Two shadowy figures
    start toward each other
         each staring from the other end
               of a long hall.

Both held ornate candlesticks
            made of brass, held head high,
                      candles flickering.

Slowly they approached
      one another, neither uttering
              no grunt nor word.

The candlelight walls bear
graffiti smeared in dark red blood
that bathe in the light as the sticks grew near.

Each door they passed
      had stylized golden number plates,
           behind them echoed whispers.

Slowly the cloaked figures met,
     standing face to face, the candles snuffed,
                 only to find they were the only light.

I wish I could say
I love you with all my heart

But the truth is that
I am just getting to know you

You give me grace to grow
But still I blow it off

I feel like a babe
Learning how to crawl

My heart seems full of fear
Most times I choose to ignore it

If you are giving me the truth
Please open my ears to hear it

This flash in a pan that is a lifetime
Surely there is more than a few decades

I am afraid to pray for strength
Believing you will test me along the way

You are my only hope
Without you I'm dead in the water

Why hide in plain sight
It makes it hard to see the simple

Like the all knowing eye
On the dollar bill daily visible

So in the open that it is ignored
Just like the fear I crawl away from

When I first learned
that Trump was

running for President
I thought it was a joke.

Then I saw the irony
and knew for sure.

Nothing was ever going to change
no matter who was Head of State.

Nothing changes and nothing will ever change,
unless we throw away the rulebook...

and **** the rich.

hundreds
of
crow
in
a
blizzard
sky

winds
whip
under
feathered
wings

tinker tape
snow flakes

passionate stars
mingle with
the human
vantage
point

Take a Carney ride
at high noon,
or at midnight sky
under the moon.

The moonlight says
that night is a good deal
And the night said: the moon knows
that we are here to pack a wallop.

But the stars ignore the moon's stolen light,
knowing that they will all turn too soon turn to dust.

The stars spend
wonderfully wistful hours
wondering if the only reason that time exists
is so everything doesn't happen at once.

Then, all at once, they are able to leave well enough alone.

Stop and think
whether you're one
alone or in the drink
too much of
a lot of nothing
to the fingers
doing the clutching
I'm full of it
it's wasted on me
"I'd never join a
club that would
accept me
as a member"
And so it goes
as I sit on the curbside
wearing a **** eating grin

Now I'm a *******
From Scott's Bay
Where inbreeding  took its toll
My mother and her mother before her
They were an exception not the rule
Or was it the other way around.
The only thing that saved me was my father
God rest this soul.
He was imported from Boston while a babe in arms
Later to met with the love of his life my mother
God rest her soul.
I guess you could compare us
With the hill billies from the hills of Virginia
Complete with some banjo playing
Only here in the Bay someone's
Always playing the bagpipes
You know the difference between the bagpipes and an onion
Nobody cries when you chop up the bagpipes
And as for crackers like Hank Williams the third
We crackers prefer to be called Saltines.

If I ever get my feet back on the ground,
I'm going to buy me a bottle and head on in to town.
I'm going to find me a girl that treats me kind,
one that pays some attention to what's on my mind.

Dollars to donuts, we'll feel real good,
anything and everything will go down just as it should.
No more thistles and thorns, no more raging thunderstorms.
No more boot heels on the ground, no more horrendous hissing sound.

We'll bring to the table just what we've got,
we'll spend when we are able and stay home when we're not.
We'll kick up our heels to those Celtic reels,
forgetting how it feels to be scrounging our meals.

Those will be the days that we'll choose to recall,
I know this is a phase and better times will put an end to it all.
Dollars to donuts, these hard times will pass,
dollars to donuts, these hard times won't last.

It would be so sweet if it wasn't so bitter
It would really move if it didn't stand so still
It's going to take a lot of water, maybe a river
It'll take a lot of love until I've had my fill

Sometimes love's fire lifts us up
It burns so bright as we fill our cup
We touch so soft and slow beside the ancient well
It feels so good to be in love's spell
So we try to hold tight but love takes wings
And sometimes in our pain we do hurtful things

Love's strong suit held close to the chest
Says you got it made your hand is the best
So you can go big or you can stay home
You can hold your horses, you can hold the phone
In the end and you know it's true
You're going to slide right in there's nothing you can do

When you can't find love because
It's hidden hard in heart-red shades and blue-grey shadow
It feels like you don't remember how to live
You stumble around and forget your place
You wring your hands and you knit a face
You try and pretend it doesn't matter that's what you'll do
Who are you trying to kid who's fooling who

Fooling clouds cross my view
passing hurts and pleasures,
blue on white on white on blue.
'till black has broken through.

I dreamt that it
finally died last night,
that it was truly over.

Waves of guilt and fear
to carry me away.
Until I could no longer see
that place I started from
and I no longer knew
the place I was headed to.

Now, I gather stones
for the tomb,
while with wilful eyes
study my peers.
Lips pursed tight...
they have closed their hearts,
closed up tight to my falling tears.

Yes, it is I,
it is me I cry,
feeling condemned
by the unspoken lie.
A lie to weigh heavy
on my bent back body.

Heavy as the Christ's cross,
responsible for all souls lost.

Then I stumble and I fall,
as I carry my burden upward
to Golgotha of the Skull.

If to think is to act
then burning after the crash,
the fire's orange glow
brings forth the desire to let go.

Letting go,
why does it have to be so
hard     to come by.
Leaving me to feel
so    hard    done   by.

A selfish act,
done not from class,
no more from strength
than from some weakness.

An action out of chaos
in the absence of bliss.

The Shadowland,
where grief clings
to my name
and to their person.
Asking of today
to stride with a limp,
and of yesterday
to crawl and beg.

Forgiveness
would be the task at hand.

A ticket for
some far and
distant shore,
safe passage away
from Shadowland.

Bent, but unbroken,
while the pain of its death runs deep.

Not until
hatred is spent
and words of kindness
are spoken,
will forgiveness  be complete.

Only one way to forgive,
that would be completely.
Only one way to live,
that would be completely.

Anything else
misses the mark,
comes from the head
and not from the heart.

And so, it remains
that for me to be free,
I cross the threshold of forgiveness
standing ready to turn the key.

Under a
Canopy of trees
Seeing the sunlight
Through the leaves.

Born to create
Within myself
The Universal debate.

Standing
On the corner
Lips licking my chops
Hoping for a drink of water
Waiting for a cool breeze.

Out on
The ocean
Not sure of the date
Going by
The compass
I'm sure you can relate
Looking toward the stars
To help me navigate.

Up high
Above the clouds
In a widow seat
I look across it all
What it is
That is healthy
What is is that's diseased.

And I need to state
The awe of it all
Fills me with grace
And brings me to my knees.

between what is
and what is to become

sitting on
a large grey stone

eyes skimming
across the inlet

never have I seen
an ugly sky

the horizon the horizon
how many times

have I penned
that word horizon

looking for the ears to hear
to come from beyond the horizon

I learned not to
run with scissors
along time ago
in this spiritual playground
that blooms and blossoms
within and without me.
Don't run with scissors
and treat what I find
with as much reverence
as I can muster.

Oh how it sometimes becomes
so obvious that when I lose track
if I follow it back and I follow it back
it leads right back to me.

It's my perception with which I see
and sometimes born of imagination
I stumble upon some thing so magical
while I'm playing on the monkey bars with the others
who are twisting and twirling and hurling through
this expanse that they just tell us just is.

I'm feeling to advance and hold the whole of this universe
in my mind or in the collective mind that so far points to that of Humankind.
Just don't run with scissors and don't **** in to the wind
with these two golden rules (pun intended)
my heart gets what it needs knowing
it doesn't have to take it with greed.

I can never lose what I never had
and nothing can be taken from me
unless I agree...
But in the broader question
there are just too many to mention.

Those who have stood by me
when the row has been hard to ***
I can say 'we walk alone' and in the same breath
I can say 'there is only One of us who walks'.

Going with the flow
Is against the Crow's style

Wondering about looking for edibles
To shove in his snout

He caws to his community
When there is a lot to be had

Calling out quickly
When things turn bad

A bird of the air
He pays no fare

Alive and well
Sharing a comradeship

With the Pigeons
Whilst  dodging traffic

But more to his liking
His friend of the feather the Starling

These birds are not like those others
There is no going south for them

Winter through next Fall when the Crow isn't flying
He ***** his head and struts about standing tall

as
the dark
once more
divides the light

wishes being fulfilled
bellies still filled

the crackle of
the monitor's fire

a layer of snow
softens any kind of blow

this new year
has to deliver

I've heard some of the best,

hung around

with Priests or pastors

shared our records
spoke poetically

wondered about it all..

doesn't change the fact

we were all entertainers.

Not first in my family
by no means the last

My son also
wears that badge

What can you do
when you live in a shoe

You can take stock
pull up the socks

and move to a boot.

left with
a Christ to find
we ignore
or not

Curses to those who judge
it's an experience you have to have
but need not endure

In this wordy worldly wordless whine
you'll find I'm not that kind
who flies by night
not looking for the sight or the foresight

Entangled in twine
not following
the road signs

Kissing your clothes behind
time to unwind
standing for
the  okay
from those so inclined

the point is
life isn't always grand

sometimes you sink
so slow and low
  
it's agonizing and
you lose control

the point is
to be a seasoned veteran

fly oh  so high
when life's driving wild

mark it up to experience
wanting to experience

as much as I can
watching from the

sidelines cuts it
sometimes

but after a rest
I jump back in

in it to win knowing
sometimes you lose

it's been said before
keep your eyes on the prize

Seven times seven,
Mojo good to go.

All of the candles
Lit in a row.

White flakes
of Angel dust,
what do they say...
Let it snow let it snow.



Seasons come
and seasons go.

This one
is a tip of the hat,
A come in from the cold.

Another year gone,
the next is new.

What may be
let it be,

Glittering in Gold

Take the Vibe,
A day when fear
is on hold,

to leave
full and total
Peace of the Soul.

I talked to one
of those Christians
who had been hooked

and now was fishing for men.

He said a prayer for me
while I was blowing my horn
outside of the Liquor Store.

Which I found ironic, yet understandable.

He said the usual fanatical spew
of grace and of how God forgives me.

And I prayed that the Almighty might play through my horn.
Then I thanked him very much and said listen, God may be speaking.

I drove to see you
but you were gone.

It's cold as ****
even with all those lights...

I wish I was at home where
the cat becomes 'that fuckn cat'.

And the tree
embraces  
the
Angel atop,
as the critter scurries up the limb.

Ornaments are broken and so are hearts.

It's whiskey and candy canes
and a long walk home.

You pick a time
you pick a place.

Who lies to you
the whole human race.

That everybody lies
doesn't make it right.

Trust is the first to go
then ex- friends take flight.

Everybody's got a story,
yours is I did you wrong. 


I have to say... hey buddy
let guy bonds be guy bonds.

Just grin and bear it.. or
grin and bare it.

That's what you've got to do,
As far as this one goes... we're through.

This man is
Not going to be
A smudge in life
He's out to leave his mark

They poke at him
Trying to get some dirt
But he's a private person
He has private parts

The time is right
The need feels great
He is gnashing at the bit
On the way to fill his plate

He wants some  
Fun and some
Loving company
So don't give him
The once over
With your third degree

You pretend to be this
And pretend to be that
If he doesn't measure up
You're going to leave him flat

I can feel your eyes on him
Like a bright searchlight
You think he will be going down
But you know it won't be with out a fight

Some things they come pretty easy  
Other things they seem so hard
Some times you find your treasure  
Buried in your own back yard

He is no longer walking
With his head in the stars
His feet are on the ground  
Putting an ear to the track
To hear that heavy chunk of metal
with its mournful sound

The book he carries talks of
A great war of the Spirit
Its stress is that it is no game
No politics physical or not can steer it

Then a breeze broke the solid heat
And quelled the sweat and quenched the thirst
You can toast the twisted souls
Or you can have them cursed

You boarded that train
Bound for nowhere
That day at the station
You were looking kind of frail
I warned you that this would happen
When you burned all your bridges
Now you hang your head with shame
The price of the ticket was all you had
Your duffel bag full of canned goods
And a jar of peanut butter
It's hard to call your life a journey
When it feels like you've hit a dead end

This house
Over 100 years old

One and a half stories
On the corner it stands bold

The wind blows the trees
The whole place  creaks

People were born here
Others had died

With in the walls
No secrets to hide

Like the sour
taste in your mouth,
or the canker sore
on the tip of your tongue.

The sweet taste
of mother's milk
stopped up
for formula.

Poor child,
a curse that
leaves him
clutching
for a latex ******.

I bent
and broke
the rules
allowing
my siblings to
get away with
******.

She came to call
And stays most of the fall
She takes the ground floor
You the  one above

The  floorboards creaked under your weight
Driving her wild she'd yell at the ceiling
You thought maybe it was from a hospital she escaped
Any scenario was none to appealing

You hoped for more than this
Trying so **** hard to appease
When you met in the kitchen
You'd ask who this strange person is

Something about her had you sweating bullets
You reached for a tea towel while the kettle boiled
She whimpered and you didn't know what to do
She shrieked and you poured the tea

Around the first snow you saw a way out
Above her you'd shuffle sounding  soft shoe on the wooden floor
Using the wash room you'd pull the seat up and snicker inside
Leaving hair in the sink water everywhere and a mirror that's streaked

Before too long our cards were played
The rooster greeted the morning and her bags were packed
You waited at the station to make sure she got on the train
You waved a gloved hand the sound of the whistle made you free

There was a time
When you could move mountains
With your smile, and the earth
Was such a beautiful bridge.

Now Ursa dips deeply into
The dark well of sky while
Little sister plays hide and seek
Perishing thoughts that ride down with bitter cool

Our birth has been breached
As we cling tight to earlier yearnings
And the wailing wall sounds
A whisper to the cry in my mind

How can you or I claim innocence
When we have both been here before
Shall we cast down our glance in shame
Having lied through eyes of stolen charm

Those times when in spirit
Our fingertips would brace
Prying open closed doors
That had been slammed shut
By a life swung hard

What fear brings this memory
Doesn't every tree stand alone
Until you look below the ground

facing it
debasing it
erasing it

not too well does it sit
pray tell how could that be

you can't go forcing it
missing what you thought you could see

turn your back on it
and pay the price

you wish the hallway was lit
it's dark as hell no dice

I think I'll die when I see fit
a tuxedo and a rose will suffice

I see
   I read

I poke fun

I
plead

I
*****

I gripe

I run
   I fight

I look
   I listen

I keep
   to myself

I find
    what's
       missin'

is
     I'm plural

I was bumming
around Halifax town,
it was dusk, or there about.

Getting cold and
in need of shelter,
I entered an old abandon apartment
that was toasted to in the worst of ways.
All to make room for progress.

There scrawled on
what would have been
the living room wall...

The words written in blood,
the funniest thing,
it read...

'Dyslexic's of the World.. Untie'

I knew I was home for the night,
no big deal, if the bleeder came back
at least he had a sense of humour.

Coughing
up a lung

a little leery

worse for
wear and tear

I say fill
your boots

go for it
let it ride

it's just
a cold

what
you're

not a kid

man up
pull up

your socks

get out
there
and give

'em hell

She will smash
every wine glass,
they are broken
but not her heart.

She will walk barefoot
from room to room
while her feet are bleeding,
but not her heart.

She will drink him up
until her body aches
and her head hurts,
but not her heart.

Go sit up all night
Go sit up on the Arm's Wall

I am going to take it all in
And think about it all

The moon light on the water
Striking me in the eye

Mighty Blue Heron
Under intermittent sky

Ducks knocking back shellfish
Fuelling up for the flight into the fall

Here I sit, quiet, on a stone
So glad to be here on the Arm's wall

With the
first fallen leaves
I feel a chill
we get the life
that we deserve
though trying
to tell another
will bring harsh words

A good rule of thumb,
     here in the mechanics
       of the mind, some just aren't
            mechanically inclined.

A line of people
    waiting in a queue,
more and more gathered
   until there was quite a few.

Some were crippled
     and others were blind,
            some were deaf and they did sign.

Here in the mechanics of the mind
   some just aren't mechanically inclined.

A good rule of thumb,
        none of what you see
            only half of what you hear.
               They 'll play on your ignorance
                     they will cater to your fear.

More and more came to
    where they gathered on that day.
They brought with them paper,
        and shoddy goods  they did take away.

Here in the mechanics of the mind,
   some just aren't mechanically inclined.
      And a good rule of thumb is a good rule of thumb.

A
good
laugh
can make
all the difference
in the world

a joke is
a joke is
a joke

I can't
take myself
too seriously

laughing
at myself
is good medicine

Walking the walk
With one foot
In the grave
Keeping your
Head held high
Knowing
Your end of days
We all pray
That your Spirit flies
When you are laid to rest
Not all of you dies
You live on
In the mind of others
We all hold you in Heart
We are your sisters and brothers

I hold
my cards hard
to my chest
on this night
that is oh so close

My teeth
stained from
coffee and nicotine

I share
a strawberry
beer with the
occasional fruit fly

The air is still
not a breeze
to be had

today
is all I have

yesterday
is worlds away

tomorrow
never comes

Waves hiss
lapping the shoreline,

******* clad
beings
soaking up the sun.

A slight breeze
pushing clouds,

they dance
for our
entertainment.

The vastness
of the ocean

reminding me
of the bigger
picture.

The grains
of sand

whisper
their allegiance
to the stars.

I said, oh
you're in sales.
She responded:
Are you kidding!
I could sell ice to an Eskimo.

Oy vey I say,
you're pretty pretty
and that's a fact.
That will go a long way
towards your hitting the mark.

I hope you are able to stay honest,
give a sucker an even break.
Please feel welcome
and make yourself a tidy sum.

I myself was not cut out for sales,
my pitch wasn't good and all,
but I couldn't hide the products drawbacks.
I was all to willing to let you know
exactly what you were paying for.

kinda
like an
eccentric

living his life

with
three
cats

waking
up in
the middle

of the
night

pinching
a flea off
his *****

Water
under
the bridge,

rolling
and tumbling,

kissing
the river's
edge.

Trees
bend
in the breeze.

The
lonesome
moon
calls out
to the stars.

His *****
strikes
the earth,

overturning
a crawler's
night lunch.

A bottle
of ***
shared
by two

who steer
clear
of the fire's
orangey
fingers.

Fingers
to fry
the catch
under
the night's
sky.

The crowds, slithering down the aisles
           aimless yet ordered,  manoeuvering
                     shopping carts and metal baskets

Welcome to the lower class, the minion slave tied to the renting a house instead of a home. The climate is too harsh not to have shelter. They shop at thrift stores and outfit themselves for twenty bucks, hell they can find a living room for under a hundred dollars or bones or what ever you want to call them, that magic thing called Ca$h.

All those people spending that cash, in most cases, hard earned.

How did this ever happen * The Consumer they call us
                                                      We save a lot of money
                                                           ­  Spending money we don't got.

Ownership is the problem.. How does someone have the right to stake a claim to a chunk of land, then parcel  it off and make money selling it.
The Earth belongs to all of us.

The rich will go forward and lay claim to any planet they can reach for its natural resources.. How the hell can we let that happen. The Universe is ours, it belongs to everybody. We will leave this dirt and venture back when it has healed.

I can see them harvesting asteroids and riding  comets, waving there Stetsons
And hootin' yee haw as they speed through the galaxy, trying to hold onto their imagined power. The making up the rules as they go along.

Sometimes I just have to ignore everything and create my own little world.
A world where I trust my dead friends for sure. I don't know about everyone else.

Leave everything all behind  finding some real peace. Not this chanting about it, but shaping it and moving it like the malleable construct that it is....
               if you can call it a construct... and if you can't then 'what the hell'.

We are more than we know, more than we claim.. the People can be the power

We can start again, start all over before we swallow ourselves whole... and in part. Dismembered for certain. Dismembered and sent to the other side of the country, or half way around the world.

I stole
the idea

I must confess

I plucked it
from the station

I have
no regrets

It was mine
for the taking

all mine
all mine

if anyone
says it's not

I'll say
they are lying

they're lying

I had a dream the other night,
                   I visited an old friend
                      who had died last Halloween.

He drank himself to death,
wet brain, liver failure,
the whole nine yards.

In my dream I asked him
    what it was like to be dead,
he said "Oh it's okay....
can I borrow five bucks?"

I don't know I said,
    "How can I be sure
               I'll get it back"

"Ah come on" he said,
"I'm five bucks short for a case"

I relented and we called a cab.
       The cab driver comes
            and he says to Barry,

"What's it like to be dead?"