I always feared thunderstorms
Lightning has killed many trees I loved

I understand that lightning
is a necessity as it replenishes
the nitrogen in the soil

But it destroys to create life

Tonight the thunderstorms roll
The thunder remains high
just growling low
as the lightning skips from cloud
to cloud

Then all at once
a bolt hits close by
and the thunder
kabooms . . .
rattling windows
Making your heart
skip several beats

The wind picks up
the sirens go off
and you chek out the radar

You breathe a sigh of relief
as the approaching storm splits
and goes around you .

It rains hard . . .

Then it stops . . .
so has the wind

Aloft the clouds
are race horses
galloping away as fast as they can

They have business elsewhere

Now all is quiet
a feeling of relief
soaks in unlike
the water running
rushing down the sides of the street

An after the storm moment
of peace when the air feels as clean
as the thoughts you . . . you don't have

I paint my windows black
so I can't see the sun
I have no feelings now
since you said that we are done
I run through the hours
searching for our abandoned days
These feelings inside
are simply driving me crazy

I paint my front door black
so everyone can see
You meant more than life
to the sane man inside me
Now I hide inside
the darkness of my room
I cannot stand this awfulness
of the encroaching doom

I paint my windows black
so you can surely see
There is no reason now
for plans of eternity
You crushed a heart
that was infinitely so kind
I don't know
I simple lost my mind

I paint my soul in black
as it is no use now to me
I sweep out the past
so useless can't you see
Everyday is Hell in here
I can't take a second more
Paint it black now
as you walk out the door .

I paint my love in black
it's no use now to me
There is no use
in pretending tomorrow will ever be
I cut the rope
You can hear the fall
The story's over now
it was time for my last call .

I was the one
that came undone
At the very first signs of strife

I twisted
upon my cross
Praying for another chance at life

I tried and failed
then I wailed
please make me into another exemption

But the shadows cast
by the time
now have turned into perdition

So cast the sins
and the stems
Watch as they go up in smoke

I fan the flames
of burning ice
life is such a joke

While I was rushing by
the old box caught my eye
Inside there's an illustrious past
All the medals
behind the glass
My father , a simple man
made his living with his hands
Who was this boy of seventeen
who left to serve for our country's gleam ?
The lad who rushed right in
Saved a pilot that crashed in wind
before the plane exploded in flame
Thinking of his own safety was so lame
His pilots , his planes , and his men
This was a war of will to win

She entered through the back bedroom window .
She said she had my key
When I foolishly asked her
"Why you crossexamining me ?"

I dropped out of the University
I got myself a steady job
Working part time on the weekends
It had benefits without the friends

Then I spent the coldest winter
Without any heat or bread
I microwaved Idaho potatoes
They called me "Tater Head"

Now didn't anybody see
Now was there anyone who cared
Sunday was just another Monday
When is a rabbit not a hare ?

Well I found myself another girlfriend
I was sure now of her honesty
I came home from work one evening
To find my microwave wasn't there

Now I could have sat down and cried
But I never had a chair
Just some cushions on the floor
Hot and cold roaches everywhere

Now the future was looking bleak
Winter turned to spring you see
A thunderstorm turned tornadic
Took my apartment away from me

Didn't anybody see
I'm sure that nobody cared
Sunday turned into a Monday
All I said was,"So there" . . . oh , my .

Wee ***** Tadpolly
Never knew who his
mom and dad were
He had always heard
that they had croaked
in the middle of the night
. . . ribbit . . .

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

To learn :

one must hear

as they speak .

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

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

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

Hangman
Hey Hangman
Wrapping thirteen times
The coils for my last binds
Put a little lime around that rope
So it burns before it snaps my spine

Hey Hangman
Hangman
Take my wife to ride
So was never my relief
And I'm sure she'll be happy I died

Hey Hangman
You , Hangman
I hope they pay you fine
Do you and God deliberate
Over whose plan and time

Hangman
Hey you Hangman
I hope you rot in Hell
It just takes one mistake
And you're as guilty as well

So Hangman
Oh Hangman
It may be my very last say
But I leave you no remorse
I'll see you on judgement day

The truth
lies
in the mouth
of a politician

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

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

The freedom of a sparrow
is the air under it's wings
The freedom of the wild horse
is the plains that recede
The freedom of a choice
is the choice not made
The freedom of love
is knowing you had no more to give

Winter is ending
and I am looking ahead
Even when winter has
one foot in the grave
It's not to be a stave

A sparrow without love
is a bird without feathers . . .
and cannot fly

A wild horse without love
is a horse without a plain . . .
and cannot run

A choice made without love is recklass
and bound to be wrong

Love knowing you held back
leaves you little to hang on

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

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 .

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

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 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 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 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

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

Best wishes
to all ,

Goodbye . . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here I am
Writing poetry again
Instead of talking to you

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

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

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

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 !

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

For once
         I am
               truly
Standing
         on the
               sands of time
In the shadows that
        come casting down
                Where Joseph's ,
                 Jacob's and Moses's memory is bound

The air is
            warm
                as humidity allows
           buried in salt
              and sand the bones are endowed

Dare to breathe
           the eternal breath
                cast down
in perpetual death

Walk as one
         in cryptic thought
The allusional truths
         the secrets sought

One is moved
         by the power
               and awe
The things I considered
         from
                all that I saw

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 .

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."

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

He's a modern day cowboy
Drinking beer in a bar with rap
He rode up in a sixty-seven mustang
Wearing jeans made by the Gap

Never says a word to no one
If he does it's only to mumble
He drinks his beer by the hours
The barkeep can only grumble

From time to time on occasion
A female patron has been known to try
To get him to open up
But they get nothing whenever they pry

The tags on his car read 1998 from Texas
It's full of everything he owns
His head is full of tumbleweeds
On the road is where he calls home

There are no rings round any of his fingers
No necklace around his tight tanned throat
He orders another Lone Star beer
He's actually from Terre Haute

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

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