Religion is the rail on societies skating rink ,
I implore you to lock your ankles and travel
to the knowledge of the unexplored brink* ....

The Atlanta Falcons have beaten the New Orleans Saints
Therefore , life is good , colors of the world are tinted
with abundant sunshine , the coming Dawn shall be impeccable ,
civility and courtesy bestowed to all , my gait becometh steadfast and true
Praise unto our " ***** Birds" , let us partake in copious celebration* ...

Dissimilar globes vying for growth -
and understanding , leaning toward -
peace yet sometimes colliding
Bonds controlled with a cellular switch
Integrity belays a most treacherous ridge
Todays indifference is a steel bridge crossing a dry
river bed , a silt laden delta crying for dredge
We forage unbeknownst with an eye for home
For a stick built wooden box in the burbs ,
heavily manicured , mowed , chemically treated
'green space' , the steel contraption at the end of the drive
with writs demanding a piece of our wage , prepared
feed , porcelain apparatus's , plastic cylinders that accept our ****** waste , pressurized water held in a copper tube at our beck and call
We are agents of the fall
A footnote in history , a useless biochemical monstrosity that once attempted to command the Earth , the Creator irradicated by it's
mechanical , computer driven societal cyborg sons and daughters* ...

I love peach schnapps on a cool front
porch , with a touch of November wind , wrapped
up in my old brown scarf
I go for Jaegermeister when I'm a bit peaked ,
a few Texas shots are just what the patient needed
I lean to whiskey when it's bitter cold and 'brisky' ,
a spiffy sock cap with a hot toddy or two work
right nifty* ...

Auburn mares and black stallions
A lonesome period ranch bathed in chicory
Dusk , field dust clinging to lower pasture , tractors
race with sundown , o'er checkerboard fields , 'cross
firebreaks , wooden fencerow and worked field furrow
Rolling persimmon braided shadow , cool blue palette
of the Evening Star , of the orange sky divide , of hay wagon ,
bale , callous and blister , Killdeer crying for the gibbous Moon ,
of black backgrounds that cradle a billion stars with Hill Country
Whippoorwill sonatas* ..

My Zebco 33 is part of my family
you see , on many a troubled day this
precision piece of machinery has helped
to foster great clarity , encouraged playful
lakeside banter , put many a panfish or two
in the creel as well
This old reel has ne'er skipped a beat in
thirty plus years , a faithful friend , riverbank
companion , an American workhorse in the blue
collar tradition , the 'go to friend' of a grateful fisherman* ...

Brown Winter grass hung like Spanish
moss , hardwoods dangled like Virginia Creeper
in planter boxes , a blue ocean laid placid , nary
one ripple , the earth was King , gravity a harlequin ,
songbirds whistled and foraged non-stop
Airplanes flew inverted
Rain flew into my sky
The engine winced , then died
Blue and red light flashed before my eyes* ....

O , the weight of thy recompense
In battle with brawny hardwoods ,
sovereign of twilight seas , invoking
ghost in the house of love , the mercy
of Old World Gods from resplendent kingdoms
Lantern of the midnight harvest
Celestial , storied , jaundice provider* ....

A Jack *** chortles at it's own reflection
Morning frogs join the odd celebration
October Pines scrub in quickening , windy
salvos , Autumn curt Sun battles wispy cloud cover
in a spirited game of recognition
Amberdeen beeves on the morning call
Steel buckets , log chain , tie wire and tin ,
tick treble notes in the pursed Fall breath
Scarecrows come alive , Gods hand painted-
leaves begin to shine
Shine piedmont morn
Shine in cool , new day virtuosity
Commanding the heart of your native , grateful son*....

Sunlit , steaming , cracked parking lots in between Friday rains , dumpster drains form acrid , putrid pools , rank reminders carried into open windowed non air condition dwellings , children play in sprinkling rain for relief , city trolleys crash watery asphalt depressions ,
homeless shelter neath the awnings of boarded storefronts , cyclone fence -barbed
wire runs in every direction , emergency vehicles , taxis , suburbanites head for
their destinations
Men light one cigarette with another
Women repass with their neighbors from front porches
A forgotten district filled with quiet desperation* ....

Walk into a room where people are laughing -
only to watch silence ensue , you've become an issue
Your neighborhood dealer 'cutting you a deal' on something
killing you , pupils fixed and dilated , the
machinery is running out of gas , waiting on a
view from the Moon when the pang of death passes
The picture loses the Sun as reason is fractured , morality collapses ,
hope is trashed as your troubled heart slowly relaxes* ...

The breath of the world lifting her environs
to travel , a mother releasing her child to
take it's inaugural steps , dandelion , pine ,
silver maple inner-programmed to dominate the
earth , webbing collected in dying estates , contrails
on the wind as the windmills quicken their pace , this pheromone that programs the day , seasoned air controlling our whims , fledgeling sparrows on precarious limbs* ...

A '63 green Plymouth was a wonderful
thing , trips to thrill hill , bee lining to Florida
with music on the AM
Push button transmission , 160 mph on the speedometer ,
immaculate cloth and leather interior , **** and Span tires ,
Growling highway rocket , you were one of a kind* ...

Why must we attempt the interpretation of another's song , our minds are filled with unique music if we would just let go , let the heart play along , let the soul solo , let harmony free fall* ...

Post-war digs line Locke Street
Kudzu , streetlights , lamplight
Critters and skeeters , front porch
smokers , stray cats , brown bats
Concrete sidewalks , sacks of One Stop
chicken sandwiches , cold beer and
L&M; cigarettes
A doobie on the wood porch , a
brand new FM love song , arpeggios flying
into space , no regard for the work
week rat race , a smooth young face without
the first sign of a wrinkle , happy and single
A swig of 'Mist , a midnight ride to an all
night 'catfish expedition' on Saturday night* ..

A vow to bask in the wisdom of Betelgeuse , free of physical Earths bridle , discoveries chalice brimmed ad infinitum* ....

I dislodge the remnants of stars
The remains of brilliant men before me
The as yet unrecognized cure for cancer
Riddles only the deceased can answer* ...

Moonlight pantomime , tempestuous appointments beg fruition , carnal figurines performing agin searing , thin ambient air in misted flesh
Parched lovers recompensed , wailing secret vows , clarity a slave to confusion , accentuation , shameless surrender* ....

If we could only vote by cell phone ,
Lo and behold , the problems we might solve* ...

Trinkets and what-nots work full moon sorcery on lonely nights , recalling the past both good and bad , staring from shelves without -
blinking , knowing full well what their prey are thinking
Waiting for tonights victim to hit the hay
Inducing nightmares , devilment , sanity held at bay , logic for ransom , Colonel Nutcracker so debonair and handsome , waiting for the final candle to be snuffed , to gather with your comrades on the 'Dutchmasters Cigar box ...  Night of tomfoolery and mischievous happenstance , of devious aim , and unscrupulous circumstance* ...

Call me the artistic balloon sailing creativities breeze
My beloved Mary Ellen , the string tethering the dreamer
to realities moorings* ....

Black and white television was a world
all its own , easy to walk away from ,
devoid of the color red quite common in
'68 , protesters beaten on the streets , men
of peace slain pursuing their dream , straw huts
set ablaze , the flash of cannon and martyrdom , annihilation
Blood was the same color as asphalt
The starving people of the world were addressed-
right after they were photographed
We were different from all the other countries
So we were taught* ...

One hour prior to sundown
a Tiffany lamp sky caught a
wandering eye , warmed a resilient
heart , the finale of a dull day became timely art ,
kaleidoscopic colors like fireworks
in July , a magical sigh from a granite
gent over such a brilliant site , it made him
glad to be alive

'Brownleaf Chestnut giants rattle like Spanish dancers , maracas crackle in the changing wind , do perform auburn 'Lover of Autumn' before the plenteous , frosted daughter of Winter , before Sun sprinkled dale , fig , lilac
Atop the red-rock spillway , as the piping martins , the whippoorwill
question , the wild goose direction
Voice of the swallow , of tenderness and regal griffin
Coppering , flint sparked showers upon the grindstone , mesmerizing  
twilight orbs , polished gems , starlight Guatemalan priestess* ....

His gift was liquid melody
It collected at the brow , trickled
down his face , splattered onstage ,
it soaked the score page , invited
his following to engage , provided a
river of thought , he shared freely of his
complicated mind then suddenly he was gone* ...

So* ....

To catch a lavender butterfly would-
secure my place in history , speed
of upmost notoriety
A gold medallion leaving a red impression
at my muscular neckline , most fleet of foot
Olympian of all time
Alas winged marvel , thy record ne'er broken ,
for I've grass waiting for the mower , trash cans
seeking the road , Sunday newsprint to explore*...

Silver nighttime clouds laced in amber trim
A dabble of Moonshine with twinkling gems
Caroling Thrushes tell of mirth and good season
The 'Song of Showers' speak as a thousand carillons with good reason
Twitch'n vane , twixt north then east ,
'tis the call of uncertain September breeze* ...

I see a pattern developing ..A small group of people that comment and like my work .. It means the world to me and I love you for it !

Nutmeg firma , fractured window abstractions -
of quivering pools , of desire abating thirst
Life giver , abundant wavering ripples finding -
grassy shore , tinseled in gold , copper , bronze -
precious metals , beads of sweat traveling rippled flesh , every -
desperate breath filling life's circuitry till its
conclusive end
Foot trails laced in dandelion , purple wire ,
terra-cotta stone , marble and granite
The birth of monuments riddled o'er the fescue -
expression , Bluebird followers , curt winged
purveyors of decay , August clod bank rows , barbed -
wire orderly plats , distant wavers of unrelenting sun-glow facing -welcome centurion lodges

Watercolor grass , growing dark
Roof of the earth , growing dark , growing dark
Rain wrapped in perfume whisper
Quiet room , ambient shadows , growing dark
Ever darker* ....

White Oaks display tenuous longevity
Tethered to red dirt , moss populated
living testaments , etched in black decay
like tombstones marking an ending location
What man did fire in anger from this hillside
Fire for daily bread , wracked in hunger , steeped
in the unknown , slighted by his brethren , ill
recompensed , foolhardy leg deep sagebrush
foraging lonely wilderness outposts , a foreign beast
racked with chilblain , feverish at deaths gate
Hickorys cry golden kin in frosted wind , red inquiries
mingled in dark earth decay , vermin infested rot ,
pungent pile reeking recompense , scavenger trolled
dead carpet , crying in fog drenched stupor , collecting
in leaf well , motif sunbeam , signaling the birth of midday
shine neath Maple umbrellas
Beside talking waters , ravenous , diamond temptress , committing Summers deceased corruption to the sea
Mosaic sands , evergreen curiosities , glass creek- boulder
kaleidoscopes , lapping shorelines , mud foaming froth
hiding unknown depth
Laughing , forever cascading artery without mercy
Teeming with pan , bream , perch and sturgeon
Alligator shell scavenger , water moccasin , consumption
Pine labyrinths , sunless Fern gardens , Snake , Dew , Red berry
briarpatch mazes , rolling countryside without fence , encaged in Crescent Moon , lantern fly obscurity with voracious Aedes vampires , humid , blistering night without end* ...

What looms beyond the fresco
the eye presents* ..

Love becomes the ******* child of collusion , empty rooms scream , episodic trips to the window of the normal world
Arms that contain heightened emotion
Enter every bad day , hurt -
dilated wave of ****** naked admission
in the cold , laughter at the ugly middle child
going nowhere , useless musical jobless freak
A pillow to put our heads upon , rusted steel to scrape
the dog **** off , a servant to perform the will of family
when their 'laborious' day is done
The über Christian brother , the spiteful mother
The hateful sister , the self shot dead father
Thinking continues
Panic ensues , the pills go down , the lights go out
The accepting bed understands
Sleep , the fair weather friend of absolution* ..

Dead grass crunches beneath our feet
Wild onion rules the breeze
Winter arbors lay exposed and barren
Gravel roads are hard packed , abandoned
Capricious Blackbirds hold their power line
perch , day runs quiet across the frozen earth* ..

Box Elder arms brace for the wrath of the December wintertide monster , naked and forlorn the defenseless struggle onward , Rock bass shine like polished silver in sluggish , crystalline waters
Lakesongs and velvet moss with dancing Birch motion , Crows begin to quote each note verbatim with rehearsed , telltale emotion
Creek rocks command the jetty , foundation and cattle harbors
Morning brooks continuously speak of a hidden , silent struggle* ...

I find her countenance visible in the
trees
Autumn gratuities of windswept -
beautiful leaves
Simple southern cuisine by the
maplewood hearth
Forever inquisitive if we had enough
Quietly singing hymns , perfecting her cookery
in a simple country kitchen well into dark* ....

Practicing my greetings and goodbyes
Working on retorts , concerned looks and smiles
Reaching for a handshake with the goof in the mirror
Thespian Monday mornings worthy of Oscar consideration

Dip your nib then make heads turn
Corral the truth as the page begins to burn
Hold the pen like a dart
Send it flying center mark

Piano music on Friday nights
German Chocolate cake for dessert ,
Candle light
Sugary , Plum wine with Cherry -
tobacco in a favorite pipe
Faraway lightning in Alabama skies
Pecan brittle , Storybooks , Fairytales
Gin Rummy , carrying young'uns to bed
The final smoke from the front porch rail -
in the company of a million stars
Trying to work a bit of magic on a red guitar
Time is a rambler indeed , a loner , impatient -
locking eyes with no one
One last song as the wind precedes the storm -
once more
Settle in for another day
A night then a few more years
So forth and so on* .....

The sound of utensils being stored
'just so'
A second cup of joe
A post card Dusk soon to follow
Red sky traveling West
Fir Trees begin to shadow our
little 'Brick Nest'
Hummers relish their final feast
The Harvest Moon takes over the painted East* ...

His one shot incubus
Delirium tremen instigation
Where we all fall through Hell together then pretend we're unchanged
Promising young candles facing the rain
Finding one's passion mixed with vile in the bottom of a trash can
Perpetuating 'next door neighbor normality' the next day once again* ...

Little Riham , I pray thee a peaceful , nurtured new life
Free from the World of So-Called Kings and their strife
With Heavenly calm for blue eyes to reach , explore
Garnished with eternal love at Allah's golden door

Young Ahmed , I pray ye abound in light
Counting the stars on blessed nights
Pray thee carefree friendships with vivid imagination
Held by loving arms in the bough of redemption

An empty pop bottle filled with ants
A Fall tomato plant blooming as if its children
even have a chance
A cigarette pack book marker in a Gideon Bible
Bits of blue sky laden with thunderheads
Shellshocked warrior discerning life from death
Shoot me while I sleep so the checks will continue
Remove my face from evils menu
Throw the oxycontin into the lake
To mingle with mud in a watery grave
Call me Wednesday longing for Thursday
Two a.m. contemplative over the dawn
Refuse strewn by wild dogs
Forage did I in hopes of sanity as do the midnight hogs

Squally weather evolves into 'Life's Saccharum Wine' , dripping from grateful leaves and every vine
Seasoned with tangy , Foothill tree and honey- flower alike
Forest patrons cull their mouths with all their might , a parched countryside becoming drunk with delight
To partake in natures vintage from blessed Earthen cask this
rain cooled September night

We created fire
But flame is uncontrollable
It fed selfishly till it's sustenance -
was gone
No amount of hope on the wind-
could carry even one precious spark forward
Tis nothing but a fiery memory as I
now cautiously travel onward* ...

The creek partitioned the fertile lowland
The river-road split the pasture land above
The Conestoga linked the east with their western kin
But the railroad divided men by the color of their skin

Filtering pertinent nighttime voice from babble
Rolling Thai stick , taking in a needed Sunday
Checking this wrist watch out of pure habit
Tapping a beat on a rocker arm
Admiring two Oaks with the Moon at their back in Rico small town charm
Blowing smoke rings into space
Rocking with the evening world at my -
own pace
Katydids jailed on window screen
I'm in touch with such scenery  
Loner , abstract clouds trapped in sunset
We've become companions tonight , headstrong , friendless
Cascading revelry , musical and relentless

Elizabeth Taylor perfume battled a spent .38 caliber
shell casing , ten o'clock coffee singed on the eye , country music -
playing on a cable station with the side door opened to -
the March night
Radios crackling , blinding red and blue lights
Curious neighbors , howling dogs , quiet chatter
Dad became a routine suicide on a police blotter* ...

Feeling borrowed , colorless
Thumbing through a Family Bible
Like pressed flowers , ancient stories
long forgotten
A black and white lady with a sad
expression , eyes that've lost their
direction
I wonder what she would say about 2016
The same thoughts I'd have on 2063
Did she write rhyme to keep her mind nimble
If rain was understanding was it ever enough to fill a thimble
Hopefully my picture will provide temporary diversion for a future family member