Sent to a man who seemed to change his mind.

Since my heart placed me
on board your drifting ship,
not one day has passed
that I haven't been drenched in cold waves.

Alberta, I

have learned to love you,
like one learns to love
being a widow.
I have been thrown into you and abandoned
like a pair of African twins in the bush.
Your starkly composed yet beautiful complexion,
a path for me to trace;
your moods as unpredictable
as a mental patient.
So few loves are this difficult.

sweet treat.

if someone offers you some sugar,
you should eat it.

ice water.

briney waters singe their skins
icy waves drive them back again
helmets, oars and swords
are washed upon the shore.

the water demon's eyes are pink and green
scales of silver mirror mesmerize
the most beautiful thing you've ever seen
spits bile into your eye.

at the coroner's office (after Dani Couture).

The road that leads into the forest
may not be the one that leads you out.

The hand knows the will of the heart,
yet is unwilling to make the move.

Show me your greyhound-like strut, the graceful dip
of the knife into the skin.

At last, the tulips are in bloom
on Quinpool!

The sweet drip of your seduction is more intoxicating
and deadly than your anger.

Have you not always had such small hands?

A starling's hop on the lawn,
a blackbird's lost feather,

the way the finch crushes whatever comes across its beak --
that is, into nothingness --

you've got the attributes of a cold case romance.