My wounds were generally not self-inflicted.
Most represent lessons learned, many from people that I love, still.
Now that I am older, at times, I will locate the scars,
Seeking them out, reaching into uncomfortable regions
To feel the now smooth flesh-covering,
Wrinkles in the brain.

Like vehicles zipping by on the freeway
in the distance
The many shore birds glide

The yellow haze from Saharan dust hangs
in these skies
Bird and man alike breathe in the remains

The garden squash is smoldering in the heat
its blooms struggle
As we all seem to whither in heat and repeat

I sit with the AC blaring and under a fan
still melting
Like cotton candy on a hot, dry sand

Today, there's much obscenity and conspiracy
eagerly accepted
But "climate change" is considered insane

With death threats for the scientists bandied about
miss led and miss guided ones
Spew vile foolish reproofs with loud shouts

Yet, even though their labor seems in vain
they continue the message
With dignity, diligence, and love for fellow man.

Watching you
My checks still flush bright red,
Fading into pink. Do you notice
When the vein at the base of my throat
Pulsates with excitement?
Or when my green eyes brighten
And glisten with love?
Do you see me anymore?

Your plane through pink clouds,
At sunrise, my sinking heart.
Heart breaking, you, departing.
Your plane through pink clouds
Departed, and the sky
And I am empty.

Ah, that stolen kiss. Motivated from the purest
Innocence, which turned to secret delight. Captured
On friendly lips. It was not your intent

To steal an electric moment. But, oh, the shock
Of fleshly desire. We could speak
Of it. Never.

I see the hint glinting in your eye
To repeat mistaken affection.
I will offer only my friendly face.

The heat of summer is heavy;
A spider has hung a dragline;
In it a lone leaf dangles and spins

Amidst the humid breeze.
A rattle and hum soon rise as insects  
Calls out, "Beware! Beware, as you fly!"

For a silky trap awaits the foolish
Or the absent-minded soul
Quickly caught unawares.

Getting to the other side feels pretty good
Let love rule

Slowmo though fast enough at present
Lifts love up

We will join hand in hand
Loosening hate

Rise with me

If you are like me
You are a thief
Who steals words,
Concepts, ideas.
That is no crime
For you cannot arrest
A mind that "borrows."

My memories, like lightning bugs,
flash then disappear from my imagery.
Redundancies of an aging mind; an hourglass
with only inches left.
“We become contemporaries with our own ancestors”
and taking a close seat,
We listen for lessons, for understanding and,
perhaps, forgiveness both ways.
Time like a sunflower, which slowly dries,
blown by winds singularly drops seed.
Birds flock, open-beaked, break open substance,
leaving random survivors to sprout.
In a dark field clouded by time my eyes try to focus
to read the code flashing
As grains drop among this tall stand of acres
and acres of glowing sunflowers.

This is the true format which gets truncated on this site.  Drives me crazy, LOL!

Secret-sharers
My memories, like lightning bugs, flash then disappear from my imagery;
Redundancies of an aging mind; an hourglass with only inches left.
“We become contemporaries with our own ancestors” and taking a close seat,
We listen for lessons, for understanding and, perhaps, forgiveness both ways.

Time like a sunflower, which slowly dries, blown by winds singularly drops seed.
Birds flock, open-beaked, break open substance, leaving random survivors to sprout.
In a dark field clouded by time my eyes try to focus to read the code flashing
As grains drop among this tall stand of acres and acres of glowing sunflowers.

I ate tears for food
Love comes at a price
For some a little, for some great

I ate tears off porcelain plates
Had I known the price up front
I would choose to starve

I came to believe thoughts that you poured into my head
Grain upon grain like so much falling sand.

You tied a cord around me then pulled me to your bed.
Yet, I thought that I could fly as long as you held tight
The string that you had tied around my hands.

I fluttered just above the ground
Never truly understanding that I was bound.

Each time that I sought out some new height
You would tug hard upon the string;
Each time I gained some altitude you screamed.

And I would be awakened from my freedom dream.
I must not fly too high was the lesson taught me.

But, you eventually tired of holding to the string;
That string which continually you held so tautly.
And so you took a stake, I heard the sound

As you began to pound and pound.
I failed to get the concept.  

This time, when I left my perch
As I leapt skyward, I felt a ****
Then tumbled to the ground.

I had thought that I had 'freedom'
While flying just above your head.

Yes, I was wrong, so very wrong.
When I looked down you were gone.
But, you would not set me free,

Yet, the tether had remained
And you came back to feed me grain by grain.

I begged, "Let me spread my wings." "Free me!  "Free me!"
You could not trust nor cherish, jealousy had made you deranged.
If only you had let me fly, forever at your side I 'd have remained.

The Truth is often painful
Yet, truth is required.
We must face it head-on
For it cannot be denied.

When we look into an abyss
We see faces looking back.
Our humanity must accept
Some faces are long gone.

Our duty is to remember.

A poem is a kind of theater in which the poet is the lyrical speaker,
Explained A. R. Ammons. - A waterfall, a rock, a man, the universe, a poem
Intimating a connection between a mind and nature.  An evocative act, action!
Shakespeare said that we are all actors strutting on a stage;
Heraclitus’ flux when standing in a stream contemplating is linked to time
And motion, unstoppable.  The motion of a universal place ruminated 
By a human knower, standing in a stream, seeking to align inner thoughts to 
The impersonal motions of our galaxy flinging wide its arms of spirals;
Contemplating that which exists outside our being.  

Yet, we too fling open wide arms and minds as we ride this planet
On its circuitous movement on that same ride in space and time
Throughout our ever-expanding universe, universes, deep into black space. 
We are leaving trails of ‘trippy-tracers’ through time, dissipating as slow
As Radioactive decay.  Particle physics, proton decay that is of
A hypothetical form of particle decay in which the proton decays
Into lighter subatomic particles, that is what we all are!
We are here in this present but rippling and ripping into a future
Just as surely as the great ice age glaciers dug and grooved

The earth on which we walk; we so slight, almost weightless beings
Mark it and take it into one’s self, one substance, one experience. 
In that moment time stands still within that rock, on this rock,
In this man’s hand.  Spinoza said a stone thrown through the air
Would think, if a stone could think, that it was the author of its own motion. 
We, like that stone, forget that we did not set our own motion.  Something 
Greater set the trajectory, not an exact path, but the movement of us!
The galaxy, this universe, the many universes, spin and move, and flow
Without being infinite.  And yet we are finite matter in motion.

Immeasurably, subject to no known limitations, duration unknowable,  
These things being outside of us and yet within us all!  We breathe the stars!
We embody the essence of all time, we recycle these precious particles! 
Plunk, the rock is dropped “to dead rest”!   Swept away with the energy.
Too much, too much motion, too much information, too much beyond a man
In danger of being taken away by the glacier, by the stream, by the spinning universe 
sinking down with that stone.  We carry within us the force which is going to undo us.
We become debris.  Entropy, a thermodynamic dictates a lack of order and yet . . .

Oh,

Shelterless, with weary-bleary eyes we look up to view the heavens.

Twinkling tiny lights sparkle
In a backdrop of fragility;
A world in miniature, stupendous!

Tree-like ferns, wee mossy meadows;
Breathtaking, the surreal list!  It is
“A poem of stone, powered by stars,” 

Oh, the towering keep within a jar!

The infinite sound of poetry
So infant-ly a part of my brain;

I lie down to read one of the multitudes of books
Collected over the years.

They will not tell me how to write or what to write.
But perhaps they will help me recover

That part of the old grey cells which always thought TV
To be the scourge of it.

Marsh lilies will open only in darkness
And last just a few brief hours in the night.
So, the bees are up early before the light
To drink their fill of the gifts of sweet nectar.
 
Miniscule Thumbelina frogs float on water lily pads
And sleep inside, cradled in sacred blossom beds;
Which bloom, opening with the morning sun
So that each might drink in the sun's sweet rays.

Day begets night, night begets day.
Thumbelina frogs sleep, wake; Marsh &Water lilies bloom
Refreshed with the dripping of heaven and drops of dew.
With each turn of the earth, the cycle starts anew.

Grapes flew like amethysts across the sky;
Blood sprayed and drops fell like rubies in my eyes;
And diamonds of tears will flow, that cannot be denied.
But, it was only alloy, not gold, the setting was a lie.
Where, now, are your pearls of wisdom?

It all began with a moon;
A waxing gibbous moon
Glistening in the sky;
Beauty staring back at me
Within my glassy eyes.
Anchored to the jutting rock
Which is just above the rise
Are my hope and dreams
Of sailing throughout time.
In a celestial sailboat with wings
Onward I would glide.
On through time and tide,
With flags and ribbons streaming,
Fluttering in the breeze, I slide
Into swirling lovely slipstreams
Ever onwards I am steaming
Way up high and dreaming
In a celestial sea vast and wide
If only in my mind!

If a thought is as good as a prayer

Then I pray for you often
Throughout the day.

You are in my heart and mind
In so many ways.

If a thought is as good as a prayer
Then you should be very blessed.

Thoughts of you, dear friend,
Ascend from me to the heavens, themselves.

Thoughts are as good as a prayer, aren't they?

As evening falls a cricket creaks
On the crisp crest of night alone
And waiting in the moonlight.
His heart listens.

My heart listens.
I hear a frog singing on the bank,
See the sunlight filtering down,

There are miracles all around.
Who needs mysticism in life?
For life is miraculous enough,
And therein lies the mystery.

Metamorphosis
The art of embracing transformation
The butterfly knows

The magical chrysalis
A curtain surrounding and hiding
Lead to gold

Alchemy's
Noble metals embrace the change
Molecular royalty

Elements in crucibles
Heat within Earth's crust
Pressure making diamonds

Plasticity, purposed
Life withdraws and reemerges
Days shorten and lengthen

Seasons of Earth's cycles
Re-emergence of life after winter dormancy
Flowers burst from buds

With each revolution
Hidden dynamics await explosions of change
Adapting to an evolving will

Evocative
Liquidating what something once was
Wrought from the inside out

Life itself
Bursting with a sense of possibilities
Moments of physicality

And we imagine
We dream possibilities
We crave fantastical change

If we are brave
If we are flexible as is nature
A mind is our most valuable instrument

Filled with ephemeral nature,
Fragility, and beauty
Consistent change dependable

Retreat into self
Re-emerge as something new
Butterflies certainly do

Life is a vessel
Which holds both the real and the hypothetical
Creativity

Do you see me age, in actual time,
Like some flashing overlays
In a time-lapse production video?

Time is ongoing, flashing forward
As though with the clicks of frames;
Line by line, wrinkle by wrinkle

Transposed onto my face.
The body begins to break down
Before our very eyes;

Shrinking in size, at first unnoticed.
Do not let me become diminished
When you look and choose to remember

The sum that amounted to me.

I keep you here in this big box.
You are aged and brittle around the edges.

The white album is now yellow,
A Jim Morrison poster is tattered.

Love beads with a peace symbol tarnished,
My Jimi Hendrix in psychedelic paint faded.

You all carried my teenage angst,
Now in this box I carry you.

I wanted to see it plainly
So I typed it out in Consolas
Only then could I understand
You really were gone

I'll start with this example of the titles of some of my own poems published here.

(One of 2 new possible titles for the new creation, but neither title from a poem already written.)
What It Becomes / What I Become

Sheltered in A Desert
Moths Like Stars
After The Storm

It Had To Be Said
I am Like a Strong Tree
The Halo of Day

Exercise 2:
Sheltered in A Desert
there were Moths Like Stars
across the sky After The Storm.

It Had To Be Said, afterward,
I am Like a Strong Tree,
like The Halo of Day.

Give ear, and I will speak, my love.
Hear the words of my mouth, my love.
Let my words trickle as the dew.

Let them refresh and renew, my love,
As gentle rain upon the grass
And copious showers which come at last,

My love is like that.

A thread like a river leads,
I follow its course in this weave.

My garment is woven to hold you
In my heart like a precious gem.

I open the bag as I open my heart
And see love gleaming within both.

You are the thread woven through
The warp and weft of my life.

What a beautiful fabric-

The swallows fly out to catch the little eddies of spring;

I close my eyes to the sun as the clouds part above
And let the warmth gloriously take me.
Days, weeks, months, my balcony of interaction;
Lone people occasion to pass by, my chance to greet
High above the dog walkers, trippers to the community bin.

What is isolation if you allow your soul to fly out with the swallows?

"I'm not much of a poet," he said,
As he broke my heart with his words
On the pages that I read.

His ex tried to warn me;

He was a serial monogamist.
Love would always die,
Truth be told, he killed it.

A leap of faith would be required,
After years of painful memories of first love
I thought I'd take a chance and step off.

It was almost my last leap!
How was I to know that I was jumping
Into the arms of a fool?

I carry these memories
- in a golden vessel

For each of you to sup
Take this cup, drink it up

And be imbued with
The sweetness of life & love

My brain pirouettes in realistic shadows;
The sunniest of days have passed;
Here am I in a broken body trapped.
Filled with counts, movements, of time tapping
Until it is only me and the dance;
Out of the shadow and into the bright lights.

The past is a foreign country.
They do things differently there.

Those things are there,
We are here.

We do things differently
Presently, see.

The scent of new snow
Exquisite
Hints of other worlds

How do you capture
A moonbeam,
The mist on the lake,

A baby's breath,
The exhalation of a lover,
Or glance from a stranger,

Smoke from a wildfire,
Fog on a chilly morning,
Attention from another?

The glimmer in your eyes
Tell me these are meant to be
Ephemeral things.

Things could get very dark very quickly
But let's not call for a hearse just yet.

We're on a speeding freight train
Headed for the light at the end

Of a long and dark tunnel
Just keep your eyes on the prize.

We'll soon be blasting through
To the other side!

You wild thing,
You spread your wings,
As you flutteringly fly away

Sunlight strikes your feathers.
And in such lovely weather
You shine like day.

You ask why I do not come around, anymore.  Because
    the sun won't shine with the darkness in your eyes;
And, I love the warmth and the glow of daylight.  
    I wanted more of it.

All the while you kept blocking the light from our lives.  
    Perpetually, all was darkness,
Though, you refused to turn on the light,
    step into the brightness of day, I had to.

Suddenly the singer is unmasked,
And in the end, it's all clear:
It was always about where the bread was buttered!

Then it hits you!
You are in need of a shovel
Because this stuff has gotten too deep.

Of books
Of page

Of filled
Of empty

Of trees
Of blades

Of green
Of gold

Of life
Of change

Of letting go
These are the things I know

Of leaves

Like a stone in my shoe

I cannot help but think of you
Leaving me sore and bruised.
Then when I feel I might forget
It is there with painful intent yet.

And I am unable to shift it or to lift it.
Although I have loved with no regret
That painful stone continues on
And Memory never leaves me alone.

In the end, though, it should be Friend
For my comfort comes from the stone
Because you lie cold in the ground.
No longer able to come home.

You are like the weight of an object picked up.
Like the endless depth of a jug when filling.

In these moments of surprise, one briefly falters,
Questioning their understanding of actuality.

We measure the breadth, the depth, the weight
Of all things encountered.  And you,

You speak and I hear beyond the words,
Then I am crushed by the weight of your wisdom.

Mouth on mouth
Resuscitating
Pounding chest
Breathing for you
Until pale skin
And all is lost

Sudden spark
Then faint pink
Tiny thumping
Vigor renewed
Again I breathe
For you

We are like a car the owner can scarcely afford to keep.
America is a loud muffler sputtering,
Wired-up that was cheaply maintained.
Problem is there's a gaping big hole in it.
No patch can fix it.  
Yet, we sputter on.

A mantra-

You are the wind in the willows and the reeds.
"I am the wind in the willow and the reeds."
You can bend and move with this power.
"I bend and move with this power."

Take in the energy that the sun generates
As it infuses all things with power from its Creator.
"My Creator gives me the strength for all things."

It will be your wings to rise above and fly,
In these evil times with evil deeds.
"Let this spirit be my wings to rise and fly above
These evil times and evil deeds."

Your mind is clear in your healing purpose.
You become strong in spirit to endure all things.
"Amen."

Alabama “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Alaska “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man
American Samoa “Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga
Arizona “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks
Arkansas “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac
California “California Love” by Tupac and “They Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
Colorado “September” by Earth, Wind Fire
Connecticut “Signed Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder
Delaware “Higher Love” by Whitney Houston and Kygo
Democrats Abroad “Love Train” by The O’Jays
District of Columbia “Let Me Clear My Throat” by DJ Kool
Florida “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty
Georgia “Turn Down for What” by Lil’ Jon
Guam “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter
Hawaii “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars
Idaho “Private Idaho” by The B-52s
Illinois “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project
Indiana “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson
Iowa “Celebrate” by Kool & the Gang
Kansas “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas
Kentucky “First Class” by Jack Harlow
Louisiana “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled
Maine “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon
Maryland “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
Massachusetts “I’m Shipping up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys
Michigan “Lose Yourself” by Eminem
Minnesota “Kiss” and “1999” by Prince
Mississippi “Twisting the Night Away” by Sam Cooke
Missouri “Good Luck, Babe” by Chappell Roan
Montana “American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz
Nebraska “Firework” by Katy Perry
Nevada “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers
New Hampshire “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey
New Jersey “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen
New Mexico “Confident” by Demi Lovato
New York “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z and Alicia Keys
North Carolina “Raise Up” by Petey Pablo
North Dakota “******* Fire” by Alicia Keys
Ohio “Green Light” by John Legend
Oklahoma “Ain’t Goin Down” by Garth Brooks
Oregon “Float On” by Modest Mouse
Pennsylvania “Black and Yellow” by Wiz Khalifa and “Motownphilly” by Boyz II Men
Puerto Rico “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee
Rhode Island “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift
South Carolina “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) *** Machine” by James Brown
South Dakota “What I Like About You” by The Romantics
Tennessee “9 To 5” by Dolly Parton
Texas “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyonce
Utah “Animal” by Neon Trees
Vermont “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan
Virginia “The Way I Are” by Timbaland
Washington “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore
West Virginia “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver
Wisconsin “Jump Around” by House of Pain
Wyoming “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas
****** Islands “VI to the Bone” by Mic Love

A bed should be free of smells,
Stinky tails, and most important, liars!

A bed must be free of crumbs, bums,
And by all means bugs!

When climbing on board
Ask: How far can I go in this thing?

Can I wrap and roll in coolness?
Will it hold up in "rough seas"?

A bed should be a safety haven,
A garden of delight in which to. . .

Get the needed rest that one desires.

At times I catch glimpses of my own mortality.
The fact that although I am present in this moment
I will be gone and become the past.  A memory.
At least one could, would, should hope for that.

Family, those present and gone are always, in effect, present
With me.  My ancestors live large in my life because I choose
To remember their existence, that they acted, were once here.
And thus, it is I who, now, hope to remain, if only in this way.

Yes, it's a surreal way to live.  Past and present meld into future.
And one never knows who it is that will make the choice
To recall, call the name, think upon some act once engaged in.
Yet, we all live side by side in a continuum of time.

Hot
Like a summer rain
Which sizzles
When it strikes
Heated pavement
Dripping wet
We step out
Of the water
Honeydew
And watermelon
Dribbling
Down our mouths
Going down
An orange sun
Hangs briefly
Then dips
Beneath
The horizon
Heat is quivering
Across the grass
You brush aside
The damp clump
Of hair stuck
To my cheek
And it is mouth
On mouth, again

It takes time, little elephant, so try
It takes time, tiny baby, you'll crawl
It takes time to build a relationship
It takes time for one to dissipate

It takes time, my heart, so break
It takes time, You broken heart, now heal
It takes time, so dream, realize and feel
It all takes time