You sent me a text message today
It had hearts and smiles
and it read the words 'I love you'
I don't think there is an easy way
to say how bad you missed,
    (it was by miles)
I really hated it.

When your name appeared on the screen
my heart sank
and I feared that it would crack
Because sliding open a phone isn't the same thing
as you sliding in the passenger seat
as we tear up the town in that old tank
Reading your name aloud in this quiet place
just doesn't reverberate the same
as it does when it is whispered to your face
and I may have a strong imagination,
but I just can't picture it the same
when I read 'I love you' to myself
because it doesn't sound like it does
when it's uttered from your lips
      with silent concentration

You sent me a text message today
it had hearts and smiles
   ...and I frowned

What was that in your eyes?
I must be going blind,
For I could not have seen
What I thought I had.
A memory.
Those hands on my thighs.
It must be over now.
That bud that never blossumed
Is now someone else's flower.

You're the only one I've ever known to stare
at the face of the clock on your wrist,
carefully following the

tick.

tick.

tickin.

just so you could brag about
what every two-eyed person missed--
catching the minute hand move, in its slight little twitch
or maybe it was the hour
I fail to remember which.

Saw it with your own two eyes you said to me while
smiling
and i shook my head in disbelief,
amused at that tricky timing.

I looked at you and thought some thoughts
of how your you-ness has always been
a what you get is not what you see,

your patience forever a complexity,

and your determination, the perplexor
needs its own personal illustrator
.
You've always known where you were headed
but you also made sure that you'd take
the longest, most
                                                
                                             loopingly,

                           w
                                 i
                  n
       d
                           i
            ng-est,
                                                    weirdest path
to get and eat life's cake.

I knew I couldn't follow you
but well I gave it a try
and when you finally put your wings on
I was just happy to see you fly

Here Kitty,  Kitty,, called aloud the man~relaxing in his Lounge chair~while sipping a Slightly-Sugared Iced tea.   Here Kitty,  Kitty,,He continued to call~wondering where the curious cat~might have have made off to~THIS TIME..     Perhaps to the New neighbors~where boxes of all shapes and colors~were carefully~Disarrayed in the back yard~Just waiting for the curious...      Not getting any response from Kitty~the Man decided to PEER over ~the Neighborhood Alignment Fence~and Sure enough~There was Kitty!     Kitty was Springing~Up and Down~Like a YO-YO and Jumping from Box to Box.   Curiosity is an Amazing thing~Isn't it?    The Man seemed to be caught in a Trance~As he watched Kitty~continue to jump and  YO-YO !    What could be in those boxes?~that held such fascination?   Was it a Creepy-crawler~a Slimy-Slitherer~a Wise-Wiggler~a Dashing-Dancer~an Awful-Awesome~a Yelping-Yeoman~an Energized-Egrit~an Ugly-Duckling~a Fast Frog~a Gorgeous-Gargantula~a Social Secret~a Horrible-hulk'a Raspy-Rascal~an Insensitive-Iguana~a Jumping-Jackal ?     OR ,    was it simply the color of the Boxes ?     Look at that Curios Kitty~Jumping and Jumping and Jumping !      SUDDENLYthe Man~Totally overcome by ~Lady Curiosity~Bounded over the Alignment Fence~Dashed Promptly to the Boxes~Scattering them all over the Yard~Trying to Discover ~ "THE SOURCE" ..    Only ONE box remained ~after opening~All the Others!  NOW he would find the ANSWER!   He carefully approached the LAST BOX~Gently pulled it closer~looking for a way to Open~-------  Lifting Lid carefully~Slowly~KITTY~came Bounding out~All claws~digging and clinging to His chest~Was that FEAR~~HE SAW in KITTY'S  eyes?_  "AS His ALARM-CLOCK ,, Screamed out to Him"AWAKEN_

Touch me,
it doesn't matter where
and it doesnt matter how
I need to know I'm still alive
so someone touch me now
Shake my hand and say hello
or pat me on the back
kiss me on the cheek
that I may feel this sense I lack
slap my face and pull my hair
make me bleed I just don't care
dig your nails into my skin
so I can feed this need within
I've been numb for such a time
that even pain would be sublime
so touch me, touch me now
I don't care where, I don't care how

I pray thee sun thou should set,
or take thy leave better yet,
wouldst at last my thirst be gone,
But alas thee linger, and linger on.

There be no flower not yet dead,
no water flows in yonder river bed.
'Tis a heat where nought doth grow,
nor doth thee ever mercy show.

Dry of skin and parch of throat,
a man doth need no overcoat.
Thy rays doth burn mine eyes,
they do not hear mine mercy cries.

If there be a place where chill be found,
'Tis there it be that I be bound,
A place where there be no burning sun,
show it to me, so to it I shall run.

(c) 26th January 2010
with apoligies to all you Shakespeare freaks

In a dream
I feast on frozen fields.
With the campfire fiend at the tree line, a place to sleep in the dirt below the frost line
The brazen and the bold dive between the arrows of a coward’s bullet
Cold steel from a hot barrel, seeks warm flesh to make a statement.
Bones rattle in anger as they lay upon the ground.
Relics of Violence,
A mosaic street made of bullet casing and blood soaked bandages,
A rich tapestry,
But a haunting canvas.
Sounds of horror lose there meaning when children’s tears only water next years crop.

I make a steady effort
to keep reducing my life.
I've unraveled it's tapestry
into a skein of loose threads.
I'm down to the last one,
it's getting thinner.

I used to have
a wife, a business,
a family, a community,
but that's all gone now:
the marriage was a lie,
the business was killing me,
the community was a cult.

So I cut it all away.
Now all I have left is
a few old friends,
a fistful of poems,
my old guitar,
this big truck I live and work in,
and a couple of kids whom I love.

Not much of a legacy
for a lifetime.
But I take satisfaction in this:
there are no lies in it.

I'm nobody's jailer,
I'm nobody's prisoner.

I make an honest living,
take comfort where I can,
love my kids with all that's in me.

I keep heading down the road,
one step ahead of the reaper.
So far, so good.