You left me twisting in agony
In the hurricane's eye of my mind
Where love goes flying by
Destruction , far and wide

Don't let me remember I loved you
Let me forget what I once held
Please don't agonize me
I fell from heaven , now reside in hell

Break the twines that hold me down
Cut the ropes of memories made
Release me from my sentence
Let me RIP in my grave

I put a message in it
Corked and cast it into the sea
Saying , go find my lover
Bring her back to me

. . .as the surf swirled around my heart
I was shoved and pulled apart . . .

Oh ! full moon tide take away my bottle
Sweep it far away from me
Take it to my lover
So she can see what she means to me

. . .bobbing in the crest . . .
between ocean and sunset . . .
there are glints and flashes . . .
of my bottle and the contents that are in it

I threw a bottle . . .
take it far from me . . .
take it across the Atlantic
to the one . . .
who is in love with me

Sepember 13 , 1945 , the day you were born
And you had survived . An infant baby girl
Arrived unto this world . Oh what promise Sparkled in your eyes . The world war ended
When you drew first breath . Oh what hope lay Before you to test . Through a fall and winter too . Your first Halloween , Thanksgiving , and Christmas too . Remember the stuffed doll so soft And warm ?
How on Valentine's Day you stole our hearts .
Then on St. Patrick's Day you dressed in green . And when the cherry tree blossomed
We took your pictures . Oh , what a glorious day that spring . Then a sudden illness caught us by surprise . You lost the sparkle in your eyes . And Jesus called out your name and left us in our grief . And took you with him to home in Heaven , May 23 , 1946 .

What are the lies
lying behind the shades
of your ever deceiving eyes

The now famous boil weevil
caused all manor
of Southern White upheaval

The Seven Bark road
weaves over Double Oak Mountain
collecting heat and evening toads

Smoke from the forest fire
gives the lisping sunset
colors that surely inspire

Your August embrace
and February kiss present
a hot and cold emotional case

And the motions made
over the days that come
leave life lower than grave

The summer's green pumpkins
lay squash in fields of dream
dangling in winter's winds .

Bury me at Midnight
Throw my ashes to the sea
Let my body tumble from the mountaintop
Let it be , Let it be

Let the stars cover me
Let the clouds enshroud me complete
Let the rain soak me one last time
Before I am lost to memory

Hurry before there is a dawn
Before the Sun's fiery storm
Take my bones away
Let it be , Let it be

The sun's shone and gone
Nighthawks have flown

Fireflies switch off and on
As night sings it's song

I'm gonna run free tonight
Running free with twilight

I'm running free tonight
Gonna get my delight

Moths all around the street lamp
Frogs screaming out of sight

Black cat dashes by
Oh ! My oh my !

I gonna run free tonight
Without the moonlight

Running , Running , Running
So free tonight

He sweats in Nephilim
and has nightmares of little men named Dave
Life is the giant slayer
of the thirteen year old boy afraid to shower at the school gym
But that was long ago over many potholed highways of chance and circumstance

Today's pockets have fishhook's sewn in the threads , borne bare from reaching for too much and beyond

Delete my words of care and condemn them to your black hole of desperation

Eternal bound frauds cut the bubble wrapped dragons of division and petrify their legacy in granite monuments on lawns that never raised a leaf to this life

Look not down the road hoping that I will come

I am placing down the final words and then I will be done

I will board the ship and it's sails will be unflung ,

as I follow my destiny into the last rays of the sun

With much more than reluctance I turn now to go

Chuckling to myself , I did put on a good show

As all good things will come to an end,

win , lose or draw I will miss most of all

all of my dear friends

Used to build great towers of nothing .

Legends die everyday

Today was your everyday

I think I will saddle up the Toad

And let the beat . . .

carry us away


tribute to ginger baker

Cream always rises to the top
"I'm so glad"

            now . . .  I'm sure I heard you whisper ,


              " I Feel Free "

The beach still looks the same
As I trek through the sand
I can hear Clarence playing
Along with the E Street Band

There's where Jay's used to be
And the stone pony too
The pony's still there
But it's doesn't look like it used to

I started running in 1973
I guess I was always born to run
I've been running ever since
But now it's not any fun

I survived living in this
Forsaken jungleland full of freaks
And still the music's playing
Down to the backstreets

On that night she was there
You know she's the one
And Clarence wails away
He can't be undone

And I hope we will all be
Meeting across the river
Roaring up thunder road
For I am still a believer

Down on thunder road !

She gave me cake and a kiss on my cheek
Took my hand and led me away
To a wood where no one could see
There she kneeled down and begged me to stay
So I sat down amid the clusters of white clover
Then she leaned forward and over
And kissed me on my lips
Causing me to shudder

I had never kissed a girl before
But something beyond my fear
Said I wanted more
She kissed me again
This time I kissed her back
I think she was startled , and taken aback
She put my hand to her bony chest
"It's inside where my love does rest"
I was confused and did not know what to say
"It's all alright , it's all ok"

We lay down in the clover thick
I smelled clover and perfume at the nape of her neck
She lay her head upon my skinny chest
I put an arm around her there at her waist
We lay looking at clouds
She twirled a button
I tugged at a sleeve
Then she put her hand on the side of my face
Gently stroking , trying to trace
Then the warm sun put us to sleep
And I dreamed dreams never before or since
But then we awoke to her mother's call
"Coming Mother", as she ran away with all
Then through the years in class or hall
She would throw a kiss , a smile to beguile
Then one day her family moved far away
I didn't know it then but it was the ending
of my poem for today

I lay the bodies of my dreams
In the echoes of my grave
I grace their loving memories
In the hollow of my cave

I close their opaque eyes
And kiss their cold and sullen lips
And listen one more time
For a heartbeat that I might have missed

Dreams that died in the heat and fell
Like gallant warriors often do
I grieve as I cover them
My heart a sadden shade of blue

Dreams go nowhere , no heaven , nor a hell
They just die and disappear
Leaving not a trace to tell , only
Just the stain of teardrops , dried up yesteryears .

I should have been writing a new poem but instead I got lost in the poetry of others . Their words compelled me to continue on .

The past is a novel I'm working on , revising , rewriting , and discarding .

The future is a perfect Haiku I've yet to corrupt

I wade the waters of my fear
And know why Jesus walked above
I am immobilized except for tears
As terror shoves to fit the glove

The silent dogs that run the fence
Whose presence is felt not heard
To snake fangs that make me winch
Slurs my speech faltering all my word

The angels sit upon the wall
Casting lots on when my time expires
So Adam this is how you fall
From Heaven's grace down to hellacious fires

So dance with me on the graves at sea
On the promises you will never keep
Come wade the waters of my fear
Watch out for stingrays beneath your feet

If dreams were monkeys
They would swing on the vines
Over a landscape covered in moon

If dreams were dinosaurs
They would be prehysteria
And have two ton funny bones

If dreamsssssssssssssssssss. . .
Were continuous
They would be exclusive as TV on reruns

No one dreams small
No one dreams medium
Everyone is in on the "BIG"

But at the end of the day
All of our dreams are
the ice creams we forgot to put away

I engraved her name on the picnic table
Then I engraved the stone over her grave
I engraved the memory of her face on my heart
I engraved the words on the walls of  my prayers
Then out of desparation I engraved her memory in poem

I dream of a giant green grasshopper
clinging to tall weeds in Selma
Where huge fields of red clover
grew in the hot summer heat

I dream of Texas
where I made my first memories
And lived in a vastness for someone
of three seemed like eternity

I dream of the oceans of Florida
where waves made love to the sand
As I gazed across the horizon
life is forever in this land

I climbed the mountains of Washington
to the top of the snow covered peaks
I thrilled to the sight of the sunset
And felt the hand of God touch me

I dream of the tall grass prairies
I walked through in Kansas
Like a sea of grass rolling
in the winds of the Plains

My temporal eternity
lives on in my dreams
As I get older there is less life
And the more I do dream

For my last dreams
I dream of the future
May it be be as beautiful
as the eternity I leave

The music popped
The music skipped
The needle rode the Mad Mouse
Around all week

Play again
The melody keeps
A win win
Because no one weeps

Bereft due breath
Love thy enemy
Life tastes best
In brevity

Catch me when I fall
Let me fall in spring
Winterize my visions
Turn off my dreams

One more time
Let it play again

She had a chest of drawers
Longings from ankle up
Paper chips of lips
A made up mind of shells and nuts

She was unceremoniously
civil
Quick to  wink
Hand chilling icebergs
An immitation belt made of mink

She sang blues in pink
While spitting out punk
Indifferent to age
Pure as road **** skunk

"It's my life , I'll do what I wanna!"
As they put her in Paddy
Drove her insanely station
"Come now my Laddie!"

She said yes but it sounded like a no to me . . . Feathers make the toes giddy . . . Goodbyes make you weep . . . we bottled up sunshine in empty plastic bags . . . Friday was the first day of the beginning of the week . . . Doc said your tonsils have to go . . . they were supposed to go out with your adnoids last week . . . the storm was catastrophic . . . we cut up trees for twenty weeks . . . I had her engine running . . . purring like a kitten . . . as I stroke her fur she said that she was hot and sorely smitten . . . then she pulled me on top of her . . . "You can kiss me now", she said . . . the wind was howling just outside the shed . . . the lightning flashed across our faces . . . the thunder shook the bed . . . the Saturday Evening Post . . . the pictures I so attentively read . . . when she said she was finished with me , then I finished up with her . . . the storm had passed leaving life now in the dust . . . still her yes it lingers . . . saintlike in the vaults of memory . . . you should have said "no" to yourself and returned the book to the presence of the shelf .

The faithless love you bestow
Like a cold dark wind
From a thunderstorm
Lightning down words of condemnation

Those sweet kisses leave your lips
Blistering my soul
Those hopeful hugs hold
Like a river flows

My hopes fold before the stones
Flying in a furry I may deserve
Before a deluge . . .
I will not survive

The faithless love
Drops of cold
Faithless love unravels me
Like a river flows

I like my coffee black
I like my liquor clear
I like my women green
And my truck so blue
I like my lakes that way too
I like little white lies
Brown boots with chartreuse ties
I like redheads
And yellow cake
with cream frosting
And my oranges orange
and tangerine dreams
I like purple mouthtains
Full of silver majesty
As a golden sun goes down .
And girls in pink
That wink

I will leave no footprints
in the sand
as I will to walk away .

My past has led me here
and in my heart
I cannot stay .

I pass from more
than through all
the shades of gray .

I flee from all
my faults and fears
to the safety of possibilities

I leave you now
by these words
I will , I will , I will Away .

Moses was an insurance salesman
Sold flood insurance on the Plains
No matter how much he prayed
There was never any rain

One day when Moses had turned 40
The Lord said you will lead my people free
Moses said , "Say what ? Are you talking now to me ?"

Go tell the Pharoah
"Set my people free . Or I will devastate you until you listen to me ."

So reluctantly he set out
with his wife and family
Hooked up with his brother Arron and together they made history

Well you probably know the rest . Frogs and grasshoppers and the flies were such a pest

But Pharoah remained steadfast
until the Angel of Death flew by
That was when the first born
were all doomed to die

So Pharoah then relented
Bade all the Isrealites please leave
Even gave up all his gold
and suggested to the others
that they should likewise give

But the Isrealites were hard hearted
They had little to do with their God
So Moses led them out into the desert
Until till they were covered by the sod

And Moses reared a new generation
more devout now than the first
They would go on to populate
everywhere on Earth

But Moses was a man
doomed
tied now by his sin
God said because of that he couldn't let him in

But God showed Moses
all the promised land
from upon the mountain top
where both of them would stand

Moses could see it was raining
falling hard into the sand
Now what of this eternity
Is it now at hand ?

Then God took away Moses to where he did not say
I'm sure God shed a tear in private upon that fateful day

See Moses was a man
not unlike the rest of us
He put his faith in his God
and gave him every ounce of trust

I rose before the dawn
As Jesus did of long ago
But I rolled away no rock
Begging all my sins to go

The chirpping of the birds
Tends to let me know
That soon the sun will come
And the night will surely go

But in the stillness
Of my father's ways
I am counting down the blessings
Bestowed upon me today

And as the coming light
Lightens up my darkest days
I find that eternal peace
Has entered into my ways

The wicked whip of word
lashes whelps
upon the starved psyche
of the errogenous mind

Indeed !
The moment rises
in smoke and flaming
"I-don't-knows" of sheets
of layered heat
pressing down
into the flesh of desired
impunity . . . iniquities . . . liquidity

Happy is the framed statement
of thine , birthed
behind plastic cups of wine
in sheds of grey wooden sides
from long long ago

Was it board through (Bordeaux)
or just shabby (Chablis)

But the experience
while daunting
leaves you panting
for more

She just fled an abusive relationship
He befriended her with the kind words
That she was seeking
Soon they fell into a bed of convenience
Making love more out of the confusion

She let him have his way with her
Grateful for saving her from the pain
He was pleasured to have her
Taking her as far as he could gain

Soon the ritual turned into a habit
No real love to the affair
She was giving once again
To a man who really didn't care

Women are creators
              men are action
Women create action just by combing their hair
              men are instigators
Women turn the rough and jagged into silk
              Menbulls can be led by fingertip

Women can turn parcels of land into houses
with a smile , all they need is wile

Everything they touch ( that's  more than enough )
If you don't believe me
Just ask . . . their words
are creative enough

What ! Where ?
            are you . . . gone ?

Funny the difference of the two

   One seems right
           The other wrong

            just gone

Feathered clouds , white on the sky blue
And I alone thinking of you

        . . . always alone . . .

                                        When I do , I do
                  Falling into traps made by you
      
                                            Shame on me
                                           Fool me twice

  Double shame on you if you do me thrice
                Shame ! Shame ? Shame ,

I spilled my seed on frozen ground
     I shed my blood . . . again and again

It's the life in death
           That must go on and on . . .

                   Forever again

Snow , then rain
Laughter causing pain

Handshakes , no trust
Elation turns to bust


Stainless steel that rusts


Eyes of the wind
Tears of the ocean send

Gnats move mountains
Saints make sins

Kaleidoscopic lens

There will no longer be a coming in
Just the feelings I have stored within

Soon now you will fly away
Leaving me to my love's decay

I wanted you to have my all
But chains bound me to my call

If I could but I know I shan't
Cradle your love now so faint

Sometimes when you cut the ropes
You sever the ties you had with hopes

What you said was God ordained
Now you say , Oh God , I'm refrained

As love is abandoned in the sea of dispair
I watch it slowly disappear

And I know it will drift there for evermore
In the center of my heart's aching core

I am the air that embraces the air of you wings
When I sleep at night you bring me dreams

I am the first rays bursting forth on a cloudy day
You are the open ocean's windy white spray

I am the glazen white light from the dust of the moon
You're looking back saying ,"Come catch me real soon .

I am the glisten as light shines through the rain
You are my Magi whose hands heal all my pain

I am the father before there was time
You are the mother as eternity unwinds

They say it is written in stone on the walls
I say it is unwritten that tells to me all

The papers lay bare
the ink unbroken
The desire languished
I am not joking

I have not a word
there's nothing to say
Time to quit writing
It ends as of today

So long fellow poets
The time seems so short
I lost my desire
And I now know it

Carry on will you
There's much to be said
Don't lose you your way
"Goodbye",
is all that he said

The seas are full
of all kinds
of beast

From the the
very biggest
down to the least

When asked to go
for a swim
at night

I look disdained
and full
of fright

For yes I no

Jack and Jill
ran up
the hill

And stoped
to frolick
in the bushes

Ever since Jack
spilled his beans
Jill has been getting larger

Yes I no

Everyone on the corner
was looking
to the sky

Jesus just then
came walking by
and stopped to ask them why

We're looking for
a sign from God
then they turned back to the sky

Yes I no

You sacrificed . . . .and you fell
. . . over dreamed . . . with breath of kerosene

They cut you deep . . . .the pain
was not the worst  . . . as the fear you choked

death was  . . . .last breath taken . . .
and the exhale . . . . . . . .

The wind blows across the bay
You say it's time to let it go
I turn to face the force
You're right , inside I know

I bend to the sand
let the grains run through my life
I stand straight , face my fate
Embrace the strife

Like a book overdue
A page ripped out
A heart mutilated
A charge turned to rout

The wind has increased
The clouds roll in
And I know what happens
to houses
Built on sand

If something can't go
on forever . . .
it won't .

It is wise to consider
the end before it actually comes upon you .

A hard knot must have a harder wedge

You look at me and shake your head saying without a sound , everything is to be implied

I return the effort made while digging up a shallow grave ,"So what if it's in the middle of the night ?"

And the Sundays fled and the eagle flew off with the cat

So don't tell me up and down that everything is going ginger right

Now if rain could change a name , make the letters wash away

Or if you could choose your place in time , do it now so you don't have to stay

But what it really boils down to is does it really matter if it's in the middle of the night

After all having nine lives didn't work out so well for the cat

Thus it begins
a flickering candle by the pane
Moist drops on the same
Clouds ******* dressed in white
scurry on by

Your pale face on the pillow
as asleep you are
As candlelight races up and down
the peaceful lips you impart

Low rumbles tell me not far
The flash tells me to prepare
And a sudden gust moves the trees
like Swan Lake in green

You stir not nor respond
You continue to slumber on

The clouds have enmeshed
in wind , rain and light
Thunder barks  and growls
Trees bow to their might

Still you drift on in another world
I am trapped by storm
WhIle you fly by free
in peace that's unadorn

Tears falling from one that said it could never happen to them

Adam was sitting on a rock
outside the Garden of Eden
Rubbing his sore ribcage he said ,
"What the Hell just happened ?"

Eve came over and
sat down beside him
Putting an arm around his shoulders
And laying her head on him she asked

"Peanut butter and jelly or takeout ?"

Trees reach up
The leaves reach out
The roots grow deep

Thus is my love for you

Plant your feet in my soil
Taste the salt of my soul
Place your future willingly

Thus your love for me

Sing the chorus of every leaf
Waving in a tempest tossed
The choir in green goes aloft

Thus our love is forever more

As reckless bound beauty
belies the exhaultation
of standing on the edge
of eternity
God ! There is freedom
in the temptation of the fates
One must kiss the lips of death
to live

Ah ! If your blue then it's me too !
We can go to the Zoo
And see a blue back gazelle
Or go to Cape May
And get ***** that are blue
Watch out for those pinchers !
Those blue tennis shoes are paper thin
Then we can go to the show
And see "Blue Lagoon"
Then we can go for a drive
To the Blue Ridge Mountains
Stop and eat at the Blue Star Cafe
Then from a mountaintop
We can watch the flow of a river blue
Then you can lay your head on my
Blue corduroy jacketed shoulder
And I will sing to you ,"Love Is Blue"

There is a tempest
In the Temple of tonight

All of my values , morals
Are shaking cold from fright

There is a reason now
For all of my due fear

When red is the color
It has turned from water clear

There is red blood from the innocent
Caking on my fingers from their souls

They have been taken in their silence
Their blood has been dried by the cold

In the darkest of the winter
My seed willingly spills

Sickening sweet the cost
Of such a cheapening thrill

It crystalizes screaming
Without making a sound

Upon the snow white flakes
Of the frozen ground

You shuddered when caked
And cold ****** fingers

Stopped to caress your silken breast
Where upon they linger

I briefly touch with the back of my hand
Your perfect cheek that flowers this land

I turn to see a nor by norwestern star
It's my place , my home so far

Then into the blackness
where none of the living dare goes

Love takes a walk with me
Until it's suddlenly froze

Tonight I fly across the stage(s) of life
Only to be a heat seeking sidewinder
To the furnace of your passion