It's 4:36 in the morning and you are lying beside me asleep.
The room, of course, is dark. I've been awake for a while now
thinking about things, things like the concatenation of wars
throughout millennia, men following orders from Generals
to **** other men, the corruption that has pervaded so many
facets of our lives, of the billions of human beings who were
not loved enough, if at all, when growing up. The world has
been turned inside-out for eons. Been thinking how to turn
the world rightside-in. And then I turn my head and look at
you and instantly realize the solution to world catastrophes.
Love. It's love, and only love, that can save the world, and all
living creations on it, from self-destruction. Bless your heart,
my dear. I lean over and give you a gentle kiss--gentle so that
I do not disturb your peaceful slumber.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

My eyes,
They always betray me
When I run down the
Uncanny valley

Your smiles,
They mean nothing to me
While I'm going through
What is left to see

Your thoughts,
Are walls that I can't touch
A prison for my words
Where I don't know much

Your names,
They never stay around
Loud ideas of noise
You shared and then drowned

Your eyes,
They always betray me
I confuse your dreams
With what I should see

How long does it last
When it's forever
Rolled into the past
Running a fever
True colors, broad cast
One day as ever

All together, done
When another eon lies
Folding into none
Lows and highs
Whispers of old stone
Buried in the skies

Past time paralized
In incessant news
Eternal life sized
Waves of letting loose
Surfaces incised
From current abuse

Whatever goes back
Whatever waters away
Slips into the cracks
Only a matter of day
Some days cut deep
Most are lost to sleep

The wind has stopped
blowing
A leaf settles slowly
on quicksand
and does not sink
The wind has
stopped howling in
the canyons
but the fires
burn on
and you
dare not
walk across
the quicksand
to put them
out.
       ljm

What cruel force keeps lovers apart --
Why must each tread a separate path?
Preordained they should never meet . . .
What arbiter inflicts such wrath?  

Two lives hurled into misery,
Two hearts nailed to the same cross;
Never to savor  love's banquet,
They're condemned to feed off life's dross

Spring faintly smiled on these two hearts
As dreams absorbed their youthful hours;
Although  nurtured like tender plants
They yielded naught but withered flowers

Each new day held a ray of Hope,
Dispelling  impatience and doubt;
They kept watch as the flame burned bright . . .
Till finally, their tears put it out

Two hearts dying slow painful deaths,
Each cloaked in its own crimson shroud;
One heart dies, crying silently,
The other sobs its pain aloud

Two lonely hearts ever dreaming
They might stroll Love's Garden one day;
Now resigned, they no longer dream --
Sadly, on Death's threshold they lay

So come forth and ring the death knell --
Come lay your bouquets at their feet;
Mourn if you will such tragedies
While asking  "Why didn't they meet?"

Dyslexia


Wind turbines waved

arrivederci at animal

transporters on their

way to an abattoir as

surface water spray

diffused the red sign

which spelt P.O.T.S.

Some dreamy like starry skies,
Some shiny like fire flies,
Some visionary like poetry,
Some breathe aggressively.

Memories, that's what they say,
They are footprints of yesterday.

𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆

𝑪𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅;𝒛𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒓
𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒔;

𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆
𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝑺𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆

𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒔

her eyes could tear holes into steel
so tell me why
when i catch hers with mine
do they soften?