A stag’s head erased per fess
Proper and Gules attired
Or differenced with a crescent

Ermine on a fess Sable
three mullets

Or Dexter
a stag regardant
Sable attired and hoofed

Or charged on the body
with an eagle
displayed
of the last gorged
with a collar of SS
and portcullises Gold

sinister a bay horse
bridled saddled and supporting a staff

Proper headed
Or with a banner
Vert fringed and charged with the letters
Y. L. D.
Gold meaning
York light-dragoons

never a need to say yes or no
just say not now instead
to avoid any decision
apply infinite revision
then crawl on back to bed

the words stick to and fro
following where they’re led
when a Harvard debater
says “I’ll catch ya’ later”
they really mean go drop dead

declarations come and go
everyday is condition red
I have not a clue
if what you say is true
your rhetoric is overfed

intellect is friend or foe
trapped deep in your head
words are often mis-used
context cannot be refused
if you believe you believe what was said

The radio
plays a different song
depending on your mood.
So I make you turn sour grapes
and suddenly Jimmy Eats World
hits the speakers.

I wait; nothing great ever happens.
Blame it on me,
as I drive under the tunnel.
You put the window down,
light a cigarette, and tell me,
"I put my soul into this art ****."

I don't know how to respond
to that statement, so I keep driving.
The smoke leaks out,
covering the night like a quilt.
You ask me, "Where'd you leave the drugs?"

I don't respond.
Tap my shoulder until I twitch
and say, "Cut it out."
But this time, you open the door,
step out to the road,
and ditch me to go watch "La La Land"
with your ex.

I go home and make a tuna melt.
The sunlight is fading and nothing
good is playing on TV.
The couch pulls out into a bed
and there I shut my eyes.

And I tumble into dreams,
dreams where you exist
to hold me up,
instead
of pulling me down.

Beautiful Water
Sweet Spring of Life
You are more than enough as Thee
Each moment  I touch
and retouch your beginning
Willingness to Peace
A moment in time
Shared
Memory
Trickling thru

An orchards flare
Of
Apples picked
Macintosh then
First Learnings
Of the Truth
Gladiolus on the Side
Beauty Freed for
A Mothers Love

Ladder
From
Sustenance
To Grace
Something Sweeter Now
Maple Syrup
Tapped
by Wooded Gate

Johnny
A Real Hero
Changed the World
Kindly
And with Love

One Thought
His Pure expression
Always the Same
Gods Good
Life
Guitar String
For the Earth

His Arrow
Split the Heart in Two
An Apple
Felled
To the Ground

Witness
To a World UNComing
Mournful Courage
Put Away
A  soldiers
Duty
Paid
Prince
of
Brotherhood

St James

You Now
Are Made

They call me 'fake',
Apparently too genuine for the masses to believe,
They grasp at any weapon,
To muddy the waters & deceive,

The Bible speaks of money,
And the lust it can incite,
They claw, destroy, froth at the mouth,
Morning, noon, & night.

How sad they cannot see,
More beauty in a single feather, fallen leaf upon the ground,
Simple treasures God created,
Worth more than any gemstone to be found.

Botox, fake *****, make-up by the gallon,
Ken & Barbie look-a-likes,
No thanks,
I'll take Marilyn & Jimmy Fallon.

Give me laugh lines, stories shared,
Later round a campfire, retold,
Calloused hands, scars, crevices,
Like vintage books,
Weather-worn, faded, old.

Nothing did we bring with us,
Nothing will we take,
Except our memories, cherished moments,
God's love, His promise,
His children, He will not forsake.

I'm just a simple artist,
Girl next door, no frills or bling,
Time, thoughtfulness, care, will win me over,
Surely not any earthly thing.

Point your fingers,
Kick dirt in my eyes,
The light within will stream through,
Despite all your vicious lies.

God is with me,
Whom shall I fear?
In time, He'll right all the wrongs,
I am his daughter,
Held precious, close, & dear.

The darkness came only to destroy,
But the light will forever prevail,
Jesus extends His hand upon a ship of gold,
Step on,
A new life...set sail.

I am the member of a one-man extremist army
That fights for the right to be (mis)understood.
I keep my gun tidy and all covered in a
crazy-*** knitted scarf.
I only shoot it when I’m alone in my head.
I always miss.

I fly below the human emotion radar and
Pray that someone will DVR my life
And binge watch it from the comfort of his/her dusty old couch,
Up in the attic, when nothing else is on TV and
Jimmy Fallon’s all tucked in his zebra pajamas.

I will climb the highest fountain
And whisper waterly in your transplanted ear:
“I am Vincent.. I am your yellow.. I am your ubiquitous sunflower..”

Just change the channel and the weather will do the same thing.
Bye bye bye, birdie! Bye bye bye, climate change!
I’m nothing but an echo’s echo.

She always had a way of standing above her circumstances.
Even in the way she dressed, it was like she was going somewhere better later. Yet above her logic and even above her poise she held within her a jar of emotion locked inside for the one worthy. The jar was hidden and no one knew just all that hid underneath the soles of her Jimmy Choo's. And my God she was brilliant, and my God she could make it on her own; but she didn't want to.

Jenny and Jimmy were the best of friends
spending long days together that would seem to never end
picking up sticks and swinging on trees
blowing dandelion flowers in the warm summer breeze

now jenny was a beauty dressed in little boy’s clothes
with her pony tail lose an' freckles splotched on her nose
and she couldn’t give a hoot what those other girls’d say
cause she liked to be with Jimmy and the games that he played

now Jimmy wasn’t smart, but he knowed what he loved:
skippin' rocks, catchin' frogs, and his baseball glove
and that silly freckled girl that would always hang around
the most pretty little flower that he ever had found

they would lie in the grass, staring up at the sky
hoping life would never change, as the world passed by
they would always have each other and their lush green wood
with the birdies and the trees and everything that was good

but the winter was a’comin and the kids went inside
and the flowers and grass and the leaves all died
and a perfect white snow covered up all the fun
and it silenced all the laughter and it froze up the sun

so they sat and they waited for what seemed like years
and so Jimmy got angry and Jenny found tears
and even as they hoped and they cried and they prayed
the winter wasn’t going, it had come along to stay

so then Jimmy got up and he put his boots on
and Jenny got her gloves and her scarf from her mom
they each waved goodbye to their nice warm home
and they set off in the night in the deep cold snow

the ice was holding tight to every step they would take
and the wind was blowing hard and it made their bodies shake
but they kept moving forward cause they knew they had to be
in the arms of each other beneath the big oak tree

Jenny saw him first as she came over the hill
and she ran so fast she forgot about the chill
and Jimmy was amazed as a smile found his face
as he lifted Jenny up in a strong warm embrace

and as the two of them smiled and they hugged and they swayed
the winter and the ice began to slowly melt away
and the two stayed together up until the very end
because Jenny and Jimmy were the best of friends.