~

Burned out

A breath singed my way
Neath an umbrella’s stronghold

As thunderstorms called my name

Stranded in a forgotten footprint
Balanced on the edge of time

I drifted to another dream

Puddled pleasures watched
As I fell within your heart

Cushioned from injury…outside

Then shelter became my spiral
Spinning downward in fractured darkness

Internally destroyed in a sense

While crowded moonbeams spotlighted
Intentions formed to touch

Gripping reality’s illusion

So a faulty switch sleeps undercharged
In my current state of mind

As burned out filaments disguise me

~


There, beneath the rubble,
the ash and the debris,
you’ll find a faint image
looking something like me

As I too stand, peering into the pile
wondering, trying to make
some sense of the torment,
though this pain is imaginary…

for I have strode this wasteland,
walked these barbed wire foot paths
many times in the past
and what once was pain,
is now what I am

and the silhouette of what is seen
in a visionary echo of long ago tears,
repeating through thorn crested decisions
and a true lack of self confidence,

dances on the acidic breezes
that engulf my heart
and paint my frown
in weeping watercolors of my forgotten dreams

Losing is a habit
engrained upon my hands,
claiming to be something I am not
Peering in with one wicked eye
fashioned of big words
from worn out dictionary pages

my thoughts are fire in lower case flames
complete with soiled ash
and filaments swinging in the breeze
searching for the unburned match,
the last one… in a long line of empty phrases

blank pages filled with everything conceived
along street water girths and cigarette butts
arranged in the shape of a question mark
on my Walmart coffee table…
never once questioning why

Oh I have written, I have penned
and my quill is soft and filled with ink
of another’s pain, dripping on tree leaf mosaics
and carpenter footprints,
leading down that path that I lure
unsuspecting verses now lost with me

For I am the loser in this game
only because I chose to play by my rules
Penalties don’t count in my court
for I am blind to the truth
that I am nothing more than me…only what I seem

~

A crescent moon now overhead
As I come rising from my bed
Remembering the words I said
A few short hours ago
~
Like linens hanging on the line
The clouds a comfort for my eyes
In secrets whispered on the skies
Along with breezes flow
~
I wonder of this time apart
As longings cling so tight my heart
In gilded frame like precious art
The sun comes into view
~
When then my open eyes can see
The man that I can surely be
If only you would come to me
Whatever I must do
~
With endless trees and hills to climb
My aches, my pains on borrowed time
The distant church bells set to chime
The miles in between
~
I follow on in destined task
Is it too much for me to ask
Within your arms I long to bask
If you know what I mean
~
To stumble on the crooked path
And weep these tears of aftermath
For comes the heat of summer wrath
In everything so new
~
I wander here and wander there
In hopes to show you that I care
With you my dreams I long to share
Until my days are through

Soft as a feather
your kiss comes to me
Here ever after
I long it to be
Tight on my lips
so perfect and pure
Yours is the kiss
I've come to adore

Warm as the springtime
your touch I can feel
Holding me close
I know it is real
Constant like tides
caressing the shore
Yours is the touch
I've come to adore

This side of heaven
your love calls my name
Eternal my dream
igniting the flame
A beautiful light
to shine evermore
Yours is the love
I love to adore

~
Violet moons
in lavender skies
Whispers on raindrops
and twilight kissed sighs
Buttercup daydreams
in rose petal white
Define my thoughts
of you on this night

Pine cone aromas,
and cool morning dew
Mountain top moments,
a beautiful view
Snow flurry sonnets
and orchids at play
Define my love
for you on this day

Butterfly wishes,
blue oceans a' dance
Porcelain passions
and springtime romance
Sweet chocolate visions
of everything new
Define this man
*the day he found you

To the poets on HP,

I wanted to use this space to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on HP. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, we all have many things to be thankful for if we just take the time to look. I personally am thankful for each and every one of you who share your poetry with me and read and enjoy my work.  I am very thankful for all of the kindness I have been shown on this site. I appreciate it so very much.

I hope your day is filled with family, friends, happiness and many things to be thankful for.

Jack

~

Fly Away


“Seagull, you fly across the horizon”

Parallel dreams and sifted thoughts
on an amber thread, thin as the beliefs
once found as hope, now falling
beneath sorrowed wings, gliding


“Into the misty morning sun”

Through hazy eyes and broken hearts,
tarnished memories flow within this dawn
as you fade off in the distance,
soaring ever higher, disappearing into the east


“Nobody asks you where you are going”

Silence fills the maze that is your mind, leaving you
staring at dead ends and fractured turns,
as the realization that you didn’t matter
forms on clouds of whispering truths…no one cares


“Nobody knows where you're from”

And in the end, you are not sure yourself
from where you once came, a blotted image
on empty shorelines of tangle debris
which you easily have forgotten, as you as well will be


“And you fly away…”

Scars run deep
Sliced by those
Disguised as friends

Tearing flesh
One touch at a time
With false smiles

Ripping names
From headline bold print
Stored in their pockets

Where the trusting sit
Scattered among the lint
Of past pleasures

Victims of masks
Worn behind the scenes
Leprechaun images

Lucky charms
Magically delicious
Forced to consume

Though nothing more
Than evil
To start your day

~

Towards the tree line

I stare towards the tree line,
misshapen and abstract on my eyes
Fading in autumn’s chill and leafless
emptiness that I still cannot see

Oh it is there, screaming at me,
waving in the wind, calling in birdsong
But my eyes travel more…
a distance well beyond any footpath I’ve taken

Shelved on the high land vistas
now filled with charcoal persuasions
So very far, miles on scaled dotted lines,
asphalt tearing at my soles, untied laces drag

Still I gaze, following my heart into loneliness
Reaching for but a hint of a smile,
a fix-all for that broken heart,
a mosaic sponge to catch your tears…I find none

Tossing a stone, it bounces on fielded diaries,
words of pain scribbled before even a thought
Collections of wishes in a four leaf clover pockets,
brushed of life’s unfairness

If only I could hold you,
safely beneath that frown,
gently with the touch of every meaning,
building a wall to turn back the sorrow

Ivy covered in green temptations
breathing of trust and love,
lingering at locked doors to secure peace
And yet, I can only stare towards the tree line…blind and worthless

~


Changing directions
In a forestalled motion,
balanced on the side of truth while practicing losing my step
in the rushing waters of life…
I slip

Clinging to a lone branch
I find it blocking the sky, pulling shadows from mist
and teetering on the edge of someone’s sacred sanity

My eyes,
stern and fashioned of blinded occurrences that swallow
the light of day and the masks of sympathetic stares,
focus

For in the distance,
tapestries woven of heartbeats glisten on the ripples of a naked moon beam,
motioning to me in pleasing movements a’ dance on its reflections

Passionately in syncopated volumes she whispers,
louder than the hope now swirling in the rising swells
and broken slivers of drastic wastelands which
sit vacant in my mind

“Float to me”,
I hear as the cool waters so elegantly gather about her perfect feet
Her toes grip the rocky floor in such beauty that I fall helplessly,
allowing nature’s crest to take me, singing me sweetly to this pristine dream

Disbelief churns in fountains of doubt fed wishes and desires
as I submerge in the beauty that is her
Engulfed by white capped rapids beating faster…only my heart

She, with silken fingers plucks me from the surf,
her fragrance, lilac and magnolia, intoxicate me

We stand, shades of the deep sky and starlight beacons illume her face
As fireflies play in the trees and
our lips meet, my pulse floods with fever

Her desperate thoughts invade my elated mind and I agree
Together we plunge to the depths of forever and I slowly drown in her love

~

That barren branch
high above this desolate space
Crooked shade designs on a dying earth
Bent and twisted of past sunlight reach
Naked to the green-less world
Rough hewed collections
Of ant trail pathways
And rot of all that was good

Once filled with life, happy on the breeze
Summer fashions of leaf pattern wishes
Colors of blissful post card greetings
Bearing fruit of friendlier times

Now rests in solitude’s wicked grip
Knotted and splintered bark winding
to a tapered end of winter’s calling
Cold fingers on gray-cast skylines
Dying of desperate missings
Fading into a bleak sunset
Disappearing somewhere beyond the dark
That barren branch…is me

~

Draped in dreams of liquid tides
Shallow waters cool the breeze
Toes drenched of vast believing
From grassy banks, soft and pure
Ripples of time pass slowly
Blue sky desires paint our thoughts
Soothing sunlight sparkles
Glistening on the surface
A butterfly lands on your shoulder
Attracted by the rose bud in your hair
Happiness touches softly
As you brush its tiny wings
It flutters…as does your beauty

“And you are happy”
  
Your smile enchants me
Indigo reflects in your eyes
Skin glowing iridescent
In warmth felt deeply
Beneath this shade tree
I imagine us…always
Sweet lips beckon
Aromatic Jasmine scent
Tingles my senses
Euphoria in this wildflower meadow
Harmonic blooms sway melodically
Nature’s symphonic movements
And as we kiss…my heart sings

“And I am happy”

~

Passion’d Mountain Top

The air is so much thinner here
Miles find my eyes gazing,
valleys wave in gardenia gestures
and foot prints form in seeking patterns

Smooth stone of rain drop kisses
falls steep in overwhelming beauty
as I reach for a few more steps
of overlooking apex in snowcapped dreams

From this height far above
the sleeping village and sunset ribbons
I can see, more than the mind can imagine
yet not father than my soul can reach

As heart beats in mosaic designs
echo from peak to peak,
they flow on zephyrs of silver clouded beauty,
settling upon your tender skin

Always when twilight horizons form in the east
and starlight canopies unfold
my love soars on breathless whispers
from this passion’d  mountain top…endlessly to you

~




“Well she's walking through the clouds”

Little wings keep her upright
as she strolls through the sunrise
now brightly glowing within my heart,
blind to my feelings

“With a circus mind that's running wild”

Beneath azure tents of atmosphere,
smiling at another perfect day in her world
While tame white tigers
roar on cue

“Butterflies and zebras”

Watercolor happiness fills her eyes
as she chases the beauty that is her nature,
caressing all that she touches
with the wonder that is her essence

“And moonbeams and fairy tales”

Moonbeam, something I have not called her
and once upon a times, when poppies and dandelions sing
the saddest of songs for my desires
flood in a downpour of dreams not realized

“That's all she ever thinks about”

While frolicking childlike atop cotton candy visions
never once looking my way,
finding this love I hold so gently,
only for her

“Riding with the wind”

On whispered zephyrs she disappears
as day drinks of twilight
and weary eyes find star light harsh…I sleep,
waiting for the new day, waiting for her…once again

~

Ensorcelled in effervescent lingerings
sifting through moonlit seams
Soft flavored drippings of ecstasy
melting slowly within the fever
dancing across my skin
as your fingers trace
the outline of my deepest secrets,
mysteries lodged in seductive breaths

Your love my ******, addictive enchantment
Stimulated senses heightened
Sundrenched moans, silver lined
adrift on satin sighs
Floating delirious within
hallucinogenic eyes,
seducing my mind in eternal desires

Trance infused emotions
cling to each nuance of mesmeric longings
Swirling smoke ringlets
penetrate whispering decolletage,
culminating in lustful motives
atop gilded sheets
drenched of our rapture,
etched in euphoria
Two silhouettes saturated
*in this dream called passion

Frozen in layers of lemon drop frosting
Running for love on the snow covered lawn
Interest in all that this morning does offer
Entering each as if only a song

Dancing to dreams on the edge of tomorrow
Asking a question I hope will be true
Pausing a moment to smile your direction
Writing this poem while thinking of you

Not alone


Like block shaped wheels our lives stumble at the chapters we write
Corners seem dark and teeming with doubt,
alleyways call in echoes of our name,
as if tempting us to crawl when we cannot walk

                “Fear begins the parade at our fragile hearts”

Shades are drawn and slotted with eyes watching,
voices ring the halls of the buildings looming large,
rumors of pointed fingers find our ears in colander fashion,
dripping fear at our feet

                “Waves conduct sound, crashing vividly as we hear”

We cry,
hoping these tears will somehow wash the pain,
fill the gutters and move out to sea,
casting waves upon unsuspecting shores

                “Wishes…more waste than want…at least of these eyes”

When of the shadows a touch,
softly at first, then strong upon our shoulders fall…
comfort leaps to our hearts in sing song praise,
wishes become goals and finish line adventures

                “What is this light, soft yet sure, found within”

We are not alone, darkness hints at light
and butterflies fill our air with prism’d colors and soft breezes
collecting on our damp cheeks and drying the aftermath
of our understanding of reality

                “Dreams of these nightmares fade into happiness”

We find footprints in the dirt…two which are not our own,
closely, yet affectionately following our way and bringing direction
to our dreams, yet the nightmares still flourish
but we do not feel so alone

                “Fences built may keep us in yet… may keep us out”

For this hand, from a distance,
climbing mountains and fording rivers
leads our hearts to the safety of love just beyond the bricked wall,
the ivy covered monolith, the chain link disaster
which once stood locked

                “Finding that a breath may exhale peace…again”

Now stands open of the arbor of hibiscus
blooms and teapot pourings fore our eyes…open and hopeful of the coming truth
once lost beyond our dreams…and we breathe
for it feels right to breathe while standing in the darkness…not alone

Night time brings a silence,
a loneliness that drags hours
through the mind's corridors

Winding past words shared
during the day, earlier promises,
affectionate offerings found my eyes,
longing for merely a touch from
far away wishes, rubbing brass lamps,
picking four leaf clovers...

I was asked, " Is there anything you can't do?"

What I can't do hurts more than what I can
and what I can do doesn't matter
because of what I can't

So here I sit on Valentine's night alone,
dreaming of you, wondering where you are,
imagining us...hoping you are too,
in this silence and loneliness that
night time brings

~

I shall go there with my love

There’s a meadow in the distance
Golden grains upon the land
Such an effervescent morning
As we walk there hand in hand

In the trees the birds are singing
Sunny skies play up above
There’s a meadow in the distance
I shall go there with my love

There’s a river by a mountain
Waters blue and crystal clear
So refreshing is its beauty
O’ the sound we love to hear

Upon it glistens soft reflections
Of the bluest skies above
There’s a river by a mountain
I shall go there with my love

There are horses in the pasture
Frolicking this perfect day
So majestic in their stature
As they run the fields at play

In the air their manes are flowing
Cool the breezes from above
There are horses in the pasture
I shall go there with my love

There’s a garden filled with flowers
O’ the fragrance soft and pure
Perfect blossoms for the picking
Where we could not ask for more

All the colors of a rainbow
Streaming through the sky above
There’s a garden filled with flowers
I shall go there with my love

There’s a future that is waiting
Where the days are ever bright
And forever it is springtime
Every scene a perfect sight

Where the nights are heaven's answer
Neath the wondrous moon above
There’s a future that is waiting
I shall go there with my love

Like block shaped wheels our lives stumble at the chapters we write
Corners seem dark and teeming with doubt,
alleyways call in echoes of our name,
as if tempting us to crawl when we cannot walk

                “Fear begins the parade at our fragile hearts”

Shades are drawn and slotted with eyes watching,
voices ring the halls of the buildings looming large,
rumors of pointed fingers find our ears in colander fashion,
dripping fear at our feet

                “Waves conduct sound, crashing vividly as we hear”

We cry,
hoping these tears will somehow wash the pain,
fill the gutters and move out to sea,
casting waves upon unsuspecting shores

                “Wishes…more waste than want…at least of these eyes”

When of the shadows a touch,
softly at first, then strong upon our shoulders fall…
comfort leaps to our hearts in sing song praise,
wishes become goals and finish line adventures

                “What is this light, soft yet sure, found within”

We are not alone, darkness hints at light
and butterflies fill our air with prism’d colors and soft breezes
collecting on our damp cheeks and drying the aftermath
of our understanding of reality

                “Dreams of these nightmares fade into happiness”

We find footprints in the dirt…two which are not our own,
closely, yet affectionately following our way and bringing direction
to our dreams, yet the nightmares still flourish
but we do not feel so alone

                “Fences built may keep us in yet… may keep us out”

For this hand, from a distance,
climbing mountains and fording rivers
leads our hearts to the safety of love just beyond the bricked wall,
the ivy covered monolith, the chain link disaster
which once stood locked

                “Finding that a breath may exhale peace…again”

Now stands open of the arbor of hibiscus
blooms and teapot pourings fore our eyes…open and hopeful of the coming truth
once lost beyond our dreams…and we breathe
for it feels right to breathe while standing in the darkness…not alone

~


And the skies find blue

On this morning in the city

With the temperature so warm

As I stand to find the meaning

Over asphalt centered lanes

With the street lights set on twinkle

When a billboard reaches out

With a message for the masses

Still my every thought is you

And I dream



~Chosen by my eyes to see the wonders love is bringing

Floating in my mind like endless butterflies a’ winging

Melodies of love as every meadowlark is singing

And I dream…oh I dream~



People rushing by

At an endless rate of hurry

With their boot straps in a bind

You can see their frowning faces

That new watch upon their arms

Flashing minutes changing hours

Till the meetings that they meet

And the notes they will be taking

Still my every thought is you

And I dream



~My heart it skips a beat within the rhythm of your smile

Sea shells on a beach now dance in ocean waving style

Meadows filled with green where we may lay a little while

And I dream…oh I dream~



Traffic jams ensue

Waving fists and shouting plenty

Driving slower than a snail

Move along we’re in a hurry

But the radio does play

I ignore the mass confusion

For the song that I now hear

Is the one you like to dance to

For my every thought is you

And I dream



~Cotton candy clouds project the colors of the evening

In and out of life with all the happiness now weaving

I am coming home, your open arms so soon receiving

*And I dream…oh I dream~

Like Morse code on dampened glass,
raindrops form a weathered phrase
interpreting this broken heart now
dripping in endless sorrow
of un-breathing days wasted
on paned emotions

Even the midday sun
briefly pushing away clustered clouds
can not erase the stains
streaked of weeping moments,
salted in so many fears
and wonderings…

Shattered, lying in pieces,
transparent mosaics of jagged will
cut deep and wide on this tired skin,
bleeding out in pools of disgrace
as I translate the moistened dots and dashes
to find that they merely ask…why?

Terrorizing emotions


I sit here and think
Jumping to conclusions
Under the guise of feelings
Sent via worded phrases
Tormenting thoughts
Cancelling friendships once standing
Accruing indifferent reactions
Never once looking beyond the heart
Tempting angered responses
Severing all ties
Talking out of both sides of the mouth
Applying pressure to open wounds
Needless damage done
Dancing on fresh graves
Tethering hopes with razor wire
Harnessing putrid darkness
Escalating hidden fears
Haphazardly slinging arrows
Avoiding the real truth
Terrorizing emotions
Endlessly