A Declaration Made In Winter

She disappeared in December

Like a cat that no one ever fed

Winter calmed her in a way that drugs could not

She walked with apparitions

A ghost

Lost in drifts of snow

The first known photographs

Are like faded dreams  images of generals 
Dead presidents  mountains

Or an ocean

Hidden in the clouds

Of a descending fog

In spring  a ruby throated hummingbird

(In white) hovers above a bloom

I see it now

A promise made in a cold month

A declaration of peace 
Made at the end of a war  a wish  a kind of hope

The Cat, Charles Baudelaire (Translated by Will James)

Come, my beauty, into the chambers of my heart;

Holster the talons of your paws

And permit me to plunge into the glittering

And silver linings of your eyes.

Let my fingers caress you from the top

Of your head to the arch of your back;
And when my hand tingles

From the static shock of your fur,

I shall see the ghost of my mistress. 
Her gaze (like yours, my pet) is cold and deep, 
Like a dagger that cuts and cleaves;

And from the fount of her dark body,
From her head to her feet,

A fragrance floats, a dangerous nectar.

Le Chat

Viens, mon beau chat, sur mon coeur amoureux;
Retiens les griffes de ta patte,
Et laisse-moi plonger dans tes beaux yeux,
Mêlés de métal et d'agate.

Lorsque mes doigts caressent à loisir
Ta tête et ton dos élastique,
Et que ma main s'enivre du plaisir
De palper ton corps électrique,

Je vois ma femme en esprit. Son regard,
Comme le tien, aimable bête
Profond et froid, coupe et fend comme un dard,

Et, des pieds jusques à la tête,
Un air subtil, un dangereux parfum
Nagent autour de son corps brun.

— Charles Baudelaire

A Blue Christmas

Matt Lauer moves into an empty house

without walls or windows

and fills it with rumors and tabloid headlines.

He looks into a dark mirror and does not speak.

Blackbirds perch in the trees outside

and squawk and chatter amongst themselves.  

A TV anchor sits in front of a map

of the United States highlighted in blue

as Brian Ross falsely reports that Michael Flynn

agrees to testify that candidate Trump

directed Flynn to make contact

with the Russians.

Charles Manson dies.

His son opens a GoFundMe account

to pay for the funeral expenses.

A war criminal poisons himself in court.

Wisdom shines and never fades

but not here and not now.