Above all that is radiant and bright,
she floats above the New York night.
Neon signs and grey faces
look up, pointing, exclaming,
'Look how amazing
the human race is'.

Phantom girl floating, sifting
past and through all that's drifting:
empty eyes and the cracks on
every sunken, cigarette *******
ivory American cheek-bone,
belonging to a person, who
feels like any person: here
but sweetly alone.

All that is radiant,
all that is bright,
think what is beautiful
is flying past and
out of sight.

Listening to the sea,
that dark looking glass
like the watchboy they ask
about the night, my brother,
the black mirror you see,
I know almost nothing about,
I heard a dirge of burning longboats
like the songs the dead sing
to put me to sleep, my death,
if I could tell you about it,
my Captain, I would but I slept
right through it, not dreaming.

I cannot trust a stranger’s touch.
Holding back giving to much,
Reserving enough of my love
To protect myself
From becoming shattered
Blood stained glass

I believe there is no sanctuary
for me in this subdivision
of dreams, cathedrals
built by unknowns

I am like grass
cracking their concrete,
I was carved by a stone knife
in the mountains
where I learned to speak

I am the rider called death
bleeding in my sleep,
sitting in the saddle
with Dark, the black man
and his crazy blues

I sink down like a diver
into the deep water,
like an unknown poet
going down with his ship.

JOURNEY OF A SMILE

We all smile
at the photographs.

The self same smile
is passed from

photo to photo.

Here it is in sepia.
Here now in b&w.;
Here in Kodachrome.

Different people
long gone now

have worn this
very smile

called it
their own.

This album could
easily be entitled

"Journey of a Smile."

It pays no attention
to gender

or place or place
in history.

Different people
lay claim to it.

Each generation
borrows it

for a certain time

before passing on &
passing it on.

We all smile
at the photographs.

No matter what
I will continue to search for you
You made me smile
You lit my fire
You are my desire

Someday, somehow
We will come back together again
The only place I'd rather be
Is with you
In your arms
To feel your embrace

You pick me up
When I am down
You mend my wounds
When I am hurt
You are the piece
That completes me

There is such an emptiness in my life
Without you
I dream of you and wake up
With you gone
That is my nightmare

I hope to find you again
Because you are my dream

This bravery and courage that you forge on today
for the uncertainty you feel as it all passes away
a future unknown for your wishes un-sewn
as you pray for a magician, or miracle to steady your sway
while you weep for the regrets of your yesterdays
be brave and courageous for that’s what it’s about
because when you get older, and wiser these things that you shout
curses, and daggers you kick in the sand
for the souls that have harmed you
with blood on their hands
See nobody tells you these things when you’re young…
when you’re too old for dancing
or, having some fun
you’ll wish, and you’ll dream
that you danced in the sun.