~ A Place Apart ~

There exists between us a place apart.

It exists outside of everything else,

and yet encompasses all:

all thought, vision, and emotion.

In this infinite world,

He’s wracked with a gnawing guilt
That makes his strength quickly wilt;
Although many years have passed by
The memory still haunts his inner eye.

“One for the road” was one too many,

Did you feel me reach in the darkness
with the slightest touch of my finger
to trace your lips?

I wanted to stroke words
that whispered from your mouth.
To smooth over beautiful

A mist of morn poured golden fog
Over a sanctuary of autumn reds
A congregation of earth’s faithful
Gathering like children into a bed

The woods for fall to slumber upon

The atoms that make up
The molecular construction of ink
The ink that forms
The obscure form of each letter
The letters that make up
The distinct meaning of each word

I was doing a handstand and watching an exercise video,
when a homosexual teenage vampire on a pogo stick
burst out of a fireplace that doesn’t exist
and hopped out into my living room;

I don’t need a fancy house
A little shack will do
I don’t need front row seats
As long as I have a view

I don’t need designer shirts
Nor do I need an Armani tie

Tiny orange butterflies burst across the field
Scattering in the wind across sunlit daffodils
Sunbeams on my shoulder resting in the day
Colored fountains inside me, in a vast array

This is much real,

Than the poetry I write,

I will not compare this,

To a dark cloud hanging behind

The silver sun,

Or a flock of birds,

Flying above an endless crimson tide,

Constellations of thoughts shining
One thought falling, drifting down
Crossing in darkness to dawn light
Flight of infinity kissing humanity
An aura of life whispering a truth

~ To Believe ~

When you are dispirited, held back, beat down and you have no one,
you can give up, give in, or you can find those things you need to stand within yourself.

It always brings me back
draws my gaze unlike any other,
piercing, captivating my mind
right between the eyes.

Blowing past the insignificance
teasing me inward,
knowing I'll come calling

How the good to estimate,
when we take a little
time out to appreciate;
to notice what other
writers are about;
to offer a few kind words.

A life can be turned around,

All Alone!

Hanging on by a thread
Alone! All my friends have gone
Why did they leave me?
How could they leave me?
Why didn’t I go along?

Didn’t I get the message?

I grew in those unseen places
cracks, crevices
wherever I could fill in and find space.

Like winter and summer,
oscillations of heat and cold,
expanding, contracting making room.

I can always smell a poem
I breathe deep and
its scent is caught on my skin
I can taste it upon waking
my throat aches
and there’s honey
at the corners of my mouth.

As I stretch

I long-
To see a sunnier day,
Than what you forced me to face.

An old friend once taught me
How to see that silver lining,
Even the dimmest ones.

That's why I hold faith today!

I made a window
with clear glass
so you may see in.
There are doors,
some closed, I know.
Locked? A few. If I turn my back
I want to know that there are some places
that can't be breached
if I have trusted unwell.

When life gets too serious
When the fun seems to have flown
When mystery’s no longer mysterious
When the daily grind has ground to the bone

Just….
Sing a little song

Warm spring rain on a tin roof
When I'm out after dark alone

Snow-muffled tires of a car passing by
When I'm little and tucked in at home

A song sparrow's voice in the morning