SHALLOW MINDS, DEEP SHIT

You and I
Are quite cookoo
Or shall I say: Insane!
But what the hell,
While we still got
Hearts that beat
And brains that fizzle
(Even if our eyes
Sometimes drizzle
Tears of happy pain)
It is all the same.
We shall stand
Though our feet
Are lame
And dance
To put poor
Ambitious
Mermaids
To shame.

Manuela Cardiga

NO DEAL

I will not love you,
It is quite decided.
It is unnecessary to do so,
Do you not agree?

Nor will it suffice to satisfy,
or elicit an equal flight
Of dizzy fancy from your own heart.
You are surfeit of this. Jaded.
Love bores the erudite

Besides, if I loved you
It would be so very trite
And provincial of me;
For what value could I offer up?
Embarrassing sincerity:
Just another tawdry bauble
To display or adorn,
Tossed in a box;
Or pierced with a thorn
To hang on a wall
Beside other
Brighter offerings to your pride.

Here: you can play with my mind,
But you will from me have not a spark,
Of tremulous tenderness yielded up
Cheaply from a deeper part;
Nor have you the wherewith all
To barter for my heart.
For that…Oh that in itself is quite an art!

Would you be a dark merchant
And sit cross-legged
On some thread-bare carpet
Sifting thriftily through the bent
And sticky coins of soured dreams
And old pains?

“Oh Allah be my witness!” the man exclaims
“I have no more than this to trade!”
Thus do some seek to lower
The asking price
On one slightly used
And battered female heart.


Manuela Cardiga

GOLD FISH BELLY-DANCING IN A SNOW GLOBE

I flash enticement silver scales
Sway gold translucent tail-veils
Submerged in the glassy ocean
Eyes closed, mouth open
Blind, leaping high, kissing faith;
And it just won't matter at all:
If I fall, I fall;
If it should shatter,
I learn to crawl.

Some hand inside me or out
In the dizzy deep unclenches
Opens spilling out crystal dreams
A hand that grips the heart
Shakes me about, spinning
Dancing snow all around.

I welcome it all:
Flying high, giddy fall.
That hand may catch
Or yet another palm
Cradle that spinning globe,
Madly tumbling my world.

Let me tongue taste
Crave devour
That dizzy extremity;
Pain or ecstacy.
It is all the same,
It will not matter at all:
If I fall, I fall;
If  it should shatter,
I learn to crawl.

Manuela Cardiga

WHAT I NEED RIGHT NOW
IS ICE-CREAM
(RUM AND CHOCOLATE)

I'm sitting
In the evening train
And all around me
People do the things
That get them through
The jostling pace
From place to space.

I too have things to do.
I scribble this, and
Nibble at my pen;
Scratch and patch
At awkward verse
Bad rhyme,
Wrong tense.

I raise distance
Seeking eyes
Night reflecting
Flashing past
The dreaming face
Of one woman
Who ran out of lies.

Manuela Cardiga

LET ME FALL

If I should fall
From grace,
Promise me
Though
All the world
Abandon me
And revel
In my disgrace,
Turn you not
From me.

Look
Into my eyes
Let there be
No trace
Of steadfast duty
Or obligation
And please God,
I beg of you,
No pity.

If I should fall
From grace
And only you
Do not turn
Away
Then, love,
Believe
I need
From life
Or love
No more.

I call to them:
Let me fall!
Bright angels
Crash and burn,
But in this one place?
This one heart
I am falling into,
That one face
Welcoming me
Always?
This is grace.

Manuela Cardiga

MUZZLING MOTOR-MOUTH

We say goodnight,
And the sweet shape
Of the words curl
On my tongue.
They tremble there,
And I must choke back
The urge to let them
Spill out...

Spill out?
I want to shout!
To proclaim,
And claim from you
The very same...

But then I see
The kindness
In your eyes,
Your honest smile,
And I am struck dumb;
Imagining your
Embarrassed chagrin,
As you - incapable
Of that gentle lie -
Stood there
Unable to reply.

Manuela Cardiga

DONATING BLOOD OR IS IT LIFE

There are people
Like sinkholes
That swallow light,
And no love
Can fill, or heal,
Or alleviate
Their plight.

Oh you can pour
Yourself dry,
Drain your very heart
And still they cry
For even more,
Until - least you fall;
You must per force
Slam shut that door.

Manuela Cardiga