I am spontaneous disaster,
you a reckless abandon,
mysterious majesty
I evade your commandment.

Your eyes sift through my soul
and take control,
of my chaotic mind.
Please slow this rampant wall of time.

Am I delusional,
or is this the usual?
You...

Never know which way to move
just a harlequin heart
trying to get in tune.

The train
Sure goes smooth
Sure does not feel as reckless as it really is
Sure goes fast
Sure can’t take you fast enough
Past these fields and cities, images
That fade in and out of the window’s view like a wafer melts away on your tongue.
Can’t look too closely or you’ll make yourself sick with the speed
Would be better if the train was so fast everything was a blur instead of pictures going by
Like being immersed in the ocean or careening around in the sky.
This train
It feels like a secret
Your favorite secrets, the kind no one tells you and the kind
No one knows
But you who learned them, the ones
Not whispered between cupped fingers,
But seen from in hiding, without acknowledgement.
This late night train
It runs past windows and shakes the legs of bridges
And only a few were awake to see it speed by
Maybe saw your face on the other side of the glass
And thought about this face they would never again know.
The train
There’s a runaway on it
Who looks out the windows and listens to the still air in the car and
With a somber optimism
Tosses to the racing pictures that hound the windows, hungry,
A name and all the strings attached to it.

The record spins and turns as it goes
Through the tracks and tiny rows
Offering up a quaint little tune
When the mood’s just right and the moon
Is high in the sky called life,
And a requiem in times of strife.
Before all that, though, came
The catchy pop tunes that seemed tame
But evolved into something different and new
That came from a movie or two.

In the reckless days of old
When we didn’t do what we were told
Hard metal and rap filled our heads
Blocking out all other sounds like leads.
But the tracks mellow out with time
Allowing smooth jazz with a bit of rhyme
To occupy the space beyond the record.

Take me back to the rivers of belief,
to those cool waters from the cloud-piercer
when I was a boy and
the wheeling galaxies whispered
the secret of the suns
then, when the brown trout flashed
and I would splash the souls of girls
with the innocent wriggles of my dreams
and touch all the quivering kernels of desire
forever on those endless, flowing days.

Take me back to the cataract,
the campfires and canoes of that
caravan of golden times
when I could still hear the hoarse, hollow fluting
of the magpies and the crackle and pop of seed pods
on the hot, dry, dusty broom
that swept the whole world clean
then, when I was king of the cockabullies
along those crystal rivers.

But innocence is, well, so innocent,
and I couldn’t wait.
So I galloped reckless and heedless,
headlong across the bridge.

Then I saw armies on the march,
the glint of sun on weapons
washed in blood and I heard
the whirr of metal wings.
I witnessed wars, and then
bloated things came floating down the river.

I saw that love was a spectacle on screens
while sex was ashamed and hidden in the dark.
Violence ran amok and killers stalked the land.

So now I’m the messenger from the future
and I've come back to tell you this -
love and fear are intertwined, and
guilt is close behind.

I saw the pallor of the victims
and then I saw who held their chains.
I was haunted. They looked so, so
familiar.  It couldn’t be,
but yes, they looked like
you and me.

Mike T Minehan

Sometimes I cup her breast
while she sleeps curled up.
Sometimes it’s just the merest brush of skin,
the toes, perhaps, that meet somewhere
in the billowing sea of sheets.
Maybe it’s just an arm flung carelessly
or a leg akimbo here or there.
Her flanks are also sleek
and is it a dream I sneak
of riding wild and reckless
through the canyons of our sleep?
But mostly, just simply holding hands
stops me tumbling in the void.
I don’t know if she knows
she is my bridge across forever.
Yes, I know that I'm a dreamer,
and I know that forever never lasts,
but I still hold her, oh so gently,
through the darkness of my night.

Mike T Minehan

Cradled in my heart

Ignore those that speak
a mistake
an accident or reckless behavior
To me
Nothing about you is flawed
You belong
making life is magic
Living it is the Miracle

Stay safely held in loves embrace

The anger swells inside me; a hurt unrivalled, do I wish to seek out revenge?
Revenge on who?!
The monster smothers me until I can no longer see, hear, breathe!
Controls me.
I am no longer sure if it becomes me or I become it,
I see no beginning and no end.
Infinite aching so deep within my chest that it threatens to consume me until there is no longer me!
Can't they see?!
It's drowning me in an ocean of tears and pain and confusion.
It's too late.