It’s more a greyness
And inch by inch the the greyness spreads
Covering the sallowed ground
It’s inch by inch then foot by foot
Steady aiming at my heart

But I found color
And even as the world is doomed
I find a flower blooming
A light that shows in darkness
The colors shine

my favorite color
something beautiful in this ugly world
give me any hope
show me I can dream
this life is bigger than it seems

And no space there ever could contain
Even planets move to sing your name
as if the music made us
Loving you where words can only fall behind
Loving you outside the scope of time

I was seven
Sitting in a sandbox
Playing with words

And a kid would scream
"Tag, you're it"
And I would bleed
Because I was

I was drunk
Delivering my daily diatribe
About symbolism, and feeling, and energy, and

Love

And the cop would pull me over
Because I was driving in two lanes
Talking to a ghost
Who couldn't understand

I told him
"I've been waiting for you,
And I didn't even know it"

Mr authority who I deplore
Was inspired by the poet
He let me go
Just like I did before


And later I thought
How senseless it really was
To be sensible

Just like the number of the stars,
our days on Earth are unknown to each of us.
But if we shine our light on others' souls,
When we pass, we live on in their hearts.

pony-tailed playmate
head tucked in her shirt
gazing steadily down
at her toes in the dirt

chaos tiptoes around her
naive oblivion
journeys in far away lands
just west of the meridian

watercolor fairy tales
bleeding outside the lines
unaware of the danger
unaware of the signs

let me sit with you, darling
in the dampened flower beds
and paint a new world
for us in our heads

Her crane glass neck is long like a rose stem,
Her porcelain skin glows like neon cream,
Her red curls show age by growing blonde highlights,
as if the light inside has peeked through the stain glass,
and the sun has reflected off the brass bones of a lantern,
made of crystal and centuries of baptism,
and joyous clamor,
like a spirit dressed in a woman's pulchritude.
This is my daughter's mother.
Yet, i play a lonely hobo,
lamenting the moon's glow under the warmth of the sun.

-cb

The mist on the pond.
nervous ducks, bird sanctuary.
new life, new things, tree blossoms.
ducklings, just two, very small.
a triad of flyers, carrying some spirit.
an encroaching of day, apologetic.
pleasure of green leafy chutes.
enamel bird song on silver air.
the glowing quiet.
fat squirrel guards the stump.
mirror of my steps, a hollow thud.
while i walk without a shadow,
breathing hard.

- cbrander

matchstick novelty,
a lake,
soccer,
beautiful hairy arm
from a young man
blonde from sun
smelling sweet like
watermelon laundry lotion
like the sun, like youth.
The tangled hair
laid out across
the wrinkled hexes
of this forgetful cuddle arm...
thrown back into a blue sky
i once was.
i am
as a young ape,
with purple on the inside
of his eyelids
sinking flowers of falling asleep
orifice after orifice
senseless messages
to oneself
wondering if the nothing man
does right by my daughter.
Or, if no other line
could draw the blinds
on my secret world of laying still

foggy memories
the sound of tall grass
water droplet color   drop of water color
my mind
ready for sleep.

-cbrander