Tremors
13 Sept 2023

With shaking hand, he holds  his ghosts,
Memories blurred by illness, pain,
Sweet tastes of honeyed  times, on a wooden post.
Baskets of mead, red wine, ***, stain. Spin again.

Their faces shimmer, lights to guide, lead.
Still alive in dreams. Thrive on me, said.
His smile, wrinkles, delighted in tender touch.
Passions, love partners, families, friends, such.

On the rails of time, he steadies, moving upslope.
One mountain to climb, one gate left to ‘ope.
One last great amour, stays his cold hand.
One soul, steady, true, eternal , grand.

The earth tremors, cracks, and groans.
He tremors, laughs.  He is home.

10th September 2023

Each day, a photograph brings such joy.
The truth of you through uncertain days.
Memories of times of love, touch our souls.
I greet you, I thank you beautiful.
You are wide awake, and I await your day

04 January 2019
Workshop

Sip of wine, sparkling eyes, gentle smile.

Chrismas decorations, miles and wiles.

Neighbours shoveling snow, laughing, kicking the edges.

Some have already gone south.

Lights blinking like fading stars, some didn’t.

Another snowflake on my glasses melting, like the years.

Every Day
16 September 2022

You are brave, beautiful, pure.
On every corner, in every place.
I don't know you, or your face..
Simply you live, one day die.

Husband
23 April 2023

He walks in the room,  hello those there.
No disturbance,   relaxed happy mode.
Clean cut, nice suit,  cut  his hair.
Shoes polished,  pressed pants turning  old.

Offered a drink, was driving, soda please.
Music started  play, friends to dance.
Looked for  spouse to love and  tease.
Soon gave him that comfort glance.

Kids had grown, reputation sown.
Holidays soon to come, time to roam.
People wished them well, stay healthy, safe.
Clear he knew his place, showed in  his face.

End of night  near, time to leave.
Door opened, walked in  his neighbour.
Felt the ladies look, reach for  that  sleeve.
Somehow eyes always got their favor.

Was a man who carried a glow.
Considered by others icon of lust.
Conquests all  seemed to kow.
Made him  not one of us.

Husband wondered about his role.
Trying to keep wise and whole.
Another day wished  could seem,
Like that crazy time, last night’s dream.

Years ago had those offers.
Marriage kept him coffered.
Husband true as any known.
Always found love at home.

11 June 2023

Your whisper echoes,
Revealing truth's solemn gaze,
Now aware, alone.

The Neighbour
1 October 2022

Feisty was the neighbour,
Not as old as I.
Didn’t shirk the labour,
I could only eye.

Challenged every habit
Custom we had held.
Bushes for the rabbits,
Slashed and fully felled.

Dressed up the garden,
Flowers pleased the eye.
Became the local warden,
Edging lines awry.

Household soon renewed,
No limit to the purse.
Perfection was pursued.
Made mine feel crude.

Felt my comfort leaving,
To smile would host a lie.
Left alone and grieving,
Time for apple pie.

Garbage now the focus
Where to put the pail,
Glad we have no locus,
Outside be in jail.

Bittersweet
13 September 2021

Awake from a dream, aching.
Deep memories lingering.
Nugget of sweet bitter, mouth fingered.
Sweetest flavour.
Impossible savour.
Passion spokes, pierce, broken.
Young, too ready, token.
Precious moment’s perfection,
Painful reflection.
How do I speak phantom glass?
How do I leave your past?
Old photo back wall, kissed again!
Kissed again!!
Wish I had kept it all.
Wish I could let it fall.

Perhaps Forever
Haiku
17 July 2021

Perhaps forever,
Some loves never will die.
Today some still try.

Poetry  (Haiku)

10 Sept 2021

A new suit.
Wrap me in soft linen.
I feel naked.

Eccentricity
24 March 2021

Some are not compliant,
On rules others reliant.
Though tracked from their nose,
To the tip of their toes,
Who they are no one knows.

They act in oddest ways,
Some up at night, not in days.
They live trip of the edge,
Bets that few want to hedge.
Computer, camera, watch them roam,
What will they next call home?

Always lifting the ante,
Sometimes plain, others fancy.
Often go to a dance,
Anyone has a chance,
Love, laughter, and prance.
Their spirits are their worth,
High though still on earth.

Some people just shake their heads,
Choose to lie in their beds,
With ones that they truly wed.
Normalcy never alone,
Living life on their phone.
"Eccentric", they dare bemoan.

When your humor has left,
Eccentrics see why the theft.

15 May 2022-

Silk sheets. Sweat air conditioned, owl-echo growls.
Not yet summer, war, pain, dissolution, summer on prowl.
All winter waits, snow-broken melt on pavement,
Pressing my head, your shoulder shakes, well-spent,
Winds raise the shingles, we twist again passioned.
Cool fall sun lies best on me like you, unrationed.
Whispering, snarling,  orange-layered ******,
Shake in summer heat's thousand spasms.
Hold back the drear of fallen leaf and dove torn.
Peace, comfort-thunder, insist again, warn,
I open your door unbarred.

Lighting, dark enlightenment, ash, strength spared,
Like ice in cold water , spoil the taste of spice and hair.
Lying touched, challenged, used, we stay bare.
Summer heat holds us here. Night, we become one.
Summer heat. It's not done.

Baseball
1 Sept 2021.

From one base to another,
We seek to win.
Like a ball game. Luck and skill,
Decide one above the cover.
Who gets the thrill.
  
Hard as I try to play.
It is still a game, not life.

Again
30 October 2033


My heart breaks with pain.
Here we at war again.
Kids all sides, slain or deep pain.
Here we are at war again.

Thousands taken from this life.
Often cannot tell their wife.
Pieces without legs or face.
On streets without a place.

Home and hearth just bone sore.
Blood and gore the only score.
Old man sleeping in the street.
Dog whimpers as he weeps.

Tomorrow, he knows he’ll die.
Joining so many that he knew.
Day will come and some win.
Wearing Poppy red, blue.

Left in the forest
1 January 2023

There he felt safe.
Trees held his fear,
Distant.

Love Conditional
4 September 2021

Because I am your father,
Or your lover, two.
Your marriage partner.
A friend who's always true.
The child who is my daughter,
The man who is my son.
The shelter that I rest in.
The titles I have won.
Sacrifices well taken,
The wives I married due,
I loved every one.

The father working hardy,
The host of that last party,
The mother in the sun.
Puppies in a manger,
Kind hand of a stranger,
Clowns out making fun.

Love without condition,
Least likely to be found.
Whatever my rendition,
You are on solid ground.
No end, the river that I run.

Intelligence (Haiku)
31  March 2023

Intelligence waits,
Unseen by the ignorant,
Host seeks its true home.

Co Authored ChatGPT and BTW

Facing a Crisis
1 December 2021

Not always advice a best answer.

Devil princess dances with panthers.
Living outside all man-mapped bound.
Rhythm of nature shapes her soft sound.

Love leaves old pain lost in the wake.
Manage your life for your life's sake.
Road risky will certain ride truth.

A loving soul need bide it's own way.
Soft, hard shoulders edging your day.
Only time travelled, answers love’s call.

Holding to show how fate truly run.
Way ahead clearing, silvered sun.
Traveling truth will crisis be won.

15 August 2022.

Without judgement or restraint, you curled me,
Celebrating our love and passion, true and free.
Dancing on sweet air,
Hold me, caress me, touch fair,
Every nerve feasting.
My soul, my body, your spirits intwine.
Medusa's blessing.
Kisses soak unbinding, no moral taint,
On a sea of love, we travel heaven’s gate.

Be free, you said, anything you want, I will.
I trust you. Such love God's fill.

Part, Past, Our book.
29 March 2021

Call up leather of books.
Skins thrown past each curtain.
Your soul doeth me sustain.
Meet on this stage. Look.

Surround of poem and lace,
Songs writ deep rhythm time.
Sing sweet Angel, cry “passion mine”.
We meet each day, too few.
Grace found renews our place.

Hold myths of rebirth.
Shared trust be earned.
Our parts all will learn,
Never return to earth.

Entrapment
5 May 2021

Caught between myself and myself.
My freedom nerve suppressed.
Challenge is to stay well,
While not party dressed.
One of me says a fool,
The other buys the rules.
Only time will tell.
Is this heaven, or hell?

28 February 2022

How did we  let them make us old?
Tiger leaders have us cold.
Years gone by their tales we told.
Now the future, they sold.

Follow us they dare to say.
Watch us spoil the lights of day.
**** the children while they play..
Tigers like the world that way.

Most of us hear that song.
Let go on, right or wrong.
Suddenly the are too strong.
Tigers write our death song.

Courage now will be our cost.
Being faithful to our cause.
Freedoms we have lost.
Bold to be, blood be tossed.

Closing
28 August 2023
August closes long days of summer,
Inviting fall, “bring your rainbow through gated thunder.”.
Bachata rythmn-flash.
Naked noisy nights.

Geese V across fading afternoons.
Horn-echos , sky-crisp southern moon.
Shadows write on scripted alto flights.

Our garden leaf, months golden blossom.
Petals taste orange sweet morning dew.
Rose laden clouds bassoon.
Life and love, soon rise, renewed.
Natural intelligence held eternal, right.

The Storm in My Dreams
20 October 2023

Like a mad storm,  shards of glass, hail on ebony rust,
The whites of my eyes, people, portrait busts on busses,
Filled with those left behind, but no where,
Shredding tired stares. Wait, another room, stairs.

Traffic fills with the noise that chaos brings.
Illusion of love,  a devil sings.
Dark red clouds, maroon skies, fushia trees,
******* stumbling, falling on leaves. Frees.

No power, stop the rain, still the winds, stirring sawdust,
On the butchers’ floor, stick my heels, mussing..
Old friends invites a celebration that exists.
Empty those that I sadly miss.
Thoughts dance, twist.

I wake, zen mind, leaving the detris in my last sleep.

5 in the morning
4 July 2021

She’s still in bed, sleeping hard night,
On her computer, straining her sight.
Shopping internet for a port side mirror.
Sleeping peaceful, I won’t stir her.

I have music blaring, saucy and bright.
Tango, salsa, waltzing light.
Love my mornings, sunrise in sight.

Redecorated my room, like la fishing boat.
Picture bathroom wall, anxious to float.
Years held its wooden side, bright colors short and wide.
Cod and salmon, no place to hide.

Would love to see him, dripping raincoat and hat,
Net in hand, firm, like a baseball bat.
Wonder how long each day he sat.
Would love to see him, just like that.

Whisker and glasses on his chin and nose,
Overalls, boots, plaid shirt clothed.
Found this gem in the garden store,
Long way from that Maritime shore.

Decorating missed a spot or two,
Lights still hanging, love it, will do.
Threw out the brushes, rollers too.
Toilet leaked, but now it’s fixed,
Ready for that old man’s trick.

Shelves ready to fill with my junk,
Tools back in the garage, big thump.
Looking for a light over the tub.
Broke the one was most night’s hub.
Soap, warm water, there I lazed,
Loved those nights, and simple days.
“Rub a dub rub”, poem says.

This morning, awake and vigored,
No hangover from last night’s liquor.
Guitar strumming on my mobile phone.
5 in the morning, dancing at home.
Rowing my boat like a sailor, alone.

Unconditional
8 December2021

Innocent child has basic need,
Fulfilled parents, to feed that seed.
Marriage contract, every level,
Course not filled, delights a devil.
We live our lives in trade and debt,
On conditions bet or set.
Gift always does some burden bear,
Loads lifted only wear and tear.

Love bears it’s own heavy cost.
Unconditioned, always tossed.
Dream of less forever lost.

22 July 2023

I sweat passion, lust into the sand of the beach.
Nothing grew there.

Feather
29 January 2023

Snow, spiral ecstatic feathers.
Diva dance!
Frisson firs, shiver!
Mourning,
Holding stage.
Aside, "Primal, MyWindow."

11 December 2021
Tradition

And so I wander the steadying hand of tradition.

An gray homestead, weary wallpaper and waxed wooden floors, frozen pipes.
Green and yellow enameled table bowled with oatmeal and brown sugar.
Window covered in leafy spirals of frost dripping, heat of wood stove crackle.

A bed warmed overnight by feathered covers and heated stone.
A metal pan in the sink holding my father’s soap, brush, and brass razor, awaiting a hot kettle.
Snow in my rubber boots, waxed paper sock lined, crunching as we struggle to class.
Charcoal ash marking paths through snowbanks, ice puddles on the road, horse track.
Milk standing at attention, saluting the rising sun of winter’s doorstep.
Hockey sticks and skates resting in the back porch, worn and ready.

Tomato soup with a pat of yellow butter, salted ******* crumbles.
Burnt bread crust trying to hold onto marmalade from the ice box.
Tea leaves in my cup predicting the upcoming fortune of the day.
A naughty calendar pinned to the garage wall, Dad over oily steamed mechanics.
Call of my best friend to dice, a color squared cardboard game, and an afternoon of challenge.
Hands of the girl next door brushing her unkempt, unruly hair in her front window.
Galvanized tub of warm water for the weekly Saturday bath.

A fir tree with the promise of sweets and a gift, sparkling at midnight, filling home with pine scent, holding lit candles.
Toy filled sock on the bed, half a cookie, and an empty milk glass on the bedside stool, Christmas morning.
The first phone call from family that morning, bacon and eggs, extra time lying in bed.
Butter tarts, turkey in the oven.

Tradition, tradition, where are am I now?

Easel of the Infinite
10. October 2024

On quantum easel, chaos flows,
Brush of time, where nothing slows.
Swirls of color, thoughts untold,
Mirror breaks, reflecting old.

From the furls of unknown threads,
Portraits whisper, shadows spread.
I call my own, but not alone,
In every stroke, a truth is shown.

Tym bends back, the past rewinds,
Yet forward marches, space unbinds.
Chaos paints with gravest care,
The universe, its silent prayer.

Each moment, captured, slips away,
Yet here I stand, each brushstroke stay.
In every swirl, a mystery,
In every glance, eternity.

Drawn
18 March 2021

Cold sand, rock, unwind the darkened skies.
Passion’s tidal rhythms broken.
No place to hide. You lie still, nearby.
Moonlit shadows were burning fire,
Tokens pull me to your sea.
I am unquenched.
Paper-torn bordered fence.
Passports tossed.
Clock bells ring a broken pier.
I pause my poems to hear its warning.
Dark ship of hell docking.
The fog clears.
Laced lines of tears drawn.
Too soon, dawn does not come.

Time Alone
16 January 2023

Edged alone a verdant recluse,
Green, maroon hedges,
Fluttered impatient,
Hormonal male sparrow, 
Previous years seen by children,
Who named him lumpy,
Failed, too late.

Seasoned time incessant ,
Damaged by age,
Hungered by arrivals,
He Held.

Up All Night
26 April 2021

Surrounded by lack of light,
Where is the boundary?
Sudden spirit in flight,
Where will I roam?
Walls have no home.
Child runs alee.
Is that the devil I see?
Who set me free?

11 September 2021

THOSE you loved would hurt you.
THOUGH you loved them, not forgive them.

THAT you would hurt one you loved.
THEY would not forgive you.

THOSE you loved,  loved you.
THAT you did not know everyone who loved you.

THAT when you thought you didn't have enough strength, you could do more.
THOSE who loved you, found a way to care for you.

THOUGH you were not loved enough, you were loved more than you thought.
THAT love you gave, came back doubled.

THAT love caused trouble.
THAT love troubled you.

THOSE you loved would not be here..
THAT you would have so little time.


THERE would be SO little time.

Challenge
12 June 2021.

Days when walls too tall,
Times when you hear the call,
Challenge to live is overall,
One alone can’t do it all.

Resource thin. you want to win,
Noise, confusion, lose the din,
Time for all to step right in,
Calm the seas, tame the wind.

Some man the sails, others hale,
Gather pails, patch the wails.
When together challenge spins,
Only joined, will you win.

Trust and love weapons need,
Set aside fears and greed.
Build that team, face the truths.
Together you will never lose.

If any treasure left behind,
Is seen solely yours,
No one is at the oars.
Read the board, check the score.

This is the game of life,
Courage wise giant size,
Win as one, share the prize.
Team together old and new,
More to life, than bad weather.

3 October 2021

Time Fall. Hold, recover old memories, primal loves.
Pine needles, maple syrup, red wines, velvet leather gloves.
Noon canoe paddled, sudden ****** splash, spilling your smudged glass.
Damp firewood logs leaning a rusted axe, mushroom patios, dandelion blossom, holding back the last day's tasks.
Twigs and leaves curling smoke, blurring tired eyes, staining last year's denim worn clothes.
Saline thoughts wet, layering corners of times, people past.

A broken cottage window screen will wait another year,
Glass green shatter, under that old deck, held fine malt beer.
Righteous melancholy lays bare, naked, true north centered.
Cold wind bides future flakes, mixed sun, frost, winter's bite.

Gentle hands we held, love sweatered, lain in heaped marker,
Walking that country road, looking for family stone date etched, shiver alone.
Reminded in sepia photo, leather album of hot home-made Friday's bread, **** lemon butter.
Sudden scents we once marked, raise again ancestral homes.

Biding grey-rose tinted sky, last hour of today, we head to our stoop.
Warm cider sits on edge, steam rising into this fading night.
Pause, feet, ankles, in the lake, ice needles loop our toes.
Then, a stalwart bluebird alights the cedar stump cornering the forest edge.
Nostalgia sits beside him, feels right. Morrow's fledge.

Today’s Life
16 September 2021

Today filled pictures, coloured ads,
Table talks take place, on pads.
Family now lives in ether.
Two thumb account of love and weather.

Values change from what you do,
Contribution to needs of others.
Rather follow purchase covered.
Moment to moment for yet another.

Private talks wired everywhere,
No quiet chat by grandpa’s chair.
Patriarchs have lost their joss,
Good old days torn and tossed.

Basics now the fastest car,
Golfing course and making par.
Fishing rods high on hooks.
Computer shelves all the books.

Like the highway bypassing town,
Personal touch on vacant ground.
An old man stands on heaven’s door.
Who can know what will his score.

ONLY ONE.

How many failures does it take  to turn a GOD into a DEVIL ?

ONLY ONE

How many successes to turn a DEVIL into a GOD?

CAN T BE DONE

A Piece of Me
11 August 2021

You have the biggest chunk,
I've kept the trash and junk.
Best parts, my heart and soul,
Held for you, kept them whole.
Seems not all the worst is gone,
Tried so hard for very long.
I need your hand to keep me strong.
My heart and soul to you belong.
Every day I do my best, loving you.
Soon the worst will be at rest.
A piece of me failed the test.
(I forgive you)

Age (Haiku)
8 May 2022

I pick you up,
Kiss your little lips,
To soon goodbye.

When It Happens to You

When the storm clouds gather near,
And the winds howl strong with fear,
It’s easy to speak of courage bold,
But harder to grasp when the night turns cold.

When the world spins out of control,
And the weight bears down on your soul,
The words you offered to others in need,
Feel distant, hard to believe, or heed.

The road you once saw clear and bright,
Now twists in shadows, devoid of light.
The strength you preached in better days,
Seems lost in this darkened maze.

But deep within, a flicker stays,
A tiny spark that guides the way.
For even when life tests you true,
The heart remembers what to do.

Hold on to that thread so fine,
For it’s the tether to your line.
When it happens, and it’s all too real,
You find your path, you learn to heal.

The storm will pass, the skies will clear,
You’ll rise again, despite the fear.
For strength is born when we make it through,
Even when it happens to you.

Quiet Times.
19 January 2022

Your footsteps whisper song,
Basement stairs too long.
Rustle of your clothes.
Crackle of sore flexions,
Sniffle of your nose.
Colours you so careful chose

Your hand on my pillow,
The rattle of your keys.
Hinges of the door squeak,
Silent morning sun.
Sliding o’er the fallen snow,   
Love the things 'bout you I know.

Shadow of that moonlit tree,
Where you head could be.
Waiting for those quiet sounds,
Set me free.

Toilet Seat
23 Feb 2022

Broken-day, torii brick shard, lying grey furred furrow.
Dust scarlet covered berm, breaking morn of plain plaid kids, unearned plastic, horror films.
Bones were home, no  longer borrowed.. They never lived.

White marbled Torso held court in  dark brown sack, dreaming bloodied, past ivory beige scars.
Soil green-lined paper reel, only new light, burning orange in midnight star wars.
Seal pink toilet seat stays, winds farrow, foul blast exaggerated by cracked silvered mirror candle, weeping.
Broken azul sky, cloud black bar. A red bacardi label, torn, 3 rusted cars..

Ash, twisted ***** sculpted tan oak, on a blue T shirt.
Somehow resting, orange flat steeple *****.
Reminds past heroes were longer, discarded, purple neutered..

A nose and an ear. Vulvae. A smashed CFM TV.

Somehow these pieces form the picture of tall thunder.
Holding me here.
Chaos grows on my living room floor, wait!
I  lower the toilet seat, crying over a dead cow, last night's beer.


Today I will hold my own.

9 October 2024

Claimed by tides of time, I lived.
Home lives lived, I wandered.
Loved someone I knew, true  
Held by passion, I cried.


Owned? Or where can I rent?

You Bring Such Beauty and Joy
16 August 2021

You bring such beauty and joy, my life.
Roses your cheeks, green emerald eyes.
Quivering angels wing from your lips,
Kiss your entwining sweet fingertips.
Each day Monet, tinted pink, perfect apple,
Purple iris, lavender, clear pool spring-dappled.
They sing of your truth, the hymn of your love.
Pure white summers, soft feathered doves.
Joyous those thousand magical carpets.
Genius unbottled, impassioned sparkle.
Art of Leonard and Dali found your fine glory.
Authors of history script your sweet story.
Mozart, Chopin, Bach wrote those wined lines,
Music, opera, dance pulsed ever time.
You are each blessing of heaven’s best gifts,
The joy and beauty that my heart sure lifts.
Joy and happiness, you fill all my life.
My precious, amazing. I love you, my wife.

Straw Doll
18 December 2022

Edges tattered, shirt torn,
Worn Gray paper hat, eyes scorn,
Empty cob.

Gray border guard Oh Hoy
Was his favourite man toy.
Popsicle stick stuck.

Shelved right side library chair.
Silver belted bald hair.
Knee patch.

Two twisted legs dangle,
At an impossible angle.
One medal.

Jacket stained city brown,
Wrong side of town.
Scot’s tape.

Dated DEC 2022 orange tab.
Smell of stale food had.
Broken  gun.

Love by one in fun.
Straw doll “hon”.
Dog shook.

Forgotten.
Bad year for heroes

My Bucket List (My Renewal)
29 August 2021

Time for review.
I find I can reprioritize as past,
Substitute, renew, those satisfied.
Continuing those most relevant.
'
Most of the past, largely complete, not yet finished, ongoing.
Is anything ever truly done?

Continuing.
Making a good living, getting an education.
Raising a family, being true to former commitments.
Promising less, attempting more.
Finding partners, friends in love and trust.

A+
Reducing the burden, I am on others.
Being unconditionally thankful.

AA+
Inspiring myself with the beauty and miracle of life.
Ignoring my pain, forgiving my mistakes.
Accepting changes, losses, and failures of age.
Accepting all others as they struggle to be their own.

AAA+
Becoming the man I admire, my Dad.
Striving for the impossible being possible.








.

Beyond
8 October 2021

Old memories, images of other times.
Move them in your dreams to a new life.
Reality in a place beyond possible today.

Future, past, combined in spaces of infinite care.
Old transforming to your new.
Living beyond our imagination.

Lost, or finding your way home?

The Uni-Cycle
August 24, 2024

The apex of balance,
Uni-cycle Alone,
Every path taken, lands,
Near Home.

One wheel thumps over,
Each bump in the road.
Hover, whump, hover,
Future unknown.

Bicycle, front wheel and rear,
Map on steel rack  
Two like to steer,
Now back to back.

Tricycle rovers,
Lie on the road.
Rides over.
My love goes cold.