tea leaves sit soggy, sad
forgotten  at the bottom

of the cup

leaching, bitter tannins
now, forgetting the life they led

no one willing to read their fortune
no spilling of the secrets
they never truly had

just detrius now
from dust to dustbin
the cycle of a tea leaf
long or brief,
happy or sad
a parable, in hot water

once green and lush in colour
in essence, verdent's liquid fame
once used and now just *******
every life has limit, every limit claimed
as we sup, we suffer the race of time
running through our fingers

clamouring at our mind

one day we too,
will be *******
waiting for the dust,
one day we too
shall leach our liquids
in the unforgiving  dust

shadows long,
fall on pavement wet

and inside the teetering,
jenga blocks, people reside
in caves opulent and electric.

and green is a colour,
forgotten
and  bluesky,
a patchwork quilt,
seen in fractured glimpses,
on the way to and from.

flowers bright and vivid,
come delivered
and earth the thing,
we save by sitting.
in the almost, dark
for an hour a year.

shadows short,
fall on barren ground.
as city dwellers, breathe
grey air and expell
trash and detrius muck

no shadows now
just black all around
no dwellers, no sound....

perhaps we needed to sit
in the almost dark much
longer and  love the ground
on which our life is found.

pick my bones
weary broken
heartsore
up
from where life has
scattered them on the floor

dust off
the grime
and salt rime
from tears shed.
regather thoughts
from whence they fled

straighten up
the bowed back

plant the semblance
of a smile upon my face

take my place,
near the end of the rat race

and put my best foot forward
even as the other foot
drags through broken glass
and the detrius of a life
lived to hard...to fast

don't look back....
just move on.....and on

somewhere....there will be
                                 some sort of comfort

till then grind your bones
on the grist of life....

taste the salt on the wind
and remember when......

in the cold puddles
concentric rings play tag
with the sky flannelled in
shades of grey, soft from
the wind and granite from
the anger of shouted thunder
arguments, the tree's shake
losing what little cover
they have left and stand
stark naked and dripping
on the muddy floor.
the river flows high and
unchecked vomiting brown
bile and wreckage out into
the sea, only for it to become
a puzzle of detrius on the beaches edge
leaving junkheaps and carcasses for
treasure hunters to find....
and still the puddles play
tag with the cold and weeping sky

your echoes die,
your voice is doused by life*

the minutiae washed away
and ground down to sand
dispersed in vesper tides

the feel of your touch
now just froth and bubble
food for fish and crablings


last words whispered on
the wind, whipped away

whilst i was busy,
making lists
and counting coins

oh to hear your shout
one last time
but no
you have left this place

and we must look to living
and leave the detrius
to the sea's forgiveness

i sit and watch,
the dust motes dance
in the stream of sunlight

the computer hums and burbles
like and old friend, intent on
sharing the latest gossip

last years detrius of papers
and unfinished lists, new job lists
teeter in the corner....

my backside has again grown
a size too ample,
for my ergonomic  chair

my brain is lax and lazy
slow to grind into gear....

this is the awkward,
i don't want to be here
start to the years marathon

it is the organizing of details
the preparation of the course

it is meetings and more meetings
dull, dry, academic, with others who
are in the same boat, those who want to
change course midstream, those who want to
tread water and those who are new to the game
rowing in circles with much enthusiasm, but little boatcraft


i, at present am resting oars, knowing this is the first
of many races, knowing the course, tho set, will change
when the students arrive, it is then the rapids come into play
and it is then, my energy, is required.

til then i cruise
and drink copious amounts of caffiene
in my air conditioned office....
watching the air, take dust motes,
for a ride.

one small leaf
set adrift
from the tree

torn asunder
in wind rain
and thunder

battered
by
life's storm

now balances
pecariously
on table's edge

not yet ready
to become
detrius underfoot

waiting
daring,
demanding
to become
just another
fond,
frail memory

pale
green
perfection

unblemished
bar the untimely
amputation

each cell
delineated
in cellular beauty

taken
far too
young

sometimes
you gotta
hate

natural
selection's
descisions

sometimes
mother nature
is dumb...

crushed
but
not defeated

they
leaf brothers
and sisters
will but
carry on....

for they
are
young and hopeful

ignorant
but
strong

one death
can be absorbed
and lost in living on

the tree
will
stretch
ever upward

for that
is the
tree's

everlasting
song

seek
the sun

seek
the sun

and you
can never
go wrong.

My world is weight
My feet crush the rocks into sand
Cracks the very earth
Brings forth the blood of the planet into my flesh
Yet they do not hurt the little beasts below
Only makes them change to survive me
Bug to crab, fish to man

My world is light and dark
My head is kissed by the sun
Yet my feet know not its love
Nor do the beasts below them
My hair is green and lush
Yet my legs are barren
Knowing only smoke and shadow
And shimmering flashes

My world is flowing
Constant movement, constant changes
Plumes become islands, insects *****
The moon pulls me up
Yet the earth tugs me back
Hot then cold, cold then hot
When I breath, the earth changes
When the earth shakes, so do I

My world is life
My blood flows with the bodies of others
My ***** cradled all that lives
Different forms, different shapes
Tentacles and claws, fangs and shells
My flesh is thiers, they take and so do I
Your flesh was once mine, too
But you needed more than my love

My world is salt
A product of my birth
It dries you, it wrinkles your skin
Yet however hard you scrub
You cannot wash off my salt
For my salt is what birthed you
My salt is your past
It nourishes and kills

My world is death
My feet feel only detrius
My past flesh, my old bones
As one leaves, another shall prosper
The shark it's minnow, the algae my sunlight
Their flesh is mine, I take and so do they
Your flesh was mine, too
The riptide comes, you return to me

My world is love
You hurt me, you make me rise
You burn me, cloak me in oil
Yet I don't regret
Evolution was my child
The offspring of flowing, of changing
I cannot hate what I am
So I love you, all the same

My world is yours
My skin laps at your shores
Legs you walk on were fins within me
Your past was mine
All at once, we became two
Your world hard, unchanging
Mine flowing, relentless
And so, all at once, we shall be one again

groper lips speak
vowels fall forth
chipped pearls of wisdom
skitter about the ground
seeking purchase
in mud pockets
finding only dry sand
and bitter salt

******* in salt
for forty years
can do that
curdle the cream
of wisdom leaving
just the sour to spew out

but if clever you can sift
the  detrius and make
cheesecake with
chipped pearls  on top