Category: poems

  • Should I Have Danced? (Poem)

    I was young once never young enough

    to call myself a flower

    dance barefoot in the grass

    my lover wove garlands of clover

    tossed them at my head

    I threw them back at her laughed

    within a year she was dead

    I imagined I would follow

    yet now here I am

    picking clover on the hillside

    missing her still

  • She Had Enough (Poem)

    she swept her words into a heap

    left them there on the living room floor

    trudged up the hill to live alone with her silence

    no one would notice them anyhow

    they’d slam into the house like always

    not even bother to wipe their dirty boots

    demand their hot supper and cold tea

    she wouldn’t be there to care

    no more caring for these ungrateful men

    they didn’t care to hear anything from her mouth

    good bad or just plain tired didn’t matter they never listened

    she’d fetch cook do only for herself now

    spin all the tales she could laugh within her head

    but to all who knocked on her door relative or not

    she’d give them nothing but a wordless stony stare

    point them down the rise with one sharp finger

    and as they left her porch

    shut the door hard enough to be heard down the hill

  • The Departure (Poem)

    he said nothing when he walked out

    there was nothing to say

    years added themselves up

    they spoke the reasons

    doors worn by being gently closed

    held shut by the immense swell of anger

    walls battered beneath glossy paint

    hiding scrapes from hurled accusations and objects thrown

    a roof patched too many times

    sagging beneath the growing weight of unmet expectations

    his shoulders straight, his head erect

    he heard the shrill calls of their endless needs

    he left everything there but himself

    he did not look back

  • Vous Souvenez-Vous? (Poem)

    you pass through the room

    night a stranger in formal clothes

    the faint scent of cologne

    a memory from a different life

    outside the stars

    the touch of your hand still warm

    none of this happened

    the days grow shorter in this forbidding land

    I have always been alone

  • This Is How It Is Now (Poem)

    the air burns bright with ghosts ablaze

    shining with incandescent need

    frantic hands snatch words from speech

    maws agape in desperate hunger

    they feed and feed and feed

    in such a space and time as this

    we cannot talk

    we cannot hear

    they ignore tears limning our faces

    we can see each other grieve

    let us give comfort

    let us give kindness

    feed starving spirits these

    together we’ll sweep up their ashes

    to keep as reminder, a holy relic

  • Rain Falls Harder Than Our Dreams (Poem)

    those had weight once

    determined we slung them across our backs

    inspired we cradled them near our hearts

    older now we’re burdened by the stones in our pockets

    those things we pick up on the way

    to give them to someone put them somewhere

    use them for something we never remember

    still we grab more and more

    over the years it becomes too much

    we shrug off the heavy hopes

    those discare the rocks we choose

    they break into pieces with a thud

    some end up in our pockets

    some shake the building

  • Blink (Poem)

    once I looked at the sky and did not see sky

    no blue just color no cloud just shape no sun just heat

    stared longer until those were gone

    because I had cast all I was upwards

    joined with the vastness I too disappeared

    now here I am and there is the sky

  • Though These Remain (Poem)

    then

    heat shimmers on the streets of my childhood

    asphalt buckles under the hot midday sun

    bullfrogs throat in falling twilight

    moon offers deceptive promises in softened night

    gulf breezes never suffice to cool

    now

    train whistles sound near my last home

    electric saws whine in competition

    houses get moved, rebuilt, and demolished

    history is presented as a calling card

    quaint facades hide broken lives

    always

    friends have ever given joy

    meals provide room for storied laughter

    strangers often display untold kindness

    encouragement is left on wooden benches

    I have sought what I have found

    all these remain and I do not look back

    I go and I go soon

  • Why Would I (Poem)

    if offered the chance to talk with a god, I would decline

    capricous beings, prone to moving in mysterious ways

    no mystery really but play to bewilder those who believe

    a reality show writ on larger screen with dramatic weather

    a distraction for deity and faithful alike

    watch and take part if you must keep so busy

    meanwhile I have things to do

  • Do Not Look For Me (Poem)

    once I thought these stories important

    wrapped them around me

    dazzling jewels a means to hide

    now I walk more in silence

    trailing memories from my fingers

    dry leaves of yesterday turning to dust

    soon I will be gone