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59 · Aug 2020
Remembrance
Ron Aug 2020
I cannot speak of those days,
when fresh coffee scent began to float,
filling the morning air with hope,
when our sons' childish laughter,
hung like musical notes on currents of air.
Let us not speak of the glowing arms of sky,
that used to capture us at dusk,
And oh, the live oaks let us not trace,
Their spreading branches clothed in leaves,
They giving us shelter in our dreams,
or yearn for the noise of a colorful bird,
that treated us with humors ease.
Let us not remember the first smell of rain,
Instead, I can only think of now,
In the present of past lives lost to me.  
I might consider remembering them,
With the glowing sky and coffee beans,
in shaded houses on sunny streets.
Might I then set my memory afloat,,
like a paper boat down a river.
I could ask that paper please,
whisper our story to the water,
that the water sing it to the trees,
for the trees to shake and shiver,
at pleasure through their leaves.
If I keep still and do not speak,
I might hear our whole life past,
Remove my presence from this void,
until the wind is the only word heard.
58 · Jul 2020
Sojourn
Ron Jul 2020
Once a small child now an old man.
White hairs to match the child’s down.
Easy the heart gets hurt by life.
Slowly now the urge to move,
Beyond the closing doors,
Where then all craving ends.
58 · Aug 2020
River Romance
Ron Aug 2020
Walking beside a river,
I watch my silly shadow dance,
From ripple to ripple in wild romance,
With the rivers frantic drop,
to clear and brilliant pools.
What does the river see,
In my shadow unfettered and free?
One thousand sparkling eyes in sun,
Reflected from its liquid run?
Or is it only an admiring gaze,
The wisdom of the river seeks?
58 · Jul 2020
Transendence
Ron Jul 2020
It sloughs my skin,
that unknown distance
it takes to reach
my end in sleep.
Your closed eyes
and carmine lips
formed into a smile
a trait that I’d
surrender into
as often as
your smiles endure
my transcendence
of bone and muscle
58 · Jun 2020
Small Thoughts
Ron Jun 2020
He sits in their kitchen with mingled aromas,
where creatures arise from coffee mug steam.
He has only his hands to hold up his head,
he came from where small talk,
to large loss has led.

But then, oh so willingly,  
He was trapped among many fine things.
The wind is now searching to trace out a path,
While sunlight glints on a shiny juice glass.
He can see with a twist of a dull butter knife,
the ease of drawing such strawberry blood,
his trembling hands ready to spin a red thread,
on her hot buttered toast, or a bagel instead.
His lips remain silent with thunderous cries,
eyes resting on windows with live oaks outside.

And so she said, “my love”,
“there should be no more to life than just this.”
Watching her hesitate he stirs hot coffee.
Then curls his hands around hers and her mug,
while time ticks through the day just begun.
The fresh morning mist a subtle mosaic,
lit by the sun preserved with such color,
as a new summers leaf,
with a yellow lace flower,
such was their love once discussed.

Once drenched in love,
Soaked softly in sun, this moments relief,
Spins slowly across his kitchen motif,
until a breeze blows in to surround him,
scented words of lost love, a hope yet revived,
in a fragrant unbalanced wisp of his life.
The past cannot die without a death,
If only he could heal her with more coffee,
While patiently he waits,
for other such fools to fall in love.
58 · Jun 2020
Colors of One
Ron Jun 2020
Some go in search
of chromatic white shores
where they might see
their pale heart lying about
like a long dead fish.
Some look around
at the brown uneven ground
Fervently searching
The piecemeal earth
For their missing hues
of humanity

I however,
will sit on my blue couch
And drink black coffee
while staring intently down
into my green mug
at the time streaked reflection
staring back at me
Loneliness does not come
in only one color
but spans the entire spectrum
of humanity
57 · Jul 2020
Wine Tasting
Ron Jul 2020
Oh when will it be, oh when will it be,
That she shall come my face to see,
With wine and love and gladness.
Her lips to kiss those lips of mine
Whose lips will taste of wine,
So, I shall sip the music,
from her sweet lips.
And she…
For all
To see,
may taste the love,
and desire from mine.
57 · Jul 2020
Sleepless Sun
Ron Jul 2020
Too long tonight I've lingered here,
And though time itself be intimate,
The ticking of the clock, is not.
Unlock those dreams of fate.
Old rising sun, you must wait.

If I had made of my scrawny arm
A pillow for my boney head
I may have had a moment's time
To chase a summer's dream that fled,
What would the Sun have said?

If in this troubled world of mine
I must linger sleepless in the night,
My only friend shall be the moon,
Who paints my lids a sadness shone,
As the Sun now shines a brighter light.
57 · Jun 2020
Unwound
Ron Jun 2020
In silence I lie alone,
The lights are all out.
Gently I feel through the darkness,
with a need to touch hand to hand,
a desire to feel mouth on mouth.
The night wind moans its lonely sound,
then suddenly I'm awake, aware, afraid,
with only the cold darkness to be found.
Where is your soft hair, your sweet mouth?
These then are my thoughts of you,
In my sleep since you’ve been gone.
And though I lie here now,
Alone, awake and unwound
My love for you still
slumbers on.
56 · Jul 2020
Running the Right Way
Ron Jul 2020
You want to run you say? But where shall you go?
City concrete has no need to follow, it is already there.
Steel beams do not see, and do not breathe
That most pungent stench of human misery.
They will not care, it does not matter,
Run, flee, get out before you’re seen!
Listen close you’ll hear it everywhere,
The meter maid, the bus driver, the newsvendor
All waving goodbye, urging you to go
Farewell to you they say,
So long until another day!
Go! Why is it still you waver?
Are you not puzzled to remain?
With feet laced neat in in running shoes,
You could run fast along these jaded lanes.
Pack your clothes, leave behind your ruined lives,
Translate your unknown language at another time.
Midnight street lights will not save you,
There are no hallowed halls in downtown stalls.
Do not become a future myth to bleed,
You are human, why pretend? Go!
Find your home in future seas, lift your chin,
Live unburdened, love again.
56 · Sep 2020
Quandary
Ron Sep 2020
Even in this fast world  
the spirit of a friend
May live and reign
for a thousand years.
Why are friends long lost,
Always the most stable,
Of the four legs on a chair?
56 · May 2020
The Thoughts of Leaves
Ron May 2020
The thoughts of leaves interest me,
Fragile fall, crisp with color,
harbingers of cooler times.
How fleeting flow their days,
How long lay their nights,
Memories of summers past,
Those thoughts that still drift,
Into many a fragrant eve,
hanging gently in their trees
to sing a song of rivers and streams,
and melodies,
of lemon scented fireflies.
This where the image of leaves,
is mirrored in the realm,
of my mind’s infinite summers.
Where the thoughts of leaves,
blow wild and free,
and memories past still wander.
56 · Jul 2020
Half Baked
Ron Jul 2020
After allowing my love to leave me
Because of my own stupid absurdity
I baked myself a humble loaf
A reminder of my missing hope
I then allowed it to sit
So daily it would startle me
Until I vowed to make it quite
So with treacherous trembling knife
I stabbed its crusty hide
And on insertion deep inside
Softly something crumbled
Sadly something died.
56 · Jul 2020
Dignity
Ron Jul 2020
Can one be obligated,
for travesties uncommitted?
Can one admire the flower,
rooted deep in the grave,
Despite not causing the death ,
or ever knowing the name?
Proximity erodes,
the benefits of anonymity,
still from their silver cages,
The cowards all scream,
“If I can’t see, then it can’t be.”
I will not kneel,
But stand tall under the feet
Of those on my shoulders.
56 · Jun 2020
Quiet Peace
Ron Jun 2020
Long have I avoided the dark hunter death,
And now I am weary,
and in much need of learning,
where my still peace is.
Soon I will hear that voice of the ages,
That knows nothing of my old earth’s yearnings.
And its cry,
is but quiet,
Like wind over water,
And it knows nothing of love…
Only of dying.
55 · Jun 2020
Electric Blue
Ron Jun 2020
There will be thunder,
Cascading in tumultuous waves,
Remember me she says,
As she called for more storms,
This entire world may be the color,
Of my bright electric blue,
And your heart will then turn to fire.

That day as the storms blew in,
A true prophecy was discovered,
When for the last time she said goodbye,
Her lightning soaring through the heavens
Deep sparks flashing in her eyes,
Yet still my burnt heart longed to see,
Her electric blue fire in the sky.
55 · Oct 2020
Touch
Ron Oct 2020
All assertions.
Are defeated by time.
And yes, there has always been
more meaning in what's left untouched.
The passing time does turn to dust
amid my solitary and loveless nights.
Such lack of touch still leaves me yearning,
For sleep to remove me from my plight,
with a subtle singing of liquid sighs,
Reflecting loves lake with lonely skies.
Silent I remain, forced to abstain,
From those human pleasures of life,
That most basic need of human touch.
55 · Jul 2020
Forecast
Ron Jul 2020
It sparks lightning,
and broadcasts thunder,
Canceling drought,
in the calendar leaves.
It weeps for all the trees that stand
and for all the stones that sit,
Unclothed and dry their open grave
It may give life
but then could drown
my will to live.
I have tried on all the climates
and rain is the one hat
that never seems to fit.
55 · Jun 2020
Jennifer's Tea Cup
Ron Jun 2020
She came upon me sudden,
As a sweet dream recalled at noon.

Old as hot water grown cold.
Where is she now this woman,

who tipped me into her cup of tea?
As I stood swaying on the lip,

of her sinuous dream.  
Swift the current called her, she had to,

answer the hard knocking,
that she in her not-knowing,

thought only a brief interruption,
of our life.
54 · Aug 2020
Flicker
Ron Aug 2020
Moth wings flicker
on a porch bare bulb,
The winds breath still,
the trees at peace,
Waiting for the dawn
to come within the hour.
All though my quiet heart
flicker thoughts of you,
But I shall wait perhaps
far longer than an hour
54 · Sep 2020
Who's There?
Ron Sep 2020
There's a gleam of green in the sunset red,
There's a stir of blue in the quiet mood,
There's an odious glow in the dusk outside,
Tonight, I’ll have my wine inside.
There’s none but me in this empty room,
Drinking lonely in in a swoon,
And yet still I hear a ****** voice,
Where moonlight fingers the window ledge.
Shall I calm the thoughts within my head?
No, I think I’ll drink my wine instead.
53 · Jul 2020
Cyclic
Ron Jul 2020
Nightlights, streetlamps,
Convenience store glow,
Lit in a dull meaningless light.
Lives live on another decade or so
The same though, no exit in sight.
Death floats in, begins it all again,
Just as before, all repeats,
Nightlights, streetlamps,
Convenience store glow…
53 · Jul 2020
Rare
Ron Jul 2020
What pleasure it is,
For rain on my skin,
to dry in the bright sunshine!
53 · Jul 2020
The Farmer
Ron Jul 2020
The grinding of the grain,
An intoxicating hum.
Hay bales piled high,
prickly building blocks.
We harvest as farmers,
and are self-sufficient,
Knowing the weather,
Of tomorrow will come.
Only after he ‘d stolen leisure,
From work on the farm,
Did he realize how long,
the summer days had become.
Among fresh cut wheat,
Standing there in the eve,
a cool breeze on his face,
Leftovers from the day,
To appease the nights fate.
Time to eat dinner,
And sleep.
53 · Jun 2020
Waiting
Ron Jun 2020
Her barefoot patter on the floor,
My straining ears do hear no more,
So I will cut in half what minutes waste,
Those memories of her smiling face,
To be bound up tightly then be placed,
In a warm sunbeam outside my door,
To be released then gently in the night,
When once again my love arrives.
52 · Jun 2020
Nothing New
Ron Jun 2020
And then suddenly,
Everything stayed the same.
And those who had called so strongly
on clear cool colors subdued
Refocused their lenses,
On those who had seen
The warmth of those same colors move.

Yet others without the solitude
of times infinite sound in flight
Were slowly revised within the sky
Then encircled in scents of blue.
And whether they felt soft color or not,
Still they sculpted from pools of light,
Their own shadows to celebrate the sight,

Yet the sun still burned their ideas alive,  
To drift along windblown visual lines,
to see the place where passion shines
Ever un-unprepared for the view.  
A day and a night they cowered in fright
And then suddenly nothing changed again,
Suddenly nothing was new.
52 · May 2020
Words
Ron May 2020
In my mind,
I hold the words,
that life denies me.
Words sweet words,
speak love sweet love,
if only to grow wings instead,
if only to rise above.
Words are not speaking,
as songs are not singing,
words to wound,
words to please,
words to bring me to my knees.
All day I have written words.
My subject has been just that:
Words.
And I am wrong,
and the words are wrong,
and so the words I burn.
Cerebral pages of them.
Words.
Desperate I ask the moon,
to gather her moonlit words,
and those too I burn.
But a poem still remains.
Of the words, with the words,
in the flame, that is now the words,
I disdain.
So I burn the words to contain,
Those meaningless words un-heard,
my words,
and am then burnt,
by all I cannot save,
all I cannot love,
and all I leave un-made.
But the words,
the words remain the same.
52 · Jun 2020
Lesser
Ron Jun 2020
I am not inherently anything,
but born as a blank canvas
on which my life’s choices
have been splashed.
I am the writer of the words,
that I reflectively speak,
of the artist of my inborn paths.
My feet leaving prints of life
wherever I’ve stepped,
my words staining the ears,
of many hearts of mediocrity
or all too similar to those of shame.
But still life owns the power
Of my good morning smile
to all those lone wanderers
who would come after me.
52 · May 2020
Field Work
Ron May 2020
The memory of your scent so familiar and pleasing,
Like a pale mist lies between me and these lines.
And the north wind washing through this tent,
Sets the cold canvas walls to shiver,
While my mind plays back your delicate quiver,
As my tongue slipped between your glistening lips.
My nerves sting at the spatters of rain on the fabric,
And I am uneasy with the howling of the wild dogs
outside in the night.
In the cold, devoid of light,

Where are you my love?
Why have you thrown my devotion away?
52 · Aug 2020
Mean People!
Ron Aug 2020
In private at her they laughed,
Such laughter never more foolish!
Dwellers of this earth,
should cry and not cease.
Time's vulgarities crush us like glass,
Never to be reassembled in one piece.
52 · Jun 2020
Stranded Past
Ron Jun 2020
I have been combing the strands
of my thoughts for you
you
who left traces of your fragrance,
in lieu of yourself
a pungency as of ripe apples
hot tea
or things lain long in lavender
very faint
but of a lingering sweetness.
Now that I have found you
I can see
your delicate coloring
which once so delighted me
has been faded in the wash
of my tumbled mind
and yet do you still
bring the tears to my eyes
as will some small phrase
someone said to me long ago
to whom my desire
to mean so much
still meant so little
I have untangled you
from my web of delicate things
only to find you were the last of a kind
within my yearning soul
shame on me... I did not know.
51 · Aug 2020
Untitled
Ron Aug 2020
Having been forgotten,
I care little for myself,
yet concern still runs deep,
for the life of the one,
who forgot me.
50 · Jul 2020
Watercolors
Ron Jul 2020
Unfold this dream
Against the light,
crafted hills and streams
Finely painted nature

Thin clouds, light rain.
Far stars, faint moon.
I sit, I look, the green moss grows
Soon becomes one with my clothes.
50 · Jun 2020
Wet
Ron Jun 2020
Wet
It’s raining outside, once again.
Water leaking on my head.
As I lie here soaking
In the sorrows,
Of this miserable life I’ve led.
50 · Jun 2020
Saline Streaks
Ron Jun 2020
This remorseless dark separation
I bear unequally with you.
Why cry?
Rather, I search for your hand,
And ask for your promise
to visit me in dream.
You and I are like two seas,
many shores separated,
No more meeting in this world.
If only sometimes through starlight,
You would send me a greeting
through the salty stars,
streaming down my cheeks.
49 · Sep 2020
Kitchen Wndow
Ron Sep 2020
I am discontent,
and could wait until the feeling,
Becomes a haunting memory,
But I am at this moment,
Already wavering,
In my eminent need to relent.
What by nature,
Is most gracefully remote,
Transforms to bitterness,
With my distant gazing.
I turn my weary head,
to ask the passing gleam,
But the sidewalk scene,
Has grown hollow to me.
49 · Jul 2020
The Carpenter
Ron Jul 2020
And eighty years
passed among mortals.
With pieces of life,
being laid on the board,
The carpenter takes,
his hammer home.
The work of the handle,
Grown tired and thin,
Hands of flesh,
Now turned to stone,
What he has created,
In this life he lived,
Has left him immortal.
49 · Aug 2020
Turtle Time
Ron Aug 2020
MY little turtle labors alone,
All other turtles have quit this year
No one will pause to stop and praise
Its measured pace of travel I fear,
Now that my turtle time is near.
49 · Aug 2020
Untitled
Ron Aug 2020
whose face in the wind,
and the falling of the leaves,
to curse the ancient rain
drifting long in alien seas
save now that breath
for a future in motion
a short sentence is best
when crossing wide oceans
49 · Jul 2020
Longing
Ron Jul 2020
It is the needing within the silence
deep down in the body,
deep and pure.
Shimmering pools of desire replenished
but never truly full.
Those shifting liquid pools of needing,
their voices calling, ever pleading,
always wanting something more,
Always something more.
48 · Jun 2020
Starlight
Ron Jun 2020
People can’t be stretched like starlight.
Even through the rebirth of time
of intention, of loyalty, of love,
there’s always another above,
that lingers like sudden pain,
of the salted wounds cut.
A past someone, a present devil,
declaring power over lives,
not theirs to control.
Oh how I yearn
for the freedom to burn,
If only to be stretched like starlight.
48 · Aug 2020
Shameless
Ron Aug 2020
If you see me led,
With old hand tethered,
to a mangy one-eyed mutt.
Dare you not feel shame for me,
Yet still I retain the dedication of one.
48 · Oct 2020
Untitled
Ron Oct 2020
Poetry - may you be a lilted word,
May you be that unspoken quest,
in which all may wander in awe.
Let words with wings of bird,
Power of love, and grace of deer,
Be the inspiration of my message,
so that some may treasure,
the unheard cheer of all voices
through my silent words thus written.
48 · Jul 2020
Old Clothes
Ron Jul 2020
These jeans, this shirt,
What must they think of me,
With all my windy farts and tears.
Both jeans and shirt, how old they grow,
Bearing the weight of my aging years.

Yes, they’ve seen my lonely days,
while these jeans, this shirt,
Their color fades.
And yes, they’ve seen the subtle change,
Of my once brown hair now turning grey.

These jeans worked hard,
Through cold and fear,
Protecting both my front and rear.
Now do they seek a warmer place,
To help old feet keep up the pace?

This shirt a warm but humble cloth,
Absorbing years of stains and sweat,
Never one to disagree.
Yet in its secret knowing warmth,
My youthful arrogance it has kept.

This threadbare shirt, these faded jeans,
So many tender passions,
And lonely sorrows have they seen.
They have no feelings I am told,
Still,
Where will they go when I am old?
47 · Aug 2020
Future Past
Ron Aug 2020
I can’t meet my selves now past,
And those others of the future,
Are much too far away from me.
Worlds move on through times that pass,
Will my future me, then see light at last?
The ghost of my past five minutes ago,
In future times may let me know,
Impatiently, I wait to see.
47 · May 2020
Promises Past
Ron May 2020
Having no promises to keep,
and no bed to head to,
immeasurably shortens his miles.
Demons of the dusk, a knight’s villain of the dawn,
Having nowhere to belong.
Whose thoughts these are he’s sure to know,
he lives in silent shadow though,
Somewhere later in life.

I found myself wandering a darkened wood.
discovered within in a brilliant forest.
Between past ghosts and future dreams, I got lost.
Long now has anyone asked a promise of me,
none will notice should I choose a bed or a box,
a matted rug or the forest deep.
Like promises made and left by others
It matters not where I sleep.
47 · Aug 2020
Short
Ron Aug 2020
I am short this night,
the leftover shadow,
of a noonday sun.

Long I await now,
the mornings mystery,
to slowly extend me.
47 · Jun 2020
Only Me
Ron Jun 2020
I am much too alone in this world,
yet not alone enough,
to truly consecrate my hour.
I am much too small in this world,
yet not small enough,
to be only an object, a thought, an action,
or just a simple easy breeze.
I want my free will,
and I want it to accompany,
a path that leads to people;
and though that I want,
during my time begs questions,
where something I thought I made up,
was already there for others to see.
Yet is it enough,
to be so alone in this world?
Is it enough to be only me?
47 · Aug 2020
My Friend
Ron Aug 2020
My friend is living now
among serene green hills
Enchanted by the beauty
of mountains in clouds.
In the green Spring days,
he lies sleepy in the woods;
Dozing as the sun shines high

If you were to ask him
Why live among the hills,
Quietly he would laugh to himself.
His soul is calm as blossoms birth
He follows the running waters
And there finds for himself
another heaven and earth
47 · Jul 2020
Transition
Ron Jul 2020
Who is to blame,
for my secret disarray,
like many patterns dyed
in summer fields of color?
Not I,
Who hides my grief,
In deeper shades of gray.
Just let the winds of sky
blow shut a cloudy passage,
that I might keep wisely then,
My many shades of sorrow,
behind me for a while.
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