time beckons me
sleepy
reluctant
holding onto some plan
outlandish and irrevocable
I saunter forward
time beckons me
as it repeatedly has
encompassing my senses and my wherewithal
I’ll end up somewhere eventually
I have a pretty good idea where
sleepy
reluctant
holding onto some plan
outlandish and irrevocable
I saunter forward
time beckons me
as it repeatedly has
encompassing my senses and my wherewithal
I’ll end up somewhere eventually
I have a pretty good idea where
Let’s lounge in our nest
watch Disney
all day
with Striped Blankie
Settle in Snoozlers
burrow beside me
Silky soft feather heads
petted & purring
at sunset
This morning they chirp
about college
& driving
After the first snuggler
flies
Two more will flee
fluttering out the door
Wings kicking up
dust
With me watching
eagle-eyed
for the rovers return
unruffled, awaiting
a new generation
fledgling snugglers.
Next year I will be done,
she says to herself,
down the dark, rain-slick road,
but there is a pair of eyes,
another pair of eyes,
filling up the space behind curtains,
around a corner,
across a shop,
and before they give a whisper
she knows their trouble
There was a snake
in the yard today.
My husband ran over it
accidentally
when he mowed.
It sliced open
its belly revealing
the bodies
of two mice
it had eaten
before its end.
Its skin glistened
in hot afternoon
sun where
we examined
the damage.
A copperhead
beside the
greenhouse where
our barefoot kids
often play
picking clover
flowers
or catching
lightning bugs.
I spent too much
time afterward
thinking
about how it
could have
all played out
differently,
how a hidden
snake in tall grass
this humid
summer day
could change
our family’s
world with
one swift bite,
how even if the
venom didn’t kill,
risking exposure to
this virus at the
hospital very
well could.
The stakes are
higher now.
I hold my breath.
But then, I spend
too much time
thinking about how
everything
could have gone
differently
these days.
one more time
there goes the fire
detector. a chirp of
some bird enough
to make my cat
alarmed, though
not afraid, for it
does not sing
like the ones
outside in the
shadows of leaves
bouncing on wire
flashing its wings
doing enough to tease
to run up and make it quiet
his neck in her teeth
What do you have to offer
but a question to the night?
Stars and karma sit and laugh
Consequence can make you cry
Intentions end in sadness
when attention isn’t watched
Victim guilt, never hapless
Jury’s verdict never botched
Sprint until you stumble
They’ll tell you life ain’t a race
Sprint until you buckle
Get back up and join the chase
Sprint until you shudder
Sprint until you fight
Pay no mind to hidden whispers
Secrets of the night
What do you have to offer
but confessions to the lies?
A concession stand selling facts
but there still won’t be a line
Choosy world, don’t be a beggar,
there’s billions hungry too
Titled axis, we’re top heavy
Flooded hate is bleeding through
Sprint until you stumble…
What do you have to offer
but a meaning to your name?
Disguised happy faces
reflect mirrors showing pain
Shower fog is scripted,
writing what you want to hear
Watercolor image
of the things that cause us fear
In all the stars we can see
I heard the universe say
“Never steal and never borrow
The same things fade away…
Today will soon perish
Don’t wait too late to start
To find our life’s decryption
use what’s written in the stars”
Sprint away and toss the brakes,
risk the day and roll the dice
It may be worse for us to know
but better for us to die
Everyday, a chance to yearn
All the days take a toll
Is this life really worth a dime?
Pay and drive it just to know
Sprint until you stumble
They’ll tell you life ain’t a race
Sprint until you buckle
Get back up and join the chase
Sprint until you shudder
Sprint until you fight
Pay no mind to hidden whispers
Secrets of the night
I gladly remember you wore tan slacks and a green halter top the time I brought you a single rose, it’s petals as red as your lips after we kissed. We weren’t lovers yet, there hadn’t been time, but I recall the almost accidental evening we corrected that, the white negligee you put on later, looking at me in the mirror as you lit a cigarette I envied.
And I conjure images of more time filled with more good things, until I recollect you saying we had no future, now conveniently forgetting why, and why I took your word. I still can see us kissing, but you’re not completely there.
I am with a man
who loves me
gently,
wholly.
I want to melt into
him,
be soft,
malleable.
Instead I feel
rigid,
trapped
like an animal in a
cage.
how long do you think
it will take
until I can become
free?
It’s 9 hours to the coast
we could dip out on a Friday
after that time clock calls it quits
and sail on concrete ribbons
all the way to Carolina
and be dancing a jagged waltz
in saltwater up to our knees
putting the moon to bed
spinning you around
in time to wake the sun up
and watch her stretch
back into shape and play witness
to this moment
When you wake because you can’t sleep anymore;
When you rest because you don’t want to wake.
With the metal man at your back;
Nearly knocks you off your feet.
Just so you can feel down,
Everyone seems to know what think you cannot grasp,
And you always come straight back.
Gonna stop on a high,
The biggest lie is told when they say I told you so.
Worthwhile ambitions,
For a body soon worthless.
Self esteem is such a funny thing, you know.
Just surviving, seems as pointless as a war between the sun and moon.
Awash in a sea, where dreams are spent;
Teetotal, you’re no better than that.
You know me well enough,
For me to not be anything but ashamed.
Beneath that veneer is a half smile,
That holds up a frame.
Cannot cry aloud when I feel helpless,
Can only moan when letting go.
The glass coffin,
The plastic body;
The burn and accelerant.
Naivety is what makes us;
I’m reborn every day.
Every time I drop my hands,
And every time a bottle breaks.
The little prayer, the little peace;
Is as fruitless as a deaf congregation.
To just survive is more pointless,
Than a war between the sun and the moon.
Sometimes you’re just not what you need to be;
You know me well enough to show some shame.
When you wake because someone needs you;
When you rest because you’re no longer needed.
To do anything else, is as pointless as a war between the sun and moon
