Poems

The grief of losing one’s best friend Insurmountable until … there is no end Why the ladder tilted that sad day I will never know and fate will never say The wily squirrel chose that path to scamper And my dear friend without care did ramble The squirrel nimbled its way through legs of tin But, Duke, full head of steam could not win Head first he crashed the ladder leg Then the bucket from above did peg Duke’s mighty skull with a thump of dye And all about the paint did fly O

Went to a fishin’ party, and I don’t even fish, for fish. Cast my line for a wish. Then walked about to see who I could see. Seemed more like Yasgur’s farm than just a normal pond. All the old boys were there. The ones that made it down the gravel lane and thru the decades in between. We all looked good; a little worn, a little torn, lessons learned. So too were the ones in memoriam. Looking down from their perch in glory like eagles soaring thru eternity. Or was it vultu

Alone Trapped in my own Prison, head, home No exit, no key Freedom locked in me Windows to outside But, I prefer to hide Because No one, nowhere To care To be fair To believe I am Enough Of something More than nothing Locked alone Facing the unknown Without hope or … What is missing Anyone, someone To care, to touch, to love Me as much As enough

A beam of life collided with a grain of sand Convection caused the whirlwind And what should have been a passing swirl Formed Without fanfare, trumpets, howls or kicks The earth’s own womb opened Birthing a new creation. Sinewy legs without sinew Muscle, bone, skin woven into A zephyr of sheer silken mist Crowned with sensual mystery Golden wisps of hair-like softness flowing in stillness An omnipresent face shrouded In a veil of mystical tranquility Beautiful, majestic, pl

Look at my son, isn’t he beautiful Innocent, loving, depending on me for everything Look at my daddy, isn’t he beautiful Strong, loving, growing and protecting me in all things Look at my son, how smart he is becoming Learning the lessons of books at school Of life from me and mommy Look at my daddy, the best man on earth Teaching me to grow to become, guiding me to my future I hope and strive to be just like him Look at my son so soft so tender so vulnerable I am overwhelmed

Clang, clang, bang The death knell sounds Resounding in all the wrong places Reflecting lost soul On a thousand unknown faces Those I never knew and never will Ringing, shrilling In all the beautiful places Upon the magic mountain Inside the warm salty ocean balm Here, there - I am missing I missed Locked in this mission called life Battle upon baffle, glorified strife Striding boldly to the next fight To establish my new right Success, achievement, love Filling each day

My dog is a classic ... sissy Poodle, big poodle, all poodle Love, play and licks, lotsa licks Few days ago, she bounded out Found 3 construction guys next door They played with her and I walked out to chat After a few minutes two guys left A husky, bearded red-head who hadn’t said a word Stayed and continued to stare, glare? – at me But now, he began to tell me a story – his story About a dog – his brother’s, a friend’s, maybe a figment Can’t recall I was mesmerized by

I met a young man in front of a coffee shop Tending my poodle waiting for my wife to bring The magic elixir of life He asked if he could pet the dog I said, ‘sure, what’s your name?’ He said, ‘just call me AJ’ AJ was Indian, a neuroscientist researcher I learned He asked if I was retired and/or what I did I gave my usual stock answer, ‘I write poetry’ Then AJ spoke the word’s I needed …. desperately ‘what’s your website’s name’, he asked Taken aback, I stammered stupidly,

Old glory unfurled by the breeze Floating, gloating, shining, shimmering Crying, dying, trying To survive ... To thrive To continue forward By the will of the American citizen But what of these This collection of disparates Ethnics, religions, classes Criminals and saints Forging the democracy of old Into the engine of now Engine, engine … The truth of American democracy From beginning to … end Steamroller for growth, power, wealth Feeding on its successes And spewing out

Slivers of my Soul Shattered, unbound Scattered on the ground Reflecting refraction Sun’s rays Melding, welding, healing Slivers into vessels Vessels into heart Heart into soul

Everywhere is somewhere Until Somewhere is nowhere Where to go from there When time not pressing Pressure not stressing Flight at 10a And I still need dressing Fly away, fly away There will be another day Until There’s not But that’s the wrong thought Forever lives somewhere And nowhere is not

Inspiration Something, nothing Everything In between Innate, ornate Disappointment obliterated With stroke of … Magic Found within, without Jump and shout Have no doubt Overwhelmed, washed over Complete transfusion Of joy and passion Confusion’s clarity Such a rarity Yet, always at the fingertip The whisper Nothing clearer Nor more distant Inspiration

Words, thought but never said Deeds retracted, redacted left for dead Unsaid, undone missed connections reverberating in my head Dreams, desires trapped, flailing Seeking life then aborted, death’s siren wailing Hopes of more - to climb, to soar, to be the best Now lost, not even deaf ears to pass the test But from my heart these lusts did flow Only to be burdened by what I know And that, my friend, Is a thing that has no end Affirmed by self-coronated genius Sustaining

I met you once and once again Just a breath, a sniff of lilac or garlic synaptic The sound of footsteps passing A brief brush of shoulders in a crowd Neither enemy nor friend Never to be seen again An old-timey sits with needle in hand Meticulously looping the next stitch As the pattern beckons yet another pass To mark the moment, the encounter to ever last I met you twice and twice again The first time we touched And then we fucked Or just got drunk and howled at the m