r: Poems

309 · May 2020

r May 2020

Listening
to the news
is like dreaming
a bad dream
but I hear
it’s going to be
a banner year
for roses, lilies
chrysanthemums
and soybeans.

302 · Jun 2020

Damn’t dog

r Jun 2020

****’t dog

I saw the sun set
between my toes
and the moon rise
with just one eye
while my mutt Daisy
looked at me sideways
and sighed like maybe
she thinks I’m lazy
and I thought, ****’t
it’s a shame when a man’s
dog makes him feel bad.

295 · Jun 2020

The smoke burns

r Jun 2020

The smoke burns

Remember when we burned
down the federal fences
and let a black family in
a white house built by slaves -

man, the fire was hot
and the smoke smelled like freedom -

but that was then, and here we are
not so much later, the rails are made
of iron like the fists of a dictator -

the smoke burns my eyes, man -
and now - I can’t breathe.

#icantbreathe

292 · Sep 2019

A fissure, not a metaphor

r Sep 2019

A fissure, not a metaphor

Sleep,
a phantom
sea, adrift
on a wave
light years
away, awake
way past 4
in the dark shade
of her absence,
my loss, a fissure,
not a metaphor
for a fault,
just my heart
and all
its vagaries.

289 · May 2020

Shrouded fields on a memorable day (Repost: 5/25/2020)

r May 2020

Shrouded fields on a memorable day (Repost: 5/25/2020)

Did you see them take the green fields
one by one, now line by line on hills in echelon?

Still, holding ground held holy by their sons;
no longer marching to the smoke and drum.

Where bugler called the day to final rest,
now silence grows like lichen on the stones.

For those who gave their all at our behest,
our memories alone will not atone.

Do you see the fires burning at a distance,
and more hallowed ground broken day by day?

Each new stone laid a fading reminiscence;
each new boquet soon fading into gray.

What better way to honor sacrifice
than to pause and speak their names aloud.

Until the gods of war are pacified;
until our flag no longer serves as shroud.

In memory of those who gave their all.
5/30/2016
And again, lest we forget. 5/29/17
Memorial Day 5/28/2018
Remember to remember. 5/27/2019
Remember-5/25/2020

#memorialday

288 · Oct 2013

Ode to the Code

r Oct 2013

Ode to the Code

-- .-. .-.-.-   -- --- .-. ... .   -.. .. -..   -.. .- ... ....   .- -. -..   -.. --- -
.-- .... .. .-.. .   -- .-. ... .-.-.-   -- --- .-. ... .   .--. .-.. .- -.-- . -..   .-- .. - ....   .... . .-.   -.-- --- ..-   -.- -. --- .--   .-- .... .- -
-- .-. .-.-.-   -- --- .-. ... .   .... .- -..   -. --- -   .-   -.-. .-.. ..- .
.-- .... .- -   -- .-. ... .-.-.-   -- --- .-. ... .   .-- .- ...   .-. . .- .-.. .-.. -.--   ..- .--.   - ---
.... .- -..   .... .   -.- -. --- .-- -.   .... .   .-- --- ..- .-.. -..   .... .- ...- .   ..-. .-.. --- .-- -.
..- .--.   - .... .   ... - .- .. .-. ...   - ---   .... . .- .-.   .... . .-.   -- --- .- -.
- .... . -.   -... .- -.-. -.-   .- --. .- .. -.   - ---   .--- --- -   .. -   -.. --- .-- -.
.- -. -..   -.. .- ... ....   .- -. -..   -.. --- -   .. -   .- .-.. .-..   .- .-. --- ..- -. -..

r

Another of the lost ones. Posted 4 Apr 2013

280 · Oct 2020

The sad dance of fire

r Oct 2020

The sad dance of fire

When I was young
I slipped out of the tub
stinking clean as
the moon and the suds
in the crack of my ***
slipping out the back window
with my pants and boots
buck naked and brave
and my Daddy’s daddy’s
daddy’s knife tucked between
my teeth, but lonely and sad
because it’s all that I had
except for the twenty
that I’d saved
for the ten hour ride
from the bus station
to the recruiter, but alive
hoping my Mother, when shaking
my quilt out that morning
after my last night
remembered my down
in the sunlight
because I didn’t sleep there
and I remember thinking
if I don’t alight here again
take all that is left
of my memory out
and work it loose
from the bone with a thumb
the way you taught me to
clean a fish until all that remains
is a fleeting thought and toss it
in one motion the sad dance of fire.

242 · Feb 2020

Kansas in her eyes

r Feb 2020

Kansas in her eyes

Her eyes are every color
under the sun, and then some-

mostly flecks of golden
kansas wheat and earthy brown-

and when they are green
- i've seen mountains grow
and valley scenes below

-sometimes gray as if they know
winter is coming, slow

-but when they're blue, so blue-
water wells at the fate of the sioux,
and the broken bird's egg, a dog
with three legs, and a sky sky-blue

- mostly, she has kansas in her eyes.

Originally posted 9-28-2014. I miss the hell out of you wherever you are, and love you more.

241 · Jul 2013

Take Me Hardly

r Jul 2013

Take Me Hardly

Take me hardly
Take me away

236 · Sep 2020

The insignia of dreams

r Sep 2020

The insignia of dreams

Fear is a stingy businessman
who will sell you a plot
for your loved ones, little angels
for your children, copper coins
for their eyes while at night
a million thoughts will appear
at your window clear as day
like someone with a lamp
a sack, a clock and a map
in the darkness black as a bat
a boot, a cap with the insignia
of dreams that die in the palms
of your hands like a wound
that won’t heal and turns green
like a fish, like jade, wet moss
growing on stones above graves.

233 · Aug 2020

A dark wind

r Aug 2020

A dark wind

Asleep on the deck
of burning ships
whose prows leave a wake
behind like a slow death

I see the white backs
of strange women, sea widows
breathing like low thunder
on the other side of some river

They dream of ghost sailors
aboard ships, and pull the sheets
between their legs, like a flag
flying in the fog, a dark wind.

232 · Jun 2020

Pandemonium

r Jun 2020

Pandemonium

We burn the pillows of the sick
as if it’s some sort of magic
against death, lie in our own beds
we’ve made holding our breath
hoping for light to return
as darkness blankets the earth
tossing and turning in dread
dreaming only of pandemonium.

230 · Mar 2020

Shipwreck of love

r Mar 2020

Shipwreck of love

There is a bluff
overlooking
the shipwreck
of love, steeped
in dreams best
kept in sleep’s
fog, shattered
and abandoned
on the rocky
hard shallow
depths below.

229 · Sep 2020

A long gone breath

r Sep 2020

A long gone breath

It’s so quiet out back tonight
there’s not the slightest sound
of an earthbound critter to be heard
but if I close one eye and **** ;)
my left ear just right (the right one
is shot now, it was my shooting ear)
I can hear the last dying gasp
of dead starlight from a long gone
breath still breathing softly on my neck

211 · Mar 2020

Nasal spray for a soul cold

r Mar 2020

Nasal spray for a soul cold

I could
if I thought
it would
do any good
~ lay my head
on the temple steps
~ like an addict
getting a fix
by a fire-station
~ but I know that
there’s no
Narcan
for the soul
~ when it’s OD’d
and grown cold
and oh so old.

210 · Jun 2020

The dogwood’s bark

r Jun 2020

The dogwood’s bark

I find it odd
that my old dog
growwwls
and lifts her ears
when she hears
a pine cone fall
somewhere out there
on my neighbor’s
forty acres
but pays no mind
to the dogwood’s
bark in the quiet
of the night
out in my front yard.

Daisy is a strange old hound.

206 · Dec 2019

Tidal blues

r Dec 2019

Tidal blues

There are waves
that say goodbye
and waves of light
on darkest nights
and waves that sing
melancholy songs
that make me want
to lay me down
beside the dunes
and listen to
those tidal blues.

198 · May 2020

Slow road crossing dog

r May 2020

Slow road crossing dog

Another night of oarless
boats adrift in white caps
and slow rolling waves
we hold our breath
like the clouds hold the wind
trying not to breathe on the trees
and Death changes his tune
so the songs all sound the same
turning up the radio
in his black Coupe de Ville
spinning his wheels, showing off
those silver mud *****
and shiny swan on the hood
running red lights and stop signs
all around town, up to no good
circling the block one more time
looking for a slow road
crossing dog to run down
I swear, where are the cops
when you need one to stop
trouble dead in its tracks.

#coronavirus

193 · Apr 2020

The depth

r Apr 2020

The depth

I have dreamed
of escape
a way out, a forever
ladder stretching
to the clouds
steps counted aloud
along the planks
just off the prow
a pointed bow
towards starboard
before a final wave
to shore, a short
stretch the length
of a dock, the depth of
a drowned-out shout.

180 · Jan 2020

Nights roll slowly

r Jan 2020

Nights roll slowly

Some days pass by fast like a flash
of white, a young woman
crossing her legs on a park bench

while some nights roll slowly
like dark stockings a widow takes off
at the end of her mourning

but tonight is as black as *******
draped over the light by the bed

a silhouette of a lady in the glow
of a cigarette before morning.