Hallway to Nowhere

Category: poems

  • A Lie, The Truth, A Dare (Poem)

    I could tell you what I’m not

    a wizened tree at the edge of an untended field

    branches extended like twisted arthritic fingers

    just over the rusted barbed wire fence

    that marks where someone tried to farm

    a rotting boat half submerged in the swamp

    planks slowly giving way to slimy years

    on a bank sticky with gumbo clay

    unnoticed by nutria on their nocturnal climb

    I would be lying of course

    I have been each of these in the past

    even now they live in my bones my skin

    if you were to close your eyes and remember

    you would find they dwell in you

    and when you stare unguarded into the mirror

    gaze upwards into the clear night sky

    look into the white of winter snow

    you see my eyes the leaves the wooden mast

    briefly all boundaries dissolve

    into rainbow laughter that shimmers the all

  • Corvus (Poem)

    once again winter chill

    one bird black on a gray skeletal tree

    gives call to the pale morning sky

    along the fence patches of white spot the grass

    not snow not yet but paint from earlier in the year

    things aren’t always what they seem

    no murder nor unkindness disturbed the hour

    no message of untimely grief

    most slept on, undisturbed by the solitary greet

    some few walkers were all that heard

  • What Matters In The End (Poem)

    I will be bone

    charred to ash and thrown

    into the garbage with other refuse

    I will be words

    scribbled on old receipts

    left in pockets of thrift store shirts

    I will be scraps

    discarded from plates of wearied diners

    who only want to get on their way

    nothing to be remembered

    nothing worth recall

    unless some small kindness that arose

    helped someone else along the way

  • Holiday, Age 25 (Poem)

    and so the last thanksgiving, the final visit I made to that home

    I spent the day alone in pain from being cut open

    through walls drifted rise and fall of conversation

    everyone enjoying food and this, the very best day of the year

    tables filled to overflow with harvests from land sea and sky

    fragrant warmth from the kitchen echoed

    by heated crackle from logs in the living room hearth

    that evening my father brought me a plate

    grateful to be remembered and for the meal I thanked him

    but could eat very little, my small appetitie whittled away

    the next day I managed a few steps to sit by glowing embers

    yet felt older than I could ever be and frail

    I examined my hands expecting to see

    them wrinkled and bent by the gnarls of time

  • Foliate Guest (Poem)

    a leaf found where there is no tree

    darkened brown but not yet withered

    pliant enough to remember its home

    “I was once one among many that adorned an oak”

    now it rests upon my table

    a token of rare friendship that grew unexpected

    but also ever remaining a leaf

    I’m watching it brittle and dry

    changes of beautiful impermanence

    a thoughtful gift indeed

    (written in deep gratitude to RM)

  • Beach Glass Is Green (Poem)

    as a child once I stepped on a piece of glass

    it sliced deep into my foot and so

    the white sand quickly turned red

    the sky above a blue backspace for seagulls

    the sun so bright that the air shimmered with gold

    the Gulf a marine hue with rhythmic waves

    lost in this wonder I made no sound

    but the sirens of the ambulance screamed

  • Family (Poem)

    why should I care that you do not claim me

    I threw away that tie long ago

    never understood it from the beginning

    this accidental kinship you pull like a chain

    I never sought favor but sometimes found love

    kindness wins me over at once

    for you I’ve nothing but saddened compassion

    a stranger so damaged you don’t wish any repair

    a mirror into which I stare

    are those my eyes that look so coldly back

  • Settle Your Mind (Poem)

    too late to scatter sorrow

    leaf fall is over and trees are bare

    smoke drifts over the ridge

    grief no more important than the clouds

    rain hits the roof in the darkness

    there the faint scent of tears

    the moon a mirror in the night

    the sun a heart become open

  • Different Times (Poem)

    I know the lay of bones in this town

    stories of what used to be where

    what happened and when

    many are just that, tales that are told

    but they are flesh and the beating heart

    what makes a place alive

    one day no one will remember

    these particular fables about half-buried things

    no matter that and no loss

    memories and ashes always dust the streets

  • You Never Know (Poem)

    in the sky hangs a moon

    gauzed by fog and framed by late November trees

    art positioned between two houses

    just so for maximum effect

    nothing but some random street piece

    tacked up there without permission

    probably unsigned

    the feral cat who lives on the block

    appreciates it from a fallen tree

    the ground underneath rumbles from the weight

    of displaced trucks and discarded dreams

    I throw a handful of stars over my shoulder

    and laugh as I walk away