Sky Painting

Slightly now curve to the corner
Lightly brush along the paper
Red and orange watercolour
Bled across into each other
Making real the sun's last light there
Taking dark hues for straight edges
Night infused the trees' silhouettes
Bright sun flares on the horizon
Each night falls the same and different
Reaching out to hearts with beauty

Cotton Candy Diamond

Snow

Crystals in the air

Gathering in clouds, covering the ground

Shimmering white in the morning light, sparkling glittering,

The eyes of children bright, as they watch

Crystals gather in wisps

Clouds of sugar

Knowing Better

I get it, the moth and its dance with flame
I know I'm only hurting myself, and still
I have eyes only for the fire.

Need and want, duty and responsibility
Flick one then the other off my plain brown wings
As I flutter by my desire.

Pushing harder pushing faster, pinned
To a cork-board, beating those thin palms
Yearning but never going higher.

Bits will singe and crumble, make, for a moment
To look away. But the flickering beckons,
A dusting of soot coats this coil of wire.

Dissonance With Our Past

Rain hisses on rooftops
And rushes through the gutters
Swiftly and swirling where debris
And fallen leaves gather
Laughter is stifled inside
While raucous chatter fills the yard,
Empty now, though, for the rules
Hold the children in, these days
Puddles and play breed sickness
Of course, safety first
The height of our office towers
Now create the new sundial
Turning forever around alien streetlights
Still stone churches stand in silence
Or shouting their existence to passersby
Electronics replaced Quasimodo, and
Wedding bells are ringing
Echoing through the graveyard next-door.

Gratitude

It's a sort of shock, unexpected
But wholeheartedly accepted
A realization, once settled comfortably
Fills a glowing, growing need
To be acknowledged, understood
This warmth that sometimes leads to guilt
Or relief, And sometimes forgotten quickly
But when communicated can fulfill
Or embarrass. Sometimes it sinks in
And is known only subconsciously
Shining through smiles with unknown purpose

Hello Old Friend

The need the need
To sleep
To be unconscious
To surrender
To give up and let go
It is a strange thing
A difficult thing
Easier than thought
And wrapped up
In sheets of it

Light Rain

Clear as glass
Drawn through the needle's eye
Thousands upon thousands
Of times

Predictable and random
The sheets billowing down
Falling freely to their
Summit

Early April

Bright pounces of yellow leaves
Their light green highlighted
Jumping off the dark, wet wood
Spring growth after rain
The smell of dust and puddles
Blue skies washed
White and gray in watercolour
A chill that points to warmer days

I don't always believe what I say

All allusions allow alternate assumptions arising around awesome art.
Born beautiful, being basic, breathing becomes blocked because big bullies bind both.
Come, create.
Don't disallow doing.
Every experience enhances enchantment.
Feel freedom from frolicking, from flowering fields, from friends, from family.
Grow gratitude, grace.
Heal, hold hands, help happiness higher.
Isolate ire. 
Jump joyously!
Kill
Loathing. Let love linger, lasting lifetimes.
Meet malediction maturely.
Nothingness needles nihilistic naysayers,
Open optimism outwards. 
Perfect perception.
Question quotidian qualities.
Rouse reality!
Smile so something seems serene
Through troublesome times. Try, to
Understand.
Variety
Will welcome wonder.
Xerophyte,
Yell your youth
Zealously!

Hour Glass

Every day, given more, you have less.
The worldly weight draws down the sand
From top to bottom, one half takes
As the other gives.
Time would have you think it endless
But always the fine grains trickle softly
Through the clear funnel fashioned of glass
The crystal hardness formed through heat
Of grains not unlike those it now guides
Until the emptiness is clear to the fullness beneath
And all order is reversed. 

Spoken Song

Somebody told me the river was green
and the moss, blue
That the sky was white
The valley, so wide
As wide as the prairies under the sea
The sky tucked in corners and trees
Waiting for me to see

Sweets Shop

The scent of sweet
And sticky dust
Spun around
And through the air
The warmth of ovens
Baking, and the coolness
Of chilled displays
Serenity and smiles.

Yesterday

Today I'm filled with lead and all the world is tinted gray
The clouds above allow for light, I don't think it will fall
The rain, that is. The people look the same along the street
And in their cars the music plays, they're moving fast and slow
But words to me feel foreign now, each cut out for display
My eyes, they won't adjust though I'm aware of this my state
My shirt is greenish-blue but can't you see I'm wearing black?
A cloud of fog it clogs my chest and swims through flesh and bone
I fly away with business men and women, I assume
On holiday or work. It feels like they all know, until
I look around and still I feel ... the day is normal though
A dreamer usually I slip with ease through others' view
Today I move in this dimension though my heart is cast
In gray, a poem in perfect meter somehow without rhyme. 

Excused Absence

-I will not update for a few days, as I am flying out to be with family for the weekend. I will not have much access to computers during this visit. I will resume normal posting next week.-

One

The one who asks
In doing tells
A story for the walls
And watching eyes
As well, And every move
Creates a chaos
Swirling into motes of dust

Rows upon rows
Ordered in line
The gusting wind
Rustles dry stalks
Unheeded by closed ears
Of corn or students
Longing for something

The pieces each strive
For themselves
With little care to the workings
Around them
And yet depend upon
This cohesion of the universe
The expectation of push and pull
Infinite forces interacting

The soft fall of grain
Feathers on the wind
A whisker brushed along the length of glass
Trickle in these moments
Tall and slender
With the booming of the others
Who announce their size and manner
Loudly, In the same still tones
Of bells under water

Difficulty in Speaking

Used all the time in writing
In descriptions and accounts
A subtle, small conversion
Weighing less than just an ounce
A breath of air, a twist of tongue
To signify what has been done
How hard I never knew it was
To use the fucking past tense.

Life's choices and turns

I had plans, but then

Stuff happened. Unexpected.

The Doctor said: "RUN!"

Third Failure

oh dear
oh my
forgot again
Now let's take a deep breath
and count to ten...

Holding On

Cataloging memories before they slip away
Through the mind they slip and wind,
To settle where they may

Surfacing in wisps and thunder, piercing light of day
Others fall away and slumber,
Likely there to fade

Sadness there for time it seems will have them all unmade
To march along into the void,
Their ghostly thought parade

Opa

Backscratches at night, keep your nails a little long
Just for me
Tuck me in with a kiss, and
I love you,
Going to the lake
Show me that those prickly messy bushes
Are actually hiding blackberries
We can eat them
Don't worry about getting the ones too high
The birds love them, too
Those are for them
Find flowers by the railroad tracks
And take them home for our garden
Show me the beaver dam
Buy birdseed and show me how to feed the ducks
A long walk to see the horses
Tell me about how to be a good person
A strong person, who does good things
And makes the right choices
Making bows with sticks and strings
And stick arrows in the backyard
Find those perfect other sticks
And bend them, gently, with water in a jar
So that they hold their shape
And I can make that covered wagon for my project
Teach me care and love
Teach me respect and when I'm wrong
Show me things in nature
Point out little things that other people miss,
I see them, too.
Share culture and food
Stories and experience
Your wife does the cooking
You do the dishes
Come see my dance performances
Give me flowers
And I see the love and pride in your eyes
Share faith and the importance of gratitude
Gratefulness and understanding
Of everything we have,
We have a lot
And it's the people
The people that surround us
That makes every day
The best day ever
Two hands sharing a pocket
On a cold day without gloves
Listen to my stories and my thoughts
Explore
Go out every day in a different direction and just walk
Learn new streets and neighbourhoods
Say hello to anyone you meet
Take care of yourself because you can
For yourself, and the people you love
The other stuff's not worth losing time with them
Do what you love
And keep doing it
A hole-in-one just before you turn 90
The sense of rightness when everyone's there.
Make plans, but stuff happens
How true it is
You were supposed to make it to 100
At least
But that's us being selfish
You were ready and it was time
I miss you

Second Failure

I had plans
but then stuff happened.
Life seems to go that way, doesn't it
Always?
At 2:23 I look for the time.
I know it, and then I know
"Nooooo. I forgot."
Again.
Oh well.  sorry

Going Along

I walk along a red brick path
Leaving memories at my back
Every step I'm somewhere new
Red dust scuff marks on my shoe
Soles that darken day by day
'Till a full layer strips away
Sprouting weeds are underfoot
Some blocks wobble, some stay put
Shifting fog awaits ahead
'Till I come to find I'm d---

Here you go

I'm sorry for this pile of crap
Over here poorly worded
Over there sickening sap

Sometimes I hit a rut or two
(Or I live there, and greatness
 comes out of the blue)

Bear with me, please (Read entry 1,
 you were warned) Sometimes
I mean just to have fun

Or I want to get it out of the way
A quick cop-out, I'll put more effort
In a poem-another-day.

Bits of Stuff to Come

Under a summer sun
Slowly tinkering tottering by
Out snaps a hand to swat the fly
A lazy time in lazy heat
Rising hazy off the street
Cool-air cars rolling slow
A/C broken, windows low
At the stoplight, sweaty sheen
Waiting, begging for the green
Kids in pools and sprinklers, too
Popsicles melting into goo

Friendship and Other Forms of Love

I miss the way you'd walk with me
Every smile and glance
The jokes the deeper subjects, too
Just friends, though others
Looked askance at holding hands
And secret smiles, hours spent
As we walked miles to wait
A couple hours or more
For a class just taken because
We wanted to

And sometimes I felt a leaning
Caught by the softness in your eyes
And turning red, I wished that you
Would lean in, too
And hold me close, around the waist
And yet I couldn't let it happen
Unless I could be sure, so sure
That consequences could be faced
The awkwardness embraced, and more
Our friendship changed
Beyond the current state

And so the flirting games ensued
Not so much a game as
An intensity pursued, The heat
A warmth that called to me
Your soul, accepting more than
Anyone I know and yet
I was afraid
And unsure.


I made a choice that seemed
Right at the time
Or maybe left
Something behind now
Still I pulled it along, insistent that
I could keep hold
And I did
Sort of.
Things change

After all I learned the difficulty of knowing
Of separating and defining feelings
So much harder than even dramas depict
Because you laugh at the characters
And think their struggles silly
The choice is always obvious
And closure as the credits roll
Is felt in the way each actor filled his
Or her role. You saw the characteristics
And perhaps found the ending
Bittersweet
But until now I couldn't sympathize

Now you are with someone else
Happy, I think
And I am happy for you
I think
You will always be my friend,
And I want to always have that