Monday, December 20, 2021

Stealing the Future from the Past.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Move forward into your fear
and through it.

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Where Do We Begin

Where does a body begin?
Is it in the hands?
The fingertips?
Is it in the color of the eyes?
Does it begin
in the rumblings of the stomach?
Is it between the legs?
Is it in the tips of the toes?
Is it in the tastes of the tongue?
Is it in the lips
or in between?
If the lights go out
in the windows
then you know
that is where
the body ends.

Saturday, December 4, 2021

In The Jungles of Home

I feel more heartbroken and sad
now than I have in many years.
I don't particularly feel like being
myself right now. I just want 
to be alone, to be quiet and feel
the sadness rising like a wave.
What I feel seems like it would be
paltry compared to the grief of others.
Grief is grief. It sits like an uninvited
guest who never really leaves.

Monday, November 22, 2021

The Selves

It's best I've changed.
I've been a fool 
for most of my days.
I shouldn't feel embarrassed
because it's fading 
into the distance
of the rearview mirror.
I'll make new mistakes
but they'll be better mistakes.
Of that I am sure. 
How do the trees feel
year after year,
season after season?
Are they ready for the winter?
Are they longing for spring?
They are no fools.
They are obedient
only to themselves. 

Unified

How do you define the abstract?

Peace.

Such a monumental word!
So much contained
within five letters.
An endless goal
for countries and self.
Is it quiet?
Is it stillness?
Is it a stoic mind?

Peace.

What image is in your mind?

Sitting on the sand
as the waves come and go.
A stray seagull flying by.
The great yolk
falling into the sea.

Wars have been waged for peace.
Almost all ended unsuccessfully.

Are you a bodhisattva?
Are you a Saint?
Are you an enlightened atheist?

Can I tell you a secret?

There is no division between us.
There never has been.

POV

Who is the eye
which sees?
Who is the you
which sees?
Who is the I
which is me?
Who is the you
between us?
Who who who
is asked endlessly.
Who I was
is not who you were,
who you were
is not who I am.
The who and why
is always the question.
The answer is always
subject to change
without notice.

Telescope

That which was bound 
becomes un.
Condensed matter
scattered
into infinite expanse
ever expanding,
bringing light
to the far corners
of infinity.
Pale blue,
swirls of white,
smears of green,
smudges of brown.
Skeletal arms
held in place,
reddish brown
leaves
stubbornly cling.
A lonely being
still clothed
before
the snow.



Thursday, November 11, 2021

The Reason

This has always been
to ease my mind
to ease my heart
of worry
and dread
to lay my fears
and insecurities bare
to see them before me
in words so plain
to let myself
feel the pain
to let myself 
move on
to live on
and feel
a measure of joy
to feel the sun 
on my face
in November

Cuts

If I cut myself open
will you love me more?

How many secrets,
how much truth
do you want from me?

Will you take the blade
and press it to your belly?

Steady your hand.
Let me give you mine.
There is no special wisdom in my words
I hope that's not why you're here

I remember what it is to hold on and let go

I'm learning still and it will always be this way



Unsentimental

I love you
You are unsentimental
but it's only an act
You love me too

On these cold nights
beneath blankets
your head nestled 
on my shoulder
your hand resting
over my beating heart

There is peace 
between us 
in our imperfection

It wasn't always this way
But it is now
and for as long
as love can endure

The Speaker

I speak to myself
Make promises
Make wishes
Say dreams 
and ambitions
Fears and uncertainties
The voice is always speaking
and I can never 
get a word in edgewise
I have always been this way
What can I do
but listen
and hope I can learn
something
from myself
from the world
I find myself in

Twelve Years

When you said it had been
twelve years
my disbelief covered me
in anxiety.
Had it really been that long?
Had that many years
passed between our lives?
It took me only a moment
to realize you were right.
So many of those years
I spent unknowingly 
lost in the cloud of my life.
My pursuits and ambitions
got the best of me
and pushed me 
to the edge of the canyon.
I had to learn to make peace
with life.
I had to learn to make peace
with myself.
I am a student
and always will.
When I look at the pictures
of the two of us
I feel as old as I look.
You look as though
a portrait of you hangs
hidden in an attic.
You told me 
you feel your age.
That when you smile
the crows feet appear
and I wonder how 
they ever tread 
upon your face.
You said your daughter
would be at home here-
the place we both grew up.
I could see you fully in her.
I know you're right.
I told you to come back.
Come back home
and let your daughter
reach her hand to the moon
and hold it with all her might.

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Home is the Destination

I spent too many years
escaping home
escaping myself
like water
from hydrant
pouring into 
the streets of the city
on a hot summer day

Nights and years
became a movie without end
Plunging deeper 
into the work
into the drink
into anything
that kept me
from staying still
for too long

She is sleeping next to me
and I am here
remembering
writing
and knowing
there is no other place
I'd rather be
That this is where
I am and where
I long to be

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Pause

Dreaming of a future yet known

push aside hesitation-

embrace the path ahead 

This way and that- 

always a fork in the road


The answer is obvious 
except when it isn't.

If you are ready to move forward
then direction doesn't matter

as long as the feet are able
and willing 

Friday, October 1, 2021

Human

The body
The center of existence
The home of Moon and Sun
The place of Light and Darkness
The interface
The ground of the soul
The shelter and the storm
The subject of art
The prison
The corporeal universe
The subjective truth 
The joy of life
The senses
The coffin
The animal
The scholar
The dying
The wizened
The fool
The cage

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Changling

I have changed because 
the day has changed 
I have changed because 
the week has changed 
I have changed because 
the month has changed 
I have changed because 
the year has changed 
I have changed because 
the decade has changed 
I have changed because 
the world has changed 
I have changed because 
my heartbeat compels me
I am changing because 
life is changing 


Saturday, August 14, 2021

Liminal Space

How often do we find ourselves
caught between worlds?

In this liminal space
what do we choose to do?

Will you open your eyes 
and see the stars surrounding you-

their light beautiful and blinding.

the rain stops for a while
as the clouds grow pregnant once more

Friday, August 13, 2021

Gripping

Do your hands ever get tired
from gripping and holding on
so tightly

How the joints ache and 
the hands cramp and 
sweat greases the palms

When is enough

When do the fingers know
when to let go

Advice on Dam Building

All the meaning you have created
All that you hold in and hold back
Be ready for the time
when it will need to emerge
and God help
whoever may be there

Good Luck

If you are trying to live
good luck
If you are trying to find meaning
good luck
If you are looking for love
good luck
If you are hungry
good luck
If you are overeducated
good luck
If you are tired
good luck
If you unlucky
good luck
If you are awake
good luck
If you are human
good luck
If you are reading this
good luck
If you are writing this
good luck
you need it the most 

Volumes

Between now and tomorrow
is the whole of human existence

Memories become words

Soon the page 
becomes life

and continues
volume after
volume

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Invitation

Hiding behind the fence 
I cannot be found

Come inside 
to the living room

to the kitchen

to the bedroom

no one will know
unless you want them to

Saturday, July 31, 2021

The Travelers

I see his shadowy form walk through the door.
He takes off his shoes, sets down the object 
in his hands against a wall, and pulls the hood
down from his head. He sits. 

"Are you in a hurry?" I ask.
"No. We have plenty of time." he says.
"That's good." I say.

We sit in silence. 
I look out the window and see 
the clouds shifting across the sky.
He's watching them as well.

"In all my years I've never grown tired
of watching the clouds move and change
shapes. They're perfect in endless variations." he says.

"I know." I say.

The light begins to fade.
He looks at the sky and the slow descent of the sun.
Our eyes meet.

"Let's wait just a little longer. I want to see the sunset." I say.

"Im not in a hurry. I can tell this will be 
a beautiful sunset." he says. 

We watch the light fade into pastels brushed upon the sky.
I can't help but smile.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He says.

I nod.

"Do you think you're ready?"

"Yes."

"I need you to take my hand and then close your eyes." he says.

He stands up and comes next to the bed.
His walk is effortless and calm.
His face looks down at me with a slight smile.
I watch his right hand reach out to me.
My arm feels so heavy and weak.
Our fingers touch.

I close me eyes. 

Condemned

Memories are falling off the shelf
They land on the floor
dented or broken
Looking in the two open windows
it's easy to see a light still burning
though it is dimming
A miracle is 
this house still standing
after so many years
It's condemned
but won't go down
until the wrecking crew arrives

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Future Ghost

A ghost of my future self
Carrying a burden
On my back
Cord of wood
Splinters piercing skin
Digging in
Digging in 
Bear it well 
Blood dots sweating skin
Don't let salvation in 
Stubborn man
Don't know what's good for you 
Don't know how to give up
Let your knees buckle 
That's what you have always done 

Monday, June 21, 2021

Present Tense

To live with uncertainty is a certainty of life.
We reconcile this uneasily
but we move forward nonetheless.

My ears are ringing and 
I listen to them for a few moments
before I fall asleep at night.
It's nothing more than a steady reminder
of years spent in the presence of loud
and cathartic music
both as performer and spectator.
Recently I have been wondering
how much more I may have to give
as a performer. I feel uncertain
and that is a new feeling 
with this passion. 
I am learning to be ok with
not knowing.
Mystery must not be extinguished.
It must be left in the margins to exist.
A world where all is known is no world
for imagination. 

I move forward with my feet.
I may be unsure of the path
but I must trust them.

Sunday, June 20, 2021

One Moment

I must remember to be grateful
for this gift
Even in joy and sorrow
This is the gift
This moment
Fleeting and
eternal

Saturday, June 19, 2021

The Point

Careening towards the future
is all we ever do
Trajectory can be adjusted
The destination is unchanged
Make sense of this life
this world
Choice defines us
The end gives meaning
The journey is the point

Obscured

The years are only as real as you want them to be.
Do you remember being a child
walking through the apartment
while mother was in the kitchen 
and father had yet to arrive from work?
Our memories accrue with each moment
and yet so much goes unremembered,
forgotten until the jar is shaken up.
Father would take you to the airport
and park nearby so the two of you
could watch the planes flying in.
Behemoths soaring across the sky,
touching down in the near distance.
Years later a few miles away
you would be sitting in your car
trying to pull your pants up
as she straightened herself 
as a cop shined his flashlight
into your window 
on an anonymous night.
Waves crashing on the darkened shore.
Moonlight obscured by the clouds.

Friday, June 18, 2021

Uncertainty

Maybe you'll be the one to unite the tribes
and overthrow the yoke
Maybe you'll be standing in front
of a burning city hall
as you and your followers 
move to the next target
on this mission of liberation
Maybe you'll forget
to turn off the kitchen lights
before going to sleep tonight
Maybe you'll live comfortably
in modest luxury
in a small home in rural Mexico
Maybe you'll write the slogans
chanted by thousands
and printed from now
to the end of time
in the struggle against 
our lesser angels
Maybe you'll forget 
to clock in to work
on your first day back
after a two week vacation
Maybe you'll get married
and be content with 
a quiet life in your very own
suburban home
Maybe you'll fall asleep at the wheel
and survive an accident
that should have killed you
Maybe you'll give it all up
and join a Buddhist monastery
in pursuit of nirvana
Maybe you've reached
the end of the poem

Monday, June 14, 2021

Fallen from the tree
Carried along by the wind
Autumn comes early



Saturday, May 8, 2021

Living in silence
Heartbeat thundering within
Quiet illusions

News

The deaths began long ago
but now they are appropriate for our age

I am uneasy when I receive calls from friends
I haven't spoke to in a while

I am suspicious and worried
I long to think it is merely to catch up 

When she called today I felt uneasy

My suspicions were confirmed 
when I arrived home

This is how news travels
How it spreads

from one person to another

Now what


We'll meet again in the place where there is no darkness

Moving through shadows in the forest
Feet touching pavement and trash

Walking to a home that no longer exists
Struggling to find a dead brother

The journey is over 
and now 

peace of one kind
or another is here

The last time 
was not particularly special 

now it is the period 
to the sentence we spoke




Saturday, April 24, 2021

Proclamation

Oh Heart
How you beat

stirring 
the tenderness
I tried to kill

Let the beating
of your chambers
be the rhythm
proclaiming life

Night of the Cross

Inelegant sounds of the body
escaping into the night

Wide awake and listening
I cannot sleep

I leave her be
I'm just as guilty 

How did a year get stolen
so easily

How quickly everything
fell apart 

I almost killed myself

in the slow motion way
too many get caught up in

I stopped
but wonder

what would be
if I kept going

The only bottle I crave
is the European mineral water

I buy by the case

I could fall apart so easily 
once more

The thin line between 
order and disorder

could fit through the eye
of a needle

I'm tired but don't wish 
to give in

to peace

I wish to sit here
and languish

and crucify myself
to the cross of my past

Iron nails caked 
with dried crimson

My side pierced
with your spear



Thursday, April 1, 2021

words caught in my throat
fingers pluck them easily
sets them down on white

Between Queens and Somers

Rain pummels the windshield.
Night has fallen heavily.
White lines marking blacktop.
Uneasy focus.
Straining vision.
Who knows what time it is
as the road curves.

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

It Might As Well Be Spring

Chirp chirp

    Chirp chirp

I take a sip of tea

Chirp chirp

I turn my head 
and see nothing

A moment passes

Chirp chirp

I walk to the window

Bare tree branches

Finally

I see her

Twig in beak

Moving branch

to branch

Chirp chirp

   Chirp chirp  

Monday, March 29, 2021

A Little Bit

Hold on to that bit of sanity

hanging back there in the closet

You never know when

you will need it

but you will

and you will be 

very glad 

you have it 

when the time comes

Moment Remembered

Old family pictures frame memories
I don't remember living.

Sky blue 1982 Monte Carlo was
the family car 

                       when I was growing up. 

Sitting on the trunk of the car in jeans 
and a long sleeve button up shirt

while my father wears a tank top 
that matches the car

as he leans into me and rests 
his right arm.

We could never be that young
again. 

A Bore

I have to tell myself 
I'm a good person.
It doesn't always
come easy to me. 
I feel the weight
of my weaknesses
and mistakes 
all too often.
At times it gets to me.
This was a problem
in the past that I am
still working through.
This poem is boring
and for that I apologize.
I am not here to 
mythologize myself.
The drunkenness
is nothing worth 
exploiting for gain.
A quiet and still mind
is more focused. 
This is where I am
and where I wish to be.

Ordinariness

 The more I search for work the more I realize I do not wish to place myself
into the position so many of us are forced to. Trading our lives for comfort 
and survival in a system that makes us handily expendable. Salvation does 
not come from an external force, it must be one created and willed. 

The crisis I have felt within myself has been that of a search for purpose. I have
defined that purpose by wanting to do something to create change and good.
I do not know if this will be a means to my own salvation but it is as good of an 
answer as I have ever been able to come up with. The path this places me on will 
be one that will consume my life for the better part of the next few years. I am 38
years old. I will realistically be no younger than 41 in a new profession if things 
all manage to work successfully towards that end. I feel so old and so young. I can
only move forward even as I look back and reflect at the time that has gone behind.

The coffee helps. It is not killing me, unlike old habits I indulged in. 

I watch my nieces grow up and the time is running wild and quick. 
They will remember me in the way I am now. This is the image they will have
of me, much as how I will always remember my parents from my childhood. 

Looking into the fields and seeing the grazing deer, what was that feeling?

The green grapes were fresh and juicy. There was a slight crunch in the coolness
of their taste. Simple pleasures that were once the heigh of decadence and luxury.

Alive but unsettled. Thinking but breathing. Living and sitting still.
Sitting still and moving through existence. Alive but never born.
Emerging into this world. 
 

Reset

Tea first thing
instead of coffee
just once
on this day
A changed ritual
in a different place
Sleep is a ghost
dragging itself
haphazardly
through
consciousness
A sore right foot
aching steps
Wind moving
through skeletal
fingers outside
Buds not ready 
to bloom
patiently
waiting their turn

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

A Life In Cinema

I remember my childhood in bits and pieces
As though it were a puzzle to be assembled

Isolated moments frozen and separated 
from the rest of the narrative

Sitting on the floor of an apartment 
soft carpet on my legs
pencil in one hand
scrawling lines on a saltine cracker
which I promptly ate
only to have my mother
walk in horrified 
and take both away

A large classroom filled with students
my parents among them
with me in tow
Too young and poor
to have anyone look after me
Everyone striving to learn
a tongue foreign to theirs
How old was I

Meeting my grandparents
my father's parents
Being in their home
in rural Mexico
Seeing the vast depth of a well
Watching Abuela raise a bucket
of fresh water to heat over the fire
for me to bathe in

Being in my grandparents house
and seeing a thatched roof
filled with rows of deer skulls
from my Abuelo hunting 
to provide food
for his wife and eight children

Scenes missing from the film
implying the whole

An ongoing story
with characters coming and going
Playing my part as best I can
Trying to not forget 
what I have seen 
what has been lived


What Morning Is This?

There is nothing normal here. We believe there is normal
but it's really just a matter of what we are used to. Then 
again that's what people who are trying to justify horrible
behavior would say. It has been more than a year since 
abnormal took hold of what we had been used to. In that 
time we have lamented the loss of our lives and the old 
way of doing things. 

I have struggled with myself. I have let myself feed the 
darker parts of my nature, only to turn back on them 
to save myself. I am doing better. I am closer to whole.
The honesty of looking at myself with open eyes is often
difficult. Have I wasted time? Have I wasted the time of 
others? Have I dedicated myself to meaningless pursuits?
Given a chance would I numb myself to the point of self
immolation? At times I feel like a failure, a fraud. This 
light is not flattering. 

At heart I cannot allow myself to remain in the darkness.

I feel the warmth of the sun on my skin and the wind in 
my hair and feel that this is where and when I need to be. 

I do not know how far this path goes or how many days
are ahead. I must push onward. I have too much faith.

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Kitchen Table

Blooming tulip
Petals spreading
Stemmed body 
held gently
in a milk bottle
Garbage bins 
sit outside the 
kitchen window
filling vast bellies
She is sleeping
in the bedroom
as afternoon
turns to evening

Monday, March 8, 2021

No Birth

Before the dawning light of life

Gestating in amniotic amnesia

Diving in place

Tethered

Feeding

Growing

Then

at last

emerging

from nature

Gasping

Crying out

A door opened

Saturday, March 6, 2021

.Live with an open and honest heart

but always be ready to defend it.

Friday, March 5, 2021

The Gift

Memories are a beautiful place
I like to visit from time to time
to admire the view

Sunlight bursting through leaves
and ocean salt filling my nose
Present presence is a gift
I must give myself
however.

Now is the eternal gift.

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Photo Album

Call it home
or whatever you like
looking through
fading photograph
memories
Eternal youth
frozen in amber
gleaming bright
Alive
so very
very alive

Friday, February 12, 2021

Pyrrhic

 The losses are as devastating as ever when I remember them. The loss of those you loved, whether to death or disinterest, never ceases to cause an ache in the flesh. How to move on? Slowly with measured steps. Treading as carefully as needed until the feet can move at a walk, and finally, at a run. Peaks and valleys that only I can remember and see. I chose to eschew words and let the tide of memory wash over me. It is as it should be. A story in chapters told word by word, sentence by sentence, until at last the thought is exhausted. 

Get up
get up
get up
get on 
with 
what
you need
to do

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Grasp

My life is no longer my own.
I wish to be here for those I love.
I wish to be here for as long as I can manage.
I will fight to hold on to the gift
I will grasp it in my fists
I will  

Monday, February 8, 2021

Thursday Morning (February)

Taking a swig
from the green bottle
I've left it behind
Sparkling and clear
Flowing down my throat

I've fucked it up again
Yet you still forgive
I didn't mean it
to be this way
It's still happening

We've survived so far
A world caught in twilight
Moonlight drowning
the world in sleep
Waiting for embers
once again

Monday, February 1, 2021

Genesis

Are you there?
Are you ready to listen?
I have something for you.
You must be careful.
I need you to write this down
carefully. 
I mean it.
I know you're not ready
but this can't wait.
It won't wait.
This has to be now
or it will never come again.
In the beginning...

After Mary

A home you can never leave
A world that must be imagined
Lives caught in loops

Trim the fat from the meat
Save it like grandmother did

Cutting away
reveals the worth hidden

Use everything
Tell no one

Show them 

Honey Bee

How do you know
when to find me?

When to reach out
untethered

bound by 
invisible threads

and memories



Sailors

Sun collapsing into itself
Luminous and finite
Light has not gone
from this place
Beacons dot
the darkness
Sail home

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Boundless

I hear myself within the sounds e c h o i n g through the Earth.
I am of the Earth when my fingers touch the leaves of the trees.
I am the son of a Mother with children in every possible form.
When I close my eyes and dream I become one with existence.
Boundless, 

                   infinite, 

                                 I travel beyond 


any imagined boundary.


In this Moment

It's too easy to be lost in the minutiae.
Pull back and look around 
for just a moment

I wonder from time to time
about the paths I considered as a younger man
I recall the desire to explore the possibilities 
of joining the priesthood 
when I was in junior high
 
Sitting at my desk writing
Listening to the worship music of
Turiyasangitananda
and eating a chocolate covered wafer

The stanzas are barely stanzas
and I don't care

What matters is now
Me here with myself
You here with me

This is how it will always be
It is how it has always been

All moments existing at once

Blessed Are The Stewards

You are blessed with time
You are blessed with life
Choose meaning for yourself

What has been told
What has been done
What have your eyes seen

Child of Earth
Child of God
Become the steward


Monday, January 25, 2021

Nonsense

It makes sense until it doesn't make sense
When it doesn't make sense 
you'll wonder why it's like that
and what to do about it
Then it happens again
and you're left wondering 
again and again 
at the whole of everything
and how it could possibly be like this
but you can't dwell on it
but your mind is tied to reason
and doesn't want to let this go
so on and on it goes
gaining speed inside your mind
until finally you throw 
your hands into the air
and let out an exasperated sigh
and go about your day
because there isn't much
to be done about it anyway

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Oceans

There are no winds 
in our sails
yet still
we move
Don't pretend 
It doesn't suit your eyes
You tell the truth
through indirect means
Staring us in the face
looking back
meeting the gaze
Karma comes home 
to roost

Friday, January 22, 2021

Endless Finite

Everything is as true as we want it to be
Survive beyond the outer reaches of our infirmity 
Struggle bound to the marrow
Leave your bones unbroken

Tiredness Weariness seeps within
No time for surrendering  
Dig deeper Darling

Students of this twilight art
No masters among ourselves
Asking questions like Socrates did

If I were an albatross gliding 
upon invisible waves
I'd be content
in the endless finite



Make it obvious if you wish
Cloud it in black mists
Hide it whatever way
seems best


I'm tired
I've been tired
and it feels 
like an endless day
and night
of exhaustion
A marathon
with no beginning
middle or end
I hunker down
I try and wait it out
It must have 
greater patience
than I ever could

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

A Turning of Seasons

How slowly the world moved
as a child in the classroom
moments before the bell rang
freeing you for a season

Luxuriating in the days 
of your youth 
Freedom of the purest kind

Hiding and seeking 
Chasing each other
around the neighborhood

Cars in the street driving by
never bothering to slow
Be careful your mother said

One afternoon
a smear of crimson
on the asphalt

Summer turned to Fall

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

All the Angels in the Heavens

All the angels are looking down
watching over us
wondering where 
it all went so wrong
Their fates are their own
some of them say
We should intervene
and show them the way
say the others
Yes but they are so stubborn
and will rarely listen
say yet others
What is to be done?
They look towards the Father
and he looks back
in silence.
I can hear the voices down the hall. They are coming for me.
There is no more time for fear. This was unavoidable.
Now the inevitable must be faced. Hard rubber soles 
amplified on a stone floor. Murmurs. Measured pacing.
They have found the door. The furniture is barricading it.
I have moments. This is it. That's all there is to it. 

Sunday, January 10, 2021

We are no better than who we were as a species several hundred years ago.
Our base nature is unchanged. Technology, shifts in culture, these are cosmetic 
differences that are merely new paint on old walls. 


Friday, January 8, 2021

Godly

I see you
I see the pictures of you
    smiling beautifully
    looking into the camera on your phone
You might be at home
    or at the park
    or shopping for groceries
You are squeezing your husband tight
Smiling
    that beautiful gleaming 
    white smile
Your children are beautiful
Happy
Laughing
Seeing the world in your eyes
Living that comfortable
suburban life
in a quiet neighborhood
with too many bored police
So Godly
So good
A saint by any other name
There's been a fly in your home
Your youth was a delight
You never had any doubt
    you would be a mother
It was all you ever wanted
You don't talk about politics
    but it's not for lack of interest
People wouldn't like who you support
They'd judge you
They would look down on you
They'd abhor the thought
    someone so good and kind
    could support such a man
Such a man
Godly
    isn't he
A strong man
A strong man standing up
    to speak for the common man
A strong man with simple words
    even a halfwit could understand
He's a good man
A good man
You're a good woman
A good mom
A good daughter
    even though your mother was a drunk
A good sister
A good friend
Godly
Goodly
You don't need to care 
    what anyone like me thinks of you
It doesn't matter to you
It doesn't change the happiness in your life
It doesn't matter what the mobs are doing
    what the mobs are thinking
    listening to such a good man
Such a Godly man
You let someone else's words speak for you
That your eyes are
OPEN
even though you're half blind
You're a good woman
A Godly woman
God loves you
He'll look after your family
The mobs will never be at your door
In your car
driving down the highway
waving the flag
honking the horn
letting the world know
you're a good woman
a Godly woman
and no one is going to convince you
otherwise

The flowers are forgetting 

what you told them 

to remember.

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Days of Ringing Bells

Listening to silence
flow peacefully from lips
so used to speaking
of their rightness
and righteousness
Death and disorder
are reality
A ringing bell echoes
until a crack 
appears 
and tears it 
asunder

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

 If I couldn't change I'd be dead already


Days and months stolen from us 
A heist of the only thing of real value

History made
Decency laid waste

Monday, January 4, 2021

Drowned

I find myself at water's edge
in a city that is always drowning

Your reflection is in the water
though you have long left

I reach down and touch a stone
smoothed over from the tides

A familiar weight grasps 
my fingers

I hear whispers
and feel only wind


If This Is Now Then So Are We

Endlessly waiting for a day 
of blooms 

Caught in antiquated modes

My finger cracks at a joint
A sign of invisible distance

She is sleeping 
and I am listening
as I wait 
for the room to warm

Time passes and never ages
Perhaps merely an illusion

This moment is here
It is here now 
for you


Saturday, January 2, 2021

Waiting for the moment

It never comes

until it does

and then

how does one know

Friday, January 1, 2021

The First

The fireworks have long since been silenced

A new day long turned to evening

New firsts become experience

I wonder what comes next

I wonder if it matters

Would I change anything

if I knew the future

Would I remain here

waiting for a sign