Speak , preach , sing o'er the valley
O' tabitha hardwoods
With stately pines reaching for the heavens ,
Cast thy likeness across the placid waters , beside -                                           wire-grass boulevards , along the morning                                                             ploughland , 'neath red maple carpets , sycamore
narrow and Appalachian hillside* ...

The mound is disturbed
The ants are perturbed
They're off to re-establish -
familiar trails , hopefully , dutifully and without fail
Biological robots that fumble an mumble , gripe and grumble
Chemical cues of hunger and -
order
They stop for breakfast to mingle -
and loiter
Rebuilding the castle brick after brick
Bound for the forest stick upon stick ...

Her skin appeared prematurely wrinkled with
anguish filling her face
She dragged a menthol cigarette , staring into space
Her teeth were decayed , a cheap radio played
She tapped her pinky finger to Travis Tritt
She wore a Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt , she openly
railed against Obama and the "clandestine government"
Her friends were truckers , pensioners and the
local jobless
She was chatty with the boiled peanut man ,
her friend on the cell phone , anyone willing to
strike up a conversation* ...

A legal pad with copious notes , dates
and chicken scratch
A room filled with diplomas ,
whatnots and balderdash
Here I sit in 2017
The minds boil has become inflamed
The second child declared insane
Clutching white flesh in the midst -
of the fall
Blank stares , nervous ticks and quite abnormal
Silly grins and childish games
The afternoon thespian now fully engaged
Tugging at his lip , wiping his brow ,
rolling brown eyes , wearing a frown
A punctual ghost to pander my folly
A toast to the woe begotten , the disillusioned -
and the melancholy* ..

A swizzle at dusk , a Wild Turkey rush  , the crunch of frozen grass , the songbird hush , the Sun setting fast in the 'Bama blush
Oaks racked in the throes -
of numbing Winter
Morbid , gray day dreamscapes
The call to dinner

An Atlanta stove ,
Where coffee warms
A brass nutcracker , a bucket of pecans
Windows drizzled , the house would whistle
Columbus grits and country ham
Buttermilk biscuits with peach jam* ...

A lover , a mother , a friend
A teacher , a healer of skinned knees ,
stubbed toes and wounded hearts
She was a royal blue ceiling that replaced the -
chalky morn
Tea roses surrounded in thorn
Days filled with laughter under -
the August sun
Her children's muse
I wept alone for Linda when I heard the news* ...

Night is a black and white movie
with an ever so subtle moonbeam
An orb-weaver to occupy my
thought
A curious bird with a midnight
song
The tapping of a rocker begging
for lyrics
Two a.m. airplanes , nostrils
engulfed in wisteria
Dew shining 'neath street lamps
A crying Epiphone through a
Vox amp