They have been waiting
since knee high
for romance -
even before they knew
what it was about

waiting to be cared for
and attended to,
danced and romanced
moonlit evenings year long,
little surprise presents
flowers sprinkled with jewelry

it never ends
whispers of love
always so gently

it is all so beautiful
truly a wonderful notion

I just can't bring myself to spoil it.

Why do you make me so uncomfortable
standing there just so quietly, waiting,
for words which just aren't there

If we could reel back time
I would retract that promise which
somehow was expressed to you,
probably by an intimate embrace
or perhaps by a mirrored reflection
of your own fantasy

But let me just say - I wish you
would comfort me by your absence

And one day when you grew tired of turning,
only to find no one there,
tired of ransacking your mind
for positive thoughts to keep afloat,
you reached out to me
motioning for me to enter your life
and put an end to self-doubt,
to blanket you with my touch, my kiss, my soul.

It is disappointing
not to be able to love you,
for visions of a dreamy nether world
where we caress each other
flaunt me endlessly
and I lie awake wishing
that our two hearts could beat as one.

A  daily mask
purveyor of a soulless smile
and feigned empathy

the patrons seeking truth
blinded by the dense wall
filtering out both sorrow and joy
like a vicious guard dog on patrol

the blunted emotions
have nowhere to run

truly a trade gone wrong.

My breath
then comes yours
then mine
rhythmically

furthering some greater scheme
transcending our lives
bordering the edge
of another reality

we are always there
words cannot describe
they merely tell us
what is absent
there are no physical bodies
no walls
no limitations

I cannot take you there -
you never left
we are there now,

no more pretending

Frightening, isn't it
we're all soldiers
yet,
we cannot remember
when the fighting started

can you still hear
small children crying
softly
in the roar of battle

they want no part of it.

I am angry
you have not
moved the Earth
for me,

don't speak to me
about love

Everyday dreams
of finding the perfect you
know no defeat
relentless,
they are my company
they are my hope

often
in the day's light
I am called on
to try this mold,
rearranging limbs
shaping, pushing
to no avail

a lifetime of waiting

and then one day
I threw away the mold
threw away the perfect you

only to find a person
more beautiful
than any dream.

I can no longer keep this from you,
there are no other poets
there are no other poems,
you reading this
are merely my fantasy

I can imagine your breathing
becoming static as this point
your mind tells you I'm mad
while I am merely
having fun with you,
causing you to quickly
invent an elaborate identity for yourself
along with some fuzzy past
you would more easily discard
than claim as your own

enough little fantasy
my arm is tiring
you must go now.

you can always pick up and leave
and no harsh words will meet

I have no battle with you,
I only ask that you leave your body behind
for me to occupy my time

I couldn't think of a nicer Sunday brunch.

A madman
came up to me
and said he knew me
but, he would not harm me
the way you have wanted to

I trust him
because he is free
and you know only restraint
which always leads to
lies and deceits

like the time you said
you would love me forever.

Everything used to be
so personal
its not way now

endless lies surround me
while honesty and feeling
lay strangled by the door,
their rotting corpses
seen only by my eyes

no one else has noticed
the change,
I would be laughed at

I remember one sunny day
when the leaves rustled
in the wind -
I felt so alive

its not that way now

You come to me
so sweetly now

only the past
knows our distance

without dreams
we would have nothing.

Your memory fades
like stiff autumn leaves
quietly dancing away
without warning,

centuries past
we were together,
sounds of laughter and love
cannot keep you away

at last,
the tired door closes
rudely ending all dreams
and you are there,
waiting

I pretend I do not know you
but, it is useless.

Some people only dream of
passionate late evenings
overflowing with love
and endless kissing

of gentle whispers
and warm caresses
which create a world
within themselves

if you listen quietly
you can hear the soft purring
of lovers together
their joy shared so freely

this is a tribute to those
who rose above their fears
and especially to you
for it was in your tender embrace
that I abandoned forever my dream

You gave me your word
and took it away

like some innocent child
dreaming of the tooth fairy,
I have been waiting for you
and every morning I check
to see if you have come

but now I know you are never coming,
somewhere a child is crying
comfort him with soothing tones.

I'm running away
from you
to a safe place
where you cannot cause me
any more misery or pain,
you have tortured me long enough -
the scars speak for themselves

I was so high
until you found me
and became a constant companion
exaggerating my every fault
while silent in my feats

you selfish self-righteous *******
always tearing down others
desperately trying to get at yourself
but, you're too unconscious
for such personal insight.

I lost touch with myself
so many centuries ago
that the tears don't mean much now
they visit briefly like strangers
without meaningful expression
and when they leave
I dream of a heavenly past,
glorious days of the heart
filled with a passion for living

but only faint echoes remain
and I curse this dimly lit corridor
I have entered
seemingly with no end.

Everything has been written
so don't ask me
for progressive ideas
any longer,
the revolution
is history

the real change
is taking place
in my mind.

I still want to hear
you loved me well
and then I can stop calling your name
and then I can sleep more peacefully

Your inviting caress
was a call for sanity,
but the longing within me
cleverly blocked all paths to reason
and I strayed into a darker world
where ****** pleasure rules
like a hungry dictator,
and there is no escape
from the merciless squad
which fells respect
all too quickly,
leaving a hollowness
worse than death.

You could have walked with me
into a many splendored field
of unspoken dreams
had I not been frightened,
the utterly powerless feeling -
a captive of love,
anything, everything,
could you have in a breath

The daily compromises,
an endless prostitution,
no longer could I stand upright,
In your absence, dignity would be restored.

This is a test:
see the world before you
see yourself

1)  What does it all mean?
      (choose one):
a.      there is no justice
b.     the world is a paradise unfolding
c.      someone made a big mistake
d.      I'd rather not discuss it

You have a lifetime to answer

Fall of my years,
come sweetly
come easily

take my hand
and walk with me
into the twilight

promise to be gentle.

Everything
is changing,
I catch myself
wanting
to hug a stranger,
it would be like two friends
embracing.

I heard the news today
the letter said
we're sorry about your poetry
but keep trying

so blind to the truth
no one will confess
to putting out your eyes

when they catch him
I will rush to his side
and proclaim justice
was done.

I've been looking for you
invisible man,
how foolish your accuser
would seem
on some half-baked afternoon,
"child-like mentality"
his peers would say,
their raw disgust paraded
unchallenged

a faint shadow
seen only at night
you would reveal yourself
to me
and begin this endless search
I no longer question

Images of a close embrace
with soft, tender kisses,
your warm flesh
touching mine,
a whisper of love,
muffled sounds of joy

I no longer wish to keep this from you
having once told you how good life was,
the certainty of its path
predictable patterns for the gifted to see

No longer will I tell you of life's mystery,
of mystical forces beneath its banner
or of shadows weaving amidst one's thoughts
for at this very moment
aged illusions wane from my side
and I stand naked in their retreat.

Soldier
standing in the doorway,
turned his back
on the ugliness and pain,
turned his back
on the shocking glimpses of death,
turned his back
on the horrible past
he could not undo,

Soldier
standing at the bar
reached out to a woman
embraced her with hunger
and left in silence,
he felt no warmth,

Soldier
standing in a mirror
staring at himself
started to cry
turned his back.

We will always love each other - we whispered
as we separated indefinitely,
moving outward to a new world
strangely foreign and excited
cold and lonely - all at one moment;

We grew from individual experiences
with infrequent reflection on a closeness once achieved,
a momentary flush of warmth, then perhaps remorse
for a memory incapable of being maintained
by an insurmounting knowledge of the present;

We come together again -
blinding ourselves to the Romanticist's inability
to eternally capture that moment of happiness,
hoping, dare yet praying
that we might succeed where they failed;

We will always love each other, we whispered,
long ago, when we knew no future.

I sense endless beauty
before me
within my reach

it is everywhere.

wiser than your years
how you so easily
walked away
from the throng of humanity
and placed your stamp
so firmly in the ground

that we became intoxicated
with your strength

Remember when
childhood heroes could do no wrong -
we could even trust them with our lives

and friends were forever
simply because they said so

and each day was lived
to the hilt
as if it were our very last

can you see something has changed?

there are no more heroes -
no one worthy of such honor,
and friends come and go
so many having said their last goodbye
and each day we hold back a little bit more

some say the future is our present,
I say our future lies in the past.

Time to howl
never-ending loud music
a crush of familiar unknown faces
women with corner smiles
hidden desires
drunkenness
clumsy meeting attempts
disappointment
shame
heading home.

Its been a great long ride
but I don't want to leave you yet
all the fond memories go whisking by like a flaming rocket
a reluctant witness to the eternal cycle of life and death

I know you don't want to hear this
and neither do I
but the realist within
showed up like a show pony
prancing to the band

I wish  could tell you
what's on the other side

Fall of my years
come sweetly
come easily
take my hand and walk with me
Promise to be gentle.

I stopped writing poetry
a lifetime ago
when the world failed
and we all sat around
silently watching
our tiny deaths each day
which everyone denies

if you don't believe me
just look into our eyes.

send me someone I can yell at,
someone to blame for your life

not your parents
they have suffered enough

yes, you,
stand there and take what you deserve

you have been SLIDING
through your life

safe, protected;
unwilling to feel,
all you know are those clever games
which never end

the humor being
you are scratching your head now
thinking I am a madman
or something worse

no, the first day of your life
you decided not to participate fully

take a look at all your excuses
for not living

If I could
I would **** you now
so that you might live again.

Everyone has gone to sleep now,
they don't really care about
what is happening to us
or why we stay up
night after night
struggling
for those shy, elusive words
which lie in our depths

but, let me just say
its not for idleness
that we sit here
almost in darkness
staring blindly without expression

no,
its those faint whispers
which tantalize us
endlessly
speaking their wisdom
so eloquently
yet, always so quietly
and often
their soft caressing
soothes me in a warm embrace.

I was choking
on the endless lies
we told each other
amidst loving embraces
and soft tender kisses

the words
fit so well then,
but
they were not meant
to have a life of their own,

I murdered them
because they were slowly killing me

I never said
I would be brave
in love.

Others may not notice you
but I've seen enough of your bandages
to last forever

don't mistake this for bitterness
for I often wonder who tucks you in at night

its just there are so many of you -
some kind of war must be going on

the entire city is a secret battleground
and no one is talking about it
but I see the fear
beneath your silently screaming eyes
and often I want to stop you
and make you tell me

but I am too terrified that one day
I will find my face among yours.

The years
have washed away your face
and your touch
but,
they will never take from me
your lasting gift
of love.

Dreamlike
who will believe
it is over so quickly

I must be a madman -
because only one could invent such fiction

remember the bright sunny walks
the constant attention
and touching

it may have all taken place
one afternoon
or maybe not at all

I want so bad for you to believe me,
a card, a letter, a movie stub,
will that satisfy you?

perhaps there is no convincing you -
but, please look into my eyes
when I tell you
it was worth the journey
however short

I have come away
with more gifts of love
than I can carry.

Love,
its eternal flame
constant and strong,
while lonely disguises falter
in silent pain
and fear penetrates deep
like small cracks
sweeping through ancient porcellin;

we reach out endlessly
for love
holding only our honesty
within.

Quiet lonely night
I think of you,
of how early touches
became easier,
your soft embrace
warmer
assuring me our love
would last
forever

our moist lips meet
gentle and caressing
warm and loving,
striving to be one
as we ignore life-long barriers
living only
in this moment

but,
I got carried away
this quiet night,
for
a few seconds ago -
you were still with me
loving me
and all that remains
are my tears.

How often could it happen
we came upon each other suddenly
passing as two figures in the darkness,
strangers to one another
yet, we shared a beautiful feeling
as we embraced each other's soul
and afterwards I felt like crying
for I have loved her always
(and her smile tells me she agrees).

they said it was ok
to shoot him in the back and **** him
because he and his company were bad
because his company denied some claims
because we live in a capitalistic society
and they want no part of it

these spoiled delusional brats
with no concept of
living in a lawful society
feeling justified with their vigilante violence
just hating and hating
for each new cause that comes along
like lemmings gathered on the edge

how would these immoral brats feel
if someone shot their father in the back?

would it be justice or a crime?

A paris apartment
it is late afternoon
you are coming home from work
to me
like never before

sitting beside me in fading light
you whisper that you love me
it is all I can do to be still.

From being famous
to obscurity
not an easy journey
the endless accolades
the reverence paid
the endless gratitude
the feeling of omnipotence,
all gone,
and now,
searching for relevance
an unlighted journey
into the unknown
an untethered existence