The sockeye swim in suicidal ******
while I with my eye
ever on the other side
of life death and massive gorges
hop among their bright red hordes
trying in vain to keep my feet dry

caught in the dusk
where life loses it's focus
between dark and light
shades of things converge
as the polestars emerge

early plated sky
above obsidian hills
distinction by light

tracks all ripped apart
where trains rolled and chugged across
taking us places
only kids dared dream, wild eyed
with smokestack clouds whooshing by

Afternoon sun pops through
Golden streams between gray shades
the spring sun prevails again

I heard that stick snap
it didn’t pop on it’s own
They should be back soon

Time to remember
All of those that became us
we will meet again

I hear you, crazy black crow
Chuckling at my misery here below
Crazy black crow, I don’t fear you
this you must know

Your mind says you can't and you so easily agree
Your heart retorts, we can, trust in me
Mind fires back, you fool, can't you see the impossibility
Your heart once proud and full succumbs to your own negativity
Defeated withdrawn cold and dark a surrendered heart for eternity

You so easily drink the pain
forever basking in it's shade
no hope of light to be gained
Always this dark  masquerade
Gloom misery your closest friends

hope you shred that black shroud
I did, the sunshines bright out

You said you liked me but you hated yourself
Then you said you loved me so I ran away
Then you fell in love with yourself again
And I came crawling back your way
What does that say?

***** getting this old
Kids ridiculing me, cause
I text with one finger

they picture themselves
reaching out for strangers nods
living through lenses

yellow fades to brown
hinting winter's darker days
as northern lights dance

heard that so softly
worded, silently whispered
obeyed the warning
above screaming agony
forgive yourself to break free

big great white swimming
carolina's outer banks
shark of privilege

shimmer a while more
such travesty fading light
life among twilight

trampled under foot
left behind for dead, alone
one voice to guide me
one solid rock to lean on
found peace in eternal love

my conscience went streaming by
in the mouth of a giant king salmon
the sheer audacity in eating my fly
consumed with fresh squeezed lemon

People look into the dark
To see shades of death, I look
For night creatures breath
To prove I’m not afraid
And the darks not death
But life without light

early morns better
each letter, word clear crystal
my mind unfettered

Returned pages of this worn out letter
Written so long ago on wasted paper
Yet, I read those words over and over and
again and again dying to read a different end
Always hurling around that same tired bend
Reading the same three words we always said
Whether I close my eyes or open again this sad
Tragic tale unfolded on paper long stained
The one saying I love you goodbye the end

late sun still warming
milky glacial stream slips by
as twilight life goes

I'd rather whiny like a horse
than die like a sheep

embers slowly burn
pulling me ever deeper
in seductive flames

suicide spawn
spirits pass on ancient beds
brown bears feast

new life starts to grow
in sediment of old floods
no rain no rainbow