Across the street is our old home
But we don’t live there any more
Another couple starts their life
As we did many years before

It doesn’t look just as it did
They changed things here and there
They’re putting their brand on the place
And doing things we didn’t dare

Solar panels on the roof
The lawn an arid scene
They’re into Big Ecology
They will be living green

I thought to see it would be pain
The home I did not want to leave
But it no longer looks the same
So I no longer need to grieve

It’s just another pretty house
I have one of my own
Mine’s in a lovely desert place
That happily I now call home.
ljm

My stomach hurts.
I'm not sick,
I'm anxious.

My heart is racing.
I'm not having a heart attack,
I'm anxious.

I have chills.
I don't have a fever,
I'm anxious.

The thermometer says 102 degrees.
Now I know I'm sick
And anxious.

My rope is stretched to a single thread
How did all the woven strands dissolve
The wind is howling in the attic and
My guardian angel is on vacation.

The furies do a Samba in my cortex
And my feet can only do a do-si-do.
The doorbell plays Westminster Chimes
But only ghosts are on the porch.

That Other Place sneaks up to grab me
I’m never sure if I’ll come back
I speak to air and reach for nothing
As I realize that I am back.
I never plan to be there, instead of here
But the minute concentration lags
I’m living in another place and life
If only for ten seconds - an eternity.

I struggle to remember where I was
And what I said and what I did and
Who was there, and what we spoke of
But it vanishes to make way for here.

It leaves me puzzled and afraid.
It happens to nobody else
And I’m alone in stormy skies
Without a light to guide me.  

Am I crazy?  Probably.
What is this place I visit?
I think it’s called insanity
And soon I fear I’ll live there.
                ljm

When I was younger
I thought that tree stumps
were fairy dining tables
I dreamt about inviting
guests to lavish parties
So I ate jam tarts
every time the sun set
And drank ten bottles
of Kool Aid for a bet
I didn’t regret a single sip
but I think the adult inside me
wished I did
Pressing on regardless
into an infinite described
by fluttering eyelids
like moth wings in moonlight
The shutters flapped open,
close, open, close
And the spirit felt known