Ivory teeth of history
Bite down on reality

(Mouthing lies
whipping posts
brutal assualts)

They are drowning
in lemonade lines
(queued for eternity)

(Waddle Waddle)
. . . the words
are disected
in prophecy

Variants of
Peking Duck
. . . quackery !

In life
he was full of death .
In death
he was full of life

I ran with the fleet footed
only to be left ever so far far behind

I sat with the quick witted
only to find out we are not of the same kind

I prayed with the most religious so devout that only for God had they any time


I am a tent maker
I fiddle as I so please
I am at ease with my maker
He says bless you
every time that I sneeze


I am never at ease with one or many many more
I guess it was that surprise punch to the gut so I am always looking out there for more

I make friends only slowly
But I'm quick to let go
I live where there is found soot on the surface of snow

I have a family but only by blood . My son lives in Boston
My sister died in Orlando

I exist in my nowhere in the middle of my state
Just waiting on circumstance
so someday I can escape


"I am what I am and that's all that I am"
That's what Popeye would be sure to often say
Of course that is considered now to be so passe


If all of the I's in "if" were unbound I think more people would be willing
to stand for their ground

But when the "f" is surrounded by words I think it has people thinking they have fallen down

So I will end now
I really must go
I will get back to you
As sure as the sun
melts the soot on the snow

Who is the I in me
I have three wishes I need to make
Just open up my eyes
The I can surely see

Where is the I in love
I am asking of myself
There is no resolution
No gifts from the "eye" above

So I dig yet another grave
And bury the last remains
I find it all hilarious
The stupidity makes me rave

OK , you never loved me
I brought it all down I see
You never said ,"I love you ."
It was all my fantasy

So who is the I
That I've become to be
Just the oldest fool sailing
The ship of fools is me

I run , I ran , off away
I am the seashore
made of waters
the sand at bay
I am the sky
the air you breathe
the winds of time
that you perceive
I am the rock
that breaks your feet
when life gets hard
you do so weep
I am the mountain
up you crawl
at the top
there's no place at all
I am the beating
of your heart
I can make it stop
or even start
I am the reason
you choose to perform
I gather dust up
before the storm
Don't ask me
what I do
ask that question
meant for you
I am , I am , I am
undone

I am not Phoenix
I will not rise from my ashes

When I burst into flame
Only my ashes will remain

I am not everlasting love
Just a memories horde

Of days and years of passion
laying in the ruins as ashes

I am not an eternity
Just a wiff of smoke and wind

Place my remains on a tier of wood
Set the fire as understood

I am not Phoenix

"My name is Ligion , for we are many"
    Luke 8:30

Every Sunday we went to church
Never really thinking what was it for
Always wore our best shinny shoes
***** slacks , and who was it for

After church we would always eat out
Get lucky and have trout Almondine
Spanish Mackerel fresh off the grill
It always gave me a thrill

Couldn't wait to jump out of those clothes
Put on shorts and go outdoors
Collect toads right about dark
Put them in the bathtub
Mother looked so stark

Everything was going just fine
Then we moved to the heart of Dixieland
Home to more Bible Thumpers
Than a toad bops his ***
Told my ways must change
Or I hadn't a chance

So I was graced by the light of the Lord
Baptized in the holiest of ghost
Dwelt on a heavenly high
But things changed for the worst
In the by and by

Once saved always saved say they
That's not true oh by the way
I fell into repute , became angry at all
I no longer heard the voice
Of God and his call

I got worse , let evil come on in
I became gaunt , more bone than skin
An evil presence I projected like *****
People stepped back
They didn't want any of it

I was one ot the many
I was surely destined for Hell
But like a new copper penny
Two sides are there to tell

I was struck down
And my ways were clipped
My boat was cast out
Someone had cut all my slips
I floundered on the fast rising seas
God had knocked me down onto my knees

I remember you as a boy
Captured toads and did so much more
Then you changed and walked out of my door
Have you ever even thought about
Coming back for more

You became evil , deep in wicked sin
Over and over you sinned again
You mocked me , my son
And sacred holy of ghosts
I ought to make you into
Blackened burnt toast

But I see one glimmer of hope
If you return to your former post
And repent , no need for forgiveness
It's already spent , come now it's all for the best

I am the air that ruffles the feathers of a wing
The shadows of a thunder storm
I am the invisible feeling
of a summer fling

I am the water that satiates thirst
The cosmic heavens of comets and meteor's burst

I am the longing of a broken heart
The disappointment when your car won't start

I am the determination of a rivers quest
I was there when you were born
I'll be there for your death

I am the essence you take for granted
That which you have neglected
That which you have taken advantage

I am the life you've been gifted
The years , months and days and minutes
Take just a few seconds to say thank you

I am the well ,
a fountain of life
a satiator of thirst
for hollow souls

I am the winds of change
that brings the destruction
that makes way for the
coming new age

I am the promise
on the tongue of salvation
that liberates the persecuted

I am the words
that will last forever
long after the sun grows dark
and the moon and stars disappear

I am the joy of the
steadfast
whose faith are the eyes
that sees into the soul of creation

I am what you may think
But I am not your vision
to be judged or to be destroyed

My promise is rooted in faith , patience and grace . There are no shadows standing in the light of truth

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

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

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

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

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

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

I arrived ,
     the narrow ,
          the unnerved ,
               and unwavering ,

Never was I any of these .

Instead I arrived like
a cold soaking rain .

As everyone was looking
for a change .

The sparrows huddled together
and talked cheap talk
with hushed cheeps
and eyed me
suspiciously

He would appear and disappear
without a sound
Would stare at the stars
all night long
Sleep on the cold desert floor
Eat peyote buds
and sing war songs
He was rich
in all the nothing he had
Identified as a thunderbird
The animal spirits
were sacred in his world
Asked about gold
and he would scorn
Holding up water
the most precious
in all forms
I called him Navaho
        NO !
Call me Dineh !
So I did

I care not about the words
spoken
Nor the one's laid down on page
I long ago got over myself
and the antics of my rage
They seem to be valueless
in the scrapped scope of paradise
I will take the offer given
and let the advice suffice
Poets don't live in mansions
Nor on rheams , nor texts or screens
They occupy the inner works of imaginations and all that it will bring
People don't pay for poets
nor feed their desperate ego
They just steal a line or perhaps a quote just to prove that they must know
At least songs have a memory with words dripping in notes for coats
So much easier to swallow
Not like the paper that chokes
So next time you say heh listen
I'll turn my head and flee
For it must be another attack of killer poetry

I climbed the hill
to see if you were home
But you wern't
So I rolled all the way home

I 've come just to say
I love you
I hear you scoff
I here you say nay
And I can't blame you
So I leave today .

Perhaps in the ocean
High upon wave
You will someday come to realize
I meant all that I say

But before clouds of grey
Before thunderous and lightening's
Display , I still pray
for a revelation
To save my day

My momentous
Aching heart
Rests upon the stage
without a part
Having no say beyond
Hello and goodbye

I take my unrequited love
And bury it in the sunsets
of future days past
and marry my loneliness
upon loves final gasp

I could not find a heaven
Nor an excuse for even Hell
All I was able to find
Were the cutters lying
Saying I don't even when they do

The stars are vicious beasts
As seen from miles away
They would incinerate you
If they could
They would , and do

So when man looks
Into the nightime sky
Asking all kinds of questions why
Searching for the truth is elusive
When  inside him it's denied

So I will cross the proverbial bridge
Over the trickle of a creek
Standing on both
Sides now
I'll think I'll take a leak .

I dance to tìme immortal
Across the hollow graves
Raise up my eyes to Heaven
And offer up my praise

My journey was a cruel one
Filled with angst and much despair
But I never lost sight of salvation
Though I searched year after year after year

Now I'm looking back to see
All of it was in vain
Not worth a handful of sand
Not worth a single grain

You slammed the door I opened
Breaking the nose of my space
Then you trampled upon my spiritual body
You exiled me from the human race

But I will forgive my brother
He knows not what he does
I will be blessed with justice
Sent from high above

March has always been my bane
Tastes like steel and skin
The skies are just as cold
as the knife
twisting in my sin

I caught ahold of morning's sleet
You caught cold and died
Looking into the coffin's ward
You crossed
that great devide

The bottom of the red clay pit
gathered tears and falling rain
I never knew you long enough
to be dealt with so much pain

Bitter bites the chill when the ides of March arrive
Life felt cheap and nasty
under ***** dishwater skies

I kept hearing Eleanor Rigby
ricocheting off the wall
I just want to paint it black for those who had to run before they learned to crawl

No one was saved that day
No ! There was no one there at all
The old black men in yellow coats stood waiting for the call

I stood not far away
beneath the leafless tree
Watching the men with shovels in hand
Bury the last stop for memories

I found myself a muttering
Tinged and biter as the cold
It's good you died so young
before you died so old

It's not the way you looked
It's the way you felt inside
The horizon is always booked
That's okay , I say with a sigh

Our days are long ago history
Our love just seemed to pass by
Tumbling into time's mystery
Leaving nuances between sad and why

I rub the rib I'm missing so
I no longer care to fight
I'm just wishing that you could know
How dark it is without your light

There is more than one star
Harboring in the sky tonight
But I'm looking just for one , so far
With all my earthly might

I don't want to write
but I feel the need to
Don't want to drag up the past
But the issues make me do
Don't want to crack open my heart
Or peel the scabs off
Don't want to feel those feelings
That permeates my being's loss
Sometimes the drive ignores my disdain
Plows right through conscious awareness of pain
It will push you to the standing room only
Leave your lurching on death's edge where nothing is phony
Memories long hidden
are herded like beast
Upon the white pages details all of the least
Life flows like the ink's blood taming the beast
There is peace now once
the urges have ceased

I don't care
where you have been
Nor where you think
that you must go
So the same as to the when as long as I see not you again

As long as I don't know the why
Then I have not the need to cry
So evanescence to my memories horde
You've become the rusty nail
through my life's door .

So if you flip
I won't flop
There are millions of seconds
On my wrist watch

You lay the blame at my bare feet
go on now that you know I won't weep
Go ahead and take your shot
I'm so ready for the proverbial
kick in crotch

There is agony in my ecstacy
Pain beneath the scab
I place my dreams on "holding"
as I face the winter's drab

My Earthly loss is settled
My Heavenly gains abound
I'm tempestuous in my room alone
justifying time above the ground


I gift a deadly raptor
The chains have held me blind
I whisper please Lord don't forsake me
Remember me when it comes my time

Poets become a person
no  longer bound by words of deeds
They crumple up the paper
As they cast away the weeds

The words run cold as crystals
forming outside the frozen glass
I still away the moments
like they be unto my last

The blue sky no longer enthralls me
Neither does the night
What used to be so enticing
no longer seems so right

I say , I don't know
way too often now it seems
When sparrows flutter all about
Are they living out their dreams

I , my, fly ,die , shy , sigh , guy , bye
Gone , flown , cone , drone , blown , away
Hay , hey , neigh !

Cry , my , guy , yigh , goodbye
Wait , hate , grate , crate , weight
Even some debate !

Watch out ! ! ! or you'll trip over your escape
While I poke you with debate
And escalate mole hills
Into mountain ranges

        {{{EQUATE !}}}

I woke up in every way
That magic bus was fading away
I here these words
Echoing in my head
Here the "Who" singing at whitehall stead
      
           I don't wanna . . .
           I don't wanna . . .
           Live to be sixty-four

This time last year I was sixty-two
Know what I had to go and do
Went down to Social Security
Signed up to collect
Before I was sixty-three

           I don't wanna
           I don't wanna
           Hey !
           Live to be sixty-four

I began writing then I learned to drive
Developed skills to stay alive
Drove trucks with big round wheels
For the longest time it gave me thrills

           I don't wanna . . .
           I don't wanna . . .
           Kiss my *** !
           Live to be sixty-four

When I was young I had my *****
Heard recently she's not around anymore
I shed a tear when I think of her
Sometimes I think I'm the one that's cursed

           I don't wanna . . .
           I don't wanna . . .
           Hey !
           Live to be sixty-four

When I was young I lived so fast
Go out Friday and wake up Tuesday
With an unknown lass
Pills and *** and whiskey shots
Had every up and down , I could not stop

            I don't wanna . . .
            I don't wanna . . .
            Live to be sixty-four

I used to run with the antelope
It's all I can do now just to lope
I had a big car that went so fast
Now I can't afford to buy it's gas

             I don't wanna
             I don't wanna
             ******!
             Live to be sixty-four

I always thought I'd die real young
With the words on my lips
To my favorite song
Where are my old friends
None are here
Now I'm alone living in the yesteryear

              I don't wanna . . .
              I don't wanna . . .
              Live to be sixty-four

              tick tick tick

              I don't wanna . . .
              I don't wanna . . .
              Live to be sixty-four

              tick tick tick

              I don't wanna . . .
              I don't wanna . . .
              Hey !
              Live to be sixty-four

You heard me !
I don't write silly love poems anymore .
At best they become bleak .
They are the ships at sea scuttled by storm .
The aircraft that lose power and crash into the ground .
The miners of affection when the roof comes down .
Don't ask or make a sound .
I'm committed to silence so don't you mess around .
THEIR evermores doomed from first kiss and sworn bliss .
From the cradled vows
to the certain anyhows
Don't ask me about love poems anymore .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We live in our corners
in our moments of existance
in our persistence of everyday word

But what would I give
for at this moment
to be dancing all alone with you

To hold you to my chest
as we sway listening
to the charms of the music

Under shooting stars
we make dearest our wishes
Oh ! how silly we are

And for a moment
to bend down to kiss
warm wet lips you have

How can your cheek
be so soft to my touch
I must claim this find as my own

Come dance in my arms
and kiss with your charms
as we simply float away

Hey ! I'm on top of the world
I dug your grave and now I'm
Going to have a burial

I dug it deep hoping it will keep
You from bothering me

One , two , three and heave **
Into eternity you must go

Who's laughing now ?
All your a-musing antics
Who's a-mused now
You alphabetical cow

You're shivering as I throw the dirt down
So you see you can't win
You ***** muse I've more than one way to pen


There! All covered and bound
Those binders will remain closed below the ground
Those Hell hounds will
howl no more

If a poem was less
If it did not make you bleed
Then the love was untested
Left outside of one's need
If you could not squeeze a syllable
Make it scream in pain or delight
If the words were not nimble and
Danced not across a glazen heart
Shattering all in sight
If not a tear falls from joy
From the cheeks of rain
Then all words are useless
There is no loss to your gain

The need for no more
     when we lay down the burdens core
There will be a need no more
     the battles of our war

"Walk with me long . This pass of stone
comes along . . . walk with me ."

These horrors within this skin
     raised humps , broken bones and bumps
Twisted feelings I say have no end
     departing breath thrown back in

"Talk to me , I need to hear ,
don't leave me to the sunset's tear ."

I never wanted to hear
     you don't need me anymore
Will I make the same mistake twice ?
     Shut the doors with latch enticed

"Leave me your love , your kisses
Leave me your memories , if nothing more ."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If I dreamed
I'd deam of you
I'd dream of all the misery
That you put me through

I'm so glad
You're not around
You're such a clown
Cept for the fact you turned smiles upside down

So now you're gone
I couldn't care less
Can't you see it was all for the best

So don't you call
I cut the line
Other than you
Everything is absolutely fine

Can't you see it was never meant to be
We're as different as the birds are
From the fish in the sea

So don't you cry
We'll get by
There's got to be some clouds
Before you can have blue skies

Can't you see it was never meant to be
We're as different as the birds are from
The fish in the sea

So let's just say our goodbyes
I see a tiny twinkle of moisture in your eyes

So let's just say our last goodbye
I'm not ashamed of the twinkle in my eye
No , I'm not ashamed of the tears in my eyes

If I let go
I will tumble into nothing
I will join the force of everlasting
The everlasting force of nothing

My love is everything encompassing
My love now is nothing
Without you

If I were a wise old fool
Or a duck out of luck
Would I count my money
by thimble or by a dumping truck

I'm glad I have no such problems
I broke the rules and bank
I own a four cornered mansion
On every street with steeply sloping banks

I have no problems eating
I mark every foodline on a map
I own stock in Salvation Army
I bought off this persuasive chap

I worry not for tomorrow
Today is good enough for me
I've been told I have no future
So say the fortune tellers that is all they see

Oh well , oh whale , oh wail
It doesn't matter me
Time now for a free lunch
Then in your alley I will surely go to ***

If my words were to glow
If they like a mighty river to the equator flow

As mighty as sequoias grow
Aspiring to stand and hold their ground
Would my words reach as high
Could they turn to and astound

When I look to find
the fire that others tell
I choke on the smoke and heat
that their breath of words exhale

But my words fall as hard and fast
as Autuum's Mourning Doves to the hunter's blast

With some only wounded in their pending plight  
The ending to fledgling desires
Denied of the right to flight

What do I say
when you ask of me
"Where are you from ?"

Do I tell you of the
moment the star was formed

Or of the moment it was blown

Or of my journey
across this tiny speck of eternity

Even long before
the mouth of creation
spoke the truth
"I am" . . . I was

I am from the North
standing on the cold truth

From the South wrapped in the equatorial arms of balance

I am from the East
spinning on the axis
of hope , love and dreams

I am from the West , South by Southwest , from the land of shimmering sand and golden sunsets and the thousand sighs of regret

I am from the words of the song , the last step of the dance , the ending of the book you never wanted to end

Keep the fire burning in your eyes
I am sure to be around

If walls could talk
I wonder what secrets they'd tell
If they were so vocal
I'd be condemned to hell
I'd stand before the judge
begging for mercy on me
For the jury is sure to convict
Guilty on all charges that be
They'd be witness to all my infidelity
They'd be shocking tellers of the cruelty
I would have nothing on which to stand
My reputation would be buried in sand
If the walls of this old house
Ever told on this old louse

If you didn't speak Spanish
I think I would call you up
They all say your crazy
hmm . . . just maybe crazy enough
Her life is a disaster
just waiting like
a grenade to go on off
Maybe we could play spin the bottle
inhale . . . cough cough cough
Or go for long walks downtown
She can bring her Glock
Or ride up to the reservoir
have a pinic and feed the ants
Or go see a movie , hold hands
while we get stuck to the floor
Or maybe yet
Go to the county fair
Oh yeah !
They closed it down last year
Well (my favorite word)
I just might text a word to you
Let's get together on the line
DING ! wow ,
I have a message now from you

I gave you my shoulder
You gave me your heart

Your kisses were warmer
Your hands were colder

Your moves were bolder
There's a fire in my heart

A light in my dark

Something in the morning's guise
Leaves me lonely asking why

When one a world away
Said the same just today

I'm sure the sun will now arise
Up over the horizon by n' by

And stirring up down deep inside
The words that want to rise

So before the moon goes down
Before the birds stir around

I'll take a moment's notice and my pen
To say good night to God and men

No I will never forget you
Even if I were to try
You are the just one
That made my heart to fly

I dreamed that I could hold you
Sleep soundly in your dreams
Tell you that I love you
That my love went beyond all of my means

You call me your uncle
I could be your grandfather now by age
You are lost in the first chapter
I am found in the back
On the very last sentence of the page

You say I will stop loving you
That this day is written in the stones
If the stones speak the truth then
They speak standing on my grave

So  kiss me goodbye forever
Hug me , this is the final time
I have a comet now to catch
I don't wan't to lose my ride

I have seen the bliss
before the morning's dawn .
I have taken kiss from a woman
as she slept like a new born fawn .
I have seen the sun and moon set
together in a western sky .
I have seen all the reasons now
as we let our loving die .

I have seen the fog at times when
there was nothing one could see .
I have seen eternity from the mountains
all the way down to the sea .
I have seen love's kind embrace and
felt it's breath upon my skin .
But I don't even dare to dream
there will be another like you again .

Oh , I have seen paradise through
The yellow of the glass .
Tasted it upon my tongue
And it was so very nice .
I have smelled the rose's fumes
And it permanates the air
For evermore I assumed
But now face cold realities stare

I have seen the petals fall
one by one by one
I have seen the fingers slip away
until there were none .
I have this empty feeling
at the bottom of my pit
God it is so unwilling
I think I'm feeling sick

Our love has evaporated
After summer's rain  
Leaving steaming memories
Heat and searing pain
But I have not seen
Nor think I ever will
See a love again like this
Forever that's so real

Marriage is the leading cause of divorce !

I knew you
back when
I didn't
know you

Now that
I know you
I wish I didn't

Like a cancer
on my
spiritual skin

An ache inside
my holy
bones

The fire
that burned
down heart
and home

I wish
you were
gone

I left the world for a better place
I couldn't stand to take it anymore
Everyone was just suffering
like a revolving door
Then there were no children
The pets had all passed away
I sat alone and wondered
until that final day
I left behind the memories
I'll make new ones up ahead
It will be a glorius time
Now that I am dead

if you ask if I want breakfast
"No" is my reply
When inside my stomach is growling
"It does not bother me"
is the answer I reply

she decided to leave
my head was full of whys
I said ,"I don't need you . I can
on my own get by"
she looked doubtful
"Go on , I got this ,
me myself and I ."

Then came the day that I was silent
I had no more words to say
still I managed to make a statement
as they lowered me into the ground
. . .this is my last and final lie

I like the mornings when the showers will reign
I like the excitement when you give a girl the ring
I like the feeling when a dog licks my fingers
I like the feeling of love inside and how it lingers
I like the moon rising up over a lake
I like real kisses when I know they are not fake
I like to sit very still when I am alone
I like it when she makes it safely back home
I like the smell of freshly baking bread
I like the essence of her scent that goes straight to my head
I **** watching  her when she is asleep
I like it even when she has to weep
I like a lot and these are  just a few of the things
I like it enough to share with my friends
I like it now and so it must end

I like my heart just the way it is
Worn , damaged and ill repaired
Not interested in a new one
This one has paid its dues

This one has been like an old friend
It has always been there beating for me
year after year
without end
We've been together
through thick and thin
so why change horses in mid vien .