How does it feel to be you
To walk, talk, smile
Just like you do

To enter a room
And have everyone stare at you

Whispering your name
Between their teeth,
Touching it with their hearts,
Making love to you

While you unaware of what's happening
Just smiling, waving
And staring

And later at home
Breaking down in your bed
Weeping, and hating

Why can't you see,
how amazing you are?

young men drinking
                                   young men not thinking
                                                        ­                    
this is the scene
outside the pubs on a weekend night
they pick fights with anyone
it doesn't matter who
the dutch courage is well imbued

                                                               a king-hit
                                                                ­               a cowardly
                                                                ­                                  strike
an innocent bystander
lies in the gutter
with a split open head
the pavement
stained with smatterings
of blood

                                                young men drinking
                                                                ­                    young men not thinking

of the bystander's
damaged brain

dog bites man;
man bites back

dog turns round
faces the man
and dog barks:
"Do not bite -
it is not man nature;
besides, your canines
are not sharp
Now I will bite again
where it hurts most
so you'll never forget
dog nature"

dog bites man;
man runs
like a match-stick man

In the folds of the hills
and hollows
of my mind,
I remember a time
when you were free.
You were of the sweetest color
known to me.

No man could catch you;
I'm not even sure we tried.
It was such a sight
just to watch you
spread your wings.

Like a bird
you could fly
circles so high,
blue as the sky,
and free as the wind.

I knew someday
you would leave,
fly away,
no longer free;
my mountain bird
on a breeze.

r ~ 6/30/14