tends to leak. I could never get the chili spices right.

We still have not see The Stones Live.What are you running from?

I am not running, I am leaning

Toward all my Tomorrows.

Once you whispered you would go

To the end of the Earth for me.

I may have to call

Your seven year long bluff.

Gestures fall short.

Words are not enough. 

Inelegant birds of too many varieties

Are scavenging a McDonald's bag

On a park bench advertisement

For suicide prevention.

I want to arrange them in a fashion

That would make a nice painting.

Awe, but I would turn them into lions

And pluck the pity out of it.

Half-lions, half-men, all circus-fresh.

Turn the bench into

One of Jupiter's moons,

Making every feather

A better story. 

Pull a rabbit out of a hat.

He will not get back in. 

Even his small brain knows

The direction magic goes.

Get haircut, pay taxes, tag the car,

Have monkey tested for rabies,

Diet Coke, light-bulbs, bullfight.

If we lived in the same universe
You would already be sick of me.
I'm quirky and selfish and wild
And no human is more important to me
Than poetry.
No man in his right mind
Would stand in the line
Of  books, painting,
Poems scrawled on grocery receipts,
Conspiracy theories,
The mysterious species of flowers
Teeming in my yard,
Gradient cobalt to pink,
Red-black marbled centers
That resemble a face.
And Mars!
All planets! Add to that
Worlds uncharted.
Remain on your planet.
I will stay on mine.
The bizarre crossing we had in the desert
Was a hiccup of time.
Let's keep the distance deep and dark,
Thick and treacherously impenetrable,
Delicious, Deviant, Divine.

Whenever words come from you
I imagine
The possibilities. No one said I had to be
Remotely important.
I respect my place in the hierarchy of your plants
And receipts. It's O.K.
With me if you forget my name. So let's keep our
Worlds. (I'm putting up a sign with my name on it.)
But here's to the possibility
Of a future defiance, a rare geographical
Co-mingling.
It will be so dark electric lights
Will hide behind their mothers.
Our poetry will always come first.
Yours will taste a little like my laugh,
Mine, like your fiery little mouth.
One two-way shooting, one three-way,
Bodies found in woods,
Home invasion involving children,
Tiger found in women's restroom,
All in one weekend.
Ah, this town of trouble
Between my island home
And my someday planet.

My lover waits for me in a room made of sheer grey,
Which is not at all the absence of color.
It's black, white and any blues to my liking.
She waits, I know she waits.
I have not invented her yet.
She is a poem coming to life
At my magic word.
She will be unaware I have created her,
Ungrateful should she discover.
She has my monsters
Folded up in her weightless peacock purse
And a sewing kit for disaster.
I miss her already.

Both of us have sent an S.O.S from a fuller moon,
Have danced in the trajectory of a falling star.
I understand your grief.
Love is a drunken gamble, time is a charismatic thief.
Do not play chess alone
Behind the skirts of hell and fury. 

I may be the road to ruin
But you could navigate my curves
Blindfolded,
Thrust your head out the window
Like a devil-may-care dog,
Smooth branches flipping your ears.
This road is not on your G.P.S.
People would say
You can't get there from here.
People would be wrong.

Goddess, I do not worry when you say
"Never"
Because I know it means,
"Ask a better question."
And you show up all wind-blown
And wiser
And everything on our old island
Is new.

It would worry me to death
If you held your breath.

Fast forward, as the futures fold
A promise to keep, a hand to hold,
What did one Never say to the Other?

"Fate is a finger which cannot be
Outran,
Catch me, hold me if you can."