He was just thirteen,
still a child,
when he lost his leg.
A tent pole from
a church revival
crushed
the life out of it.
I remember hearing
stories...
gangrene,
doctors having to wait
too long...
something about my grandfather...
they couldn't find him
or
he wouldn't sign
papers.

I'm not sure.
The memories of the stories
are fuzzy.
I just know
my daddy had a wooden leg.

It was his right leg...
I think.

We took it for granted.
It seemed so normal,
his prosthesis.  We never
called it
that...
prosthesis.
It was his
wooden leg.

You might not expect it,
with a wooden leg and all,
but my daddy was
a great dancer.
Light as a whisper.
When he danced,
nobody knew...
about his leg.
And those who did know
forgot.

I can see him gliding
around the dance floor
with my mom in his arms.
They were as one,
swaying and moving
with the music.

Sometimes...

I got to dance with him.
I remember it so well.
I can close my eyes
and
feel the smooth
polished floor
under my feet
and
my daddy's strong
arms around me.

When I danced
with my daddy
I was secure
and
confident.
I felt graceful
and
flowing.
He guided you,
smooth and easy,
so natural.
I can still feel the lilting rhythm.

Now

I'm not a great dancer,
though I'd like to be,
but
when I danced
with my daddy
I could dance.
I was agile
             and fluid
                    and free.

I skimmed the air.

'Cause even with
a wooden leg,

my daddy,

he sure could dance.

Old lovers are
no different
they come together
quivering
and
fragile
in need of
reassurance.

They come in both
happiness
and pain,
their clothes dropped
like the delicate
gray feathers
of fledglings
nudged from the nest
in fear
and
longing

to fly

to be who they were
meant to be
slicing the sky open
to see the sun
and
all the stars
in one vision.

futility
stupidity

incivility
hostility

ignobility
scurrility

­instability
destructibility

servility
vulnerability

thumping chest virility
irresponsibility

insensibility
winning, an impossibility

disability
morbidity

sadly inevitability

~war~

Happy Pi day
have a piece for me

transcendental number
digits that go on infinitely

Celebrate 314
any way you want
make a splash
or party
just don't be nonchalant

Count some numbers
do some math
enjoy and live it up...

perhaps a bubble bath

go outside, climb a tree
any diameter will do
go ahead...I promise

I won't run circles around you

where have all the poems gone
can't find them anywhere
where have all the poems gone
have they vaporized to air

where have all the poems gone
will no one help me look
where have all the poems gone
are they in some long closed book

where have all the poems gone
they're dying now some say
where have all the poems gone
why could they not stay

where have all the poems gone
gone to ashes
every one
where have all the poems gone
will they return when day is done

will words rise from the ashes
blow and swirl in wind
will they dance to joyous music
tingling beneath our skin

will they gather in a circle
will they place themselves just so
will they strike a chord in every heart
making poems
standing toe-to-toe

where have all the poems gone
flown off like traveling swan
where have all the poems gone
perhaps they're waltzing
with the dawn

want to share a poem?
where shall we start?
who wants to begin?
we have to each do our part

can we share lines?
are we sure we can blend
individual thoughts through
to a seamless end?

will we know if
it's finished
whatever we pen?
will we agree
on when it's the end?

or will it continue
to warble and drone?
will it take on
a life of its own?

will it circle round,
form a sideways eight,
a mobius or
lemniscate?

back to beginning
again and again
infinite circuit
two striving for zen

White foam,
salt spray,
forlorn cry of gull,
brown sands,
hot sands
Rhythmic roll
of waves.

Black sky,
white stars,
still and
quiet night.
Cool sand,
moonlit
where ghost *****
dance and dart.

See it,
feel it,
taste it,
feel it.

set your spirit free!

I look at the abyss.
It isn't mine
anymore.

It's yours.

I feel you reaching up
toward me
ready
to pull me down.

No longer
do I reach
back for you,
no longer
do I join you
in the prison,
plummeting,
slashed
on the slippery
sharp stone
soul's protection
torn away.

I stand alone
but
it isn't lonely.

I look
at the abyss.
It isn't mine
anymore.

It's yours.

I don't miss it.

Will I soon
not
miss you?

"Even rocks crack I tell you"

their fragile insides exposed
no longer strong
no longer firm

like barren clouds they split
spilling their dusty tears
unnoticed
freeing them
yet not

forming smaller prisons
that hold their tears
and wait
for infinity
to be the dust
of stars again

Let this shiny ruby
of an apple
be as sweet as sugar cane

as soothing to the soul
as warm relaxing rain

as divinely decadent

as imported chocolat

(then again
even a Nestle's bar
would hit the spot)

And this yogurt
this plain and simple
"treat"
may it be
as creamy on my tongue

as indulgent

as cheesecake from New York

or just the bakery down the street

let all my healthful choices
my stomach
fully sate

and for heaven's sake

this time

let me

lose

some

weight!

anybody out there

anybody "listening"

anybody have some

sorts

I could borrow

it seems

I'm outta them.

we wander through the day
with no words upon our lips
to show who we are
or where we've been

we write no history
leave the pages blank
places, pieces, days
they end as they begin

we have loved
and we have lied
but we don't remember why

we have laughed
and we have cried
but we don't remember how

we have lived
and we have died
yet we know they are the same

memories
like ancient oaks
have rotted
in the shadows
of our minds

we grasp dreams
that go
nowhere
yearn for childhood
in the petals
that surround
our souls

aching for days
gone by
for poplars full
of greenness
we search for icons
of our past
long gone
and best forgotten

trembling in our soft
and silky destiny
surrounded by pillows
that ruffle 'round
our heads
we long to turn back
the massive wheel

pulling, twisting
we tire
and fall
beneath
its weight

move on

to some other
time and place

one lone mallard
above in evening flight

was he late arriving
did he get left behind
the nightly gathered journey
through the softening sky

one lone mallard
alone floating high

is he seeking out a partner
a mate with whom to fly
is he lonely as it appears
or does he just prefer
a solo flight

Fragile,
fleeting thoughts
arise
and
float away
like velvet wings
of butterflies'
abbreviated
stay.

Mysterious, elusive,
more beautiful
when free,
they haunt my mind
and
soul
with their urgent
need to be.

Beloved new child
love incarnate
your spirit brings great bliss
with smile so endearing
eyes full of life
cheeks as soft as a kiss

May you always know
how much you are loved
and how much is within
your reach

Sweet be your dreams
few be your storms
with rainbows following each

May music and song
abide in your heart
a dance ever at your toes

May you know harmony
contentment and love
and may you stay
eternally young

There is so much
silence
between the
words

pain weaves
the two
together

the rain of teardrops
making the silence grow

mingled like weeds
choking
out the roses who
even with their thorny barbs
cannot curb
the covert ways

silence gouges
into the words

so much silence
choking
out the words

until all that's left is the
silence

Child of the universe
beautiful innocent
your circle was completed
far too soon

your life taken
no reason
no excuse

but your soul,
your purity shines
in the East
with the sunrise

wafted on morning's delicate breezes

to the South
warmed by the glowing noonday sun
fired by its passion

caressed by soothing waters
of the West,
calmly drifting

your soul is carried

to the North
and given peaceful rest

as whispers of your being
circle
eternally.

When my circle is
complete,
whisper my name to the
East.
Let it be carried on
a gentle breeze...

To the South
offer my heart.
Let its passion
continue to burn
in the noonday sun...
and its lifeblood flow on

to join the tranquil
waters of the West
that my spirit may find peace...

Carry my bones to the
North
where they will rattle
in a joyous dance of
rebirth...

When my circle is
complete
whisper my name
to the East.

Once knew a guy who liked moonshine
not the shine of the orb in the sky
No, not that one
though he could be quite a loon

over the lake you could hear
the loons' high-pitched quiver

but he had no quiver to carry
his bow or his arrows

so he climbed into his boat
turning the bow from the shore

heading for the other side
hoping to shore up his soul

he skimmed the water's surface
with soles of bare feet

praying not to find
in the distant woods
a bear, rather a still
with fresh moonshine

while the moon still
shone down on
the lake

-
                              ?????
                           ­     ??         ???
                               ???        ????
                             ???       ????
                                                   ???            
                                   ???
                                ???
                         ­     ???
                              ???

                     ­        ???
                            ???

Drinking yesterday's coffee, I watch
the East sky's blush
the black of night dwindling slowly
as if soaked up by the dark outlines
of the trees

like their limbs
entwined and crisscrossed
my mind is cluttered
with the night's dreams
dreams that won't be sorted
won't be grasped
won't even be remembered

fresh coffee doesn't help
it only makes my brain more wakeful
more gnawing

outside the blush is fading
blue emerges

releasing their darkness
the trees
disentangle themselves

like the unknown dreams
I have no idea what the point
of it all is

and the day goes on
without me

All my poems
are wanting
to rhyme

what happened
to the freedom

where's the open door
to ideas that held together
with just the words they were

not depending on a rhyme
words that sounded
so much alike
to be their ties to bind

I'm struggling here to find it
whatever I have lost

then again
I suppose I could be dreaming
fantasizing
about what never was

Nonsense and rhyme
down the dark streets of time

a pagan moon overhead

shedding patterns of gloom
in an empty room

dusky shadows on
the unmade bed

a train whistle blows
rattling steel slows

hissing sounds mark
the end of the ride
last stop is called out
as doors open wide

out drain the crowds
the moon lost in the clouds

dingy globes by the rails
point out the trails

for
shuffling into the station

cattle brought in for the night
moving in resignation

nobody speaks
no one looks up
as they head for the turning stile

no rush to get home

he'll stop for a while

bight garish lights
shriek into the night
he turns in response
to their call

dark booth at far end
he slumps there alone
hugging his golden potion

biting and warm
whiskey goes down
empties the glass in one motion

nods to the bartend
his one constant friend

friend or foe
he can't know
but tomorrow he'll do it again

in that nonsense and rhyme
along the dark streets of time

"I am older than I once was
and younger than I'll be"*
-from The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel

Destiny was set
directive given me
voyage plotted out
on life's tempestuous sea

I couldn't get around it
even if I wanted to
the path is formed
bearings set
it's what I have to do

conceived and born
an "old soul"
for years I didn't know
my goal

was to seek the laughter
light and play
to grow younger
day by day

since I learned to take things lightly
to be a bit more carefree

I've become younger than I once was
but older than I'll be

Awakened
I feel her presence.
a brilliant star
in a black eternal sky

she hovers

that shiny shadow
like a tiffany moth

it seems she's trying
to decide a place to land

as she whirls
and waltzes...
elusive
diaphanous

sometimes
in the night
we feel her
hear her gentle hum

she is the dream
who wakes us
with a start
and then
is still

she is the fog
that is our breaths
pouring in
as we inhale
then drifting out.

she is a tease
a temptress

like an exotic eastern dancer
behind a filmy veil
she's just a breath away

a part of life
the other side

in those darkest
stillest hours
that hushed time
between
the worlds of dark
and light

she's just above
just around
swirling
flitting
changing partners

"May I have this dance?"

she takes a hand
and leads the soul
onto the dance floor
where it pirouettes

freely

separate from its fleshly burden
soft and circling

she smiles  
all is well

once more she has a partner

I sleep again
my soul intact
having not yet
learned the dance

So, you’re up before four
For no reason it seems
Must mean that you found
A poem in your dreams

*Okay, brain, give it up
I’m not in a mood to play
Just let it flow out
Say what you have to say

You think you’re groggy?!
Got nothing, you plead?!
You think you’re tired?!
You’re the one who woke me *

So, you sit here and think
With this pain in your head
It’s quiet inside and out…
Oh bother!
You might as well go back to bed