Colours bold and bright
Rainbows bring you lots of luck.

*~Marian~

Night wears colours very dark.*

*~Marian~

Carefully shuffle
your fingers
across my scrambled,
multi-colored faces,
for the puzzling mystery
of this simple, three-dimensional complexity
anxiously waits to be solved.

Expressing myself
frightens untapped happiness
stolen by regret.

If enough won't join you
and the machine is too big
use your wits
obliterate the rust
snap the fulcrum
grind the gears
and walk away
I think I just found a way

If I ever commit
suicide, it will be to
the sound of Swan Lake’s
finale, but all the rest of
the audience around me will
only have heard the pas de trois
and so will be confused
why the dancing swan
suddenly shot itself.

The poet fears failure
& so she says
"Hold on pen--
what if the critics
hate me?"
& with that question
she blots out more lines
than any critic could.

The critic is only doing his job:
keeping the poet lonely.
He barks
like a dog at the door
when the master comes home.

It's in his doggy nature.
If he didn't know the poet
for the boss,
he wouldn't bark so loud.

& the poet?
It's in her nature
to fear failure
but not to let that fear
blot out

her lines.

I saw there, in a darkened room, in a corner
something...
curious, I venture closer
not sure yet what I see but it echoes of pain
many stories were hiding in the dark
and to me they were whispering
asking if I would but listen a while
it is frightening in here I know, said the voice
but the absence of light can be your friend
when in darkness you cannot see me
for I have been here so long I am but a hideous shadow
yet do not be afraid, just listen
I listened for so long
days on end I sat in the black gaining wisdom
when the final tale was told I pondered in silence for some time
finally I stood, bent down and picked up the piece of me
and took us out into the sunlight

Even after decades
When music touches my soul
I feel her alive
In the rhythm that resonates
I hear her sing
In the silence that surrounds
The melody croons
But in the dark audience
I feel
My mother wraps her arms
Around me
In a warm embrace
As though I was still
Safe in her womb!

In that moment of symphony
I cherish her
Deep within my heart
I enliven her
In the pools of my eyes
I see her smile
In the thin air
Only if I could touch her back
In the way she caresses my thoughts