In chasing down the
answers and striving to be
your best, I say please
remember the earth below your feet
while gazing at the mountain peak.

Little notes of warmth and light
shimmer all around.
Green bugs and blue dew drops
are scattered on the ground.
Blowing breeze and sturdy trees
stand so tall and proud.
Summer songs and childrens' laughter
ringing through the crowd.
Summer memories,
Summer people,
Summer home.

Persevere.
Patience.
Wait out the storms and sadness.
The darkness and famine.
You may not know
what you desire at this moment,
but the years throughout life
go by slowly.
You will eventually find your calling.

To me
I am sure
the answer
is not- to- be

the to-be folks
rush to be seen
among the high and mighty
of society

they have traded
their liberty
for power, glory
and money

success is bought
by insincerity
heightened
by hypocrisy

such a malaise
it is---to-be
the self is annihilated
ends in moral bankruptcy

this little plot
of land in the country
my wife and I till
yields good crops abundantly

work is never finished
the day is always busy
sweating in the burning sun
but return home happy

my life in this unknown corner
doesn't count for history
how does one measure
the contentment of not-to-be?

Maybe the golden rings of disabling
The drip of muffled unorganized thought
Scattering through rooms
Will inevitably disappear
Allowing the graceless act
Shuffling our feet on abandoned low tides
Peaking at each rising moon

Somehow hope gives weight
To the rationality that nostalgia will re root itself in present where the slip of fragmented parrallels will reverse
And I will get my body back

I just want to hold you
I don’t want your hands to tender each
Purple sore even more
I just want the pulsing to stop
And drag your body back down
To the hard wood floor.

NOW THE WORLD HAS COME BETWEEN US

She lay still
(perfectly still)

eyes wide open
like a doll’s.

Her husband
lay beside her

“eyes wide shut”
(the phrase came to her) .

She smiled secretly
to her self

imagining he (Tom
her husband)

was “the” Tom
Cruise.

“Mmmmm! ”
she relished the thought.

“Mmmmmm! ”
she cried aloud.

“Australia! ”
she said as if answering

a question
in a quiz.

The stain growing
from his head

resembled
(for all the world)

“Australia! ”

There was no need
to phone a friend

or go for
50/50.

“Australia! ”
she said decisively
(so sure of her self) .

“Hey...it’s ok! ”
the stranger bending over her

told her.

She believed
in the voice

in what the voice
told her.

It was warm
and husky ‘round the edges

like her Daddy
when she was little.

Her knee
pained her.

“God...” how it
pained her.

“What’s your name...love? ”
the voice cajoled her.

She had to re-focus
to make the voice visible..

...lights...coloured...
...flashing lights...

dancing
like a chat up

in a disco
under a glittering ball.

“Oh you are handsome! ”
she told him.

“I am indeed! ”
the ambulance man agreed.

“Alan Handsome...how
did you guess? ”

She felt herself
blush to her roots.

She turned her head
looking at her husband’s head

the stain that was
Australia

had imperceptibly become
South America

then a badly blurred
early map of the world.

Then she closed her eyes
and the world went away.

I'm retracing my steps
with a skeptical pen
and my tired feet
through our brief story,
to see where I started
to walk off the page.

I try to pinpoint
every smile that was half hearted
and every remark
that was unremarkable
before the pain in my feet
migrates to my head
and this pain in my chest
punctures my pride.

We had a petite love,
never quite blossoming
never quite growing
to it's full potential
and I'm the one stuck
wanting more time
and I keep wasting my own time
so I can't place blame,
but I'll let a little anger
sneak through
because it's warranted,
and because
it feels so ******* good.