in the armory
looking for anything but an axe to grind
my parents told me I wasn’t enough
and I’m just supposed to magically believe something different now.
they were unreliable narrators the whole time.
I have to learn to trust my own perspective
Your invisible hands snake around my throat,
And I begin to choke on words left unspoken.
They’re still there, tingling burning the end of my tongue.
You know the moment my words slither out
Is the moment it’s over.
I spent two and a half hours
conversing with a former student
about school and art.
We spoke of spirituality,
Number the Stars, the
importance of a smile.
She recalled class pets,
children with hamsters
sleeping in the pockets.
Her memory of being validated,
of knowing she was seen,
of knowing that her thoughts
and feelings were important,
led her to reach out to me
to ask for my input
about writing for her future.
I am honored and humbled
to be a positive memory,
a guiding influence
in the heart of this beautiful
human being I once taught.
6/11/2024
KW
Sagging walls and dust encrusted figures of my life,
Sweet smelling greenery, painted poems,
Drapery gluts sprung from the need to have
so much diversity
I hope it all pleases you,
This thinly stretched appreciation
I only care for you all so well,
Some of you sit unused
trickled down in to un-trod spaces
Moss covered, bramble netted
Dim hollow places
inside a moist log-
full of wondering or woeity
can’t solve these problems
of unhappiness in the world
though we do feel it so intensely-
It’s about time I knew what to do with you
But until then, wait for me after the fair
Wait as I take my fling
off to the next thing
Will I see you one day
unearth your opulence
Or care enough to
release you
wondering was it enough?
Until then,
keep waiting
with the day’s end
a dark evening before the stars
lying in the hammock
going over the failures and missed
opportunities to be a better father
trying to guess the next right answer
I look across the yard
to see my wife
framed in the sliding glass doors
as she looks out at me
fireflies lilt upward between us
I don’t have to see her face
to know she is lovely
The first time I walked in the rain
Without fear of getting wet
Was the day I realized
My skin would dry
That the rain would not be a hindrance
I would not be destroyed by the droplets
Nothing would be ruined
My day would continue as normal
Maybe I would feel renewed from the sky
Maybe I could change my outlook
No longer cloudy days
But maybe hints of sunshine
And even if rain would arrive again
No fear would arise
From the possibility of getting wet
Pace Fidget Spit Wipe
Scratch Adjust Look-in Shake-off
JUST THROW THE DAMN BALL
dad says there was good money
in newspapers around the coal camp
they’d pass them
in mornings, after sunup
after fathers took the mantrip
then collect enough
in exchange
to buy stuff they
really wanted
that you couldn’t
usually get
up a holler
nohow
