aaahhhhooooooooooooowwwl . . .
              long silence
aaaaaahhhaooooooooooooowwwwwl . . .
               even longer silence

Lonely wolf of the night
   howl of loneliness so blight

Steel
Concrete
Glass

In our own wilderness tonight
Full of fright
Running with the pack
On pack mentality

No black . . . no white
Only shades of gray

Did you see the swelling
The telling loss of control
I cut down the tree of reasoning
Then stood on the stump of withdrawal

The river of rage lies deep and calm
Beckons sinisterly it's coy call
"Come , come ,
fools , one and all .

I spit out pieces of shattered hallelujahs
While you walk across the flames raging of depression

I look at the hourglass
with indecision
while wasting away one gain at a time

Parents raise their
children up

Children raise them down

. . . hallelujah . . .

She was just a mystery
Seldom was she seen
She used to come and visit me
In my midnight summer's  dreams

I often think about him
Now so many years ago
He walks among the angels now
I pace down here below

I used to eat raw lemons
Put a little salt on top
Some now say "make lemonade
If bitter is all you've got"

I crossed the bridge of no retutn
A thousand times a week
By now you'd think I would have found
What it was I seek

So now it comes down to you
I know it does to me
After I burned all my bridges down
The aftermath set me free

She dances before the echo

Swaying to the ways
of calcification

From the reverberation
pounding on the
Shalerock's walls
solid dreams are fossilized
flickering within sparks of quartzite expectations

The token of emotions
laid bare upon
the tongue of my
ineptitude
plague the awkward
days of youth
when all are thrown
to the lions of love
to be devoured
. . . do any survive ?

Love ?
Does she give you time for questions before pulling you under ?

How far are the backs
to yesterday's moves

Sweet summer time wine
Restless and somewhat bored

Laying under the stars and trees

Waiting for the night to move

Always waiting

She was the introduction
A cat clawing  at the screen door

I had a neck of elaboration
She had fingers of steel

We waited on the thunder
Remembering
how the air was so still

We waited and waited
the evil and the good

The night has moves
It was completely
understood

There she lays restless
Wrestling with her fears
Twisting and turning
Until she gets a hammer lock
Across the throats of
All the terrorists of
Her dreams
And she chokes the meaning
Out of their existence

She said there are no men
There are no women
Only people
The rose lips were petals that
Moved in the sun bleached wind

No I said
There must be a separation

Yes , your separation I can see now
Is complete

So I see the after Christmas trees
Lying in the alleys
In January

She said there are no men
There are no women
Only trees pretending
To be people
Shedding ***** needles
In the alleys
Lying face down
Cold and covered in frost

Their separation
Now complete
No longer men
No longer women
They've become
Forgotten people

She said ,"If you don't love me any more I'd understand ."

WHAT ?

WHAT !

I wouldn't understand  if I didn't love you !
Love you forever !

Humph ! Here I wake up thinking about your ******* , while they may be small I'm sure they are large in enthusiasm . And I would like to kiss them to find out .

Ummmmmmmm ! . . . yes they do taste good . And they vibrate with life , teasing my lips with a tingling sensation that causes me to lick my lips , wanting more .

And now you say I don't love you ?
Nor would it surprise you if I didn't ?

You must be the ballerina who tiptoes through life to the applause and adulation of a cheering mass only to doubt it's sincerity .

Oh me ! My manners have flown the nest !
Good morning ! How are you !

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 .

She shot the tiger . . .
You know the one that wears the yellow eyes

She shot the tiger . . .
The one that's been hiding behind the smirks and lies

(It's okay , he'll be living in a poem
he's writing today . . .
It's not that good but he's hoping
that it will trend anyway)

Hey ! Hey ! Hey ! Ha Hey !

She caught the tiger . . .
Using all the black and white stripes
as his disguise . . .

She caught the tiger . . .
Thinking he could just blend right on in so he could hide

(What a Mistake!)

She shot the tiger . . .
Really blood is just paper thin

She shot the tiger . . .
You know it's not so funny now
when the hammer comes down upon the rim

And you were willing to let it go
on and on . . .No ! No ! No ! Oh No !

She shot the tiger . . .
And now he's bleeding
and the thought just occurred
that he might die !

She shot the tiger . . .
You know the one
that wears the yellow eyes

She walks like heat before the summer's storm

With waves of motion
that envy the oceans

She speaks in flocks of rising birds in unison

Leaving little to wonder
in the commotion of perfection

Her absorption of all internal leaves you exhausted but forgiven

For her meekness has inherited my world

And I who was once last will be a first in her heart

Listen . . . the thunder rolls announcing the coming of summer rain

And she walks like heat before the summer's storm

She walks like heat
before the summer's
storm

With waves in motion
the envy of the oceans

She speaks in flocks
of rising birds of unison

Leaving little to wonder
in the commotion
of perfection

Her absorption of all
internal
Leaves you exhausted
but forgiven

For her meekness
has inherited my world

And I who was once last
will be first in her heart

Listen !

The thunder comes !
Announcing the coming
of summer rain

And she walks like heat
before the storm

She was love
feathers on a dove
She was adorned
as yellow on corn
She was thirst
a river clear
She was sky
the air I breathe
She was peace
beyond the stars
She was silence
That rests the heart
She was beyond
even in imagination
She was wise
and knew I would cry
She was ready
subdued her fear
And when at last breath
She was no more

Yes she was a ghost
a vision in my sight
A delicacy to touch and taste
She appeared then  would vanish in the night

Just like a real ghost

Yeah ,
you shiver in the dark
Your shadow hugs you tight
As in the meantime

You get a colored drink
In a crowded bar
Where you are nobody
Nobody is your name

The band is Dixie
line 'em up and down
Four time and rhyme
Loud !Loud ! Loud !

The pixies ply
you for their drinks
Sluring filthy things
You cain't help but crack a smile

There are
white breasted women
stepping up to the microphone
Sing ! Sing ! Sing !

The hour is getting late
Looking for a mate
So you slip off
a golden ring

Competition is ways and mean
Way down on southside
When they play under the lights
On Friday nights

I'm shredding
all the ghosts
Page after page of all
those devious hosts
I'm draining
the life force
from every word
Annihilating
the whole herd
I have no
inclination to pray
No mercy left in me
I'm burning all the fonts
All the prompts
Ripping out all the desires
that be .

You are my wasteland
Pristine and pure
A thought above timberline
Ice eyes so cold and obscure

Brutal breath that sand blasts with snow
Your days cut short so the
Auroras can glow

Deathly cold grip
Tells you all that you fear
Relentlessly frigid fingertips penetrates hightech guaranteed gear

There are no errors made
None that are known
Even the ghosts disappear
in this white frozen unknown

We can invade
But we cannot stay
This pristine wasteland
will forever stay

The silence
of the lambs
resides inside
the courts
due to our injustice

Taken aback
by the shame
that pains
the hearts
deep within
the depths of us

Then there comes
the desperate silence
standing
at attention

Before the justice
that sees the sins of
of life's retention

Had only we
had listened
to the whispers
in our ears

We wouldn't
be wiping away
our fears
with the salty
taste of tears

Or seen
the visions
imparted
in our eyes

Telling us
the differemce
between the truth
and all those evil lies

Then there is
the silence of submission
awaiting our
due fate

Bookended between
the beginning
and the ending
with everything
at stake

And there are
the sins
of fear , worry, and all of our anxieties

That add to our growing list
of all our
improprieties

Comes that day
silence
will bury deep .
So deep that their seeds will never sprout

Prohibiting the weeds of doubt
that they never come
about

Silence speaks
so loud and clear
without ever making
a sound

The truth is in the silence
so look there
and it will be profound

Silence is best when left unspoken

Silence . . .
like a candle glows
In it's  warmth
leaves an afterglow

Fog my brother
wise
allows the future
to disguise

Dusk in  
minutes
of dreams  
realizes it must release  everything

It's not a love song
It's not a long song
It's not . . .

The Phoenix
rises . . .
spitting out ashes
desires
and destinations
over and over and over again

Fire !

so it goes with anger

a ballerina

the forest

or my Catilina when she is jealous

for the moth

it is the gate to eternity

but for the wise moth

the secret to life

is to come back

with singed wings

the ship is not sinking
just descending
into the depths of
despair

the moon is not rising
the earth is just spinning
and you are walking away

you are not dying
so go on trying
looking good for you all of the way

now if you find yourself on
a boat in the Atlantic
In April , right before it's May

You should count all your blessings
And remember the water is cold
You haven't got a chance in Hell as they say

It's all situationalship ,
being in or out
down or up
in love or not
Like a metronome
we swing back and forth
from love to hate
But like a swing
is there a point
we don't enjoy the motion ?
And what is that pause ,
that force ,
when induced
makes us
turn our backs and swing back again
One must ask and answer
what becomes of us
once the motion stops
as we turn
to walk away

I  was walking , talking today
A little girl came skipping my way
Reciting some silly nonsense song
Wasn't long before she was gone

         skip a rope

A good friend in the middle of the night
rang up involved with her plight
On her behalf could I say a few words
Why of course and now they are heard

         skip a rope

Then when the sun comes out to play
We all perk up and listen to him say
We all smile from deeply inside
From within the sunshine can't hide

         skip a rope

And with sadness you have to go
Across the ocean so far it's so
But when you land you extend your hand
from there to here and back again

         skip a rope

Time passed me by like the skipping stones of my youth on the waters of life

There was once a family of slugs
That lived in a cabbage patch town
They went out everynite to eat
Found a cabbage and began to munch down

All through the night they could reduce
A cabbage to a stalk in the ground
All night they would munch and munch
But you would never hear then , nary a sound

But Mrs. H was becoming fed up
Her patch was the proudest around
With malace , blood red , she schemed
She vowed to eliminate all those clowns

She purchased the best poison they had
She tried every trick she had read
But the slugs just kept on coming
Every night, long after it was bed

Then a local wino for he said
Out of the garden he could take
These inconsiderate gluttonous
Stylommatophora Pulmonates

So he began by opening a beer
Placing some into a sphere
Putting them by each cabbage head , he said
"This will make those slugs disappear"

But by morning the cabbage was gone
Worse yet so was the beer and
If you looked even more closely tiny signs saying , "Next time make it import you here !"

Their mouths
are drooping prophets

Who've left their
salad days

Now speak in smooth
stone words

that will never
come to be

For the days
of war , famine
and pestilence

leaves one sitting
on the fence

and death
Will surely fall
to the bereft

without a course
of recompence

You stand there
as astonished

You didn't believe
the speech

When out fell the
smooth stones

of ultimate defeat

Must be from France , western European .
Dedicated equestrian , painter and poet .
Aristocratic by blood , proper family .
Well educated in all the facets of life .

Regal as the diamond jewels of the tiara worn like a crown .

Long black hair waterfalls over her shoulders .
Rose red lips that beg to be kissed .
Perfectly structured cheeks
And the round innocent eyes
Of an angel seeking wings to fly .

And if the eyes are the windows to the soul let my ship sail on in
Seeking safe harbor within
Sneha's eyes .

Never had I more than a chance
To look at the future but
with a glance

I saw the world from
the rear window of a car
While being driven to
destinations that were near , some far

So many miles
before I was five
Before I even realized
I was alive

And home was where
my grandparents lay
Maybe we could go visit
on Christmas day

I learned to walk long
and I fought hard
Always drawing the shorter straw or the
the blackest card

I learned to spell struggle
with colored crayons
With black and blue
and red when hit on

I learned to run away
at the age of three
There were no fences
that could stop and hold me

Snakes and snails and
puppy dog tails
Emotional distrust
and a *******

No little boy
should ever be a knapsack full of momentos of forgotten history

So we articulate somber
Lay faceup in the watery dew
It is no longer our concern
Whatever it is you do

The cycles of sun are fleeting
They no longer enthrall us so
The moments per eternity go leaping
But we have no will to go

All of the last tears fell
Upon the grass or snow
All of the goodbyes sail
all of the memories let go

Long after the stones have crumbled
When no longer the names you see
Perhaps then you will have stumbled
over an uncovered bone of me

So enjoiy the flowers of life
before the winter's chill sets in
Just savor the scent  of  life
Before it comes crashing down in an end

So alluring ,
my diablos under skin !
A mixture of sin and your gin
You can have your November rain
I'll take the fingernails of pain
We wrestle down to the common core
Hungry for more , ever more
Breathless gasps of derision and slaps of *******
We bend the shapes of reality into a feast fasting
in desire

Like the soft green grass
'neath
the morning dew
I'm thinking 'bout you

The tides and change
happens to everything
and everyone that
you ever knew

I can't remember
the whens or whys
we were divided
in two

Cassidy . . .

Ah ! The nightime stars
appear so near
yet they are so far
We have cut their beams

We had our plans
The world was our's
if it was only
in our dreams

Oh ! Cassidy

You drove your car
a Cadillac
the top pulled down
and the radio on

I asked you ,"Where ?"
you said,"I don't care
as long
as we are moving on."

Remember those
night time wails
and the days
we spent in jail

The women we met
The broken drum set
The times we said ,
"We're going to Hell !"

Oh ! Cassidy !

In Mexico you
met your match
on the railroad tracks
trying to escape the pain

Your hand was hot
but the deck was stacked
so you cashed
out of the game

The Tequila was warm
but the night
was cold
and your clothes were thin

You went to sleep
and left
the pain behind
never to wake again

Cassidy , oh Cassidy !

Like the soft green grass
beneath
the morning dew
I'm thinking 'bout you

"SOFTLY AND TENDERLY JESUS IS CALLING
CALLING FOR YOU AND FOR ME
SEE ON THE PORTALS HE'S WAITING AND WATCHING
WATCHING FOR YOU AND FOR ME"


She lay in bed under the covers facing the wall .

He sat on the bed facing away .
He sat there for eternity it seemed .

"Are you going to lay down ? Your'e sagging the bed ."

He laid down facing upward

Then she rolled over and looked at him .
For the longest time she didn't move or say anything . Then she rolled back over pulling the covers up

He just laid there , not moving , barely breathing

Fifteen , twenty , thirty minutes
Then she rolls back around and puts her arm
across his chest and snuggles up under his arm

He is surprised , doesn't know what to do
He doesn't want to break the spell

Slowly he puts his hand on her waist and feels a quiver shoot through her , but she says nothing

He breathes easier . . . softer

"COME HOME , COME HOME
YOU THAT ARE WEARY COME HOME
EARNESTLT , TENDERLY
JESUS IS CALLING
CALLING , O SINNER , COME HOME "

Warm and sweet as clover honey

Nighthawks in the sky

Cotton clouds silently fly

Moths do their Jubilee
under street lights

Blind Joe Death plays twelve string

Whip-poor-will calls
collect

But no one is home

Far off lightning clashes
without grumbles

As far off as Tennessee
I would say

Coyotes howl at the rising moon

No mosquitoes tonight . . .

Paradise . . .

There's a knocking . . .
who be knocking at my door ?

Lipstick on your collar
Now who be there hollering at my door ?

You know it was never
Did I ever learn to tether
the latch pon the door

In stepped this feller
and I ain't seen the likes of him ever . . .
so it goes

Yes ! It's all about the woes
They say you never know
It comes down to the throes
Doubled cross as before
all I can say . . . so it goes

you know deep down in your toes . . .
so it goes

If mankind is the seed
the open grave of needs
I'll be raising weeds . . .
so it goes . . .
yeah , so it goes

Always in the midst of uncertain ceremonies

Like the pine pitch of indecission would burn down the forest of promises

The sparks remained  
warmth of heart
But the distance of time
suffocated the chance of flames

From birth to death
From last kiss
to all it's delays
          
. . . some day never came

Heat and dust
storm clouds
forming
about to bust

The metro bus
chugs up the hill
to the engines
determined will

The buildings
reek of history
Made by people
we no longer see

When the sun
goes down
night has become
day for everyone

Clouds now depart
the moon smiles
gives a wink
across the miles

Never reaching
the end
my love
I forever send

With an evening breeze
lifting your hair to rise
Leaving your smile on lips
I lose my disguise

Follow the twilight
twinkling fireflies
using shadows to hide
Peeping pixies go sigh

I love your undulation ,
thoughts are accerbating
The notions turn into touch
Your crush so embracing

You wore cherry flavored
lipstick head to toe
To this feat my tongue
was to be in the know

We embraced
in moon mountain time
Saving starshine sparkles like
Diamondhead of the mind

.

Some of them were strangers


Some of them were without any rule


None of them would see another tomorrow


And if the innocent are guilty


Of the crimes they are harboring within


Then what are the chances in the hands of the convicted


There in the tiredness of what resignation brings

In the rejection of your everything

When the dawn draws close with no exceptions

Some of them were crying

Some of them stood brave

In the end it just didn't matter . . .


All of their dreams came tumbling down

All of their love would soon expire

And the void in the midst of the distance left not a sound

As the earth swallowed all that mattered

It covered all of their future faults

Leaving the fresh dirt of new direction


Some of them were young

Some of them were old

Some of them were men and the others were women

Some of them were just in the wrong location

Maybe they had the wrong face of denial

Just maybe in memory they will not be forgotten

For being guilty of being innocent

Somewhere outside
the ship of dreams
made up of black midnight blues , floats lifelessly in the morning dew .

Back in the back door
just in case I have to run

Long tall lady
your so much fun

Everything is kisses
leaving me with desires and wishes

Smearing kisses , lipstick dip
pour my drink , just a nip

Music is blasting
your intentions exacting

Hand on my chest
you tease , you're the best

So tall lady
legs forever
You're my baby
don't talk weather

yeah . . . yeah . . . yeah

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

Southern winds soothe the pines
Pitch sap oozes from the trees
There's the lap of tanic water
on the shores of lake
kissimmee
.
Takes more than gentle waves
to endow a restless sea
More than all the stars to make up eternity
.
A journey starts with a  first step
Then it takes many more to come
And when you've finally arrived at your destination
you feel empty , defeated
dumb
.
You were never promised a tomorrow
Today will always be your last
You will be who you are in the future
depending upon your past

A touch of sadness
               ten years gone
Like a midnight's voice
            of a far away song

Caught me unaware
              when I thought
I no longer cared

A sudden spark
              that flew
                    into eternity

A dance done then
             now done
                    in effigy

A poetic terse
              taughtly strung
                    deligently

At first dawn
           fades away

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

She was my homecoming queen
She was the period to the end of my dreams
We conversed on the golf course that night
Her blouse unbuttoned
Her breast bare
Shadows danced across her chest
as the wind predicted rain
How I wished I remembered
what we said
But all I do . . . are spider bite kisses

How the years decay
Lucky in love
Lucky on death
Teeth that once were sharp
have been ground down
Homecoming Queen
My Homecoming Queen

Your prayer wheel spinning
is an axis of hope
Radiating energy to every
corner of the Universe
Nothing can hide
from the Mani wheel
My metal cannot bend
Nor oil be my blood
to the spiritual pump
living within
The bond  by distance
cannot be severed
by timeless E-longings
with the whirl of constant emptiness
filling/feeding a mechanical pump
that has pace maker rthyms
of endowment
Let your axis of hope
your mani
breathe in life ,
the spiritual Ghost

There is that slow burn deep within
The heat that warps and so bends
The power that drives me mad
Upon which my love does hinge

I see you in my dreams
When I think it's not anything
Only to wake soaked in sweat
This is more than just a fling

I think about you through the day
This month of April , surely this May
I long to lay by your side
Kiss your lips and touch your face

Someday I will burn complete
From the ashes of your heat
I will rise and take your hand
And across this devide we will leap