August 24, 2008 at 12:06 am · Filed under Poetry
The walls of our windows are shut
to the threatening world without and within.
The sign on the street corner reads
“criminal beware neighborhood watch in effect.”
The white wooden walls of our garages
provide a window of opportunity
for us to enter our moving metal wall.
As we back out of our drywall house,
we stare through glass walls at the neighbor
pushing a mower through a wall of grass
On the freeway we are a link in the
great steel fence of automobiles,
moving now, stopping soon.
At the office we stare at the walls
of our cells. No task is too menial
for a prisoner of these walls.
In the virtual world we fine freedom,
little bits of freedom entering our eyes.
Even here we quickly
run out of space to run.
The landlords of this world are
wise and have erected firewalls.
Nevermind these walls.
I only live to live.
One day I will scale a ladder
constructed to my liking
and erect my own walls
of love and laughter.
Surely nothing can stand better
than a wall upon a wall?
July 30, 2008 at 1:34 am · Filed under Poetry
Look at your eyes
So full of so little hope
Father always said
we see ourselves in our dogs
I see your tender eyelids
Now closed. A small pool
of saliva slowly forms
I see the fan’s subtle breeze
Rustling your light hair
And suddenly I wonder
How still life is.
January 19, 2008 at 3:43 pm · Filed under Poetry
Explain to me how time and live and die
on slow droopings of the lid of an eye.
January 18, 2008 at 10:53 am · Filed under Poetry
For weeks the only muse that spoke to me
was liquid, ram-b-ling on rooftops and
complaining that my silence would end me.
But I paid no attention to that fool.
I’ve sought and found a more appealing sage,
one who is made of flesh and bone.
January 2, 2008 at 11:58 pm · Filed under Poetry
I was inspired to write this at the driving range. Who woulda thunk it?
Would you believe me if I said I was
a gardener of death? Today I sowed
the seeds with sweat, dug shallow graves with steel.
My seven-iron makes an excellent spade.
I added another poem to my portfolio, which does have a title, “Let’s Pray.”
January 1, 2008 at 11:08 pm · Filed under Poetry
Here’s a first draft of an experience I had over the weekend. Pardon the roughness around the edges.
At eighteen years of age, feet-first lost charm.
My father said, “try head-first.” So I did.
I’ve rarely felt closer to icy death.
I’ve rarely felt closer to breathless life.
Having known riches, a prince cannot beg.
And so I had to conquer every hill
belly down, arms out stretched, legs akimbo.
At close of day I truly was a god.
But what lay before me as I plunged down,
completely hidden from view, shattered me.
It tore my face and with greed sucked my air.
My body’s broken, but my spirit’s not.
I’ll gladly do it again, provided
I am rebuked for my foolhardiness
and amply warned. I would like to ignore
those warnings, but today, I’ve had enough.
Happy New Years!
December 16, 2007 at 5:13 pm · Filed under Poetry
I’ve died three times today.
Alarm clocks killed me first.
Then icy-cold death at
the water fountain while
I brushed my teeth. The foam
refused to wash away.
By darkness soon, I’ll die.
But not until I’ve asked
the icy wind to kiss
my frozen ass goodbye.
