Recipe for a waning moon

(Stir well with a lemonwood spoon)

A petal from a past lover
(rose or bougainvillea)
A promise with a hollow ring
The watercourse that didn’t sing
Limbs uncoupled from their ghosts
Rude and ungracious hosts
Whatever’s dammed if it is
or damned if it isn’t
A bag of tricks and trawls
Close and unwanted calls
All that is putrid and rotten
Days that are best forgotten
The look that withered away
Four teaspoons of dismay
Five runes I do not understand
Brittle bones in a shaken hand
A pinch of treacherous impulse
Loathsome habits that repulse
Worrisome words that curl inside
Uncertainty that churns the bride
A kalpis of unbidden spite
A giant keeve of dying light
A bundle of figments to burn
Leaves from my heart about to turn

(First published in Black Poppy Review, May 6th, 2015)