The moments fall like the raindrops
Every memory a raindrop makes

The axis of hope spins freely
Free is all we hope to be

There is no beginning to the end
It's simply called eternity

If in nothing
   then in all
Must I sin
   to be saved
Must I wrong
   to be absolved

Forgiveness comes
   at such a cost
Must I pierce the heart
   to come in lost

In the darkness
   in the light
In the confusion
   of the night

You can call it incoherent
   incompetence
You can call it a
   deterrence
  
Just don't call it a
****** innocence

The pile of pine burned with ferocity
While fields of watermellon wore green in generosity

Jerimiah delivered rows of assiduous thoughts
Fertilized in decisions made years ago

Margaret was from Huntsville , working on a divinity degree
She was small , rode a bicycle , studying infinity
Timid , not unlike a titmouse in spring
Margaret had a sister named Judy

Jerimiah left for the mountains of Colorado
He took only his last name Johnson
He spent winters hibernating with the bears
He learned to have no fear and grew a long beard

Tennennessee is in Alabama , just south of Huntsville

A snowslide almost buried Jerimiah

Margaret moved to North Carolina
got married and that's all I know

Jerimiah made tracts in the snow . . . go
He sat above the devide looking down
Sometimes west when the sun went down
But mostly east under the full moon
Howling so forlornly the wolves cry

Margaret looks west every night
Then sheds one tear

Window screens filter the outside from the within . And they allow what's inside to escape . Daydreams are filtered in our thoughts . Allowing passage between two worlds , physical and not . But window screen daydreams can be trapped by an invisible barrier , a pane of mental glass on the inside or out .

He's standing outside
my door
He's got guns in one hand
In the other roses
and he's knocking ,
knocking and knocking
and I am wondering what for

If I turn up the volume
will he go away ?

Knock knock knocking some more

Oh well !
Maybe if I give him an
axl or a rose
he will go away

It was a dark night in November
A baby wailed as it was delivered
The mother gasped and breathed no more
Began the tale of sorrow for
And every night was darkened pain as
Hannah would have to be refrained
Caught up in her guilt
She's thinking about cutting again

But comes a rattle upon the pane
And in flies the spirit's wind
"Who dares cross this portal door
Come out I do implore"

And Hannah stepped back in fright
For it must be an attack tonight
But the spectral image of a shady form
Left poor Hannah unadorned
"Speak most devious one
Tell me where it is your coming from"

The image coalesced into physical form
That on the outside looked so forlorn
It parted what looked like lips
And uttered the word,"Chi"

Hannah was quick to know
Everyone has a chi that flows
But still Hannah was confused
And the question now arose
"Of what Chi do you speak
And tell me how it works ?"

But the only response was a hollow whisper  "Chi" , was all it said

So Hannah was quick to respond
Ran to the refrigerator and opened the door
She grabbed a can and quickly returned
To the entrance unconcerned
With a can of five hour Super Chi

She popped the top and poured it down
Into the spatial beast
It shook at first then burpped at last
Wiped it's mouth and passed some gas
Then it said , "Chi that was great !"

. . . . .s s s s s s s s s s s s s s  . . . .
Choo . . . s s s s s s s s s s s s  . . . .
Choo  Choo  s s s s s s s s s s  . . . .
Choo s s s Choo s s s
Choo s s Choo s Choo Choo
Choo Choo Choo Choo
My tain is moving . . .
My freight train now of love
Chu , Chu , Chu , Chu , Chu
My momentum is gaining
Must make the grade above
Chou-a-Chou , a-Chu
Keep your eyes looking up ahead
On the rail and where's it lead
My train has many cars
Hauling loads so very far
Boxcar loads of lumber sure
For building house of love so pure
Tank cars full of liquid love
Higher and higher I do shove
Flatbeds strapped under cover too
Leaves you guessing what will I do
Load after load of dump cars full
All these I bring to you to tool
The way is curved and rail runs straight
As I pass through your open gate
The boiler is hot the fire is stoked
There's no way now this motion choke
There's miles and miles of shiny rail
Laid down by your smiles , can tell
Following up here comes the caboose
As my train is cut and loose
Pressing hard must be on time
To here you say it's so fine
So there goes my Loco train of love
Delivering loads of love I flood
Whoo - whoo

Cloudy tonight
With chance of fear 70%  
Tomorrow tears likely , 90% chance
with thunderpoems possible
by evening , some severe
Emotional downpours may occur
Those living with low lying esteem
Should seek higher ground

The battle raged on inside my head
My heart was wounded and it bled

Tempestuous tides of full moon rise
Brings down all love's demise

To handle diamonded and golden dreams
I was hell bent to rip apart it's seams

I will away all love to yesterday
And kiss the past's hollow lips that stay

And what never was , will be no more
And what never was , will be no more

I hold the rays that light the bay
Early in the morning
I smell the salt and taste the air
as the day is forming
The gulls turn wing and then they fling
their Feathers to the sea
The clouds peer pink as they sink
lighting comes a storming
The air picks up and cools my cup
of coffee that remains
I step in the boat that's sure to float
knowing the journey's waiting
The planks are sound , the masks come round
the ropes and fibers straining
A chop that blows , the tide it flows
the ebb of life has past
The sea's dark gray and appears to say
your albatross awaits you
Whatever's to be is alright with me
I'm not captive to this world
I drop my sails , ring three bells
Here ye , here ye , here ye
I set my course without remorse
destined for eternity

I ran with the wolves
Howled at night's full moon
Ate my prey warm
With it's heart still pounding

But moon after moon passed
Alfa wolves rose and fell
And I no longer recognize
Original clan

They speak of me as the grey wolf
The ancient one who howls
Up above the highest peaks
The grey ghost of the ancient past

I sleep with the always cold
Looking down from the highest passes
Even with cloudy eyes
I still see

You can
Walk on love
Like you walk on water
You can break a heart
Like you change the weather

You can go the extra mile
You can drive a Studebaker
Blow all the tires out
Curse you maker

You can
Say I love you
You can say I hate you
You can never say enough
When life gets really really rough

So when you learn to walk on water
When you learn you can't love one
And then another
When you live up to all your lows
put down all your highs
you can let me know

I was always infused by the quartz of time
I balanced love in separate hands ; cut , aching , refusing to heal

Happiness was measured out one grain of sand at a time
My measuring cup runneth over

My thoughts are bleached  bone white .
But I have preserved the marrow of my ways

I am the walking cacti
that push rocks in the sand creating the trails of tears that never reach the ground

I am desert
Full of the emptiness
that exists on the face of clocks and time

I am one grain of sand
The silence of the wind
I have no foundation
I'm tendered to my whims

You see it all the time
Poems strung out on pain
Shooting up words
destroying refrains
People disguised in their disguise
Pontificating truth in fact lies
Will we be dressed in black tie upon the death as we say adios , goodbye ?
Make this coda dance as the music reaches the sky

I lived my life
Like a bullet from a gun
Racing down a barrel
From an explosive past
Always smoke and fire and blast
Then I moved on

In my haste racing away
I'm concerned not who
I graze
All my days I came
Crashing into , littered souls
What carnage too

Once I left I was gone
awesome , strong
Hell bent on ways
That destruction sent
Cold steel and
Hot lead

My nerves bled
and others too
Through your flesh and heart
I pierced
With never a thought
Of mercy due

I lived my life
Like a bullet
From a gun
Cold cold steel and
Red hot lead

The truth
lies
in the mouth
of a politician

1000 poems
Good place to be
1000 and that's
all to see

Best wishes
to all ,

Goodbye . . .

Oh my Captain , my Captain
Where is the gleam in your eye ?
Where is that sting
Whenever your colors fly

Where is that thirst
For adventure you sail
Where is that booming voice
Through oak will drive nail

Oh , my Captain
Where could you be
Thy gaze crosses
More than the sea

Where is the man
Who knows not any fears
Who's cheated death
All these long years

Come Captain
Where is thy cheer
We sail into eternity
The rest is unclear

Oh my Captain , my Captain
Why such a sad soul
It's treasure and loot
So much we have stole

Oh Master , my master
We are and can no more be
Like the birds
We are free as long as we breathe

Come Captain , my Captain
Give us command
Give ,"Aweigh all anchors."
Seek ye new harbors with warm golden sand

You catch the eyes of innocense
as you clip the time
in insolence with a smile

Nothing makes you happier
than to see the distress
when you so beguile

Soft and swift you tantalize
the precious lips of love

You nibbled on the ears
while whispering "Only if you please"

You daze and confuse like
the early spring's
cold winter fog

You lie in wait
for your chances
like a five string guitar

Oh ! No one is safe
as you strike another chord

No ! Not even the words
that go aching for the page

Not even the message texted
across the lost one in the maze


The camel made it through
the needle of the eye
He said "Nothing to it"
just before he died


There is a lesson to be learned
in the hollow of our minds

That there will be a tomorow
I can guarantee that in time

But only if you don't
step on the trip wire attached
to the watermelon's vine

So be careful
in everything you do
Or you might wind up wearing
camel hair coats and shoes

I thought I wanted to write a poem
mistakingly I guess I'm not .
Thought I could create something
masterful
I guess that idea is shot
Like false labor pains
I  thought it was going to come
But the pains just faded away
Now I know it's naught
My muse used to dance and sing
After midnight by the clock
Lately it's been going to bed
around eight thirty or nine o'clock
So I'm left out by myself
trying to do my best
But my best is pathetic
it simply can't pass the test
So now I say goodnight my friends
As I leave you with this mess

if the clock says eight-thirty-ache

      or twenty-two tears to nine expired

would you believe ?

if my love begins with a r-u there
within my rhyme , r-you ?

I agonize sunrise-sets
I galvanize my felling
in crystalline halos
and auroras of
dazzling magnetic lights
enveloping my love for you

Make the skies eternal limits
I'm shooting for a paper moon
A thin white line disappears
The Crescent city blooms

She rises from the river
Without the sky's inner inhibitons
She commands all her passions
Painting exhibitions

There is no distance
Between each and every line
She is my perpetual lemming
Flung from from the cliffs of time

Dark haired Creole woman
Body damp with sweat
The gumbo boils in desire
You're my "Day-glo" dash board saint

Kissing white moonlit *******
That dance with each and every ******
C'mon shakedown the stars
Ashes made by burning lust

I take the long way
along the way
to find my home
I pass the old place
where I used to play
once upon a yesterday
I walk down the sidewalks
avoiding all cracks
Oh ! my mother's back
It's a long way from yesterday
to everyday
and back down to here
And one is the number
between zero
which is nothing
and eternity
which is everything

Wrap the shawl of twilight
Around your shoulders tonight

Come out and play
Hide and seek
In the cemetery

Stand still as a stone
Don't you even breathe
Lest your pressence now
Will give your self away

Dash from tree to tree
Then stone to stone
And all along the way
You're humming nonsense  songs
No complaints or so now they say

See the orange and weary moon
Raise his orbic head
Saying something , not quite sure
He's muttering to the dead

There is no sound , none what be
Except your beating heart
Evening's mist drearily insists
Not a soul here shall depart

You know what they say about plagiarism ? It's the lowest form of flattery .

You're not civilized until you learn life is too precious to throw it away

Not until you recognize for every good deed done it undoes another .

Being civilized means serving others before you serve yourself

Icicles hang from the cannons of my love
The bridge was taken , lost , and retaken
Many times before it was blown up

Now ice lays at the bottom ,
my forkless will
Cold rock kisses freeze lips
Brushable embraces hide their warmth

The harsh abandoned illusions
Come cold chested to breathe
Sparrows come reciting Bible verses

They flutter leaving debris
Of fractured nominclatures
Destined not to be

If I fire the cannon's of love
The icicles will shatter
****** to the ground of loud booms

But no one will hear
The shattering of hearts
Nor catch the falling icicles

Still the icicles remain
On the cannons of love
For all time

Here I am
Writing poetry again
Instead of talking to you

I was sitting in my white room
Sitting on top of the world
Where there are no cares to implore
Never worried about if there was more
Touching monsters that are made to laugh
Tasting colors , smelling every sound
Bite the dog of realities hound
All this in a way , without any
Hell has come to claim it's fair game
In the deserted cemeteries of the heart

Come back home
to where
the Southern Pines sway

Back to the house
where
the warped boards grey

Gravel road
for a drive way

Grass growing
in the middle

Between the ruts
and where the cars stay

Front porch swing
flaking green paint

Remember the day
I gave you a ring

You gave me a kiss
All that I may miss

Come back home
to where
the Southern Pines sway

My mother never said ,
"I love you" to me
That's OK .
I think it's better than being told ,
"I don't love you anymore."

Yesterday's gold
is so cold
til I slip it upon
my finger again

Then it burns
again so hot
I can't stop but
recall it all

And what it
meant to me
That's when I stop
and put the ring away

These days are
winter white
And far , far , too far
to say

Yesterday's gold
seems so cold
and it's best
kept that way

Tennessee Coal and Iron
Ensley Works , Birmingham , Alabama
Ensley Highlands , 30th Street

A turn of the century wood
framed house , sitting high on top a hill
Sitting on the front porch swing
in the sweltering August evening air

Playing "Your car next" , as cars ran
up and down the hill
Swapping turns , who gets what , laughing
at some of the outrageous wheels

Then as darkness descends
the dark skyline turns to Hell
Jets of forced blast air hits molten iron
and the gush of flames shoot high into the air

Eleven , twelve , maybe more
all the blast furnaces roared
as sparks flew up into the smoke
Surely these are the Devil's works
Where men are tortured so

As this for a backdrop now
it was time for ghost stories galore
Headless people and black drabbed ghouls
and little girls dripping wet that drowned in some unforgiving lake

We would draw up knees to our chest
in spite of the oppressive heat
And I would jump every time the breeze
would rustle the hidden leaves

So scared were we as bedtime neared
we'd ask mother if we could
spend "the night with you"
Ha ha ha , she replied , "NO !"
And then she went
Boo ! Boo ! Boo ! Boo ! Boo ! Boo !

The wicked whip of word
Lashes welps upon
The starved psyche
Of the errogenous mind

Indeed the moment rises
In smoke and indigo sheets
Of layered heat pressing down
Into the flesh of desired
Impunity , iniquity , liquidity

Happy is a framed stated stanza
Of thine behind plastic cups
Of wine in sheds
Of gray aged wooden shingle
From long long ago

Was it "Bored-dough" or "Shabby"
Time will consume
But the experience
Leaves you panting
Thirsty for more

Sitting for hours in the dark
even all night long

Two days didn't eat
I'll have that black coffee now

Days turned to weeks
Forty pounds gone , still no sleep

My mind's stuck , like an LP skip
Saying over and over . . . over and over

Inside the black is dimimg fast
Shivering my skin is as cold as ice

More coffee , my how fine instant tastes
Spins the wheels on mental race

The sun sets once more upon the stage
I bow acknowledging the audience

Thunderous applause inside my head

Love is the give and take of the sea against the shore of every drop and every grain .

I sometimes can feel
your mental embrace
through all these miles of thought

Even a faint wisp of breath
there upon my face
i've caught

And my lips can almost touch
your kiss even in this separation
of all our time and space

We fight and you demand
I fight back and take a stand

But in the end I surrender
all of me to you

Because I know
I am nothing now
without the hand of you

I've had enough
of the words of rhyme
Locked away behind
the bars of stanzas
doing time

All the hopes
and wanna be dreams . . .
Just more nightmares
with chilling screams

No I had it !
and I don't want anymore
I don't want someone knocking with words to implore

Go take your metre ,
Yellow pencils number four
I don't want to hear you
knocking on my door

You can go post
and share with the world
Shelly , Keats , Byron . . .
They all make me feel sterile

A sonnet for your bonnet
Haiku for beret
You can put a quill to it
Go have your good Shakespearean
day

She says she is too short
Will have to stand on stool
To kiss my lips

She says her afflictions
Different only in that
They are all too great

She says I can find
A better edition
Of any year I choose

That all the combinations
In searing truth
Are just to much to take

It's this , then that
And all of the rest
She say's I should detest

But when
I hold her in my arms
I know I found my place

I want a sunset to the end of my day
I want to dance with a moonshadow
I want a river to enter my lake
I want an earth that quakes

I need a life hummingbird blue
I need a spiritual blessing
I need the warmth of a stranger
I need  just the mystery of you

I see the questions as unimportant
I see that there is nothing
I see that there can be everything
I see all that in the stranger of you

Hey ,
he's the old man
with a pair of mental scissors
Snipping away at the
picture perfect reality
he perceives as the truth
Hey ,
she's the old lady
hard of hearing
who clings to the unreality
that all is as it should be
Hey ,
they are the reasons given
for all the good intentions
that do more harm than good
Hey , hey ,
. . . . hey ,
It is you reading these words
in all your disguises
that are trimming the truth
to make it fit
inside the lies
Hey ,
It is me lastly ,
snip , snip , snip . . .
snip .

The battle is over
my blade is broken
all of my arrows
have long been spent

Blood runs like a river
my flesh burnt ,
bones broken , flesh cut ,
stabbed and divided

And on my knees
I face my Victor
asking no grace
I the conflictor

Waiting for the inevitable
every second labored
would you do the honor
end it now and not later

I looked outside
my windows to see
a yellow butterfly
flying south
for the rest
of winter
you see

It dived through
where the roses
used to be
The day lilies
long withered
and no irises
there to be

Bounding over
the fence so fast
this creature surely
must be
tough as nails
For frost and freeze
has coated grass
and comes
nipping at it's
yellow tails

A few dips
of it's yellow wings
and it has disappeared
out of sight
Leaving me in awe
and disbelief
I hope it makes it's
journey complete

When I lose the light and glow
When I am left to lie low

When the sky moves to and fro
Pray do tell that you know

I stood alone
on mountains of marble

I faced the fact
that made me startle

When the mists are in my eyes
When it's time to say goodbyes

When death's rattle grasps my breath
When I face my final test

I pass on beyond the stars
On the trail of those that are

Do not fear death's paltry touch
for beyond it's pall lies a sacred trust

So lost in affection
Sharp knife of dedication
Piercing the eye
of the blind mirror

Same wild wet on page
Jackrabbits hiding hedge
So you know your name . . .
just have to scream . . .

. . . oh , well , so well

Shock by electric imitation
emotions in simulation
Stab it in the eye
the blind mirror . . .

   . . . sunrise , coming . . .
the dew is forming
the blind bleeding
. . . black mirror . . .

so well , so well

blind mirror . . .
blind mirror . . .
blind mirror on the wall

Damm , sounds like home to me
T. S. Elliott's wasteland
Where puragatory worst residence live
Raise a toast to the Ghost of Christmas Past
for you haven't the pressence to make a future out of it .
Where happy hour never ends and friendship is sealed by the clink of glass
And all the women have traces of ***** on their lips as they ask hey buddy will you buy me a beer
Year after year until O'Hara's Pub and Grill becomes your Thanksgiving , Easter , Memorial Day , Christmas , and New Years Day
And they even paint a reserved parking space out back for you
But they were the only bar open for the blizzard when everyone took acid and danced barefoot in the snow

Yellow sunshine sad
almost glad
almost . . . .

I can feel you touching me
after all these years
I wonder how you are feeling now
I wonder where you are

Behind which star are you hiding
are we playing hide and seek ?

25 years ago gone , goodbye
Like a knife to my heart

But I bleed not . . .
Long ago . . .
Lost the last drop ,
a long time ago

It used to be
exciting just before the dawn
It used to be
amazing to see a shooting star's swarm
It used to be
frightening to stand out in a storm
It used to be
all of these and so so so much more

I used to marvel
at the ways that were of woman
I used to marvel
at the way a baby lay sleeping
I used to do a lot of things
that now I would not undertake
I used to do a lot things
that I now know were mistakes

I used to , used to ,
but now I'm all used up
I am awake before the dawn
but it wasn't by choice or fate
And as I search a cloudless sky
looking for the star that passed me by
I'm thinking to myself
"used to" comes softly with a sigh

Sometimes I like to sit in the dark all
alone . In the silence of my room .
Listening to the thunder in my head
and
the flashing of my thoughts against
the walls of my past . Soaking in the
resolutions of the pouring down disdain .