-
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
