Giraffe

This lumbering power forward    
with knots on his head    
from bumping the rim        
has a tongue like Michael Jordan’s    
              
You were recruited
to play on the team
with our passing pigmy point guard
not to date his little sister

And that's the long and short of it

Copyright  
Richard L Ratliff
check my books Amazon.com/author/richardratliff

Dandelion wine        
                      

When you are dead and buried
Do your thoughts and memories bubble to the surface?
                        Feed the grass?
Do dandelions fluff and carry your ideas with the wind
Mental pollen irritating and pollinating the world
Impregnating others with your mental seeds
                 Both weeds and flowers
Do your thoughts continue and repeat a cycle
            Seed, growth, bloom, and seed again

Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff

In the wind          

In the wind that ruffles through the trees
I can find thoughts of you whispering to me  
Memories like a great novel, love songs and themes
The morning sun works its way through the tree leaves
Like a taxi weaving through traffic
The breeze delivering a warming kiss to remind me of you
Blowing through the garden of my mind
all the flowers bow to the power of your memory
You tickle the hair on my arms, give me goose bumps
But it is not you; it's just the wind
And the sun makes your shadow disappear    

Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff

A smal book of illustrated poems in my new book
Animal Crackers
Now on Amazon.com/author/richardratliff
My quirky humor available for all
Order now help a starving poet

Your words    

Your words are the fingers
That massage my aches away
Soothing the worries of the day

Your wisdom the arms
That hold my world together
No matter my mental weather

Your laughter the drug
That cures my emotional infection  
And becomes my new addiction

Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff

Erase          

How could I have missed it for so long  
Living an Ozzie and Harriet scripted life
Unable to see the reality
Long missing forgetting ignoring overlooking

How can someone erase memories
Make just a bunch of washed out snapshots
Alcohol is good at disinfecting things
It can clean a surface or erase memories

She left me those snaps shots
No usable video
How many things were wiped clean? Sanitized
Sterilized to black and white no color

I don't know, so much has been overwritten

Stumbling in the dark with a small candle
Only now seeing touched up photos
Why have these past memories been blotched

Were those formative years sanitized?
Only to be revealed at the end
Still bitter about the ending ones

Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff

Pillow

You have been the pillow
I lay my weary soul upon
A soft cradle for my woes  
Conforming to my needs              
And nurturing my dreams  

You are the night light
That reassures a fearful mind
Giving guidance in the dark
Keeping demons at bay
While guiding in angels

The blanket that warms  
And comforts me    
That soft cocoon of love  
Protecting my tired wings  
For tomorrow's flight

You are the morning dew    
That cleanses a new day
That kiss of morning light
That offers promise  
For all that lies ahead

Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff