Two Poems by Michael Ashley‏

If I Knew

I'd have taken the noise

placed it in a bottle
forced the cork in

her orgasm
was raspy

her voice
a little too deep
for a true lady

but none of that
matters today

the hum
of the mourners
fills the church

I mumble along
to Jerusalem

I'm falling

landing on my couch
with a glass of brandy

people talking
at me, wearing tears
dribbling cliches

I can still see her face
smell her hair

& her voice
roves my skull

like the fragments
of hymns

in an atrium



Turn Away

when she yells
your name
hot step it
out the door
as she holds
the empty
pint glass
up to the moon
& blows
a stream
of smoke
from the 'O'
of her dark
red lips
don't argue
when the blade
of her glare
strikes your face
don't move
when her irises
shudder
a shower
of bright
crystal blue
don't ruin
it now boy!