I had written you a love poem
maybe two or twelve
before I ever met you
but it's hard to tell

I wrote you ten or seventeen
while we were in our throes
I wrote about a handful more
before I met my close

Then wedding bells
Then honeymoons
I wrote a few for her

I passed them off
originals
her own down to the word

I might have been successful
she never cast a doubt
but I never believed
I ever left you out

The ivory poacher stalks his prey
each day he walks the silent plains
a gun slung high upon his arm
no warmth within his gaze

Elephants nor rhinos sought
but two or one extensions of
an ivory tower painted red a
bullseye meaning meant for dead

The ivory poacher sights his barrel
warily delivers narrow
slivers of a weathered corpse
thundering down to the earth

an ivory tower in his hand
or two if it's an elephant
a clean pristine white he holds high
and on his soul a red bullseye

I love you
he said

how much?
she said

the world
he said

there's more than
that

the stars and moon
the universe
the hidden leaves
he said

she blushed

I love you too
she said

I know

the depths of the
Antarctic snow

she said
he said

I love you too

she said
he said
she's dead

she bled
the light of moons
eclipsed

I love you too
he said
she said
is it too soon?

away she slipped

the way a tide
decides a ship

Autumn again
red leaves spring
red leaves fall
red leaves for winter

somewhere
Summer
shimmers verdant

falling for Autumn
for not one
stays green

brays green
fades red
the hue
off Her shoulder
betrays not an Angel
but Devil sat over

He whispers and She
She laughs
red with glee
falling for Autumn
recalling Her being

I've never heard a piano
say a single
word

Though it always seems
to tell the
truth

I have a girl now
she is
beautiful, really
she's smart and she
laughs
and she calls all my bluffs

I have her now
she has me too
so it's fair
if you ask her or me

I have a girl now
and I smile because well
I'm  happy
she says
she's happy too

I have my girl
and I've lost my girl
though I have her now
so I smile

At night, only sometimes,
and maybe I'm drunk
I look for her
for my girl

but I'm drunk
so I smile
and smile
and I smile
and grin ear to ear
and smile
(so I think)
as I smile
and grit all my teeth
and grin all the while

between my thoughts
she streaks like eyes
down lines of farmland
razed for tithes

a naked field
to the nines
dressed up in sunsets
through ribbed spines

seagulls pull the sun of mourning
up into the starless sky
flawless skin set free of midnight
taught against the azure heights

foaming waves and swirling sand grains
calmed upon her soft approach
settle into morning's daybreak
braced against the coming cold

a million stars to chase her warmth
and barely light the darkened sky
where one once flared a burning love
sit countless others counting time

between the twilight and night
passion burns away to quiet

Say it once and I'll
believe it
say it twice and I
won't blink
Say it three times I'll
besiege it
Keep it silent, I'll
relate

He noticed a scorpion on her cheek
crawling up into her hair
She didn't seem to feel it there
and kept speaking, so he sat still
and listened

When she was finished the creature
stopped above her ear
its tail curled in the air
He reached to her and brushed it off
with a silent whisper

"Let's make snow angels"
She said to the boy

"But there's no snow...it's summer"
She laughed and lay down in the field
Spreading her legs
And throwing open her arms
As the grass shuddered
And surrendered
The shape of heaven

"There," she said and
Stood up
Walking away into
Her own silhouette

Leaving the man to
Stare at her outline
In the empty field

one pair of blue jeans
and 23 shirts
I'll run forever
but it always....

Her hair flutters in the golden light
a lioness
she knows words like chiaroscuro
and chimera

Her eyes, lit by twilight
chase the evening star
from blushing clouds

The sunset, pink and red
inking out our silhouettes,
releases shadows
snaking through the grass
and trees,
eloping with the night

The urge to
write a new piece
it comes up
like the feeling you get
right before you're about
to throw up
in the back seat
of a bad idea

but it's not all bad
you always feel better after
well, right after
anyways

then you sip some water
close your eyes
say never again

but that's the whole
fun of it,
after all

Water in the ocean deep
pulled up from darkened depths
to the surface, out of sleep
warmed by sunlight once again

In the air into a cloud,
by wind blown to the eastern shore
not the first time it's allowed
to take to flight and steady soar

Back to the earth to furnish life
and slake its thirst for this day's rain
life's a stream of consciousness
that westward flows to the ocean

Setting suns each twilight brings
echo death knells, thunder rings

The edge of the horizon sends
its edge extending, never ledge nor end
where it should cease and dip
beyond the lip of the blue ring

Beyond the lips of summer nights
that slip themselves in dark delight
between the slits
of shivering venetian blinds
that draw at dawn when

edges that forever flight above,
beyond, out past where sight
draws light into its final Form
where only there anew it's born

Daydreams
you slip in
like spring
between
body and clothes

breathing cool air
on the spine

never face to face
closed off to
being close

Summer on the lips of spring
Sweet scents wafting, blossoms bring
Underground into the sun
Voices, refreshed, nature sing

On a winter's path at
twilight flits a ghost in
thin repose
gossamer, the silhouette
flights cradling
a silken rose

Drifting through the auburn
forest autumn on her
cheeks replete
furnishing love's
silent solace
drifting with the
perished leaves

she seeks you still
she'll find you not
   the petals
        f
          a
            l
              l
        and all in
                f
               r
          o
      s
t

From off the branch of an old tree
a tired rope swing sings the breeze
that travels over from afar
in my grandmother's old backyard

Intimating long lost ghosts
of children idly passing time
gently swaying back and forth
in a rhythm also I am

Shade in summer from the sun
mosaic in the autumn light
company for winter nights
glowing when spring has begun

Transforming mundane to sublime
of love, intermediate host
a gin and tonic with a lime
to raise to life and love in toast

A firefly inside a jar
I caught once, like a shooting star
beneath the tall and ancient tree
the first time I held you to me

If such a lie this life impels:
in love is out of time,
inarticulate to tell
nor codify in rhyme
A symphony of Cupid's bow
drawn taught against desire
impossible to keep in tune
with Orpheus' lyre
Then breath the Logos through my being
speak of life and death and sin
I'll ask of love and closer lean
and hear it not again
Yet if it's true, there's naught above
that we cannot outlive in Love

Alight a laugh a lack a day
forget those enervating nights
lackadaisically dismayed
makes for too few delights
In eyes that spark a roaring flame
inside my being dark and cool
I gladly fall into their frame
and bask in their renewal
When only once did I just smile
now love uplifts my weary lips
that I might just once in a while
fall into your light and kiss
A laugh with you, within the hour
A lack in me is lacking power

scent of a woman
sent from god
sends me forever
ascending awed

the wind Murmurs
she Whispers helpful hints
to butterflies and leaves

she Insists
sometimes for naked trees

Flows the fields delicately
into one rippling organism
pulsing in time
with the silence

she never yells or gets
angry
just too Enthusiastic

My stomach does a double flip
then darts straight to the heights
like the steam upon a coffee's lip
that's puffed and whirls delight
each time I catch a glimpse afar
or near of you my dearest
my lightness likens with the stars
setting fire upon my spirit
an hour or two will do just fine
though never fully slake me
but what is love if not lost time
and I've lost too much lately
so have a cup or two my dream
make my simmering being steam

I lie awake
(truth asleep)
and think of when
the sand would pulse
beneath our feet

the beach
wet from the slow retreat
of an ocean
would wring out
just for you and me
when our soles touched

here, only
dream pressed
footprints
keep their form
tide nor current
bleeds their line

someday we'll walk
(souls pulsing time)
the whole coast dry
sunsets only
as our guide

Candle on the river Lethe
lead on to the untamed plains
where man will be refracted
in the spectrum of
infinity

forgotten in the rainbowed
folds of alternatively
real light

the bow
its name life
its work death
works unsung
if we unforget

her body is bliss
like a cool stream of light
splashed from the moon
on a warm summer's eve

her eyes incandescent
weave futures too soon
for the frostbite
of winter's first kiss

she keeps time with her heart
hardly hearing the pall
of an autumn that falls
into sunset

she keeps mine with her heart
overcast on a glance
to the past, past
a future where she is not present

walking, walking
smell a flower
shower it with love

sitting, waiting
for the rain
to pull it up towards god

in its eye the
storm surrenders
rage upon her grace

but out of sight
and out of mind
her beauty is erased

"What are you?"

Jupiter turns
"That depends. Some say a god.
Some say a planet."

"Both?"

"I doubt it."

"Don't you know?"

"Only once you've decided."

"But why? I'm not god."

"Neither am I."

"So I decided you aren't?"

"Unless you change your mind."

"But it's not made up."

"Then I suppose I'm both."

"But you said you weren't."

"Because you never made up your mind."

"Then I decide you're a planet."

"Perhaps, but you still haven't made up your mind."

The boy took his eye off the telescope
Astronomy was confusing

She takes his hand
not the whole thing
just the last *******
in  her  cradling fist

"she says something"
it doesn't matter

"He says something"
it matters even less

his fingers slide
through hers;
she grasps air

but she walks away
and he looks back

It's colder these days
not the weather
two weeks into June is
August in sharp focus

But it is colder
on the walks
each night before bed

meandering walks that were
periodically broken up
are short now
and the breaks
seem
much
longer

but it will not be long
before the break
is indefinite
the walks will
be solitary
until the last break
is unbroken

"That," they say
"is when you will
finally catch a break."

That is their system
it is broken

and the walks are
still cold
So I hurry on
to keep warm

A maple tree overhangs tennis courts
crisp white lines on clay
cleanly split by a barrier that is mostly holes

It sits on the edge of a small ditch dividing
the courts from a field
yawning branches over fence and grass

Each crisp delineation is smeared by
the shadow of its leaves
and the unseen reach of
each bifurcating root
sews halves into a whole

At least a few first loves
blossomed underneath its boughs
but it is enough just to
smile on its warmth

The smoke in the air
fills my breath with memories
summer fires between naked nights

The smoke in the air
The smoke fills my breath
stings my lungs and nose
burns my eyes

In autumn smoke smells like leaves
leaves me in a daze
days go up in smoke
The smoke in the air

The smoke creates myth
the smoke cremates me

Gravity doesn't make people
fall in love
but I'm caught in your orbit
lilting through space
weightless
as galaxies tangle our souls
with their arms

now and then
a shooting star
settles on your cheek
like a snowflake in autumn

you don't brush it off
you shine

I want to write a poem
he shouts

then tell one to the pen and ink

I have
he screams
They just don't shout


Then write a poem

I am
He yells
But they won't scream like me
the way I would if I--

Then scream!
he shouts

Nothing's without beauty
when the sun is setting slowly
softly sinking the horizon
every tree becoming bough

every animal and flower
mountain wise old man and child
reflect aged daylight dying
and delight the youth of night

Oh no...
oh no, no, no.

Yes...

Yes!

"Yes."

I am me
no construct can constrict
me to its limits
I am me
my being flows
with the tide
my being wanes with
the moon
I am me

In the eras of men
I will fall on the doorstep
of man
but I am man
and I woman
I am me

I am the flow of water in the delta
I am the drought of disbelief
in the desert
I am me

If the age forgets
my presence while it begets
the future on a son or daughter
of eternity
in my place
I am at peace
because I am me
And they smile
if they are worth my while
they are me
and I am bliss

Thirteen moons
rise from your shoulders
eclipsing our eyes
before they wane

silver-blue mist
falls with the sun
setting slow
setting red
spilling its blood

Thirteen full moons
wax round your face
framing our secret
eclipsing fear

Prying
solace out from
the night
Thirteen moons
circle infinity

Back to back with spines
all lined up binding crumbling
on old tomes
the musty scent of
aged words wafts
off the books into my world
As I walk their quiet rows
they jump at me from
quiet shelves
rumbling deep inside
my mind there finding
solace with myself

"Your eyes,
oh your eyes"
He croons
She smiles
"The pout of your lips
such seductive beguile
Your laugh,
its joy!"
He tingles her pride
"Your lofty ambitions,
so much to admire"
"Say more,"
she leans forward

"Your eyes,
oh your eyes"
He offers
She stares
"Your porcelain face,
your alluring air
Your laugh,
its charm!"
She purses her lips

"Your eyes,
your eyes?"
He murmurs
They glare
"Your soft, rosy lips,
your silken hair."
She turns to leave

"Your eyes,
your eyes"
He repeats quietly

I would like to be the wind
that blows through bamboo forests
(my lovely) and whips up storms
I would like to be that wind blowing
through bamboo and make
the forest sigh

On crisp April mornings, the wind
that carries the scent of spring
(my sweet one)
I would like to be the wind
that blows through bamboo forests

rushing through your soul (my
lovely) as we open the year

I can't deliver the dawn
the sunset is bleak
when it rains in the ocean
the skies are opaque

I can't reign in the darkness
when time is an arc
but I feel the weight
of solitude

When I was little and the
bushes were a forest for my thoughts
I spoke with them of birds and flowers
hours in their company

On summer days the waves ashore
assured me of the tides of men
and we discussed the flowing sand
the beach an ageless hourglass

Now when I walk through groves of trees
along the banks of mountain streams
I see beyond the plains of youth
but I hear nothing of the sea

I saw a man crying,
so I asked him why
He looked up, and
told me he was
the happiest he had
ever been
"So they're tears of joy?"
"No." He said
that when he realized
it was the happiest
moment of his life, it made him
sadder than he had
ever been, to know that he would
never be as happy as he was now

It's an escape, he said,
passing the bowl

It's inspiration, said the second,
exhaling slow

It's god, said a third,
laughing hard

The last one held it,
not saying a word

I want to hold you against me,
(no, not you)
like a hot water bottle when I'm
feeling lousy
I want to hold you so simply
with so little and (just you)
so much need
I want you to ease the knots
that tie up inside me
on the lonely nights
when I'm surrounded
by people
that's when I want to be able
to lay with you
and unwind from the world

It's August already?
The air, you can tell
by the air.
It's hazy and lazy
and the wind
has a bite
like a pup,
becoming a wolf.
It's August already.
It's late October, and the
winter's over now
it's already July.
The fireworks, that's how you can tell.
The fireworks and the grills
and the girls,
girls in bikinis.
In January they''re just as naked,
wearing a coat that can
be slipped off in one, silky motion.
And now that it's April,
and the animals are shedding their
winter coats, all the girls
look confused.

Wind chips away
the warm blush
from people's faces
as they scuttle between
buildings,
complaining loudly
at their lot
(what terrible injustice,
they say)

The snowflakes that
pelt their eyelashes
(beautiful crystalline
miracles (they shiver))
are cursed,
as if their mere presence
were not enough