I go about my day
good mother that I am
No one understands
How when I stop moving
                           cooking
                           helping
                          cleaning
                      ­   teaching
                         hugging
           mending little hearts    
No one can understand
How my own heart is   longing
                                  craving
               ­                  missing
                                cracking
                ­                splitting
not quitting
                    yet breaking
No one knows of my secret pain
buried deep inside
within fissures of steaming earth
My passion fighting
to be released
from my burning skin
My heart beats out twigs and soil
as it clamours to be loved
My hands reach out
to the stars
into the void of endless want
Help me, heavens above
My empty lips implore
Let my prayers be
answered, too

I want more

i swirl in van gogh.
i am charcoal stains
on blue,
a smile of barbed wire
for the painter,
i am mona lisa, true.

monet, he paints me
calm waters,
water lilies floating
in solitude,
he doesn't see
the fire sprouting
in my veins.

picasso cannot stain
my heart with colour,
magritte cannot
create a masterpiece
out of my eyes.

to be immortalized
i beg in pink
lick the brush
and paint myself
alive.

end my days
in escher,
sketch myself
out of the stairway,
into the globe.

throw myself
at deaths eye,
kiss the canvas
rotten, ******,
*pretty.

There are times in our lives when challenges may come
in the form of phenomenon
a remarkable word
for in definition it is; 'something that can be observed or perceived; a rare occurrence'
I believe most of us experience at least one phenomenon in our lifetime
It can be a life altering event or it can be immediately forgotten
as phenomenon raises questions, and questions raise inquiry and inquiry takes time
and most are simply too busy to delegate time to such frivolous things
I have lived a very mundane and ordinary life
yet I have witnessed more than my share of phenomenon
as a child I watched what I first believed to be a blimp
glide across the night sky without a sound
a strange light pulsating from within
it reached its closest point to me
then disappeared from my sight within seconds
in the blink of an eye
more recently I experienced a visitor in my home
for several weeks I could not see or speak to this visitor
but I knew the day he arrived and the night he left,
the most frightening night of my life
I've seen phenomenon in the form of coincidence that defy logic
not once but many times
and I watched a person who had passed to the other side
return to life

When it appears before you...embrace it
absorb and remember it
for it is real

came a day,  and it was autumn again.
green ran to where summer was,
yellow and crimson  turned grey and brown
cold colors covered the world.

thus, midday on thursday,
the sun burst through,  intermittently,
the red and orange
lingering  made autumn look beautiful.

when down fluttered
the prettiest gold leaf
     right beside
             me.
hello said the leaf!  

a leaf is mute. But I heard a voice, in the cool breeze
speak so clearly.

I in awe , noticed the tree from where the leaf
fell, standing tall and naked say,
you are just out of tune.

Keeping time, then with
the old tree I rhymed.

rhythmed,
played with the one leaf,
and a tree who both so clearly spoke to me.

I woke up then to
see, I had fallen fast asleep and it was winter.

I was a child
I was a raving maniac
A raging lunatic
A prophet
Who saw god in all the symbols
And the symbols in everything
I made connections to the plants and the soil
The moon and the stars
To the times I read your mind
Knew the deeper meaning
Or just what was implied

I was a child
A selfless lover
A bitter fool
A dreamer
Who looked forward to every new day
I didn't know
I couldn't grow wings and learn to fly
I knew I could
My heart was pure
My love was innocent

My world was a vibrant dream
Full of wonder and opportunity
And color
And love
I didn't want to believe in pain
I couldn't
I was a child

Echoes of life-ruined tempos,
Lightning flashes, retrospect
Ghostly trees keen, peeking
Beyond thick fog enclosing.

Nimbus clouds hanging,
Icy blood dripping,
Ashes blown turned
C-C-ryptic voice singing:

"   Don't worry,  worry,           -worry.
                Someone's coming for ya . . .   "

Spine-slithered doubts.
Is it redemption
Or DEATH
En-route?

Brittle steps.
Metal-casted ground, rakes
Cringing sound.
"    Scythe? . . .   "

Stumbled in fear,
Wallowed in self pity,
What an evil daydream?!

With a smile as bright as the sun that warms my heart
You chase away the darkness that clouds my life.
With skin that rivals the marvels of the universe time itself stands still and take notice.
With the moon for your crown and the earth for your throne you give a whole new meaning to the title Ms. Universe.

Written by Keith Edward Baucum

out of bouts of manic depression
into whirlwind ego trips

And who the hell cares?
I will not close my eyes
Or shut my ears to the world.
Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock-
     I am a born again sinner
Clamoring with a restless species:
Yeah that means you all,
Flourishing in misery
Over the shrinking planet-
     Babies making babies
And I see them all becoming depressing
      Fires, like little stars flashing
For a tiny moment the exploding
     Searching for the abyss called desire,
I cannot say my name,
      Who the hell cares
When the world is a buried sphinx
Under a questioning of programs,
    Asking:
" What's this life for!" in blue tears.
        The blood flows under
Closed wounds,
   Yesterday and today when the revolution
Was never fought and the thought
Comes crashing down against
     The youth in the dawns troubling light,
    Children, it never stops!
The dream dies at the impenetrable sky,
   Children with half smiles
And a sigh of anguished breaths,
     Collection of living dust and bones,
Into the bitter night the dove
Itself cannot rest,
    I cannot say my name,
At the right hand of oppression
    Flourishes an anger building
Like a mutilated rose roaming
    For a sense of destiny.

I fall, you fall,
      We are convicted,
Living in a shadow of nothingness,
    The forgotten scent of the dream,
These strange sounds that flutter,
     My God give me a destiny,
But I cannot say my name,
    I remain a face in an ocean
Of solitary faces,
      We look out on the road,
There is death passing through,
     A tiny rumble in the heart
Then cries:
      FREEDOM!

they have arrived
the little girl in her pretty Sunday dress
and hat with red ribbon
laughs in delight as her new puppy jumps
pretending to nip at her hand
and the parents smile from the park bench
as a breeze whipped in Summer smells
and a far off awakening storm brings a coolness to their skin
the tops of the trees look like waves of blending greens
from above
and the sensing of change awakens the resting birds
they join others in flight to the south
and from a higher view the shadow is seen
like a moving wall
making it's way down the coast
the Sun disappears
mile after mile
inquisitive heads turn to the darkening skies
and one by one discover this is no storm
not shadows cast by clouds
but of something else
they have arrived
and they have sealed off the Sun
twenty eight thousand years would pass
before their return
to claim this prize for themselves
the lifting of the seal
they inspect their new home with anticipation
and fascination
a little one runs past a park bench
two frozen sculptures are huddled together
and two more appear to be playing
in timeless wonder
the little one turns to it's elders
hoping to gain approval
to pick up the pretty hat with red ribbon