The student, introduced
Learns silence and gets it
The clapping crowd silences
Harmony weeps in respect
The strings move
The strings stretch
The strings come to life
As is their nature.
Once in motion
They seek harmony
And find it only in
Calloused fingers
Steel tendons
And the unforceful hand
Of the master,
the Student.
Even the best wishes can be discarded
At the target’s whim fickle
And even this can be pardoned
As autumn leaves resemble sickle.
Tiring efforts clutch at straws
To save every last one
Lost romance in a just cause
Just because it’s done.
And in the dark hour
The tallies and scores are counted
And though defeat tastes sour
Victory on either side is routed.
“To arms, to arms! Redeem fate!”,
Will cry those blind in dark hour
As light reveals and finds late
Barbarians guard the tower.
You used to
Warm my hands in water
Rub them for me when I
walked home from that
Convenience store
On Country Club Lane…
I used to dance with a mop,
Waiting to get home to you
And when everything was
Stocked, floors mopped
I would call…
We would talk.
You used to read my poems
I used to let you
You used to smile
Tell me they were good
And kiss me, or look
To my heart through eyes.
Driving around, we would
Hold hands, kiss at lights
And couldn’t wait to get
Home, to our home
To our room
Where we would warm.
Winter was never the same
I remember you
The cold became colder
I remember you
The wind cut deeper
I remember you.
And when that song plays…
I can’t forget you.
I don’t want to
It will never be again
But in the end
Know….
Quietly he stands, cloaks his
Self-esteem about his shoulders…
Fledgling, uncomfortable, his wings
Bear his weight, he alights
At a table nearby to
Find company,
Companionship,
From one who might,
From one who may,
From one who’s laugh
Will let him stay.
That’s the trouble with wings.
They’re only good until you get there.
There lies the division bell,
The line drawn where you think
You may not cross
Your eyes lost in the depths
Of the canyon you perceive.
In looking down, you
Forget to look across…
Stuck within the problem,
The question…
The answer, lost in the depth of question
Remains unanswered,
Solution lost
While your eyes
Still
Stare
Down..
Silently, a woman picks
Her fingers fleetingly across
A flower, eyes distant she
Hums an old love song
And waits for the wrinkles
Waits for the
Lines of time to mark her.
Her eyes are filled with
Lost lovers and fleeting romances
Puppy loves, high school dances
Giving it all away she never got
She always looked and
never sought.
Now her eyes leak lost lovers
Until they leak no more.
We talk around what I feel
As if it were a thorny bush –
Avoidance because we think
The fruits aren’t worth
The labor.
Grapes Of Wrath.
Seeded with discontent,
Fermented with only the
Finest resentment.
Tiring of talking in circles
All we can do is hold
Stay firm in who we are
And believe it’s not true
We, two.
In dim light you greet me
Strip me of my sensibility
And beat me with it.
You’re back again.
So many faces have you held
So many nights have we shared
So who are you
And what do you wish tonight?
Cold windy night in the Sunshine State
You may have felt the chill
If you do, if you don’t
I wish you never will…
Pathways cross like
The trails of so many fish
And in the end,
We all walk alone
But these intersections
These crossings
These meeting grounds
Are ours to cherish
Like the trails
Of so many fish.
It all links together, each fragment
catching on the last, a stream
A moving entity, a segment
catching on the last, a stream
A decision here, a sentiment
catching on the last, a stream
A start here, a moment
catching on the last, a stream
A day here, a present
catching on the last, a stream.
Just written; 2016.