I have way too many poems to post in here but here are a few of my better ones...
Memorial to P.J.
one gun
one bullet
one life
What would we give to see you again?
You should be twelve,
To swim in the creek,
Bring home frogs in your pockets,
eat toasted marshmallows, and later,
to catch fireflies…
Instead,
I jump at every closing door,
every knock, every footstep,
a single gunshot echoing and re-echoing in my mind.
Where are the muddy hands, now, to wash?
The ragged pant-knees to patch?
Gone, all, but a great dark stain on the carpet
Life-blood, too precious to wash away.
Dear God,
What were you thinking?
A dream of Sun and Day
Once in a dream,
in spacious darkness
a maze of tombs trapped me,
pacing endless circles
in the quest for freedom—
While all around me, crumbling
symbols of humanity stood,
lost souls, petrified with a clinging evil
easy to sense but not to flee.
Once in a dream,
Through dulling senses, faint,
I hear a church bell’s toll—
see the resentful darkness parting
for a living emerald,
a Lady, flooding her life-light
through every statue in the tomb—
but I, in seeing such joyous abandon,
fled cowering in unreasoning fear.
Once in a dream
I hid in my cowardice,
still the Lady Sunday found me
took my hand, and led me
gently to a door.
Then I awoke, and seeing
morning sunshine, knew-
she had not gone, but merely changed her form
to light my way once more.
Published or Bust!
Inspiration is a fleeting thing-
any writer knows that.
My words fall like teardrops onto the page
and I chop down my dreams
to fit proper rhyme schemes...
Can I help it if "the Moon in June"
sounds better than "the Moon in September"?
Polish, They say, polish.
"Poetry is an art easy to dabble in;
hard in which to reach true perfection"
Well!!
I don't believe in sonnets--
So there, Shakespeare!
My words flop and whither as I write
fading to a façade of grandeur-
So like the simple truth behind them;
And in my mind nightmare Editors
whisper through sullen lips,
"She cannot write!
She never will! She is a child"
And so I'm here,
scribbling down this bit of myself
for me to see;
I'll show myself.
I will-I will!
I must.
Fairie Touch
If you wash your face in dew
On the first of may--
I’ve heard that you’ll receive the Touch--
Fairie beauty for a day.
The story goes, or so they say
The Fairie Touch is sure
To make a lass Queen of the May
But then, she must endure
The many many many
Compliments, and remain humble--
Or else, the Queen of Fairies frowns
and swears to bring her trouble!
Northern Lights
Cold, cold fire running
Running rippling free
Shining river-sea of light
Over my head
Over my dreams tonight
Raise, raise my spirit
Spirit harmonies free
A symphony of sight
Into my eyes
Into my thoughts tonight
Night, night starlit rainbows
Rainbows shimmering free
A lasting memory bright
Into my heart
Into my soul tonight
Dusk To Dawn
Night-fall
Night-fall Dark-fall Eve-fall
Catch the day’s dying breath
Savor it
Wrap yourself in mystery…
Sky-bright
Sky-bright Star-bright Moon-bright
Clinging skeins of silken radiance
Weave them in
Weft of ancient magic…
Cloud-red
Cloud-red Blood-red Morn-red
Mourn the gently dying night
With fevered dancing
Pulse of day’s beginning…
Gecko Dreams
My Listless Life...Ah, comforts fount in dreaming!
I lie like the gecko in the sun,
still, waiting for Fortune to flutter by,
yet I am burned by Cruel Experience--
I strive only to slumber in peace.
So deep, my dreams, and so full of wonders--
as if I wander nightly, free, in Paradise
and I fall willing prey to such forgetful bliss.
Fortune, flutter by--
I care for naught but sleep.
Can our awakened world be so bright?
Our reality, be more fulfilling?
I cling to sweet illusions, hoping
that in a place where dreams are real
old wounds can, maybe, heal,
and joy, jewel-faced, may gleam once more
within my reach.
Evening on the farm
The hay is up, the cows are in…
the pigs are grunting in the sty…
The barn-doves mourning with their kin…
the smell of cooking wafting by…
For now at last my day is done...
so softly sings the robin near...
and through my window sets the sun...
thus entertaining eye & ear...
Such sweetness settles round about…
when twilight stains the glass-clear sky…
and labor-weary we all bow out…
and listen to Night's new lullaby…
Gray Day
The world is sad today—
Gray skies,
Dove-colored eyes
Through which the soul of the world
Can be seen, weeping.
And my soul, too,
Is swept along
In a current of stormy tears.
To view great sorrow
Only brings us pain…
Why, then, does it bring such comfort,
joining the rain?
Twilight Puzzle
Wind blows, Trees rustle far away—
Through your window I can hear the night
Bring me a candle, hold me closely
As I flicker, cup your hands about me…
And I’ll find a way to follow
The scent of your body, sweet and dim
Twilight Puzzle, do I fit in?
Thunder rumbles, doves call out in fear—
A wisp of lilacs’ deep perfume
All of the world is singing, softly,
As I listen, will you wait with me?
I would give you all I cherish
But the look on your face, so cruelly kind
Twilight Puzzle, must I be blind?
Star-light in sunset, frost hinted in the air—
The tang of earth, an odorous pall
Lifting the curtain, watch the moon rise
So you linger, to let me think I’m free
Still I cling to rotted fantasy
Until your body blocks the light
Twilight Puzzle, how can I fight?
After the beginning
Before the storm breaks,
I sit melancholy in the lamplight-
Fragile light that whispers
dark memories into my mind.
A cool breeze stalks by,
tossing my hair and hissing
softly through the trees.
I have survived one storm-
the angry roars like wind
the flashing eyes, the threatening rumbles;
the bitter curses falling like rain-
and so I sit, and wait as one storm passes
and another begins.
