Losing is a habit
engrained upon my hands,
claiming to be something I am not
Peering in with one wicked eye
fashioned of big words
from worn out dictionary pages

my thoughts are fire in lower case flames
complete with soiled ash
and filaments swinging in the breeze
searching for the unburned match,
the last one… in a long line of empty phrases

blank pages filled with everything conceived
along street water girths and cigarette butts
arranged in the shape of a question mark
on my Walmart coffee table…
never once questioning why

Oh I have written, I have penned
and my quill is soft and filled with ink
of another’s pain, dripping on tree leaf mosaics
and carpenter footprints,
leading down that path that I lure
unsuspecting verses now lost with me

For I am the loser in this game
only because I chose to play by my rules
Penalties don’t count in my court
for I am blind to the truth
that I am nothing more than me…only what I seem

Gaze silently towards the heavens
O’ beams of shimmering gold
Beckon to you
With brilliant light of the full moon bright
Fond memories you come to hold

Taste the sweet fruit of passion
Shining o’er your perfect face
Sending you
Dreams of me to always be
The outline of your heart to trace

Walk along the lighted path
Amongst the sprawling sycamore
Touching you
Reaching far of every southern star
To send a love of true adore

Breathe the air of midnight moon
Scents of windswept atmosphere
Caressing you
With aromatic symphonies upon the breeze
Calming of your every fear

Feel my affection upon these evening skies
Tempting as this nighttime glow
Finding you
Thy beauty blooms within this fullest moon
As ever I shall love you so

~

A crescent moon now overhead
As I come rising from my bed
Remembering the words I said
A few short hours ago
~
Like linens hanging on the line
The clouds a comfort for my eyes
In secrets whispered on the skies
Along with breezes flow
~
I wonder of this time apart
As longings cling so tight my heart
In gilded frame like precious art
The sun comes into view
~
When then my open eyes can see
The man that I can surely be
If only you would come to me
Whatever I must do
~
With endless trees and hills to climb
My aches, my pains on borrowed time
The distant church bells set to chime
The miles in between
~
I follow on in destined task
Is it too much for me to ask
Within your arms I long to bask
If you know what I mean
~
To stumble on the crooked path
And weep these tears of aftermath
For comes the heat of summer wrath
In everything so new
~
I wander here and wander there
In hopes to show you that I care
With you my dreams I long to share
Until my days are through

~

The Ocean’s Melody


As tides cast their net along a patient coast,
we lie entwined ~ adrift as a single composed symphony
tempo’d by the pounding surf ~ its constant sensuous rhythm
lulling our hearts, aching, to collide
in one beat’s embrace

Love upon a moistened sandy shore
your swollen lips offer a glistening enchantment
with fingertips delicately seeking ~ caressing ~ stroking
feathery lashes grace twin demure windows
of tender need

Velvet waves wash along our bodies ~ gently
merely to touch you ~ hold you ~ kiss you, is my coastal heaven
With arms of cradling strength ~ kindness ~ ecstasy,
my voice becomes a throaty
whisper of passion’d affection

Now as wandering shadows cross beneath the moon’s glowing care
we too build and recede, feeding our amorous desires
as the fading light relinquishes its hold
and dawn cracks the sky ~
our tide becomes one

Our bond remains unbroken ~
tethered to the ocean’s melody

The pain,
nothing there...emptiness...voided feelings
hollowed out shadowed disruptions
sitting in the darkness, alone...again
and it hurts

That song
melodic interuptions
raining memories from thunder head tamperings
down poured sadness on minor keyed choices
played in orchestrated sorrow

This thought
taking me on whispered failures
breathing my final words
of non seen poetic phrases penned in desperate ink
smeared by free verse tears

The pain...endless...eternal...
because we weren't

~

There will come a time when you say, "no more,
this weight is much too heavy to bear,
these thoughts of you dancing through my mind are now painful
and seeing that far ahead is nothing more than a blur"

There will come a time when you say, "it’s over,
I do love you more than anything but I can not any longer,
you will always reside deep in my heart
though telling you will not be an option"

There will come a time when you say, "good bye,
I wish I didn’t have to leave but I must,
I will not look back even though I want to
because this hurts so badly"

There will come a time when I say "I understand",
and that will be the time that I don’t

~

Beneath a glowing chrysanthemum moon
I ponder the future intense
Counting each star that my eyes they do see
A’ shine in this nighttime suspense

Drawing on visions alive in my heart
Counting my blessings so true
Outlining shadows that dance on the ground
Forming a thought from a clue

Here on the grass of a neatly trimmed field
The world moves a bit as I stare
Memories found that we not yet have met
Days soon to come we will share

These are the dreams of your amorous poet
Out as the night wind does flow
Promising truth high above all this wisdom
Off in the distance to show

Praying that you shall reflect off this moonbeam
Touched by the light of my love
Sent from the heart of a desperate endeavor
Rains from the night sky above

Loneliness brings with it determination
Fight till I no longer breathe
Clapping my hands hoping magic will happen
Some things I tend to believe

Soon in the year of decisions decided
Until the end of all time
I shan’t let go when I find you are waiting
*Locked in my arms ever mine

Many, many years ago
When the earth was new
There lived a lovely butterfly
Her wings of brightest blue
Everyday was happy
As she fluttered all around
Visiting each precious bloom
Each garden they were found

Till one day by courier
A message she received
The news was far from happy
Causing her to grieve
Her mate was lost in battle
It broke her fragile heart
Never more would there be joy
Her world was torn apart

To show her grief she slowly
Removed her precious wings
Discarded everything she loved
The memories they bring
Then wrapped about her body
In a way to show her grief
A drab cocoon of teardrops
Then sat in disbelief

She could not eat, could not sleep
Her sadness did abound
So worried was her family
They often came around
Not to be a burden
She packed her many things
Her old medicine bundle
As well, her precious wings

She took off on a journey
As every day was kept
A map of where she traveled
By the tears she wept
The sadness so consuming
Her head she held so low
Downcast eyes the path she took
A heart that’s beating slow

Crossing o’er the fields
Creeks and valley streams
Touching each and every stone
Beneath her tiny feet
Around the world she walked
Lest journeys filled in length
For many days and many months
Running short of strength

About to end the story
Her broken heart near death
She prayed for time to hurry
Her last and final breath
For love had left her being
Wandering alone
That day her mate did breathe no more
The message she was shown

When seemingly from nowhere
The beauty sharp and sweet
A stone now lay upon the ground
Below these tired feet
Though different was this stone
The slightest joyous feel
The loveliness this stone possessed
Her sorrow slowly healed

It lay as a reminder
That ugliness might play
But found within this sorrow
Some beauty was displayed
And then her eyes did open
The perfect shade of brown
When then noticed wonders
Were waiting to be found

Like diamonds in the river
A perfect flower’s bloom
So happy had she now become
She cast off her cocoon
Shook the dust from on her wings
The brightest color blue
Put them on and offered thanks
This chance at life anew

She danced the dance of butterflies
And spread her story wide
To family and friends alike
The truth she did confide
In loss there will be sorrow
But life is just a time
Remember but the good you had
And you will be just fine

In everything is beauty
All that you will see
Whether in the rising sun
Or stones beneath your feet
Always find the goodness
It lies before you eyes
I promise you’ll find happiness
When you realize

So dance with me my posy
Spread your fancy wings
Follow me this winter’s eve
See the joy it brings
If ever you feel sorrow
Don’t forget the chance
Gives thanks to all the good you have
And let your spirit dance

They were right...you know
No matter who you are
or who you think you are
there is always someone better

Frozen in layers of lemon drop frosting
Running for love on the snow covered lawn
Interest in all that this morning does offer
Entering each as if only a song

Dancing to dreams on the edge of tomorrow
Asking a question I hope will be true
Pausing a moment to smile your direction
Writing this poem while thinking of you

Tiptoeing in the shadows,
hiding behind a crusted keyboard
spewing raw threats in freak speak
dug up from the shallow realm
of which they are formed

Beneath a pink umbrella
where cowards lounge
Shivering like babes in snow banks,
tossing stones, targeting hearts
inflicting pain…expecting a laugh

Stand up, be a man (if you can)
Allow me my aim
Dance about if you like in your tutu,
pirouette in your disgust,
my hand is steady

Unlike yours...moving up and down
staring at a screen, pretending
someone actually gives a crap
about something like you…

I’ll find this circus
where tents are pitched,
cotton candy stains the sawdust
and you climb out of that tiny car
with a fake smile painted on your face

And when you feel it you will know
this ain’t confetti,
as you fall in your own stench, and the audience…
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…
applaud!

.


Within the glow of candled flame
Sparkling mists of heaven’s sun
Comes now washing down on me
This love which pours my only one

On corners of a filtered sky
With clouds that disappear on sight
Beneath the greenest valley’s flow
Painted soft within its light

I gaze towards horizon’s crown
Patches of a rainbow’s place
Colors fill the distant dance
Of smiles seen upon my face

Shimmering the ripples bare
A picture filled with happiness
Along the wooded crest I see
A beauty of the mind’s confess

For this is love I know it’s true
To hear these whispers oh so fine
Affection fills the twilight sky
Forever neath a moonbeam shine

This heart which beats a mile long
Down winding walks of lavender
So deep the shadows fill the void
Of dreams that nightly do occur

So on this a day of lover’s song
A promise rings forever true
For this is not a paper heart
But endless love from me to you

I let her hear my footsteps…
drizzle gleams in big city lights
Her perfume a’ float my senses
Peering off from this balcony,
into the vast cavern of sleeping buildings,
does she think of me…

She feels me…closer…her red dress
against the dark backdrop of
dreary skies silhouettes her beauty,
a poem waiting to be read,
a song you can’t get out of your head
or would want to

I place my arms about her waist,
she turns, ruby lips infectious,
eyes hiding her story find mine,
rain like diamond tear drops
decorate her cheeks as she smiles
and my heart is flooded with light

We embrace, damp passionate lips
lock in haunting silence,
speaking louder than any words,
all that was cold becomes warm
as moisture seeps, painting my skin,
and I don’t care

This is what love is…
a hot cup of coffee on a frigid winter day,
a cool breeze in the middle of August,
a beautiful fragrant rose
blooming from a crack in the asphalt
on that long, endless highway of life…and she is mine

~

Joe wants to know
how long it takes
What inspiration
a poem it makes

It depends on my mood,
how everything goes
Sometimes it’s quick,
sometimes it’s slow

Often a thought
gets stuck in my brain
Like moon glow affection
or sunflower rain

Saturday whispers
and butter cream smiles
Lingering lovers
o’er hummingbird miles

Inspired by beauty
or love in my heart
Just give me a pen
I’m ready to start

And you’ll find me writing
not keeping the time
It takes a bit longer
if it has to rhyme

But no metered seconds
or minutes that fly
Just penning words
at least I will try

Though this time I’m counting
just for you Joe
To give you the answer
you so want to know

I looked at my watch
while right here I sat
And penned out this baby
in three minutes flat

We drink from the fountain of earthly delights
Sweet to the taste, ever cool to the touch  
Blushing of purity bred in our hearts
Glistened enchantment now needed so much

Beneath a rainbow’s curved ribbon effect
Painted in singular motions of love
Rippled reflections bare moonlit disguises
Memories fashioned below and above

A ticket to heaven on silver cloud linings
With only the touch of your rose petal lips
Swallowing all that affection does offer
Consuming desire in delicate sips

Breathless endeavors of water fall shimmers
Deeper we dwell inside every dream
You in my arms on this aqua blue evening
Illumined in passion, aglow in the gleam

Softy your eyes shine eternal devotion
Your enchanting beauty now all I can see  
There is no need for this ticket to heaven
For heaven is anywhere you are with me

.

We drink from the fountain of earthly delights
Sweet to the taste, ever cool to the touch
Blushing of purity bred in our hearts
Glistened enchantment now needed so much

Beneath a rainbow’s curved ribbon effect
Painted in singular motions of love
Rippled reflections bare moonlit disguises
Memories fashioned below and above

A ticket to heaven on silver cloud linings
With only the touch of your rose petal lips
Swallowing all that affection does offer
Consuming desire in delicate sips

Breathless endeavors of water fall shimmers
Deeper we dwell inside every dream
You in my arms on this aqua blue evening
Illumined in passion, aglow in the gleam

Softy your eyes shine eternal devotion
Your enchanting beauty now all I can see
There is no need for this ticket to heaven
*For heaven is anywhere you are with me

~

Till sunrise comes once more...

You and I…alone
Beneath a silent crescent moon
Sultry sighs echo passion’s enchantment
Fireflies swirl illumined whisperings
Hydrangeas glow luminous desires
Your love envelopes me…breathless

Azure wing’d rapture engulfs
Ferverous lips ignite dark chocolate pulsings
Savoring luscious yearnings
Rhythmic motions blur starlit fantasies
Entwined of twilight fingers…roaming
Softly probing cherry blossom seams

Satin cream thighs…aching… delicate…fragile
Slowly entering, honeysuckle’s fragrance’d portal
Warmth devours gripping’s pleasure
Moist tongues dance tango’d steps
Crimson trickles paint skin’s textures
Cricket song wafts fever’d pitch

Comets blaze heaven’s canvas
Harmonies melt…one voice pleads
Echo’d moans soar elevated
Pearl’d beads mingle…lustrous
Glisten’d affection unfolds
Midnight beckons endless dreams

Till sunrise comes once more…my love

~



I turn the key within its chamber
The hinges cry a woeful squeak
Closed up tight for years uncounted
Moments that this attic keeps


Memories of days forgotten
Scattered on this wooden floor
As if time trapped in a bottle
Safely kept for evermore


Foraging through endless bounties
Dust it lays more than an inch
Dim, the incandescent light bulb
No one else has been here since


Now my mind it tends to wander
Dreaming of the good old days
Photographs breathe life now savored
Black and white their bold displays


I find a tear my eye now forming
Destined, I relive the cost
Draped of fabric worn and tattered
Faces of the friends I’ve lost


Is this it, my life collected
Answered questions now begin
Left for someone to discover
Soon to scatter on the wind


I turn the key within its chamber
The lock it moans an empty click
Count your blessings as they happen
Life it passes, oh so quick

~


A vision in the distance
as if my mind deceives
This watercolor fancy
of loveliness perceived


I dare not move a muscle
or fight against my will
A breath might break the silence
as if all time stood still


A crisp cool wind a’ blowing,
my heart does skip a beat
For but this man of simple means,
an angel comes to meet


I do not wish to startle,
nor cause an ounce of fear
If this is but a truthful sight,
I pray let her come near


The sun it is not moving,
no shadows formed to play
As this angelic vision,
walks to me this day


With open armed affection,
she takes me by the hand
And leads me to my fantasy,
then whispers of her plan


This day shall last forever,
no setting sun to fill
As if such joy was meant to be
and time it does stand still

Tingle

Melodies ~ ringing on soft cool winds,
dangling from tiny strings in metallic forms
Swaying in harmony with your smile
reflecting the mid day sun
in glimmering highlights of whipped cream whispers
on wings of stained glass dreams

For it was that day you kissed me,
for the very first time ~
(When buttercups blushed as I held them to your chin)
and my lips tingled, unending,
understanding this was more than just a touching of skin,
a melted meeting of two

~Music called to us from the branches above,
serenading our hearts in sweet blissful sounds
on soft grasses, fingers intertwined~

Your eyes, hypnotized me there, in that place
and you kissed me again…this one held
Passion breathing, love had found me
coiled about me and clung to me
On that day, unlike any other
I could imagine…I fell for you

Now as cool winds blow
and leaves cascade in multicolored waves
That wind chime, suspended from that old maple rings,
singing sweetly of that first kiss,
a musical remembrance of that day
of which no reminder needs due ~ for my lips they still tingle

Tinted glass whimsies

Seductive slowly spun
Kaleidoscopic pairings
Changing in illumined awareness
Tinted glass whimsies

“How far can you bend the light?”

Sculpting temptation
Seeking colored fancies
In cylindrical designs
Consistently different

“Do you dream in color?”

Mosaic contours flow
Prismatic burst of joy
Variegated vivid visions
Not alike another

“Is your heart the variable?”

Passion is vibrant
Intensely hued brilliance
Ever changing within
Twisting and turning patterns

“Nothing ever appears the same when you are in love”

~

I offered my hand like a wayward invention
From miles away to a thought we did share
Cradled intentions on soft silken blankets
Awaiting your heart on the scent of the air

Merely a photo and words written freely
Every day when the sun it did rise
Checking the map for my own destination
I didn’t notice the look in your eyes

You asked for trust, which I stood to deliver
Puzzled in pieces that just didn’t fall
Curves on the borders disguised every meaning
Broken, misshapen in spite of it all

Still I believed we could dust off these feelings
Particles float in the light through the door
You looked away as you found it was blinding
Closing your eyes not to see anymore

So here I sit on a chair that is leaning
Off to the side where my heart used to wait
Seeing the sunset in tangerine sorrow
Crying a tear for I know it’s too late

~

I’ve taken from this endless dream
a sight for sore and weary eyes
When clouds of morning frown of dark
and winds howl in serenades for dancing leaves

Still...life exists in rotted stumps and fallen branches
on fence lines overgrown with time
As weather changes in the east,
where through thick drapes eyes peer

White on white and foot step designs scatter,
erratic as the snow flake waltzes…
Another day, filled with desires beyond the pane
where fingers have etched a heart… breath exposes

And moisture runs downward, streaking glass
into cupped hands that long the taste
of life far removed from this frozen nightmare
and I offer my endless dream to you…to share

~


Dreaming past snow drifts
Framing the distance
Starlight reflections
Closer than tomorrow
Touching my skin

                                                     ~
                              Through soft woolen mittens
                              Ski jacket hugs, turtleneck wishes
                              Snow angel dreams and icicle kisses
                              Slipping my heart inside of your pocket
                              Where it is warm, safe and secure
                                                      ~

­Calling in echoes
Across the white valley
Listen to the wind
Feel the wintry whispers
Touching your skin

~

Towards the tree line

I stare towards the tree line,
misshapen and abstract on my eyes
Fading in autumn’s chill and leafless
emptiness that I still cannot see

Oh it is there, screaming at me,
waving in the wind, calling in birdsong
But my eyes travel more…
a distance well beyond any footpath I’ve taken

Shelved on the high land vistas
now filled with charcoal persuasions
So very far, miles on scaled dotted lines,
asphalt tearing at my soles, untied laces drag

Still I gaze, following my heart into loneliness
Reaching for but a hint of a smile,
a fix-all for that broken heart,
a mosaic sponge to catch your tears…I find none

Tossing a stone, it bounces on fielded diaries,
words of pain scribbled before even a thought
Collections of wishes in a four leaf clover pockets,
brushed of life’s unfairness

If only I could hold you,
safely beneath that frown,
gently with the touch of every meaning,
building a wall to turn back the sorrow

Ivy covered in green temptations
breathing of trust and love,
lingering at locked doors to secure peace
And yet, I can only stare towards the tree line…blind and worthless

V
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Horizontal is better


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