I’m barely even halfway to 7,000
so I’ve got a ways to go
before I’m through
with you

an audience of one is enough
to call it poetry
if its one you love

Trying to sweep back an ocean of flames
With a bucking hose until the truck’s tank is empty.
You ride through choking smoke and grit
To sleep ten minutes on the littered ground
While the giant tank is filled again.
Then back to find the area that your water saved
Has burned again, and then enlarged
So for the third time you retreat -
The only progress that you make is backwards.

Beneath your heavy fireman’s gear
You’ve sweated off a dozen pounds
And that is just this week.
It seems like you’ve been doing this
As long as you remember.
The whole world seems to be on fire.
The forests should have been enough
But fate decided homes and towns
Were more to its demented liking
With a few lost lives to spice things up.

You join the men who’ve become your brothers
While the Earth is Mother to you all
As you battle that which would destroy her
And the lives of innocents who cower
In the shelters praying that their home
May be among the lucky few and
Still be there tomorrow night
For little Polly’s Birthday
Where the cake waits on the counter.

Hero is a tiny word that carries giant meaning.
It should be the middle name of everyone
In fireman’s gear who wields an ax or hose
To tame the beast of smoke and flame
To give us back our homes and future.
ljm

Like a candle in a blast furnace
I didn’t last long
In the presence of your genius.

My tiny light added nothing
To the brilliance
Of your Sun.

And my substance melted
In a moment.
Hopefully I left a smear
Of adoration
On  your carpet
           ljm

To hear your voice
say my name
again

To see your eyes
glance at me from across the room
again

To say to you
everything will be okay
again

To smile ear-to-ear
laughing about absolutely nothing &
being goofy together
again

To listen to our favorite songs
in complete comfortable silence
again

To have pure intentions & hopes
for the future
again

To feel your lips
pressed against my neck,
goosebumps raising,
pulling each other close

To talk for hours with you
about anything & everything
again

To feel your protective touch
standing next to me
again

To breathe jubilant life & unconditional love
into each other
again...

I don’t think you know me
I think I know you
I don’t think you owe me
You think that you do
I try to get inside your head
I can’t remember
Can’t remember
All the things I did and said
I don’t think you want me
I think I want you
I don’t think you’ll love me
Why should you love me too?
All this thinking makes me weary
My eyes are heavy as my heart
I don’t think you’ll hear me
When I say we must never
Never never  ever part

You are calling my name in vain
I can’t hear; ears blocked like a drain
The tide flings me ashore, all in a rush
Drifting to land, no fanfare, as if I wasn’t there
There’s a mystery in the monkey puzzle tree
I am clueless, as I expected to be
Still there’s history between us
Absolution for you, too late for me
The waves are calm, you could part them if you so desired
Not I, I lie here unable to move, so tired
I am continually tossed as the winds blow over me
No longer tempestuous, wild untamed
You are calm serene, I will be blamed for my wrongdoings,
While you will charm the angels, make them sing
And I will fall into the abyss
A lost inhuman inconsequential thing

fifteen and blind to
the cruelty of the world
but I am not her

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.