~



each step
      purposeful
                
no longer can discontent rule
                 when that has become the norm
                             we must remember
                                    unity

promises coated in smelly swamp mud
                         lay disheveled after spoken

no one is expected to remember
                 words carry meaning

it seems I have been cursed
             with an inability to forget   /

The television blinds us from seeing
the real ways of the human being
it only brings falseness to our minds
these are such troubled times

leaders speak of peace, while killing
those words are only filling
convicted of their human crimes
these are such troubled times

preachers preach, but ears won't listen
there's something gone, something's missing
so many caught up in life's binds
these are such troubled times

~


my body went through the motions
           gently grabbing and pulling
                 from the corner of the roll
                     tossing absentmindedly large crumbs
                       to eager ducks
                          and one old swan

the foggy day matched
           my teary gloss
                    maybe the sun shone bright
                           yet I could not see past
                                  my own mist

  this was her bench       possibly
               these were her ducks
                       in the abstract
                            I was her
                                      tossing my own body to the fowl

delicately folding the plastic bag
             I placed it and her memory into my pocket
                        flipped my collar against the cold air
                               and turned my back
                                       on Mother’s ducks    /

~


deep dark water holds
     the entire spectrum
           heating sheets
                  flooding shorelines

deniers hide fat red faces
        drunk with power and ignorance
                under down-filled pillows
                    and 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton

granules traverse deserts
           eroding hillsides and
                  depositing in swallowed lakebeds
                       fossilized cacti whisper in the howl

people crying out that change is a hoax
          everything remains eternally static
                   a garden pre Adam
                        their insanity hurts my head

bending my neck into distorted positions
     I try to see their point
              my eyes bleed
                  trying to see their side
                      I would agree to disagree
                              if the lives of my children and grandchildren
                                 were not hanging in the balance  /

~


ruffled satin cascades
        deep pools hold attention
strewn pebbles of amber
    give rise to shifting images
like clouds passing overhead
while looking into a windswept pond

a lilting titter caresses my earlobe
and I can hardly focus on the language
       it is her posture
               her smile
                  which captivates

pressed skin warms
without sun or fire
            only our shared space
                 gives rise to heat and comfort
                        our matched sighs
                              tendril to the stratosphere /

~


slightest dust
                         of white
   fell silently on the  
                                   foothills

an old doe sluffs the extra coat
trots slow towards the northeast
         her heavy breath
                     a falling cloudbank

in the distance a thrush sings to me
         or was it the morning sun
                  the entire meadow
                                 enjoyed the interlude  /