We are more concerned with goods than goodness.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

Would that I could lie beside you,
sharing silence, feeling the compulsion
to do nothing, to say nothing--
but to be in your beauty. To share
breaths with you, the rhythms of our
breathings syncopated, complementary,
as if a basso continuo for loving.
That our toes touch playfully is not too
much;  that I might take your little finger
and kiss it is no abridgement;  that I
might savor your salt-sweetness is
no sin, but a sign perhaps to begin again,
in time. But now I am beside you,
and the world and all its heavens
is a wondrous place.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

I have come to lay my head
on green hills, to lay my body
in verdant valleys, to let my
fears dissipate like grey smoke
from distant camp fires. I have
come to be among the pine and
dogwood trees, to let the apple
blossoms soften my sadness.
The sinuous White River speaks:
"Deliver unto me your heartaches
and tribulations. Let my tributaries--
the creeks and streams, the rills
and rivulets--wash away your
worries. I shall brook no sorrows."

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

I have come to walk
among mountains,  
meander among
meadows, sit among
clusters of wildflowers.
I have come to taste
the sweetness of blue
air, red skies, the orange
of the sun. I embrace
the fullness of rivulets
and streams. I eschew
silence and shadows:
I listen to and watch
monarchs flutter their
golden wings. All this
I soak into my soul.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

How did you like the movie we never saw?
The popcorn, buttered and lightly salted,
we never shared, the sodas we never sipped?
How did it feel not to feel each other's hand,
your arm against mine? What was it like not
to hear the other's laugh or to cling to each
other when the movie we never saw scared
us? What did you think of the leading actor
and actress on the screen, because the screen
was never there? The drama, the plot, the
characterizations, the denouement, because
there were none of these? And the hug we
never hugged and the kiss we never kissed, as
we left the theater that never was there?
How did you like the movie we never saw?

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

I think I want to help,
but how heavy?
I think I want to be there,
but where?
I know that I like people,
But how many?

I will let the coffee brew.
I will pause to think it through.
I will help in time.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

What does a "wild man" look like?
Does he have long hair and a beard,
or does he look like Ted Bundy?
Or does he look like a Catholic priest,
because he is one, who has spent
most of his religious life molesting
boys? Or does he look like most
fathers look who systematically
**** their daughters as they are
growing up? Or does he look like
dictators who abuse from a distance,
ordering mass slaughters of civilians
as easily as escargot from a five-star
menu? What does a "wild man" look
like anyhow?

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks