As angels go Dorothy was my favorite!
She knew our talents. She believed.
She helped us believe in ourselves.
She laughed the hardest, she loved us all,
she led these lost souls into places of peace.
We miss you dearly. I miss you most of all.
The scarecrow, tin man and cowardly lion.
We'll meet at the end of the yellow brick road.

The world is splendid. It's
     bright and loud and colorful.
     I could blow a fuse and bring
     my machine to a sudden halt.
     I keep my light low and noise
     whispers and never love fully.
     I walk among the tombstones of
     those who've gone before me as
     others will dance upon my grave
     and drink toasts to this madman.

I finally forgot how to breathe
I've lived in a vacuum so long.
I drown in an ocean full of life,
surface days later in this song.
We confess our serial betrayals
acting like lovers forgiving
turn our black souls outward
continue to act out our living.

I am kind.
  I am cruel.
  I am loved
  and a fool.
  I am guilty.
  I am free.
  You'll find me
  in Agony.

Destroy my eyes and ears
tear my tongue from me
I'm just a man of straw a
cornfield seer who will see
the future better or worse
give it a blessing or curse
I live forever after death
steal the livings' breath.

My life is fading away
day by day going astray
I can't place you I forget
I love you but I regret
I forgot your name again
I know where we've been
I remember cans on cars
cheers in so many bars
laughter and pleasure
beyond any measure.

As the raven's shadow eclipsed the sun
   I trembled with doubt for my beliefs.
   I wished I knew hidden truths gods are
   privy to and I'll die in ignorance again.
   Once more I claw beneath dignity in
   search of a captain's beauty with wild
   hair and wild heart and a poet's blood
   to write this history upon bent knee.
   Maybe we'll discover we're pieces of the
   same puzzle and complete a masterpiece.

I'm just a junkyard dog.
Old scars tell my story.
I'm left water and scraps.
Alone in the dark I sleep
and dream of a better life
and love with *******
I smell beyond fences.
Love just out of reach.

Hanging on old bones
I'm parchment skin
my story tattooed
litanies of my sin.
I rattle when I breathe
and forget most things
except my lovers and
my wedding rings.

Our baby got tangled
up in tubes and died.
Buried our lust with
the forgotten bride.
Forgive my lost way
I want to want you
it just won't be today

She made me a scarf.
It was Ireland green
France Fleur de lis blue
Germany's sunset red.
She worries about me like
a treasure in her heart
where I feel most at home,
that will be lost someday.

We were young and beautiful.
     We tasted each other and feasted
     on our banquet. I smell you still
     and I'm 73 and you're beside me in
     bed in dreams that are more alive
     than my daily crawl toward death.

Pose with me. Smile.
   I'll be your friend
   in a picture frame
   'til the bitter end
   nailed to the cross
   of your destruction
   buried in shame
   and a resurrection.

Kick the cat and beat the dog.
   Burn the children's presents.
   Leave them alone in the fog.
   Desert them with resentments
   chasing lust's false promises
   thinking love finds us again.
   Only more willing mistresses
   never love, just lusts' pain.

I'm going to say goodnight
and say my prayers
and hope to God
there won't be bears!

Death is the forever
no clocks or never.
No pesky calendar
no future or past
no appointments
no nagging or
disappointments
forever no more.

Our souls bright light
in sin's darkest night
expose our true delight
as death takes it flight.

Picasso Dali Escher Dylan,
     The force that through the
     green fuse drives the flower
     drives my green youth
     is my destroyer. Life Story.
     Black ink portraits of me
     begging for colors corpses
     whiter shades of pale.

I found parts of me
inside my poetry
I could never see
in strange reality.

Just dying to be grown up
forget my father I'm a man
I shave, drink beers in a cup
war is my first time woman
taste of Eve and ammunition
boys line up on walls to die
murmured Act of Contrition
chewed up in jaws of a lie.

The bullets in the water fly
like a flock in autumn's sky.
Blood paints the sea burnt red.
My lovers always wash up dead
on the white sand beach instead
of satisfied next to me in our bed.

When the mirror became a window
   I finally saw me as I've always been.
   I saw the storm of war blood that
   goes on forever through its martyrs
   veins both living and dead destroying
   happiness with wounds of memories.

You pose for me from time to time
   I sketch you with my words.
   Perfect curves angles and shadows.  
   Sun frames hair in a halo;
   cheekbones of a movie queen;
   Cleopatra smile of yours
   brings me to my knees.
   You stop time.
   I see forever
   in your eyes.

They tried to break me.
I kept spitting out the bit.
You can't tame the righteous  
Fire burned my spirit.
Wedding bands won't
shackle me like chains
I buck and snort and rebel
burn you with my flames.

I'm not equipped to be an easy love.
I don't know why. Women can be the
nectar I need and ease my aching heart.
Desire is always offered with an
enormous cost that I'm unable to pay.
I try to make a silk purse from a pig's ear.
I give her pearls and lipstick.
Party girls don't want to meet the parents.

I love Pink Floyd
when I'm drunk
I love them when
dancing in the dark
in midnight Eden Park
I love them soft
and loud as hell
explosions of planes
lights burn the nights
I love Floyd's flights.

I keep my mistress
in my faded Levi's
in case of distress
guilt for all my lies
wedding vows broken
our kids are betrayed
silent them spoken
I leave as they played

They dance alone now.
We died in *******.
A curtsy spin and bow,
despair a wishing well.

Welcome true Love.
I trust. Tread easy.
Don't become a ghost
haunt my memory.

My heart has become
fields of unmarked graves
calcified and numb
we're all Love's slaves.

People everywhere but I'm not here.
Loud. Noise. Laughter. Music.
I'm numb to it. I mingle and help them
laugh and toast my dear friends.
I'm outside in a tree house looking at stars.
I am crying for a terrible loss only I see.
A friend calls for me and says we're leaving.
My love demands she's going. The loss to be.

I saw God's spark set us in motion.
     Hell broke loose and molten metals
     exploded into a universe too big to
     imagine. Light chased dark and light
     was born. Globes crashed into globes.
     Someone's soul began the human blight.

Can I cure the sick or raise the dead?
   Can I feed a crowd with fish and bread?
   Can I turn water into Chardonnay?
   Can I walk across your pool today?
   Can I count on a betrayal Judas kiss?
   Can I die and rise reborn in bliss?

Dodged a bullet called life
so beautiful yet shattered
fine crystal bloodied hands
we all act as if it mattered.
We protest in graveyards cry
blood tears for tiny abortion
boy or girl we never know now
just another ignored correction.

I feel your shadow from above
  hunting me with your eager eyes.
  I always told you of my weakness
tear my love apart with  your lies.
  Keep your talons from my flesh.
  Spare my heart. Ignore my carrion.
  Share your heat on our wedding bed.
  Stay with me through the bitter end.

I still hear her whispered pleas
in poetry she wrote in need.
Abuse, excuse, forgive and live.
"I know the beast loves my beauty.
I just need to keep it perfect!
He purrs so lovely when he's sated."

Who fumbled the ball?
I think it was us,
the spoiled rotten
Baby Boomers.
Misinformed we
sold our souls to
Wall Street and her
golden treasures.
When everything
has a price on it
there is no value.
We sold our America.

She hypnotized me.
She mesmerized me
staring in my eyes
telling me the lies
I never believed
her love deceived
I broke my own heart
just like I always do.

I'm little people and work in a kitchen as a sous chef.
    Long hours and chop chop chop all ******* shift 'til it
    finally ends and we escape to our addictions of pleasure.
    We wake in different beds tangled with strangers we know.
    I'm a ******. I've slept with every braniac you can imagine.
    They come in minutes and spend hours trying to convince me
    their *ism is the one true god. I listen, I'm paid and I leave.
    There's no difference. We need love of any kind and any cost.

I used to look to the future,
        the only thing left is a past.
        There's an emptiness I can't fill.
        I've always been troubled fun.
        It's a steep price for a ticket
        to a ride that lasts a minute.
        The line is long but moves fast.
        Afterwards you change your name.
        We never drown in the shallows.
        We always preferred the deep.

The sky's so clear
  in the atmosphere
  stars perch on a tree
  caged birds set free
  my mind takes flight
  into the cold night
  when I just can't feel
  what's dream or real
  my dogs walk me home
and I write this poem.

For the most part I was never sane.
I was drunken numb to everything.
Power lines fell into your rain.
You deadly siren, your wires sing.
I needed to touch your flesh.
We were so alive and young.
I needed to taste your ***.
You're always on my tongue.

75 and moving to last page
time to clear an empty nest
just accept the final stage
then  throw away the rest.

Dumpster in the driveway
collects my broken dreams
books bought never read
nothing as it ever seems.

Guitars and keyboards tossed
lyrics forgotten as stutters
all my words are dead lost
poems die in wet gutters.

I have scars of life
mostly self inflicted
bad judgement of youth
just accidental addicted
to a crack ******* pipe
and Satan's debauchery
Eden's fruit now ripe
Eve gives me her cherry.
I take it as a treasure
covet as I do her heart
the fiercest pleasure
will tear us both apart.

They had to have a live tree
instead of a fake ironically.
The thing ended up killing me.
It's not big enough can't you see?
It was monstrous as it could be
but kept them quiet and happy.
I tried to lift it, was on a knee.
Help! They ignored my plea.
Coroner delivered me for free.
Moving the tree cost a hefty fee.

We're all being swept to sea in a
riptide of madness in a sinister
world of mad science and trusted
aides with long knives and smiles.

Absinthe at dawn
a night club
a dance hall
a bordello
the world swept up
in Bohemian revolution
bright colors explode
inside fuddled brains
full of acid and do me
next or I steal your
planet Earth for my
Butterfly collection.
Orbits in orbits in
more orbits brick on
brick make a church
with graves outside
fading light at vespers
when they pray forever.

It's just me. I can't be you.
You are sunset. I'm morning dew.
I haunt you but you evict me.
You live in my bones for free.
Love is the harshest mistress
wearing the smallest dress.

I'm 7. I want to be like God.
He makes my mom laugh out loud.
I want to be Him when I grow up.
I smoke the butts in His ashtray and
drain His beer too warm to finish.
He's the God that I wish God was.

I was 9. The circus was coming that summer.
  It promised to bring life to the cornfields.
  4th of July. Circus matinee and evening
  fireworks!Daddy had it all planned out.
  Mama smelled pretty. Papa looked fancy.
  I wore my favorite white church dress.

  We were in the biggest tent I ever saw
  with people everywhere. Louder than
  anything I ever heard. I never felt like
  this. So much energy in so much space
  and my skin was electric, my eyes wide
  with the wonder of it all. Magical.

  It really was the Greatest Show on Earth!
  Girls swinging on trapeze and men balanced
  100 feet above us on a wire. Elephants huge
  powerful beasts tame as puppies on the farm.
  Clowns silly and mute and lovely made us laugh.
  It was heaven. We were suspended in a moment.

  I smelled smoke. I saw smoke and fire and panic.
  8000 people wanted out now. I wanted to see the
  fireworks in the dark. So many died. Animals died.
  Mama and Daddy died. They smelled like cooked meat.
  I died from smoke. I was found perfect in my dress.
  I'm unknown. I'm called body #1565. I love the circus.

Rockefeller was a villain
back in the olden times
until he gave away all of
his pockets full of dimes.
A gentle kind old man frail,
caring, generous to a fault
sold his soul on newsreels
to an adoring sheep like cult.