Hallway to Nowhere

Category: poetry

  • Tis The Season (Poem)

    this place is shouting louder than ever

    commands in a language that is not my own

    celebrate this right now right here (or else)

    who would not want to join in the festivities

    hymns carol in stores and restaurants

    a red-suited jolly old figure greets all at town hall

    ornamented trees stand in public spaces, even on a theater roof

    a themed parade shuts down Main Street and scares my dog

    attendance is optional this year; what about next

    red green and white everywhere alongside red white and blue flags

    now mandatory for homes vehicles businesses

    the air thinner than ever for those who are otherwise

    it’s getting harder to breathe

  • The Alchemy Of Being Seen (Poem)

    when I travel the rough paved roads

    ones faced by metal doors and delivery docks

    I no longer stumble on the broken curbsides

    my gait undone by my broken heart

    once I grieved on those back corners

    cried in the rain so no one saw my tears

    unexpected strangers shared my burden

    let their hearts break open with mine

    these exchanges proving prior connection

    subterranean tug and flow of outpoured love

    drew away selfish cold isolation

    ceaseless buffet of harsh afflictions

    now I carry in my pockets bits of sorrow

    transformed by compassion’s embrace

    drop them among the rocks on the street

    reminders of level kinship between us

    no I no you no they no we

    and always the memory of her luminous smile

    his gentle welcoming gaze

  • Two Paintings (Poem)

    two oil paintings with a familiar signature

    the artist a familial friend

    now they rest in a stranger’s garage

    thrown carelessly against some boxes

    to him they mean nothing

    to me they are so much more

    warm salty air and a peculiar swampy fug

    a studio perched on the edge of a gulf bluff

    the path overhung by mossy cypress trees

    a refuge offering magic to a hungry child

  • 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

  • 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