As the days go by without a word from you,
I'm left here wondering what is really true.
My mind counts all the possibilities
So here's a poll--won't you answer please?

There's no need to be cruel or unkind,
Just pick the choice that best bespeaks your mind.
And if somehow I missed your favored choice,
Use Other then to give yourself a voice.

Now if you're very brave, and Other's what you've checked,
You know how to find me: please connect!

I haven't written you because:
   a. You scare me!
   b. I'm waiting for you to get the hint: go away!
   c. My computer crashed so I lost your email. Thank God you wrote!
   d. You're divorced?  I can't even talk with you.
   e. I thought you wanted *** now--I don't want to be friends first!
   f. I got kidnapped by terrorists and have been held incommunicado!
   g. I got in a car wreck and I'm in the ICU.
   h. I met someone 'way cooler than you.  Drop dead!
   i.  Other

We here at Gallup thank you for taking the time to respond to our questionnaire. You may have been selected to participate in additional polls.

I met June in my December.
Her touch thawed me:
all my flowers bloomed,
birds sang, full-throated,
frozen streams flowed anew,
Bubbling and chuckling.

Into my gated garden
we strolled,
hand in hand
beneath the cherry blossoms,
heads close,
sharing one scented breath.

On the apex
of the arched bridge
over the pond
we kissed, lingering
white blossoms
cascaded on our hair.

Pausing,
we gazed down
at the jeweled carp
gliding beneath the surface,
seeing only one rippled reflection,
not mine.

I make a steady effort
to keep reducing my life.
I've unraveled it's tapestry
into a skein of loose threads.
I'm down to the last one,
it's getting thinner.

I used to have
a wife, a business,
a family, a community,
but that's all gone now:
the marriage was a lie,
the business was killing me,
the community was a cult.

So I cut it all away.
Now all I have left is
a few old friends,
a fistful of poems,
my old guitar,
this big truck I live and work in,
and a couple of kids whom I love.

Not much of a legacy
for a lifetime.
But I take satisfaction in this:
there are no lies in it.

I'm nobody's jailer,
I'm nobody's prisoner.

I make an honest living,
take comfort where I can,
love my kids with all that's in me.

I keep heading down the road,
one step ahead of the reaper.
So far, so good.

There's a different muse that you can use
who helps stuck writers with the blues.
She wears black vinyl, comes on strong,
and loves to party all night long.

Her pink hair's spiked, her collar too. She
pops her gum while she talks to you.
Her music's loud, and so is she,
she inspired "Bad Company."

She loves to belt, though she can't sing,
she's got a song for everything.
Her specialties are punk and rap--
she'll scream you one in nothing flat.

Just don't ask for love songs, or
she'll flash her tat: reads "Love's a *****!"
Romance? No, she's got no time.
She'll sing you, "Love's no friend of mine:"

"I've been mistreated and abused,
it's love that makes me sing the blues.
I don't want no love no more--
when love walks in, I'm out the door!"

So helpful, when you're feeling that
love's appealing as a road-killed cat.
A real romantic antidote, she'll
sink your boat, if it's still afloat.

Perhaps the one who
broke your heart
has the saddest
heart of all:
so lost,
so cold,
and so
afraid
to answer
true love's call.

Sing on, sing on,
sweet nightingale!
You fill my night
with flowing song.
Enraptured, I
will drink of you
'til moon and stars
are gone.
oh yes!
'til all the stars
are gone.

I ain't got nobody baby, but you
I ain't got nobody baby, but you
I ain't got no family
to care about what I do
I ain't got nobody, baby
but you.

I ain't got no friends to call my own
I ain't  got no friends, don't need no phone
I ain't got nobody
when I'm feelin' so alone
I ain't got nobody, baby
but you.

I ain't got no dog to come home to
I ain't even got no dog to come home to
I ain't got nobody
'cause I'm hard to get close to
I ain't got nobody, baby
but you.


(a blues)

I heard your heart,
the heart of a young wife,
loving, hoping, trusting,
bearing the shock of scorn
from the one who should have
cherished you, and whom
you wanted to love and respect
as your Lord.

I heard your heart,
abandoned, alone,
unloved by the one who had promised
to care for you always,
the heart of a young mother,
bearing burdens alone
that were made to be shared,
as you reached out to share
joys and fears of raising
precious children,
and finding no resonant heart,
beating with yours
in strength, joy, and pride.

I heard your heart,
when you cried, "Why, Lord?
What have I done?
I will still love and serve him,
for Your sake, but
I was made to be one flesh,
to share everything in Your presence
with the man You gave me.
Did You not give me this man?

Why, Lord, is there only pain,
emptiness and loneliness,
where You meant for there to be
unity of heart and spirit,
friendship, respect, joy,
and love, Your love,
sweet, tender,
unconditional forever?

I have offered him all I have,
all I am. He despises me
and my offering.
May I offer my love
devotion, and longing
to another who will
value and return them?"

And God said, "Yes, my beloved.
He would not receive my
most precious gifts,
offered again and again
through your devoted heart,
and so he has judged himself
unworthy of them.
You have given your all,
selflessly.
I will give you
the desires of your heart,
because I love you,
and your happiness
is My happiness.
I always hear you, my beloved.
I hear your heart."

On this first night of the new year
the Moon rises, full
yet veiled by extravagantly modest
silky mists,
floating serenely through
deep violet skies,
encircled by handmaiden stars.

O moon, I have the honor
of embracing your fading splendor
when you have sailed across
the spangled sea,
when, at last,
tired and pale,
your foot touches
morning's shore.

I will ever welcome you,
faint and disappearing,
into arms that could never hope
to hold your light of fullness,
and I will bear you tenderly
as a dream sleeping against my shoulder,
through each long bright day,
my weightless secret,
until we reach again the portal of twilight, where
my softest kisses, brushing your evanescent eyelids,
will bid you to stir, glow, and rise,
and fill my empty night again
with mystic light.

Ever and again, O Moon, will I follow your arcing journey,
galloping through night's uncertain lands below,
racing to meet you again
on dawn's awakening shore.
Since I cannot yet fly with you above,
I will love you thus,
your invisible breath
against my cheek,
the vision of your dreams
wrapped around my heart,
your mysterious embrace
my cloak.

Each dusk I dream: my longing
lifts me with you,
a second dark moon,
slumbering, a shadow,
through night's deepest mysteries
never parted,
never apart.

You say you love me baby
but you sure don't understand--
you say you love me baby,
but you just don't understand--
my love for you is stronger
than the lightning in God's hand.

You'll love me for a lifetime baby
or maybe even two,
yes, you'll love me for a lifetime, baby,
or maybe even two,
when the sun itself has burnt away
I'll still be loving you.

You think that you can quit me,
like a drunk can can quit his *****
you think that you can quit me, mama,
like a drunk can quit his *****,
you'll never do it, baby,
no one loves.you like I do.

I often wish I could be
more than I am
for you, my dear.
But obviously,
I am what I am.

I want the best
that money
can't buy,
so I asked God
to write for me
a love letter to you
in His clear, steady hand.

I hope you can read
between the lines,
and understand:
I love you
more than He Himself can say,
even in His most excellent,
loving, holy way.

Everybody's got an old, sad story
'bout a love that didn't last
Everybody's got some bittersweet memories
'bout lovers from the past
Everybody's got a dream inside them
'bout a love that's true
Some give up and let it die
Don't let it happen to you
Yeah, some folks up and let it die
Don't let it happen to you!

Chorus:
'Cuz if you let your good dream die
You might as well be underground
But if you keep believin'
Love will come back around, oh yeah!

Now everybody who has waited for love
Will get another chance
Just be sure to keep your heart wide open
and your feet all ready to dance
Live your life with a smile on your face
and a love song in your heart,
Love will come runnin' back to you
and you'll never ever be apart, no!
You'll never ever be apart!

I didn't intend to do that--
I HATE it when people
sneak up on me
with evangelical intent!
I merely opened my heart
to hear a poem, and
God bubbled to the surface.

No, not that God,
the one claimed
by the Christian right:
(who want you
to believe that Jesus
is a Republican--)

I mean the God you knew
as a kid.
Of course there's a God!
It's so obvious when you look,
wide-eyed and innocent,
at the miracle of existence--
how cool it is
just to be alive!

But then, growing up,
you found out
that there are Religions
that each have all this STUFF
about who God is.
They make it seem so complicated!

But really it's very simple:
Just love.
Everyone.
Always.
Devotedly,
passionately.
And--
forgive EVERYone.
That's all.
No, it's NOT easy,
but it is simple.

It works in every heart
It works in every culture
It works--
with or without
religion.

Religion might help you
find your heart's door handle--
reading about
the loving kindness of
a saint,
an avatar,
a rabbi,
a mystic,
a Sufi,
a Master.

But it could be
that God is always
singing a love song
to you
through a flower,
that rainbow,
a sunset,
the voice of a friend,
or even,
my beloved,
this little poem.
Are you listening?

In the silence of the desert,
with the stars so close and bright,
there's the feeling of a Presence
in the stillness of the night--

Oh, let me, like the desert
hold a silence in my heart!
And in that sacred silence
let me know You as You are.

I'm trapped
inside the shrinking
balloon of a deflated
world:
yesterday's party.
Today's trash
wrapping around my face
I can't open my eyes.
Pressured into
all the smells like
discordant blarings of
fetid flowers,
aching ages.
A dream memory
waking over and over
to the phone
ringing underwater--
sonar fingers
probing
into depths
too cold.

You read it in the magazines, when someone makes it big.
They always thank their families for everything they did.
They say they were encouraged to believe in themselves.
But what about the rest of us, with the families from hell?

Yeah, there's a lot of us, who've got the same dreams
as those kids from the families in the magazines.
Ours was a different world, to say the least--
I saw less of my father than I did the police.

Chorus
But if you hear me singing under the street night
I'll be weaving sweet music from the threads of my nights
When I'm weary and lonely, and my troubles run deep,
I take comfort from my music-- it's a comfort I can keep.

No, we never got the message that we were even OK.
It was more like we were garbage that they couldn't throw away.
Music was survival for my soul, oh it made me feel so good!
You could always find me singing, in my corner of the 'hood.

Chorus
Now if you hear us singing under the street light,
we'll be weaving our harmonies from the threads of our nights.
When you're weary and lonely, and your troubles run deep,
come and listen to the music, turn your bitter into sweet.

So our parents didn't know much about lovin' their kids,
but what they couldn't give us, well the music sure did!
It gave us all something that we could hold on to,
I still believe in music, yeah, it still sees me through.

Chorus
If I hear you singing under the street light
I know you won't mind at all, if I sing along tonight.
'Cause we've both been down that lonesome road,
and we know the same songs
I know that I am welcome in the circle of your song.

Yeah, if you hear us singing under the street light,
come, add your harmony, from the colors of your nights.
In the circle of the music, everyone belongs,
There's a place for you right here, come on in and sing along,
There's a place for everybody in the circle of the song!

We had our share of hard times, and it hurt you
that I never said "I'm sorry" for my part.
I'm the one who drove you from our marriage,
'cause I kept my feelings locked up in my heart.

This hard old heart of mine won't keep on beating,
since you gave up and walked out of that door--
I'm so glad you came today to see me,
They say tomorrow I'll be here no more.

Chorus:
Today is the last day of the rest of my life,
Why didn't I give you the love locked inside?
If I had the chance now, I'd make it all right,
but this is the last day of the rest of my life.

I always thought that I would live forever,
and in the Lord I know that this is true.
But I'll be moving to another mansion--
I won't be here to tell you "I love you."

I'm so sorry that my pride has kept me distant,
It's not even close to what I really want.
Before I go I hope you can forgive me,
and help me ease this broken, failing heart.

Chorus:
Today is the last day of the rest of my life,
Why didn't I give you the love locked inside?
If I had the chance now, I'd make it all right,
but this is the last day of the rest of my life.

Since my mother died
I have lost both
my clothes
and skin.

Every gust of feeling
blows straight into
my torn paper heart,
makes my bones
rattle.

Friends, your beautiful poems
like huge looming waves
threaten now
to overwhelm,
crush
sink
my tiny boat,
so frail
so fraught
so mortal.

I read
and bail
for all I am worth
beset by the image
of the gypsy moth
airborne
in that last instant
before the fire
consumes it
utterly.

Deep below the surface
of a sea storm-tossed, frenetic
lies buried an ancient sailing ship
once bold but now pathetic.

Her rigging long since torn away,
her masts and canvas rotten,
naked bones alone remain
of sailors long forgotten.

She bore these brave adventurers
toward a brand new land.
She and they alike were cursed
never to reach a strand.

But if ye look more closely
at her shattered, mouldered deck,
ye'd find the priceless treasure here
hidden in every wreck.

for the first touch of
our cosmic lips
as the galactic melodies
of
"you" and "I"
begin to intermingle
creating the
first movement of
intergalactic symphony
"Us."

Reading your poems:
peeling the sweet onion i've
already eaten.

In the shattered,
smoldering wreckage
of our love
I seek unceasingly
for that black box
that holds intact
my golden heart

The birds of the air are my brothers,
all flowers my sisters,
the trees are my friends.
All living creatures,
mountains and streams,
I take unto my care,

For this green earth is our mother,
hidden in the sky is the Spirit above.
I share one life with all who are here.
to everyone I give my love,
to every one I give my love.

you do have
eternity,
and yet,
you may not
always
have
me....so

come,
swim with me
beneath the sweet
summer moon,
sleep next to me
one lifetime,
be my playful
goddess,
lover,
friend,
here
in this
lake,
this forest,
this
now.

Forgive me, please--
I ran away
I couldn't stay
where I was despised.
I had no idea
how cruel she was
to you.
I thought
she lavished you with love,
all the love she
denied me.
I wish I had known.
I would have taken you with me,
taken custody,
and run away,
pushing you
in that big
teal bicycle wheel
stroller
you loved to thrill ride in,
screaming with delight
when, running at full speed,
I took the earthen ramp that
made you fly, and as soon as we touched down
squeal,
"Again!"

Or we could have escaped when
I used to toss you
high in the air, and catch you,
if, just once, an angel
would have come to our
rescue and caught you up,
and then me,
and flown us far away to Hawaii,
where we would have lived
very happily
while you grew up,
knowing every day
that you are loved,
unconditionally,
and safe,
protected by your
daddy elephant
from the icy blasts of indifference
and all harm.
Daddy elephant's big ears
are always listening
to the whispers
of your heart
and our hearts
would have understood
and respected
each others feelings,
fears, wants and needs.
We'd never need to fight
we'd say just what we felt
and be unafraid
to talk about anything.

In some cultures
they believe that
everything you imagine
is real.
In that spirit
and with all the love
I couldn't express,
I give you now the childhood
you dream of,
may you feel it
and know
it is true.

I'm lost
between these chords,
thinking about you--
playing my guitar,
singing about you.

I know I shouldn't do it,
I should get the hell away!
We will never be together,
so why is it, whenever I play

I'm lost
between these chords,
thinking about you?
And every song I'm singing,
I'm singing just
for you,
just for you.


You are all I dream of,
though I'm not the one you see,
so I try to rein my heart in,
but it's wild and strong and free,
and it carries me away
to a place it wants to be,

where we run like wild horses in the moonlight,
flying like the wind beside the sea,
splashing through the diamond water,
there's a place where we can be

lost
from this world that we know, and
free
to run where our hearts want to go,
sailing to another world
that only love can find,
You can't get there from just anywhere,
you can't go in your mind,

you've got to be
lost,
to find that hidden door
free,
to reach that farthest shore

I want to get lost together,
just you and me,
Lost in that place where
we can be free,

running like wild horses in the moonlight,
flying like the wind beside the sea,
splashing through the diamond water,
let's go to that place
where we can be
lost and free
lost and free
you and me.

My eyes,
arms,
fingers,
hands,
lips,
my whole
body
yearns to carry on this
conversation
with you:
your
lips,
soft
shoulders,
pillowing *******,
tongue,
and
fingertips--
these ears
want to hear
our hearts
drum! Our
bodies yearning
for sweet intersection:
mingling,
melting,
knowing
me, knowing
you,
from the soft, sweet inside
out.

Let's dance
slow
meaning it,
feeling deeply
every
breath,
every touch,
every kiss,
every turning
toward
each other.
Home! Oh, so sweet,
home.
Home at last,
in
each others' arms.

Oh, these sparkling stars,
filling our moonless night with light!
Let's weave them into a
glittering garland of
pure starlight
and wrap our hearts
together with it
keeping our love
pure and strong,
so it's brilliance
will endure
even after
our lives on earth
are only memories
in the eyes of the angels
that we have become.

Who am I? Who am I?
I am bigger than your mind.
Who am I? Who am I?
Do you know your mind is blind?

I'm your bitter enemy; I'm your sweetest lover,
I'm the homeless wanderer, and everybody's brother.
Older than the stars, I was born anew today.
I've come to ask you questions that will drive your sleep away.

Who am I? Who am I?
You could say it all depends.
Who am I? Who am I?
Where your question comes from
Determines where it ends.

I'm the riddle you can't answer, the vision you can't see,
The name you can't remember that just won't let you be.
I am the unthinkable, the word you cannot say,
The truth you can't imagine, the song you cannot play.

Who am I? Who am I?
Why do you want to know?
Who am I? Who am I?
They neither know nor own me
At the church where you go.

When you presume to name me, that name will come out wrong,
When you think you've found me, you'll find that I am gone.
Believing that salvation is a prize for you to claim,
You'll hear my silent laughter in the echoes of your pain.

Who am I? Who am I?
Look up at the starry sky.
Who am I? Who am I?
I'm the one who makes you wonder why.

I'm the dream that haunts you in the middle of the night,
I'm your deepest terror; I'm your brightest light.
I'm the one you live for; I'm the one you fear,
I am the Mystery: the reason you are here.

Like a lion caged am I this restless night,
Straining to thy presence only fly,
On winged feet through forest's starry light,
There gently on thy lap my head to lie,

That thou may'st quench the fire within me rages,
The thirst for thee that doth my soul inflame,
Thus drinking deep of thee, whom my heart craves, I
Recover human stature once again.

Then would I pour on thee, who art my treasure,
The loving sweet that thou dost richly measure,
In hope that in some manner, in some kind,
I may bring you joy, oh joy of mine!

For a lifetime this
squirrel hid his nuts so he could
never find them

Sole survivor, she
watched the ship go
down
without a trace.
Alone in the endless ocean
she struggled to keep from sinking
under the weight of despair and grief
forcing herself to think only
of staying alive.
No raft,
nothing.
Slowly she scanned the horizon
knowing she would find nothing
but she gasped, seeing
dorsal fins, big ones, approaching
slicing through the water
just beneath the surface
circling closer
closer.
Briefly, irrationally
she tried to think
of a reason
why she should be spared.
"I have a child at home
who needs me!"
There was only one scream
unheard--then
nothing but
the silent sea
and
blood in the water.

I don't know
how to stop kissing you
long enough to untangle
our breaths;

how to move even the
slightest distance from the magnet
of your skin,

how to feel anything but
your heart beating
within mine.

I do know
we are healing the world
with our love
and each kiss.

One piece of punctuation would
end this poem as it should:
a "." would make it good--
that is, at least I think it could

Some poets
   write poetry--
others
   create it.
  
But you
   breathe love
into poetry.

Fire in the sky,
bright as a million suns,
woke me from a dream this morning.
Brilliant blazing light
vaporized my night.
All of my nightmares started burning.

Burn away, burn away,
burn down the stronghold of my deepest fears!
Burn away, burn away,
burn away the prisons
of a million years,
burn away the shadows of my tears!

Deep within the flame
thunder calls my name
rumbling from the heart of life's power,
"I give this light to you
to see your vision through
I am the essence of your deepest desire
I am the spirit of your fire."

Burn away, burn away
burn down the stronghold of my deepest fears!
burn away, burn away,
burn down the prison of a million years,
burn away the shadows of my tears!
burn away the shadows of my tears!
burn away the shadows of my tears!

I've got too many questions and not enough answers.
Have you got some wisdom to share?
I'm far out at sea, no wind's blowing for me.
I'll take any truth you can spare.

"Three points of contact! Cover your bases!
Hedge all your bets, but shoot for the stars!
Follow your dream, but remember your zip code!
Keep some of it liquid--invest in gold bars!"

Wherever I look and whoever I ask,
Their words only lead me astray.
There must be a wise man, a really old wise man,
Who truly can show me the way.

Tossing and turning, sleep now eludes me.
I get up to wash off my face.
Stumbling into the bathroom, I flip on the light switch,
and the mirror blows up in my face.

There stands an old guy in the mirror before me!
Where is the face that was mine?
The wrinkled old guy looking back from my eyes
Says in my voice, "You'll be fine!"

What can he mean? And who can he be?
And what's going on around here?
He says, "One more thing: you don't need to worry--
You really have nothing to fear!"

"But how do I know if I'm doing what's right?"
He says, "Trust your heart and your soul.
You're doing that now, just keep on without doubt!
You're well on your way to be whole."

"But what if it doesn't work out like I planned?"
What if my dreams go astray?"
"Then make your dreams bigger than ever before,
Plant seeds and stay out of the way."

"To harness the power that's waiting to help you,
Feel free to dream big and dream bold
What do you want most to give to the world?
That no one be homeless or cold?"

"Whatever you want to change in the world--
You can! Just start where you are.
Keep singing your song 'til a friend sings along
Go ahead and shoot for the stars!"

"The very best piece of advice I can give:
Find something that's near to God's heart,
Bring more love and kindness into the world,
She'll help you right from the start."

"Maybe Jesus was just a guy who was sure
that love could make the world better.
Of course he was right and it still seems to help,
until it comes down to the letter."

"Now it's your turn to shine," the wise man concluded.
"Don't think that you can't, 'cause you do.
Give all that you've got in that warm heart of yours,
You'll find that big dreams do come true!"

When writing haiku
do you always count it out
on your fingers too?