So I put my trust
in the hands
of man

Relied upon
the knowledge
he possessed

Testing the strength
of his flesh
I put the truth to rest


For what can grow
in the disidents
garden of desert ?

Void of living water . . .
only rock and sand and chert


Certainly not the truth
as it is claimed
raising their rights
to just desserts


Oh , the failings
of feeble man
Whose thirst is etched
on bone

Written with
diamond tipped desires
across their ******* of stone

For what
springs forth
from the wells of hearts ?

Torrents
of premeditated will

The defiling overreaching reasons
are passions fit to ****


Serpentine sin
denudes
the wicked heart

It twists its coils
around the truth ,

Bites !
then as soon arrived
it surly fast departs .


The heart
deceives the sightless mind
planting seeds of doubt

Producing moldy
grains of lies
decayed
within - without

How can one be
true of heart
when everything
falls apart

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 .

"A rose by another name , would still be just a rose " T. R .

Sleep my rose , your load so heavy .
Let the stars wash the pain from your memories .
Your battles fought bravely .
Let the soft black velvet of darkness hold you in her arms , sing ancient lullabies to you ,
soothe you with her charms .

Let the moon gaze upon you , softness in his glow.
He'll guard over you .
Said he just wanted you to know .

Let the Banshee's wail warn anyone that dwell upon evil deeds .
It's not lightly taken , best you turn around and flee .

Now then rose , your thorns  now protect thee .
And as stardust begins to fall , hush now little one for I hear the Sandman's . . . last call .

She sent a message to me
And I could feel her stroking my keys
She was clicking onto my interest
Next message if you please

If I could get you
between my comma
maybe semicolon you
I'm sure I could make
an exclamation point
wrap my parentheses all around you

I could ravage all your vowels
I could click into propend
And at the proper moment most intence
I would touch the "send"

Getting warm by the campfire
Next to the ghosts of my
mental graveyard
Following the ruling runes
and shallow hues
etched on the stone
hearts and tablets
of tongues :

Leave the schools
Get an education

Thrown into prison
because you were free

Live within your time
Die because of it

Light the fires of confusion
Burn down empires
of derision

Embers to ashes
smokey as ghost
Leaving only voices
in my head

Dancers must have two extreme qualities
Intense desire , gritty fortitude , and raw courage .
. . . one two three , OK  , dancers must have three extreme qualities .

Dancers actually do break a leg upon the stage

At parties they are the flight of the hummingbirds . Amazing what they do .

Their tight limber bodies often make me wonder how I would do in bed with them

My ambition was always tied to a rope that held me back
Because  when I danced (after twenty-four bottles of beer)
It was on my face I always fell flat

She glides unto my conscious
Twirling skirts
Flashing arms
Dancing with fireflies

Falling into summer time
Swirling waters
thunderstorms
Kisses in the corn field

Waiting on september's promise
Whirling ferris wheels
State fairs
Wild turkeys over there

Still I search for that heartbeat
Mirroring mine
hurrying . . . caring
. . . daring

Oooooh, OH ! Now my clear moon rising

Oh , Oh ! Your leaving , . . . not surprising

Just dancing around your grave
Hey ! Just dancing on your grave
Hey , Hey ,dancin' around your grave


Sooo, oh ! Oh ! You say you got it made

yup , yup ,  you surely got it made


Hey ! just say it , dancing on your grave
Just roll , roll , . . . roll up your sleeves
And dig your self a grave


Yeah , yeah , fix your self a grave

Just dig yourself a grave

. . . dancing on your grave , Hey ! Hey !

. . . dancing on your grave !

You get off work on a Friday eve
The backed up traffic is your pet peeve
You stop off at the local bar
Run into friends as you park your car
You drink import on American dream
Hey there's Mary , ain't she a scream
Someone slips you some super daze
Your out of it for a month of days
You dance now with every smile
Got you running fifteen miles
Long ago you heard last call
On the way out you stumble and fall
Passed out inside your car
Wake up behind the bars
Gee you think it was so much fun
Cain't wait till the next week's done

Dare the day
to raise the light
To dedicate
itself to the Sun's respite

To crush
the shadows
kidnapped
by night

To free the wounds
of fright or plìght

The sunny ray's raucous
crackling whips
Soon the darkness
will be flipped

To hear
the moans of
grinding time
The wheels spin on
as the engines whine

So does the day
dare the night ?
Yes it does
to the Sun's delight

Skip a line
Try Titan like
Maybe your cloud
will shroud your
desperation
in fear
As lost as
the speed of light
Warped !
Bent !
Falling into a
worm hole
Arriving at the center
of a Black Hole
. . . so captivating

You take all the light
leaving desparate shadows
that congregate down below
Your breath as hot and dust
a desert on the go
Your intentions as devious
Every motion shuns

Picture a rose out in
New Mexico
Withered in thirst
Strangled in weeds
that have no roots
with no sins to bear
No redemption cleansed clear

Catch the thorns
on cati high
As the midnight blooms
Let the blood flow
from the punctured wounds
From the soul undone
to the desert below .

He walks into the room
Looks side to side
Wants every one to notice
He's got David Bowie eye

He steps onto the stage
He's not into raves
He's got one blue eye
He's the latest rage
He's got David Bowie eye

Starts out with a howl
Comes down to a low growl
He throttles your attention
You feel hypnotized
He's got David Bowie eye

Like a thumderstorm
Comes the light before the boom
Explodes on stage
But he never never moves
Unless he captures you
In his David Bowie Eye

I'm listening to the house ,
the popping of the joists ,
the groans from years of delapidation . The arguing
with local foundations .

Age has its benefits in the forms of doors as they no longer stay moored to the walls but swing in indecision like the fools who stand in perpetual obsolesence .

Where then do my thoughts propel my rudderless oblivion ?
My angst , the thumb in many dikes , leaves me as powerless before the mass of my desperation .

How dare the Ghosts of daylight leave me marooned in the shadow of shadows .

I am confused and challenged by the hidden agendas and secret subpoenas of an alien race of thought .

And were I capable of burying the haunting images , would they not
sprout from my seeds of discontent and flourish
yet greater than before ?

. . . evidently so .

I can't write poetry
   in the sun . . .

Give me darkest nights
     and undercover I will run

Let no light penetrate my eye
    lest it be by stars and comments going by


From hiding all my words
        come out

They hate the sun I know
       now without a doubt

They like to bask in glow
        of moon

Conversing amongst the
           punctuations . . .

is it now or when or way
             too soon

They start to shuffle before
           'say daylight

Anxious with intent ,
   hurried on now by their
        plight

First rays they soon all
        disappear
           . . . . . .

Well I will be waiting
          out the day
It's not like waiting
         for years and years

Soon the sun will be getting
                   tired

And deep inside I will be gettiing . . .
       
             so inspired

Days dazed drifting in and out of reality
Fazed fast undutifully
Gasping for all the wrong images
or inclinations
The pickle pucker
hitched across the you us of eh
Found his,him,herself in disgrace , hey !
There's honey on the
isle of Wiles
But their buzz ain't quite right
That thought gaves me smiles 😁

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 .

old poets
never die
nor do they
fade away
they live
on and on
every time
you turn
the page

I know you haven't heard from me in years .
I thought I'd write just to let you know that Tommy Faulkner died , you know passed away . I didn't even know it until it was all over . Don't even know what he died from . Heidi told me . Oh , you don't know Heidi , my fist and third wife . She and Tommy were good friends . Last I heard about you , you were moving to North Carolina , your home by birth . But your home was always with us  here on the Southside of Birmingham . Sigh !
I hoped you made a big splash back home when you arrived . Such a polar extreme . I kept your poems for years until Heidi threw out my box of poetry ,with yours included .
Also Steven Sedbury's . You remember him ? Last I heard about you , you had a brain tumor and you passed away . Now I stand alone with my ghosts and I have no address to send my posts .
      Love Thomas

Dear Protrudence
Won't you come out
to play
Dear Protrudence
I know you haven't got a lot to say
The bone was broken
Things got compounded
Right away
Dear Protrudence
Won't ou come out to play

Do not fear death . . .  
. . . . fear eternity .

In the silent bleakness
Stripped limbs down to bare
The harsh fingers cold as ice
where only a fool would dare

I feel the cold
gripping at my heart
I feel the chilling effects
leaving frozen parts

I yell out a hearty welcome
It's not to late I say
For inside my barren body
have your icy way

I feel your anticipation
Your frozen breath upon my face
Soon the numbing brings on
a fateful day of grace

What ?
What are you gonna' do ?
Write a poem ?
Ha ! That's really rich !
The Baptist would send over a casserole and dish . But it's too far away and it would spoil before it could be delivered . How about a card of condolences or flowers . Same ole same so's , not feasible or adequate . Who's loss is it really ? Mine of course !
  So I'll sit in my rocking chair on the porch and stare down the memories or lay on my bed of remorse and share the emptiness and wonder about how fast our lives have passed . And of course I'll cut out another piece of my heart and hand it you to take with you on your long journey home wherever it may be .

I gaze into the cloudy exclamation point
That once radiated pure love
Only to find the mask of Ironman
Rusting from the tears wept
In ignorance of time displayed

I curse your hollow shell felled
Before the half moon rose
To consecrate your memories denied
Oh , The indignation watching
Love ******* crumbs into heartflake

I close your eyes forbearable the pain
Stained by pain's piercing sight
I conclude in contusion's might
Now night can never be as black
As the vacancy of my heart

It was
the shortest breath ever taken
The longest night prevailed
I gathered up all
my wintered thoughts
I would send
them all back down to Hell

To Whom :
I'm not concerned
666 Hades Street
on the Rue
Enclosed for your inspection
Every sin and all insanity ,
everything that you made me do  

I know I must
accept the credit
I spent every last dime of mine
Now I feed the pigs of others
eating much better
while on the inside
I'm slowly dying

But you better now
be some wary
The sun shall also rise
All of the time
that I have squandered
will be responding
In this cold crystal air

So I step forward
Into the eternity of today
I'm leaving for my home
So many miles away
I will beg of my father
for forgiveness
I already know what he'll say

This tiredness
             sickness
A draining away
             such as a tide might
             **** at a bay

There is evil in their soul
             A blackness where nothing
             can grow , only wither

****** is ******
             A **** on a street
             A soldier with a gun
             A President's decree
             A Declaration
              and dead is dead

Are we not made in the image of God ?

              God's flood drowned all
              A pillar of fire destroyed all
              An image of ******

Has not God created sin ? All sin ?

Why does the sherherd leave his flock to seek
out one lost sheep ? Maybe because once the sheperd was lost and someone came and found him and welcomed him back home again .

She has December's eyes
all gray and cold
too cold to be exposed
to the elements of love

Finally he trudges through
the doorstep
of his Victorian home
Shuts the door to the cold outside and settles down to read his book and drink very expensive scotch all alone
May he R.I.P. the parachute cord and fall into abysis

The little boy runs for his life ducking behind a Salvador Dali tree just in time as the bigger bullys run bi

The little girl is looking out the big bay window on Christmas morn
All her presents lay open at the base of the tree
The present she longs for will never come
now that her brother has gone away

The millionaire extraodinare gave the homeless man some cash
Later that day he gave it to a bag lady and her daughter and smiled
as he walked away

The football team boarded
a plane destined to go to a bowl game and play
The ice accumulated and the plane went down
and no one walked away

He stands in the freezing rain that has started to spit out snow
He is much colder inside
as the memories have all lost their glow
He remains steady
as he is ready
Would be so easy now
to simply let go

Prudence - One who is full
                     of reason . The
                     Spock effect .

Atheist - One lacking in
                beliefs . Hell
                Benders .

Platonic
Relationship - friends
                          lacking
                          benefits .

Pine pitch perfect
oozing out on bark
Flowing down in amber thin lines so stark

Mad made moon
Sitting in the dust
Drinking gin and pink Kool Aid
Hollow as a husk

Dancing dusk til dawn
Orchestrating out of time
The tide is rising fast
Racing down a line

She had deep deportation eyes
Raven's feather hair
Skin as sweet as molasses
And of the same color there

Her name was never Lita
At least no two times the same
She wore the same old pair of sandals
Learning fast how to play the game

She would let you so close
But never there within
Her body was her refuge
A faultless heart so full of sin

She never took what was not belonging
The world owed her a lot
If she broke the piggy bank
It was all that she had got

In the blackness of the white room
Full of pressed rats and warthogs
She said it was their damnation
A Titanic corting through the fog

The winter came early that season
She felt the heat of I.C.E.
Her skates were best blade thin
Not thick enough for her own device

She had deep deportation eyes
The last time I saw her around
I don't see her at all now
Thinking that makes me frown

Depression :
A. The depressing rememberances
or recollections
of the ultimate
black hole
before the
big bang
B. The conflict
of a body
that wants to live
and a mind that
wants to die

Desert clean
Purified by the sun's gleam

Sand . . .
in my eyes , nose and mouth

Temperature rising
as I head South

The unbearable burdens
thrown aside

I stumble on
trying to survive

No compass to bear
the sun will show

The choices I made
the resounding No's

Will be purified
Buried in sands of gold

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

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

"A desert with desires denied
Tread lightly my friend ,
around the edges .
A safer way to Akaba ?
Ha !", said Auda Abu Tayi
King of the Howeitat .

The air breathes foul in fog
As ,
they flocked with fleeting
extensions
of wanna be arms

The UFO'ed
realizations
had borders bleached
by
sun in tide's time

You find eyes
staring
into iota's intensity
you . . .
thought tepid in turmoil

Transient in permanence
bleeding
to the knife's known edge
emotionless
in the apartment's aperture

Drift away in the sadness of
Diane Arbus
whose facts flee from
fiction
"My favorite thing is to go where I've never been "

I walk upon the flames of my regrets
Rip up the roots of consciousness
from the darkened depths

Someday when and where the river
kisses the sea
When all the stars choose to fall
And there is no longer a gift from the sun
Then I will let leaf

(1992)

a blazing fire on a rocking horse

a troll doll crushed in a vise

a skull ,
jello ,
chainsaw ,
and other things

Dim : "You asked ?"
"Can't this car go any faster ? Cause I can still see where I am ?"

(no one told you of the trouble you were in  , beyond the words of dim)

"Can't this car go any faster ?"

(that was before your life went dim)

"You should have told me ! Cause I can still see where it was I've been before my life went dim !"

sometimes
i want to be
nowhere
sometimes
i want to be
the shadow
instead of
the sun
to exist in the space
between wet
and raindrops
i long to be
the noise in the dark
you never see
the dark side of the moon
looking into eternity
the moan in the sea
mountaintop whispers
the wind blowing free
sometimes i just want to
. . . disappear . .

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

The dißtance between two lines is pointless .

We were mixing affections
Kissing Dixie cups of wine
Laughing at the passing time

Our fingertips touching
And wishing for another
Chapter to be read

We were down at the barn
Where the horses stay

We were hanging around
Messing around under the hay

You dropped your Dixie cup
I threw mine away
You smiled and said ,"What the hey."

The moon came a harvesting
The stars were giggling behind the clouds that strayed
And we had our day that night

We were mixing our affections
Kissing Dixie cups of wine
Laughing at the passing time

Our fingertips touching
And wishing for another
Chapter to be read

We were down at the barn
Where the horses stay

We were hanging around
messing around in the hay

You dropped your Dixie cup
I threw mine away
You smiled and said what the hey

The moon came harvesting
The stars were laughing
And we had our day that night

Like a cloud of confusion
you hang in the air
Twisting your hair
with that ******'s stare

Interstellar
your thoughts congregate
The space you consider
is thought to be great

You weave stardust
from your past supernova
Discarding past lovers
like yesterday's toga

Now you retrieve
uncollected past debts
Come into my universe
with assumptions to bet

But step back over the
eventual horizon
I won't fall into a
black hole that has no. . .
    
      compromising

Doing rhyme
     is doing time

You commit the crime
     they hang you out on the line

When all the crystaled dreams
     come crashing to the floor

When it's your turn to walk
     but there's no door

You tried and gave your all
     And the promises have just stalled

. . . I thought I'd call . . .
     and was put on hold . . .

Feeling my age , getting old
     realizing my mortality

Don't bury me in the dirt
A place for grass , spring flowers and trees
Nor slip my body overboard
There's too much trash at sea
Don't burn my remains
I'm against air pollution you see
Just send me down the road
Make fertilizer out of me

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

She is a cold wind
Glistening white glacial skin
Full of separation and crystals
ice , blue black sky , and thin

Thin lips penguin straight
uttering crisp words of fate
Frozen breath and heart
she invades your open gate

Gate swings by force
Her will of course
And you shiver . . . fear ?
As your voice grows coarse .

Coarse by Par
you can't get far
As you wish to be away
But she's trapped your star

Star , comets , galaxies too
You are captured  due
To the black whole Sum
that has captured you

.


Don't turn around to see me

Don't telephone

or leave any text messages


Don't send any poems

dedicating your affection

Reminding me of our interconnection


I leave all the keys to your heart

In the absence of my smiles

When all the words have crumbled


After what the angels take away

They always leave the words

That I stumble over in the dark


Now looking into eyes of no return

I feel the ache , the burn

Seems in love I never learn





and the dying soldier said ,"I smell bread"

I opened the door to love
The front door of my heart

You came in and measured rooms
Remodeled in all it's parts

And before I could say I knew it
You had rearranged my life to suit

Then you began to moan and complain
That my heart was way to small

So you began to shop around
And found a complex next door to the mall

Forgetting all those vows of I'll do it
My life like a revolving door you went through it

You left leaving the front door open
But you shut off all my lights

Now I hear your searching again
Your talk of true love , I scoff

Maybe it's on a secluded island
One with a two story loft

so be it . . .