lingering swamp mist
over silent sentinels
mysteries lie neath

OK, do your worst
Open the earth and spew lava burst

Wrench land between my feet
Split houses and concrete

Howl your wind across the land
Hurl animals and man

Melt snowcaps and ice packs
Raise water levels to the max

Now surge oceans and the seas
Let us drown with weakened knees

Wash the mountains with drying tears
Weeping into wadi spheres

Let loose toxins from below
Poison wells and river flow

Fly insects who gobble farms
That spread disease and raise alarms

All these things I anticipate
I know the power you create

But hear me, we will survive

Is there mocking behind blue skies and fleecy clouds?
Are there silent sneers in the passing crowds?

Do I detect irony in a friendly wink?
Is there disdain from my supporting shrink?

Is there hidden “tolerance” in your loving smile?
Is there a demon growing in our little child?

How can I know with full assurance,
that my knowledge is not a dream?
Is my life a random occurrence,
or just a malevolent scheme?

Will I ever reach a comfort level
that brings serenity to my life?
Is there a merciful god or just a devil
who relishes in our eternal strife?

trapped in dream
can’t dictate theme
often, a silent scream

is this altered reality
flashes of history
hyperbole in mundane potpourri

I roll up the night shade
with all of its drunken memories
the morning sun blasts into my blood-stained eyes
with a stinging that momentarily blinds

is this another loveless day

stars all glittering
dwarfing imagination
we don’t even spark

lonely is the night
darkness separates us all
morning brings new hope

I simply asked if you want an extra platter
Not are you getting fatter

starlights in the dark
passing visions of cosmos
without us, blindness

blue of our planet
birthplace depository
we must fathom

sea at night brings fear
sea in day invites playing
could drown in either

Not saying I’m old but my SSN is in Roman numerals

life outweighs my years
it resides inside like sap
memories drying

life outweighs my years
it resides inside like sap
memories drying

In placid setting of field and sky
A windless moment be stills my time
I think of you pasted to the scene
With but the depth of a silhouette

Is our love just as shallow
A coating on pastoral image
Penurious daubing
Of an artist’s afterthoughts

I want to shatter through
Shout in the stillness
Puncture the protective colors
Feel the other side of me

Is this just momentary doubt
Is my mind suddenly deadlocked
Or is this a dreadful insight
Into a frightful reality

A breeze unexpectedly occurs
Clouds are moving
Grass is waving
A painting becomes a movie

I immediately inhale the vision of you
With a renewed vitality
Floods of emotions fill me
We’re again in joyous sync with the world

I carry analog collections of myself
From moment to moment
With imperfect memories
And slightly altered desires

Now here’s the mystery
How much of me
Must there have been
To retain my identity

my regrets collect in my heart
like acid rain
engulfing and destroying
the nice memories

Am I but a shadow, a silhouette?
If I step into the light, will I reveal myself
Or will I disappear?

Do I exist between worlds of light?
Am I just a bookmark betwixt meaningful pages?
Or do I inhabit a unique world of my own?

Has my ego been fabricated
By life-long skewed narration
Were analyses properly weighted
To account for complex variation

Can one know if such revelation
Is possible to discern
When id dictates self-adulation
Deception lies at every turn

I suppose I must accept the inevitable.
I’ll never fully meet myself,
ever a stranger to me and others,
an unread book upon the shelf.

- But in retrospect, I was never up to *****
  Of all the stuff
  I never loved enough

Seeing life’s colors flutter afar
Trapping beauty in labeled jar

Jesus Christ, man
I'm talking to you
pay attention

I just love laughter
moments when pain’s forgotten
joy bubbles from soul

am I slipping off the shelf
is it the end of self

"Later"

the sea winds ******* kisses
promise exotic isles
please kiss me
and just promise me you

it was the dying of my innocence
the end of artless play
a consciousness of gender
that remains this very day

a yearning for carnal pleasure
that underlies all social contact
awakening and altering my senses
couldn’t foresee its total impact

there are stages of development
where there is no turning back
that forever change your journey
and put you on a different track

silent library
those unspoken words on shelves
I ache to voice them

A fire turns to red
Just before it starts to end
Has our love reached so
Has our passion passed through blue
Is it the cooling of us

Mirror, where has youth fled
Is it hiding in this wrinkled head

fly below tree tops, lest hawks espy
but learn to soar before you die

fly below tree tops, lest hawks espy
but learn to soar before you die

rivers run downstream
sharp objects smooth over time
pain tumbles away

On the feast that is romance
In my father’s day, it was spooning
Nowadays, it’s forking

running at the pace of fear
got to get out of here
make no sound lest they hear

the night wind rustles
fool, to go so deep in woods
oh please, be a dream

the night wind rustles
fool, to go so deep in woods
oh please, be a dream

It was a placid scene
So serene

I was transfixed between
The why and me
The sky and sea

Between blue and green
Aquamarine

It was a placid scene
So serene

I was transfixed between
The why and me
The sky and sea

Between blue and green
Aquamarine

summer laughter sings
until winter brings its chill
icy silence forms

Am I but a shadow, a silhouette?
If I step into the light, will I reveal myself
Or will I disappear?

Do I exist between worlds of light?
Am I just a bookmark betwixt meaningful pages?
Or do I inhabit a unique world of my own?

How does a shadow become enlightened?
How does a note become a tune?
Do I need others to complete me?

I suddenly realize I’m but a shadow
All my sun-filled days are behind me
My world is a world of shadows
It’s now only me not we

Hard to nest when so many trees have died
My forest is thinning
I’m on the wing but can’t stay aflight
Too long a journey from my beginning

I still look for others but to no avail
They are all on the other side of me
A veil separates our worlds
Often yearn for an eternal sea

My memories are fading
Just snatches of recall
Harder to feel past emotions
Yesterdays behind a wall

Is there any reason to slog on
To search for destinations
No longer seek a voice to hear
Let alone have conversations

Let the shadows consume me
Let me enter the dimming light
My days are drawing near
It’s time for the dreamless night

Isn’t it the ultimate irony that as the universe is expanding,
I am shrinking?
Am I devolving into my own black hole?
My memories of past friends and loved ones are sadly fading.
I am constantly relearning old facts to refresh my perception of the world.
My present is consuming my past with inexorable appetite
Why plan for the future when I’m doing all I can to cling to the present?
Is my sense of self imploding?
Am I becoming Ozymandias without a reputation to boast?
Don’t pity me because all of you will suffer the same fate.
Know only that I feel for you and mourn your loss.

I see you from afar
At a dance or at a fair
Even here in this bar
Could be anywhere

You’re in a different class
We’re vast worlds apart
I drink you in my glass
You’re ever in my heart

You’re the girl I’ll never get
Too pretty and too nice
It’s the longest shot, and yet
Maybe one day you’ll think twice

I see you from afar
At a dance or at a fair
Even here in this bar
Could be anywhere

You’re in a different class
We’re vast worlds apart
I drink you in my glass
You’re ever in my heart

You’re the girl I’ll never get
Too pretty and too nice
It’s the longest shot, and yet
Maybe one day you’ll think twice

fill this black space with light
bring your day to my endless night

pour your feelings into this empty jar
enter my firmament as a star

caress my soul with loving grace
comfort me to another place

let me reunite with my trusting youth
have faith again in eternal truth

see afresh the morning promise
destroy in me the doubting thomas

bring calm to hidden rages
help me through the final stages

assuage all the lingering pain
return sanity to this fevered brain

I want to live with you forever
to be full partner in joint endeavor

When I awoke this morning, I slammed the door on yesterday
It could’ve happened at any moment
You know how every moment fights for survival,
Wants to create its own memory
Well, I decided to **** it dead and all of the other moments
Erase the disk, maybe get a new hard drive

This day will be my own creation
Not shaped by my yesterdays
My future is for once truly my own
I will knead my imagination
And sculpt a new me
I don’t need historical form blocks

You know what they say
The sculptor carefully removes all that shouldn’t be
To find the perfect statue that remains

Grab a line and hold on tight,
The ocean’s screaming in the wind.

The salt is stinging my blurring eyes.
My wet body is numbing my bones,

The ship is moaning with the strain.
Its bow is dipping in the waves.

The halyards are whipping against the mast.
Sails are shredding.

But wait, I’m here on the beach.
There is no storm, no ship in sight.

Is this my mind in dreadful turmoil?
Do I fear an impending fate?

Can I secure myself to an inner core?
Can I save myself?

it’s as if the sun is sleeping
its fearful tears are leaping
the sound of staccato weeping

bursts of fluttering
sparrows perk the morning sky
great start summer day