There are no words
for pain like
this
Like Peter on the sea
I cry
save me
What I hate in others
is what I detest most in
myself
I reach but
the cold water
is ready and
it offers
escape
Apr 14, 2021
Apr 14, 2021 at 12:28 AM UTC
the bounce of your ponytail
as you turn your head
to look at something
small
is visible from where I sit
in my car and
wait on the light
the smallest things
an earring
the corner of your mouth
one breath
are more real
than all the passing car shapes
stop lights and radio sounds
I feel you
small solid cool and real
beneath the soles of sense
pebbles in a creek bed
under all passing, passing
Mar 9, 2019
Mar 9, 2019 at 1:30 PM UTC
o domine
*** in miratione
quae opera fecisti censeam
conspicio
montes et tempestates
potentiam divinam ubique
tum anima te laudat carmine
quam magnus es! quam magnus es!
tum anima te laudat carmine
quam magnus es! quam magnus es!
Nov 11, 2018
Nov 11, 2018 at 7:47 PM UTC
o tempestas
ira caeli
moles ingens nihili
te pervertis
ubi aestas
aerum pulsat calide
nunc appares
vorax nubes
tenebrarum columna
tum evanes
tam occulte
quam intrasti resonans
Nov 11, 2018
Nov 11, 2018 at 7:34 PM UTC
your salix for dreaming
under fagus for swinging
on platanus for shading
beneath juniperus for grieving
about quercus for remembering
with liriodendron for reaching
above prunus for sweetening
up pinus for smelling
around ilex for hiding
behind acer for uplifting
your heart
tree
Jul 22, 2018
Jul 22, 2018 at 6:26 PM UTC
Wash
"I will"
Change your underwear
"I have"
Be grateful
"I am"
OK, then
I love you
"I love you, too"
Jul 22, 2018
Jul 22, 2018 at 10:34 AM UTC
Three gifts thou mad'st me
a lullaby
a jungle gym
brothers
Three I repaid thee
a warning to stop walking before you fell headlong over a cliff
a ride to David's graduation
grandchildren
Three ills I bear thee
I was born a Blue Devil
John got away with everything
you didn't take us to Disney World
Three which now share we
a name
sore knees
memories
Three debts I owe thee
Robert the Rose Horse
A million questions, answered and unanswered
An invitation to sing at chapel
By three I know thee
father
brother
friend
Jul 1, 2018
Jul 1, 2018 at 10:25 AM UTC
Farewell June
June, adieu
cicada whispers
swaying pines
clear blue skies
and mountains of clouds
unending solitude
"Cannonball!"
patchwork quilt
of imagination
hero's quest
'neath sycamores
tree-lined avenues
carve terraced tunnels
through homeward hills
asphalt voyages
past nodding corn
and ice cream (beat)
All my Junes
line up like aunts
and uncles - eyes
upon me as
I sail away
Jun 30, 2018
Jun 30, 2018 at 8:16 AM UTC
And I passed people on the highway
in front of a pile of their belongings
spilled upon the shoulder
from a bloated pickup bed
At church someone told the tale
and added
that motorists honked at the owners
when they tried to walk back to where the spill began
and collect their mattress love seat
lamp shade stuffed giraffe
"like they ain't already got enough problems"
one sagely concluded
And when I walked by
no one honked at the arm leg
kidney ear patella
fourth metatarsal shattered soul
ejected at high speed
as I fell apart
parts dropped like breadcrumbs
too something to stop and pick them up
No one gaped
no one braked
I suppose no one was inconvenienced
by my disintegration
Some days I'd rather be a problem
four tires facing up
rolled over in a ditch
beyond the mangled guard rail
honking cars audience to my broadcast indignation
desperation
loneliness
regret
I'd rather be a byword some days
as kind church ladies tut-tutted over my predicament
and shushed the busy, impatient drivers
Yeah -- like I ain't already got enough problems
Right? See?
Feb 21, 2018
Feb 21, 2018 at 2:05 PM UTC
let us gather
blessed broken
people seated
closing ranks
around the table
over sounds and
smells of plenty
arm ourselves
with forks and
smiles and silence
let us pray
for those invited
those who come to
spite the invited
those who come in
spite of the invited
let us pour and
taste the wine of
kinship cultivated
vows kept and broken
words weighed and found
wanting seconds
pass the potatoes
let's eat
let
us
let us
Feb 18, 2018
Feb 18, 2018 at 11:36 PM UTC