peek a patch of pale blue
in white and grey sky
while dark masses brood

this ceiling of billowing sheets
carry a Pacific burden of rain
a meandering muddy creek

rung out in obscure wet curtains
from where the hidden sun stews
paper covers rock, wind cursory scissors

search lighting sea gull two tones
poised on their soaring sojourn
slender sails, as colossus strides blown

-cec

you sit there jiggling to the music
buried in your old collar coat
chair slouching to a rapid beat
only your neck whip-lashing complaint

a son of an engineered father
lessons learned behind thick glasses
lost and leery in a dark venue
worrying that snow showers threaten

a life in limbo rushing to escape
just enough time to ‘peg down’ a genre
artificial is a thorn in your philosophy
as you took flight in fear of winter

-cec

a smooth stone skipped once, twice
would there be a third kiss more
how that sun beam followed
each ripple's glittering diamond eye
inverting, reverting that perfect flight
to plunge into this day's memories, hallowed
watched by flying fish and twisting mermaids
holding out fin and fingers to touch a miracle
now sunk to rest in depth's lobster dream
following one, two, more, in bottom lines
marching to an unknown destiny of instinct's embrace

-cec

Knock Knock

Who's there? The other side the chicken crossed to.

Who's there? Banana, since I had no more oranges left.

Who's there? 🎼Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana 🎶; of Lake County.

Who's there? Pizza guy, gal, else or a mobile food dispensing unit A2024D

Who's there? “Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third ...”

Who's there? The Humanity, as the Hindenburg crashed in flames.

Who's there? (squeaky bull voice) “Little Red Riding Hood ...!”

Who's there? (muffled voice) “Land Shark”, er, “Telegram ...parcel post!”

Who's there? “What's Up ...!”

Who's there? “Dave, it's Dave man, me DAVE ...!”


-cec

the crescent moon did not set for the world tonight
chandelier near a pin-point planet in the void black sky
a giant turtle labors as it carries four elephants
balancing the world on their backs in time and space

many have been to the edge to look over into the depths
there the waters churn, creating, recreating in white vortices
many forms emerge as we aim our red eye further
blinking occasionally to believe or disbelieve what seems

flippers stroke, swimming endlessly in cosmic oceans
while pachyderm memories log in history’s journal
hieroglyphic charts and maps of fleeing galaxies
hungry gravity holes, with dark arms, chasing after

tilt is not in their vocabulary trunks, all or nothing being
in the wake, comets and asteroids weave destinies
stars nova, birth and boil, leaving a frothy foam
of life gazing out, waiting another plunge into sunshine

-cec

clouds outside airplane's window
immense, white on blue, cumulonimbus
clutching our flight, as I clutch 'Cocoroco'

takeoff forgotten, along with young eyes
only that rubber rainbow rooster traveling beside

a happy wake-up sound, squeezed in bellow
landing is distant too, billows and below
many loose threads of rain-forest ends

-cec

dripping from these heart torn heavens a pale light -
ragged purples line lonely landscape shadows
rejuvenated ionic plateaus crumble into skirts of ruin
there thoughts lie buried waiting inspirational rain

an arrow's flight is itself a fate-straight report
a heron's is floppy as it contemplates marshy ports
wiggling tadpoles torpedo to a shapeless slow-pass
their sky upside down and sinking to the depths

horizons on this canvas stretch curves distant
in side view edges bringing one closer to ledge's precipice
falling over yellow sand-verbena and Amophila wars
where dune swallows nest and eagle's spirit soar

-cec

"Man Bites Dog!" Dog sues man. Man counter sues and slanders dog on social media. Dog files second suit for defamation and seeks to gag man on social media. Man appeals gag order and seeks to dismiss court proceedings. Dog files briefs and motions to continue legal actions. Man files motions to delay trial dates and jury selection. Dog seeks resumption of legal remedies. Man refusing to give depositions and stand witness. Appellate judges dismiss "Man bites dog trials". Headlines ..."Dog Bites Man!"

-cec

Odysseus sailed far and wide
destined  to ride the rising tides
this Vitruvian King, husband, father
navel of this orb’s slice, squared
outstretched (**** ad quadratum)
ventured out upon the stratum
plagued by duty, honor bound
cast upon his earthly rounds
ox and mule could not his delay
ten years, more, from place of his birth, away
how his voyage then encircled
this (**** ad circulum,) like a girdle,
wrapped the legend’s mortal length
though his will gave body strength
a horse’s belly full of Greeks doomed Troy
while oracles, “beef-witted” soldiers did toy
even tempered, ingenious and just
brought witty Outis from god’s drowning gust
thrown for a loop by Neptune and Zeus
betrayed and delayed by mischievous use
hearth and love drew our brave wandering soul
the weary years of travel had taken their toll ever closer to Ithaca, land of his kin
smuggled in sleep, there new struggles begin
finding rough suitors had invaded his place
to right all the wrongs his anger did rage
stringing his bow, friends, and state
shot his true arrow through twelve rings of fate
his story continues, sly Odysseus of Rome
but the Greek Homer bore him honors, fame and back home

-cec

Rain upon this heart your love
a cloudburst of sighs and giggles
lifting up with windy kisses
wrapped in arms of thunderbolts

-cec

Canada's Loonie
Royal coin
Gavidae in hand

-cec

sidewalks blush with cherry blossom snow
robin redbreast ***** its hunting eye
black-cap chickadees flick forage now
seedlings wait for morning's warming sigh

winter hides to higher mountain's keep
gravity's cold rivers run riot
****** crows caw into forest deep
awakened buds drip dew in quiet

clouds roil vortices and thunder
break to sunlight's laser sculpted aura
spring released poltergeist toss und turn
nature remembers when it was young

-cec

Her golden hair in noon day’s light, aflame
burned an image in heart’s depths
even the fields of sun flowers seemed envious
as fence climbing roses reached up to see
beauty, that in beholding eye’s bias, florets

She waits there, in still-life discovery
a blossom undisturbed and fragrant
one can hear the buzz of desire stir
a hive of expectation and frenzied dancing
soon petals will open and pollen promenade


-cec

MISTER BONE SAW —

black bearded with carnivorous teeth
lurking in palatial shadows
unfit for the news that make him
biting the hands that feed, Him

Mister Bone Saw

yesterday's trail leads to you
like a wounded animal's blood
dripping on an already red carpet
where you sit licking a fat photo session

Mister Bone Saw

presidents suckle your Old Scratch ****
while snorting sulfur with thousand dollar bills
up their snouts, twisting their tales of greatness
again, and again, and again like sixes in a row

Mister Bone Saw

time will shear your hairy back alleyways
place a sign and seal upon your lies and deception
even those minions who worship your coin
will find a sword of justice between their *****

Saw Bone Mister!

-cec

deep within this hardpan soil
lives a seed of hope
fallen out of curious Pandora's
empty wooden chest of woe

awaiting millions of moist tears
to permeate its germane heart
beget its roots and shoots
of nature's salve for carnage

when all fury breaks bone
and spirit's frayed tether
life spins its gears of light
spawning will and grace together

-cec

How  fleeting the sandy grains that drop
through narrow remembering of yesterday
ephemeral flowers that graced a table vase
now dehydrated still life, garden scattered

How the vaporous past presumes the future
lensed by present reflection’s myopic trust
further receding into hammered glass icons
erected edifices to a longing life portrait

Unpredictable, unstable, a butterfly vortex
arising from a bottle of smokey possibility
constant in ever capricious choice and predictability
a mutual mutability of then and now’s  protean toss

-cec

the fog of war obscures the clouds
fire rains down from the sky above
headless poet recites haiku

everyone Atlas
burdens seeping from their womb
winter’s frozen mud

-cec

Simply, you are my friend
each cup of coffee and croissant
each lump of sweetness exchanged
distilling down moments of laughter
sadness, and passing silence

When cups are cold your hand is warm
your eyes are always there to see
in whirlpools of questions and conversation
no subject so profound or mundane
that you do not find of interesting hue

There we sit from busy bodies tangle
till sometimes closing night shift
savoring the upside-down time split
of days end and beginning, entangled
in each other's thoughts and chemistry

-cec

This parrot keeps using fowl language.

Forgetting to put on your age is regressive.

Spelling is everything unless your grammar *****!

It's not whether the glass is half empty or full, it's how big the glass.

If bees dance, who plays the music?

-cec

A serious worn face
with wandering heart
filled with shy hope
of a world yet to come
but its tardy arrival
pulls ******* taught strings
'till it seems fight or flight
whether autumn or spring
so solemn by day
and still in its night
seeking glimmers of stars
soft whispers, and love
as a moon casts its radiance
thru ink oceans above
within somber place
abides in life's thrall

-cec

Home sweet mountain greens
alone in thin atmospheres of love
sowing awe on heart's wing
soaring low near peaks above

Breaths to heal internal strife
a salve of pine upon the sores
chirping timbre within woods life
exchange a quiet laughing score

Surprised to see a dragon fly
so high upon this forest side
its plume in air do ease these eyes
soaring low near peaks of sky

To climb these rocks and roots of trees
scale these heights on morning's breeze
It's raw in life as life's crawl screes
and near end's top at rest in beauty

-cec

this next month you will be dead
again, one year so far, far away
though still within this sanguine heart
you stare your love as always

your colored pencils drew an arrow
pierced a hole, one deepest yet
a life of colors formed its white tip
searing memories within its depth

recalled in fields where wild-roses sway
there catch past scent of once bouquet
cacoethes tears reside within the morrows
in dear reveal with eternal cheeks of sorrow

-cec

Moving Nightmare

speeding down the way
the demos from demons run
winter car tires spin

-cec

In a timeless embrace
they did not remember
when it had begun

only a rhythmic sway
spoke for them both
as arms incubate and lips claim

soft neck, cheek and hand's brush
here an ear's whispered endearment
mouths exchanging breath for breath

and a sacred romance plays out
over forgotten ages and rendezvous
passion tenders two more lovers

-cec

in darkness comes light
reflected in waters, sky
colors bleed sunrise

-cec

write ting seems disjointed,
of late
let's do it together
old angst

flow wing out anointed,
late too
this next thought celebrate;
new year!

-cec

"and death shall have no dominion"

Though dominoes
build philosophical ladders
with numbered dots
and endless time
in summer heat
long shots of root liquor
and an eye for
winning over love
death looks over one's left shoulder
and whispers a next tile

-cec

submerged beneath dark silty waves
feeling fingers probe bank's muddy scales
pluck taut cords holding carp's mouth
note by foot long muscled mandolin

-cec

No country for old people
brittle bones lack rest
lungs breath in toxic delusions
breath out a radical rust
white hair is phantasm's wage
as the dead won't SIT STILL
and the living stumble blind

-cec

This translation machine is broken-
trying to say love and it says hate
put in a phrase of friendship tokens
and it levels one at hell's gate

"New-Speak" and Homeland insecurities
una máquina rota, spells of discontent
What breaks borders other language;
Is it bred of complacent, lazy lengua ?

Languishing in privileged syllables
boiling over rice stew vocabularies
slamming with a hip-go spiritual
trying to make sadza in this crucible

This hairpin empire vomits convolutions
history, her-story, suffer culture's debt
education's deficit mouths a babble revolution
while a classicist argument tattles future threats

Talk a tale of totem's gift in parable or song
spill some beans and climb a stalk up a golden path
Give tongue your peace with liberal speech along
while some may grunt we sing a verdant poem

-cec



sadza - in Shona, Ugali in East Africa, is a cooked cornmeal that is the staple food in Zimbabwe and other parts of southern and eastern Africa. This food is cooked widely in other countries of the region. Sadza in appearance is a thickened porridge.

gesundheit!

"reflexive longing" says Charles
looking at looking as an end
time's tailored rust overcoat

back in that day ghosts lived
high and low road spiriting
pinned chronicles of osseous tissue

this hunger, thirst and yearning
for aging interstitial cartography
points our happy compass arrow

remembered like a dear friend
or a stuffed bear or rabbit tale
where familiar comfort comes home

-cec

Love these worn wrinkle's age
earned in life's forest fire sun
or leave it alone as that dead racoon
its highway flat back, glass eye staring
It's a Thursday stubble face resign
from a razor's kiss no longer matters
A foggy focused boiling whistle morning
thinking of a cup-a-joey for rattle's sake
all jitters and back o'-da-bus crush
Tell, this is not all or much chronicle
but a listen to sun baked cones
snap, crackle or popping verse
Nature's song as increasing ring count
untangling a dance of season's purse
paid Piper tweets in highest branches
straws up this inner sap and sighs

≈ cec

full moon's light reveals
dark campaign silhouettes lurk
rats gnaw poppy heads

-cec