Getting gas in my old hometown
Someone taps my shoulder
And I turn around to see
A familiar smile wrapped in
Wrinkles and silver streaks of hair
My love darling sweet from
1995
We lasted four beautiful months
Promised forevermores
Went weekends without clothes
Made love from sun up to sun down
As young lovers should
Ate
Drank
Laughed
Held hands
‘You’re my man and I’m your woman...’
She was fond of saying
Then it just stopped
We had a beautiful glorious
Summer
Now in front of me a quarter of a century
Later
Time hasn’t been kind to her
And I wonder if she’s saying the same of me
But she leans in to say goodbye
Stars in her eyes
‘It’s good to see you...you look the same’
And gives me one of those squeeze hugs
You get from old lovers you’ve shared
Time with
‘I’ve missed you’
She says
The gas was $17.32 and I’ll never
Go on that side of town
Ever again...

Someone told me once
‘When you get to the point in the sea of life where you’re avoiding the jellyfishes, then the answers will make sense…’

And so I got to that point
The jellyfishes stung me
This way and that
Instead of avoiding them
I went straight into them
Wading into their part of the water

Enjoying the stings
That made me feel alive
Made the blood flow once again
Because I needed the pain
Perhaps
Or I just keep looking at my empty palm
Where your hand should be
And nothing can hurt as much as that

Things don’t make sense even in the jellyfish part of the sea of life when you’re the cause of it not being there anymore…

Let this season begin...
Let the oak wool winter Cabernet
Give way To Chardonnay
Ditch that sweater
Pull out that skirt
Let me be a gentleman
Mix drinks upon a patio
Look towards the southwest
A Springtime Electrical Storm Approaches...

I have this fear that one day when your hair has turned silver that I’ll come up in one of your conversations ‘I knew a Poet once...’
And you’ll keep the next thought to yourself...
‘He loved me like no other before or since...’

We forget all the pretty things
As time has its way
With us
Summers holding hands as young people
Waiting for the sun to come up
The cold ocean over our feet
Spring trees
Fall leaves
Winter’s sting
.
We forget all the pretty things
We pass along the way
Remind me to smell the flowers
Once again
And to stop looking at mirrors
Looking for someone who doesn’t exist anymore…

Where are the poets, the activists, intellectual front lines during these times?
.
Voices of reasons, stokers of flames, calmer of storms
.
Let it be not in celebrities, athletes, talk show hosts...
.
Bring about change thru words. Wisdom. Leaders of Rhetoric, for if not, we will be doomed by legions of the privileged and martyred deaths will never be avenged, abandoned by time...Violent ends without ever beginning!
.
Come about oh ye Stokely Carmichael’s of this age, Abbie Hoffman’s of the Suburbs, let YOUR VOICES BE HEARD!!!
.
Protesters need you!
This time, this place, this nation that’s so *******, who’s wound is wide and bleeding profusely...
.

There’s nothing worse
Than picking the wrong lover
To come home to
She says ‘I love you’ and you say it
Back
Because the rent is due tomorrow...

Was the last time I saw you
Last time I kissed your lips
Felt your warm body
Against mine
Remember how you looked at me
In the window
Like you knew
Women always know
How you took my pieces
And brought them to life
Once more
The last time I was ever loved
Unconditionally

Just because they cut you from their life
Doesn’t mean that you wasted words
On them

Think of the people you’ve cut out
Of your life

You still remember their words don’t you?

‘I’m pregnant...’
It’s how it started
Overjoyed
My firstborn
My love
‘Come with me, we’ll get married...raise our baby...’
She stopped me
Started to cry
Sobbing
Uncontrollable
‘You don’t want to marry me?’
‘The baby might not be yours...’
‘But I want it to be...I want your words on the baby’s walls...but I have to know first...for sure...will you raise the baby as yours?’
I nodded stupidly, spent the next 8
hours with her in her bed...my stuff still there, my mind taking inventory of what I could part with...
All with another man’s child growing in the belly next to me...
8am
She rolled over
I left
Smile on her face
Never saw her again
Years passed
She still worked at the same place
Her car in the parking lot
There by the speedometer
She still had a poem from me
For her to read
Everyday
‘We might be the only hearts in the world who’s hearts are in sync with each other...don’t ever stop beating dear heart...or mine will too...’

Remember
You’re given 2 or 3
Moments
To shine in a lifetime...
Maybe you’ll get more in the next
But here it’s 2 or 3
Love more than you hate
Agree more than you disagree
But remember you truly only
Love one beautiful
Soul
In this lifetime. Remember that...
You can love and leave
But keep on good terms
Forgive
If you’ve been wronged
For hate can wilt you from
The inside out
A sore that never scabs
A monkey that’ll always lead you around
Notice how people react to you
When you enter a room
How they say goodbye when they know
They’ll never see you again
Never be the slow bullet
Never be the slow bullet
The slow bullet takes
Years
From your life
Decays your days
Tells you everything will work out
I’ll be better
But they never do
Be a dodger of bullets
Most notably the slow one
Even if they’re the one truly
Beautiful soul...

She tells me that she loves me
‘Oh so dearly...’
‘I’d most certainly die of a broken
‘Heart if we were to part...’

And yet her phone has a passcode
Constantly buzz es & buzZZes all
Through the night
And the guys comment on
Her posts
‘You’re so ****...’
‘**** gurl...’
‘You fine...as hell.’
And she laughs but covers her phone
When she’s with me...

It’s hard to sleep in peace next to
A *****
It really is...

‘I don’t care what time it is
‘I don’t care if you’re drunk
‘I don’t care if you’re high
‘I don’t care who you’re with
‘I don’t care how long it’s been since I’ve heard from you...I just wanna know if you’re okay...’

12 hour days
Endless financial math
Ruining the thread
Inspiration
Commerce
Is the sword in the
Heart of Creativity
.
But in moments
Throughout the day
10 seconds here
5 seconds there
I still think of you...
Knowing you’re going thru
The same ordeal
Just so I can feel normal
In all this
Commerce
The ******* of the soul
Wishing
We were
In each other’s arms...

Remember that bottle of wine
We shared
Remember buying it
Yellow purple label
California
Some valley somewhere
$15
Red Wine
Bitter
To your lips
Remember how we shared it...
It was the only way
from my mouth to yours...
.
Wine kisses with you...

Dead leaves overran the walkway
Wooden bridge we held hands across
Creaks and crunches
Walking across it now
There is the threshold I kissed
Your neck upon
The overhang in need of repair
Open the door
Dust and soot
Cold corridor
Covers what once was vibrant
Love filled
Laughter
Cups of joy
October fires
Long into the night
See your ghost
Walking down the hall
Inviting
Wailing
Hurting
Missing
All this abandoned autumn needs
Is you...

This is just a theory or thought or
One man’s Stupid Opinion but
Maybe when we mixed our blood
We created an entity
A force
And when we said our goodbyes
It went to sleep
Dormant
Hibernating
And now it’s awake
Out of its cage
Wild
Free
Needing to be fed
Our
Words...
Course it’s just a theory or thought or
One Man’s Stupid Opinion