Sing my restless heart
in a poem of wild roses
that bloom in the morning sky.
One verse for love
One verse for grief
One verse for lament

Paint the ageless beauty
of my face on your canvas of
ice and snow.
One color for my hair
One color for my lips
One color for my eyes

Play my melancholy soul
into a symphony on a vintage piano.
One note for yearning
One note for hope
One note for freedom

*... Life imitates Art ...

Battered and bruised
this heart takes a pounding.
As the mind goes into the spin cycle.
Taking no notice of time
that elapses regardless.

Worn and exhausted,
these lungs yearns and fights for...
Air.
Sweet air.
As if tomorrow would offer no more.

Unnatural and numbing...
Sleep.
These meds promise only the illusion
that all is good and well.
Encapsulated in high sheen gloss.
Shaped such to go down easy.
A means for a convenient albeit
temporary escape.

It's not a debate to negate;
It's not one or the other.

Fallacy of false dichotomy—
Makes you think less of me?

He's dead.

How do we do this?
Thread the racism needle?

Carefully. Humanely. Sincerely.
Coltrane said "Supremely."

A love supreme.
A love supreme.

There I gaze at the ancient infinite sky:
And covet a bird's wings as to far away fly,
To where I'd splash in a cool fresh stream,
Of thy ineffable love now but a dream;

There I gaze at the ancient infinite sky:
And covet a bird's wings as to far away fly,
To where I'd splash in pools of joy & laughter,
Of thy warm sweet embrace forever after.

There I gaze at the ancient infinite sky,
And covet a bird's wings as to far away fly,
To where I'd splash in dulcet tunes of harmony,
Of early songbirds crooning us a symphony;

There I gaze at the ancient infinite sky:
And covet a bird's wings as to far away fly,
To where I'd splash in hues of Heaven's rainbow,
A realm to where our love would forever glow.

Desert clean
Purified by the sun's gleam

Sand . . .
in my eyes , nose and mouth

Temperature rising
as I head South

The unbearable burdens
thrown aside

I stumble on
trying to survive

No compass to bear
the sun will show

The choices I made
the resounding No's

Will be purified
Buried in sands of gold