The Opal

By Morty Diamond

I think of the men, the horsemen
Their leather boots casting shadows on a stallion’s bloated belly
Pursed lips under powdered faces
The horsemen searching for the tallest spire with the opal eye sitting atop
shimmering and
haloed with stardust
that beacon of truth and redemption
dropping to his knees and leaving his body for isolate rapture
to find his own prophecy
in the tendrils only the opal may lay down for him

I think of a place
Where men, whose religion it is to feel eternally damned
Gather the air around them and bellow, and
wail for the finality of their unknown destination
marking time with the stamping of feet
the opal sitting atop the tallest spire has made him a marionette
for he cannot eat or drink without looking up at her to grant such a serenity


Those men whose eyes are buried in the folds of their forefathers
Searching for light as they journey
Over zealous, empty handed
Resolute in the face of injury or death
They do not know the end, cannot know the end
They feel blood in their ears
As the angels meander in their lace and curlers
waiting for these mortals to build stained glass beauty parlors


I am consumed by it myself
I am not far behind, my own wheels clacking on the cobblestones
Possessing me as it would thousands of years ago
A worshiper whose worship has left him wanton
I stroke back my hair in anticipation
Of my first look at the opal that has been guiding me for weeks
To her own eyes, and our own rapture

Florida: Part One

By Morty Diamond

They desire of you
All the two of you
Your love, a docile or languid one
Your soul a captive
A centaur with clipped wings
The flying creature you used to be
Around a year ago
There is a black trench coat
There is a smell of pine needles
I’m waking up in a car on the freeway smelling
What’s been covering my eyes
A bottle of drops to ease and heal
And another bottle to keep my skin purple
There is a metronome in my pot belly
There is a peppermint candy melting on my tongue
There are one or two residual pills so caustic they re-soak my spongy tissues
My right eye shorts out
I’ve never been good at standing stalk still
So in third person I went with her
Knowing I would take my leather jacket
And never see any of it again
Dozens of townships
Two bouts of diarrhea
Six mars bars
I began to see
What she had been looking at
A guy like me
With jet fuel for a heart
I was an easy passenger
Drunk on my own pain
Not so hunter/hunted as much as giver/giving
Yours becomes mine and mine became yours
Liquid, smoke, rummaging, entertaining
Two pleasures refilling in tandem
As large as grain silos
Two smears, red lips, blind passages run into each other
I was cut right down the middle
Slipped a pane of glass between the two halves
So she could see, at every step of the way
Where I was getting wet, hurt, pumping, shriveling
But then there was Florida
Florida made all the difference
Florida was the daylight
They always want your mouth in a smirk
A plain t shirt, a clean shaven face
They wailed to me ‘It’s here!’
But omnipresent danger was all I felt was ‘HERE’
Photosynthesizing
The sun yarrow colored and hazy
Blended red and blue milk shakes
I was two weeks sick
She begged me to stay on
But when I cried “I’m casting shadows!”
She waved goodbye to me
Solid and carefree
Like driving a new car off the lot

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Direct you to my loving embrace until it feels dense
Take your drums take the relief
I’m lonely older than you and in love too fast
justly so, i'm terrified of hands clutching this dour face
toward you in Hollywood kisses i take normal and justified gains
She is troubled and numbed out
He stands on northwest of her light
Young and still bad she plays a good game
young and saying so long!
nightly as bird to the moon and then tomorrows sun
Oh yes, there is another foot splayed out with thigh turned in
 they had a messy plan and
he said come meet me, it'll get me grieving
How you stomach that inner rumble
get dark reflections all around you
and still stay far from the game
Man-child unfettered
Feels no shame
Honey tongue licks those images of her
to keep them slick - a bit sweetened
he said to her i love everything
straight up everything about you
and she stood up, forcing the flowers to tilt their stamens toward her
to be basked in that gaze, however feelingless it truly was