The red high chair,
Now empty there,
Has carbon foot-prints
On scuffed rails,
And impressions
On the tray.
Like digs from earlier days.

Her first steps were small,
Unsure, unstable,
Needing balance,
Yet proving able.
A two-step dance,
An infant's prance,
An infinite chance,
She tottered to the door,
Drawn and wanting more.

But I fell,
Forlorn,
With those wee steps,
She was gone.

Is it cheating if I had you first
if we never got over it
your fingertips echo on my skin
& you two just don't fit?

Because in my mind
she's the other woman- not me
you were mine then hers
but where would you rather be

I want to lay so close to you that the air I'm breathing in is the heat radiating off your skin

dreams long lost
swirl around me

in the shade of Arjuna
winds sing a lullaby.

they never die
bide their time
in the cave of eye
neath layer of rhyme

don't the rustles fall silent
yet canopy of new leaves
grow above

crave the same firmament
and away from old griefs
seek new love?

in the winds' murmur
i would never touch them
the seemingly lost dreams

but quietly in the hopes' harbor
rekindle their flickering flame

and let flow in endless streams.

If I were a word yesterday,
They would be about
"Pain"
or
"Lost."
Feeling "trapped" in a
World who knows how to "punish" the
"Weak."
I would see how I have gone "unseen" and
"Ignored" by the ones who "hate" me best.
But that was "yesterday."

If I were a word today,
It would simply be
"Happy."

-

When was the last time
you climbed up a ladder,
looked at the sunset
through periscope eyes

Drank from the cabinet
marked liquor don’t enter,
watched an old movie
with tear drops and sighs

Danced in the garden
with daffodils watching,
sat down to dinner
and found something sweet

Floated on marshmallow
clouds on a Monday,
painted the lines
on the wrong one way street

Sang in a meadow
with butterflies playing,
swam in the dessert
neck deep in the sand

Picked up a quarter
and called it a dollar
even though ladybugs
slept in your hand

Read a new poem
and found something like this,
rolled both your eyes
and then wore a smile

Look at the bright side,
all that it cost you
was just spending time
with me for a while

.

The day closes
behind a screen door
branded with a bread label,
yellows and blues,
blues how appropriate
as I stand here, sore feet,
tired muscles watching the shadows
play in circles on the lawn

Two cats sleep on the porch
as if this day was like all others
with cloud formations
in unrecognizable shapes,
claiming another victory
with a blade and a sun beam,
both glistening in defiant smiles

While on wings of gossamer weavings,
beyond the crested and fallen snow,
she flies like the wind,
touching me in all areas,
engulfing me with her presence,
lifting me so that my existence
is only hers, and that is how it should

I whistle a happy tune
though this happiness, this poetry
is weighing on those who read
and even those who don't
which number many more
in counted blank margins,
straight line columns of silence

Still I reach, hoping for something
which takes a back seat to the others
who prove more talent, more resolve
in crafted words spelling that relief,
poetry that breaths in the soft reflections
desired in these eyes now weary...

the day closes...

I couldn't wait, I didn't know, you promised
something else, the moon shone there and I could hear
them moving all around, it burst my heart when
your horse galloped down.