when my eyes were bright and pin point sharp
I threaded needles in the dark
I could walk into the eye
never touching either side

Now I am an older man
careful threading of the eye
I don't believe the needle shrank
Just my belief in the needles size

All blurred grey
Here lying as one
with the floor
Surrounded by the fruits of
that other place

The Underbelly that No One Ever Knew

Emerging from a daze
on into a hole
that I've stepped in
and realized
I would remain in
In due time

Thinking back to my earliest memory
Tracing lines with as much
a furrow as I'm capable of
Trying to figure out how I got here
Praying that I will wake up
                This Time

Slice and chop into the dirt
exacerbate into the earth
Pillow-lined: the metal slate
My mental state triggers a string
that plucks at the guts
and resonates up, scraping

The ventral pull of innards
Takes my head down with it
As I listen to syllabic
'Toungue-and-Bleek'
No talk of god lifting the weak
Only if mortals sleeping

'Cept the thing, is that,
mortals are all I've seen
This lucid dream
is my home
This sweet by-and-by
is all I've known

We grow together
We grow apart
We grow alone
We take these pills to take us home

Yet when we're rolling in our beds
all we ever fear is death
Accept the fact we are alone
Close our eyes and dream of home

Thank you ~
for a life not to trade
blessings, in spades
tight spaces
behind laundry doors
packed closets
and open drawers
gator tails, tarnished brass
cracks in kitchen sliding glass
wet towels, withering plants
foundation filled
with carpenter ants
buckets piled with
shoes and tags
village clothes
and saddlebags
peeling paint
and broken walls
****** seats
in bathroom stalls
clogged pantry
frigid rooms
table scribe
and carbon fumes
comfort capsules
empty tanks
broken limbs
from children’s pranks
**** finger
double tongue
long goodbyes
and sidewalk dung
cluster flies
chavie’ clique
accompanying
the hypocrite
cracked back
and hidden smiles
chalk on board
with mr miles
atomic wedgies
closing doors
wrotten eggs
and open sores
jaw jack
nasty folk
dinner calls
for pig in poke
penny pinchers
double dip
yellow mouth
and silver tip
brown nosers
thick red tape
paper cuts
and pimple nape
gallivants
so out of norm
the joy of life…
in basic form

He hit the canvass
cold last night;
that impressive frame
and charismatic soul
father, son
and consummate brother
went down for
the proverbial
10 count;
complete with iron band
and Iroquois
tap out pipes
and that fashionable
Frank Smith vein

there was no grudge
in this match
no condemning contest
or mad cap bout
just mano a mano
with the dark apparition
and it played out
precisely
(despite the bills
and pressing deadlines
and calls from Christ)
it came with tears
and fear
in that decisive
and surrealistic
voice from the ridge

they all arrived;
on plains
and trains
valiants
and fat boys
from across seas
and remote hills
bringing tales
and sorrow
angels,
laborers
and mourners
in mass
with eagle wreathes
and adorning pine

it was cited
as natural
but there ain’t
nothing natural
about The Heater
going down
nothing natural
for the
mauy thai bossman
with black leather gloves
and golden heart
the giver of hope
to those blue
collar dreamers

blue eyes, crashing into the seas of my heart.
you created a storm when you came and left.
now you're gone, and the ocean has left little but ripples to remind me of what once was.
     now you're gone, and i miss you.
          but i remember the tidal waves that once were,
               and i am fine with the peace that now is.

so i guess storms like you only come once in a lifetime.
and i guess that passion will never return quite like it did before.
and i guess that's okay.
     because i don't think i ever want to find a storm better than ours.

I forget worries and cares
The unrest in the world I see
When I look at fields and flowers
When I behold a tree

I forget what nags a day
A sigh, a tear and cry
When I see a galaxy of stars
A golden moon in the sky

I forget jarring cacophony
The discord and the strain
When I hear a stream gurgle
And the patter of summer rain

I forget what ails the heart
With the breath of the breeze
It soothes and calms the spirit
It brings quiet and peace

I forget worries and care
When in Nature's company
Disarmed by her gentle wonders
Her beauty and her melody.