Seven minutes in heaven
A game kids use to play
I got my turn one warm summer day
It was meant as a joke
Just kids being mean
Sweet Susie Cooper
When I was only thirteen
I felt sorry for her, locked in a closet with me
The geek, the dork, full of anxiety
Six long minutes together
Alone in the dark
Then from out of nowhere I felt a spark
Just before the door opened
Sweet Susie, She kissed me
And broke my heart

A kiss is a taste of a union
that may or may not be.
Two souls dipping toes
in love's waters.
Before diving into its sea.
I've kissed you,
I know,
we were meant to be.
I've tasted
your soul,
Now swim with me.

Today may shape tomorrow.
 But today, 
Cannot, change yesterday.

Today is short.

A wasted today
will soon be gone.

Another yesterday,
We can't change.

Live today with purpose,
with aspirations for tomorrow.

and there will be no more regrets,
 for yesterdays.

The road, a cold and lonely place.
Where a man can feel his heart break and spirit soar in equal measure.
Those long desolate Highways heading west.
Heading  nowhere  into distant mountain ranges that seem always out of reach.
Where do they go, I momentarily wonder, then know, as the road now leads to valleys below.
The ebb and flow,
the high and the low.
That is the road.
Where a man can lose himself,
yet find his soul.

I want to touch you in a way,
that's playful, but not play.

That's gentle, yet firm.
Not taught, but learned.

 Through the desire to love
and be loved too.

Through the fear of exposing my all to you.
And the joy in trusting you've  shown  all too.

So come let us play this game of love. 
Let our eyes speak of things our tongues do not dare. 

Eternity lies in a lovers stare,
so join me within this gaze of love.

Where we can no longer pretend we don't care.

Hot skin on cool sheet

love breathes between kisses.

Limbs twist and tangle

moving towards a culmination of the physical

guided by the spiritual.

Love breathes between kisses.

Love breathes between lovers.

Love breathes

  you are the breath in me.

Sunrise, coffee, holding hands,
birds having conversations,
life is grand.

Sitting here peacefully,
just another day.

Mountains were moved for it to feel this way.

Tears were shed,
blood was bled,
pain and egos overcome.

Time heals all great or small,
and if we try maybe we'll find love.

Stars and moonlight,
everything feels right.
Sitting here peacefully,
just another night.

Finally, feels right
Finally, peaceful
Finally, love
Finally.

A force field surrounds us,
a bubble of love.
We roll and tumble inside.

Oblivious to the world beyond.
Our love is our guide.

Your body, a road map to my soul.
I meander the highways and byways.

The curves and valleys of your flesh,
A journey that seeks no end.

I'm lost and found in you.

Destined to travel forever
in your eyes.

Endlessly,
lovingly,
and truly,
lost in your eyes.

Rains fall on panes of blue

walking lonely streets, memories of you

Down pours disguise watering eyes

there are no tears under crying skies

Opening heavens, rain falls like hell.

Calm washes over this fool

and I smile

for there are no tears in the rain

Once upon a time in a quiet corner of my mind
I deemed myself a poet.
What an arrogant ******* I am.
To think my less than subtle rhymes, written at best
in erratic time, qualify somehow as poetry.
Still I write this drivel from the heart
and I guess, Hell, maybe that's a start.
And maybe, It shouldn't be.
But maybe, just possibly
In the mind of this arrogant ******* poet
That's good enough for me.

Making love in the afternoon underneath a blue sky, that's free,
That's you and me baby.
Kissing your fair skin, every freckle on your face.
You taste like sunshine, strawberry wine, and ***.
You smell like wildflowers and sweat.
You wreck my senses, break my defenses.
I am lost in the clouds in your eyes.
Making love under a blue sky.
That's free, that's you and me baby.
Absolutely free.
Just you and me.

The Ocean kisses the shore
with a never ending love for her.
Sometimes gently,
Sometimes in a passionate rage.
But always with a knowing
that he must return to her,
for she is the beginning
and the ending of him.
And only she
in her steadfastness
can calm his
agitated soul.

Dancing on the edge of a shining star she appears.
I move through darkness towards her,
 reaching out into the void, 
to touch her, 
to reach the unreachable. 

Fingertips play upon shadows where she used to be.

(As she dances)

Words reverberate back into my own ears, 

Did she hear?

Unclear.

 Visions of her blue eyes fill my mind.
Did she see?

I thought she smiled at me.

I awake to find it all a dream.
But I remember,
I can plainly see,

Her dancing away from me.
Dancing away,

Towards a star.

Tangerine and honey drip in equal measure
on the finely woven silk
that lightly covers you.

As my tongue takes its pleasure
I can barely discern.
where the silk stops and your skin begins.

The sound of your sighs
and a rise in temperature
tells me I've found a sweet spot.

A soft spot, goose flesh and shivers,
not just yours but my own.

Had I known such joys could awaken,
I would have mistakenly
spilled the honey long ago.

The wind buffets against me and I feel free
drying the sweat from the blazing sun.
Across the desert I run, the rumble of the road
radiates up through my soul and lifts me,
somewhere above myself.
Looking down at the lone rider, the sole survivor
at least it feels that way to me.
I roll the power on, faster and faster I run
barren landscapes all around.
But you can't outrun the desert son,
It seems god speaks to me so I smile
and slow down.

My words, they have no meaning
On deaf ears they fall.
Torn straight from my heart, still their nothing, not a thing,
Not a thing at all.
You don't believe my love, my pain, or my rage.
They're all just words, sometimes clever, but still just empty words upon a page.
How do I change your perception?
Become more than just the pusher of a pen.
A thousand times I've tried, through oh so many rhymes still here we are,
Here we are again.
Just words falling upon deaf ears.

A sign of the times,
Prince has left us and the world's gone blind.

This post-covid apocalypse is so
Sublime.

So many factions, only two teams remain,
Are you Red team or Blue?

I don't need your name.

Kiss me, **** me, it's all the same.

If my facts aren't your facts you must be to blame.

If my lies aren't your lies  you must be to blame.

Somebody please tell me why the world's gone insane.

I just want to shut out all the noise, and play Purple Rain.

I only wanna see you laughing in the Purple Rain.

Purple Rain

Purple Rain...

I did not cry today, and I fear

For I could not find one thing

to bring my heart to tears.

Have I grown callus,

Have I grown cold,

Has anger replaced empathy,

or am I just growing old.

Does age exempt my tears,

or have I just run dry.

It saddens me Deeply,

but not enough to cry.

In the inner workings of my mind
a cog has slipped.
Things are turning at odd times.

Fast then slow, then fast again.

Lubrication running out,
frustrations setting in.

Memories escape me.
While wild machinations
fill my head.

Life and Death,
Pleasure and Pain.

Wait, I feel the cog has slipped again.

Life and Pain,
Death and Pleasure,

Is that right,
or is it the other?

Maybe it's neither,

maybe the cog is just broken.

In the inner workings of my mind I am insane.

Shhhh...........

Don't tell anyone.

In his arrogance, he promised her the World

In his defeat, all he could afford her was his heart

In reality, his heart was all she ever wanted

It meant the World to her

Sleeping with the bottle
 I know she's not a friend.

 But when I'm feeling lonely
 she always lets me in.

Lets me in and holds me
 in her arms and in her Haze.

Lets me in and holds me,
as I drift away.

Sleeping with the bottle, 
I've tried to walk away.

 But when everyone abandons me, 
I know she will stay.

She lets me in and holds me.
 in her arms and in her haze.

Lets me in and holds me,
as I drift away.

She lets me in and holds me.
 I try to walk away.

Still her warmth keeps calling me
 But I don't want to stay.

She lets me in and holds me.
But I don't want to stay.

She lets me in and holds me.
But I don't want to drift away.

I don't want to.

No I don't,

I don't want to ,

Drift away.

Drift   away. 

Drift   a w a y....

Crossing the room like an acrobat
never touching ground.

Crazy Cat found my lap,
landing without a sound.

Kneading my belly,
claws in my skin,
hurts like hell my little friend.

I grin and bare it,
rubbing his head,
Sinatra is saying it's time for bed.

He tucks his paws under his chin
and casts his blue eyes on mine.

Goodnight, sleep tight,
rest in peace baby boy,
everything is fine.

My love is not dependent on return
My love never needed to be learned
Nuances have been molded
sculpted, and refined
But the love,My Love
The very core of it
Is blind.

Splattered.
The inkwell splattered.
Dissolving my hard earned thoughts in a murderous splash.
Splattered visions in my mind, no longer legible to the eye.
Smears on a page, words that can't be reclaimed.
Like a dream, with only the knowledge that you dreamed.
Upon waking the dream is gone forever,
Just Splattered

You make me itch
Like a wound half healed
I scratch and pick.
Sideling up to you,
trying to sneak back into love
I almost do.
keyword I
not you.
You make me itch
Now look I'm bleeding again.

In a lonely darkened pit I wander,
some might call it hell
but it's far too familiar
every texture, every smell.

It's been with me for so long
I choose to call it home
this cold and lonely labyrinth
of desperation that I roam.

Searching in vain for my true love fair

Crying out her name hoping she'll be there,
but only the wind will answer
echoing her name,

taunting me and haunting me
is it all just a dream.

An opioid delusion as a field of poppies I cross.

Breathing in a fragrance nearly as intoxicating as her,
down the rabbit hole I tumble
everything becomes a blur.

Alice sweet Alice
won't you please come home.

This is no wonderland since you've gone.

Can I kiss you?
Don't ask me, just do.
But I want to, I want to hear it from you.
Can I kiss you?
Yes yes, kiss me you fool!!!
Lips meet, hearts beat, temperatures rise.
I kiss you again.
But you didn't ask.
She asks, Why?
I didn't need to, I saw the answer in your eyes.

Cool waters flow over dangling toes,
as I lay on the bank of the creek.
Warm summer sun,
no work to be done,
just lying here half asleep.
Clouds passing by,
making trains in the sky.
I wonder what it's like to fly.

Birds chirping with Glee,
Are they laughing at me?

and the silly thoughts
that pass through my mind.

Your body, on mine,
is like, morning sun
touching my face.
I close my eyes and
let the warmth of you
wash over me.
Wash over me,
cleanse me,
purifying my soul.
Your body, on mine,
makes me whole.
Your body, on mine,
is like the moons shine.
A radiance the night cannot hide.
bathed in light,
be it morning or night.
Your body, on mine
is my greatest delight.
Your body on, mine.
Oh how I love
your body,
on mine.

As the sun sets
And the moon
climbs high
Into the night,
Casting a
translucent sapphire
glow across the land.

I warm my bones
beside the fire.

The solitude speaking
to my very soul.

A child of the night
howls to its lover moon,
I howl back,
and for a moment
two lone wolves
are united
In song.

I drink my coffee
And listen to
His cries I share
His pain.

But do not howl back.
I leave him to his
Mourning.

For just this night
In reflection of fire
and moonlight.

I am at peace with
the world.

Behind a mask of smiles hides a child,
With eyes too blue to cry.

Behind the smiling mask,
the child wants to die.

But the child will live many long years,
through hurt and pain,
and hidden tears.

While the mask of smiles
hides the pain.

From those who might have cared.

Love doesn't have to rhyme.
It doesn't have to be shouted from the rooftops,
or written in the stars.
Yet it is a poets job to make it so
To elaborate, exaggerate, compare it to the incomparable,
Capture the unsnareable, share the unshareable. 
Like fingers finding fingers in the dark,
or tender hugs holding grief at bay.
The conversation of her eyes through a teardrop,
saying more than a million words could convey.
 And this is where we find the meaning of love,
in the quiet moments where no words are spoken.
Where tender kisses and soft touches
become a dance to the rhythm
of two hearts beating in unison, under a lover's moon.
Shared only in the reflections of their eyes.

As I sift through the ashes of our love
Surely it must have burned bright.

For there is no black among the ashes,
Nothing but coal white.

There are no pieces left to gather,
nothing that could reignite a flame.
 
I search for just one tiny ember,
but only memories remain.

And so I'll take these memories,
along with your name
and give them rhyme.

Reading them in the rhythm of my heart,
a love song in four/four time.

Jenny your love was deeper than the ocean.
It burned brighter than the stars in the sky.

Your Beauty shined upon me like the sun.
And now I'm left alone to wonder why.

This poem, is all I have for kindling,
to try and restart a spark in your heart.

When it's gone it's gone
no light will remain,

and I'll be all alone in the dark.

Some hearts they beat alone,
no rhythm to join in.

Lost to wander with no home,
adrift upon the wind.

Riding the wave of life,
a lone surfer on the tide.

A leather clad biker,
on a long and dusty ride.

Blazing toward the sunset,
towards tomorrow,
towards the end.

My heart beats all alone,
no other rhythm to join in.

I touched her and she ran.
 Not far away,she didn't run to leave,
she ran to stay.
Just to the edge of where my eyes could see.
Hovering there in the periphery,
somewhere between hope and illusion.
She haunted me.
 No,Hunted me. 
A cat with great skill, lying in wait its ****.
(OH WHAT A HUNTER I THOUGHT MYSELF TO BE.)
I touched her and she ran, not so far as when first began.
It happened again at least a time or two.
As I was starting to understand,
It came to me,
(Stupid Man)
Don't you see?
 She's caught you.

27 poems 
28 would be better
Should I write a new
or Perhaps revive an old.
Is the old not new, if its never been told?
Oh so many,
 Only known by me.
 From  corners of my mind,
to pages yet unseen.
Unfinished bits of line
to good to not jot down.
 How long gathering dust,
Before final words
 Are found.

What can you do in a second?

I don't know, give me a minute.

Maybe an hour, just an hour to think about it.

Is that wrong to dedicate an hour to the thoughts of a second?

How many decisions made in seconds affect us for years?

Not hours, not days, but years.

To be clear, not hours, not days but years.

So go ahead take a second, take all the time you need.

I'll wait.

The soupy morning fog
Blankets the rolling mountains
 In a translucent mask of
water Vapor and reflected light.

As the lone Peregrine circles High above,
somewhere Just south of Heaven.

Peering through the mist,
with Unrivaled eyes, and a predators heart.

The Dove preens his feathers unaware.

I stand on a cliff side the sole witness
to this spectacle of
life and death about to occur.

Both mesmerized and horrified,
as the falcon begins its dive.

It's over before the dove even knows it's begun.

As I stand overwhelmed
in a cascade of conflicting emotions.

Realizing I've learned a lesson today
but not knowing for sure What it was.

Being six
It seems like forever
can I even remember.

trucks and *****, and even sticks.
Sword fights, and finger guns.

How politically incorrect!

We ran so fast then,
with nowhere to run.

Tag your it, you hide I'll seek.
You better not peek!

Ready or not here I come!

Laughing loudly,
when you found someone. 

Then once again we'd run.
We ran like it was our job,
and our job was having fun.

Can you believe it?
Our job was having fun.

Oh God

it was great
Being Six.

Lying on my back in a field of gold,
 sky watching
as God's artwork unfolds.
Fluffy white pictures,
of animals, and faces,

intertwined lovers,
and magical places.
Flying on high,
oh how I wish, I could too.

Worlds they pass,
so slow, yet so fast,
it all shall be gone too soon.

I close my eyes and sigh,
as a tear escapes my eye.

 It all shall be gone,
 too soon.

I watch her walking away, 
body speaking in a way
 even a deaf man can understand.

My oh my ain't life grand. 

Swish Sway,
Swish Sway,

Her hips are fluent in every language,
And I desire to converse in every tongue.

She smiles back over her shoulder,
 laughter takes a hold of her.

Knowing fully well what she has done.

She blows me a kiss,
 turns down the volume of her hips.

 From a shout to just barely a whisper.

 And I smile because I know, 
even as I watch her go.

 She only makes them talk for me.

Stoic as a stone she stood
against the night.

Against the news,

Not allowing herself to cry,
No,
not before their prying eyes.

Out of sight.

Alone,

Only then did
she weep for him.

For her loss,
for the cost,
it exacted upon her soul.

She stood alone,
stoic against the night.

Against the news.

And no one ever knew.

She loved him.

A heart of gold only shines in the sun.

A heart of stone warms no one.

A heart of glass is prone to break.

My heart without yours is too much to take.

My sad and lonely heart was broken and blue.

Until the day it was first loved by you.

Sometimes life leads
Occasionally, we follow.

But today becomes yesterday
And quickly turns tomorrow. 

Time is fluid,
it always flows.

In the path of least resistance.

Always forward, never to return.

And so we swim,
like salmon up a river.

Trying to get back to some,
 something or other.

To a beginning not remembered.
To some end, to forever.

Back to that shallow pool of humanity,
only to flounder there and die.

Like the salmon,
who's life begins and ends in the same place.

Who knows how far we could go.

If we had only learned
  to go with the flow.

Giving up feels worse than dying.
But giving in,
Is falling, it's hurting, and crying,
at least you're trying.

Right?
At least you're trying?

Giving up feels worse than dying.
But this time,
Giving up is surviving.

Not growing, not living,
not thriving, just surviving.

Today I'm surviving.

I'm not giving in, not falling,
I'm hurting yes, and crying too.

Because today I had to give up.
Today, I gave up on you.

Giving up,
It feels like dying.

But I'll Survive.

In a microscopic world
Am I an unseen God?

I wonder, am I prayed to?
I don't think so, do you?

I Only ask because,

In that microscopic world,
you must be a God too.

Right?

Or maybe I'm Dr. Suess,
like Horton hears a Who.

But I've never heard a Who, have you?

Not even Cindy Lou Who,
Who, is a great singer I've been told.

But I can't remember by Who.
maybe it was Bud or Lou,

or maybe the guy on first base.
What's his name?

No, What's on second!
I Don't Know.
Third Base.

Okay well, that's enough of that,

Anyway,
I have seen a red fish, 
but never a blue.

And as for a Cat in a Hat
absolutely,
I saw that.

It was on the internet.

She bowed before him and he struck her,
so she kneeled.
She kneeled before him and he kicked her,
so she lay.
She laid before him and he ***** her,
so she cried.
She cried before him so he cursed her,
and walked away.

But this was not the end,
it happened time and time again,
until one day she found the strength to rise.

She Rose from the floor,
crying and quaking,
She rose from the floor,
hurt and aching.
She rose from the floor,
scared and alone.

Alone but alive,
today she survived,
and tomorrow she will survive again.

And every day she survives,
every day that she's alive,

Is another day the monster didn't win.

In my head,
it seems, I'm in there everyday.

It used to be you in there,
but now you've gone away.

I thought when you left,
only my heart would break.

But it keeps beating,
It's more than I can take.

Pounding in my head,
as I mull all, all I should have said.

Yes, I'm in my head, 

Questions,
So many, I can't sleep.

Bang, Bang ,Bang
incessant pounding,
heart beat.

I can't sleep.

I'm in my head,
stuck in my head.

I can't sleep.

Questions,
Pounding,
heart beat,
you're gone,
can't sleep.

I'm In my head,
where you should be.

But it's just me,
just me,

Why am I alone?
All alone.

In my head.