Opal on Fire

Few know how the Opal breathes
Layers of milky embers
Slip beneath their grasp
She is better off alone

He was one who knew her fire
And paused while she flickered
In mysterious intricate detail
but remained
Vague

Until
Understanding washed across his brow
He gingerly let her slide through his fingers
Her shocking loss of breath
Oh, the howling now!

Bird's Nest

I want to grow a bird's nest in my hair
And be a building
And touch the sky

I want to breathe in statues
Stare like children
Extend my hope out like a wall

I want to key in laughter
Hurry after...one stray balloon
I want to bleed
Like a red dress

I want to sway like lovers
Be a keyhole
Scream at all the people

I would say, This is life
What are you waiting for

I would say, This is hope
What were you hoping for

I want to grow a flower
In half an hour
And hand you my broken heart

I want to step out of line
And cry for all the people

I want to grow a bird's nest in my hair

Circling Around Love

I've
Traveled thousands of miles
To sit beside you
I've
Climbed my own fears
To look in your eyes

And no matter what the World Says
About us being a pair
We're two of a kind
Me and
You

I've
Crept through the Darkness
To bathe in your Light
I've
Cried half an Ocean
When things between us weren't right

And no matter what the World knows
About Destiny
We're still circling around
Love
Around Love
You and
Me

And no matter what the World knows
About Destiny
We're still circling around Love
Me and You,
You and
Me...

Dear Heart

The sun has set
Last evening
Shall I waste the day
Your lips have long since silenced
Dear,
No innocent to blame
The wind creeps through the meadow, still
I ponder on the day
Might we talk about those things that
Longing yearns to say
The candle burns all evening
Until the wax collects its flame
I fear the sun will rise
Tomorrow
Heart,
Will I forget your name?

Widow's Walk

The Sill forgives the Window
Cradles soft, the pane
For eyes to see her True Love
To leave, and come again

The Knob forgives the Door
Listens now, and then
For steps to hear her True Love
To leave, and come again

The Ocean forgives the Waves
Curling up, its blame
For harboring her True Love
Never Home, again

The Heart forgives for-ever
Leaving her in Vain
And stops each other second
To alter, just the same...

Depth and Perception

Had I, the River's Depth
My Current's faithful hope
The Colors of your Hazel Eyes
Inside my Kalidescope...

I would not shrug in vast array
or Perceive what the words might say
From that shallow tongue of yesterday...

Had I, the River's Depth

Parachute

Full Skirt
Parachuting
Plucking the wind
Serendipitously
On a Cello's Strings
but is it
Letting Go
or
Plummeting?

Wild Hearts

Wine and Thine
Covet ~ We
Delved beyond
All Vacancy
And Left Passion
Where it had struggled
Stalwart
Staggering Laughter
Beating, Running
Asking for the Kiss
At first Denied
Prolonging to Resist
Stood Alone beside itself
Patient around the corner
Why arent you Home
There were Dreams still waiting
On our lips
Reluctancy opened the Door
Beyond the sleeplessness
Unveiled its serene brilliancy
Wild Hearts!
Wild Hearts!
Until the Vacant Two depart
In Yellow vessels, Land, and Sea
Lucidly the Dreams disperse, yet
Revisit ~ Thee
Like Hummingbirds..

Tap on the Shoulder

A Willow Bending with the Wind
Reaches out to grasp what it needs
Holds the truth
Knows so well
The wind feeds it's soul

She's on the train
Holding her back against the door
Rocking to the past
They don't know her magic
I tend to forget how to bend

Come on, City Momma
With your windows full of glass
Digging your concrete into her shoes
You've got a story
Teach her...

That Winter, was oh, so cold.

Invisible figure
Brought a kitten home last week
Sat in her front room
Holding that little life
She felt a Willow Branch
on her shoulder

It brushed her cheek
wrapped around until it held the truth
The Wind knew so well
She was starving

Whatever you Covet, You Carry

Whatever you Covet, you Carry...
and I carry you home tonight
all the stories of so many people
and whatever their heartsongs may write

And you think you go home
And you think you're alone
And you whisper and no one replies

And you might be afraid
And you might shed a tear
And you fall asleep wondering why

But whatever you Covet, you Carry...
And what I hold close to my Soul
Are the stories of so many people
That make my life's song unfold

The Breaking Waves

The tide's rushing in
Run like the wind
Oh, Laughter!
Oh, beautiful, beautiful
Laughter

He would take her hand
From a cold, blue world
And take out the pain
If he could only find a way

And sorrow would leave her
And beautiful words
And she'd be a person
Just like the others

no.

Leave me to stand here
The tide rushing in
Hold me for a moment
More

How to leave all the children
Inside of her eyes
A Magical novel
That slips under the waves

He lets her go

The tide's rushing in
She screams... RUN LIKE THE WIND
Oh, Sorrow!
Oh, beautiful, beautiful
Sorrow

He leaves her
In swallowing rapture

Reflection (Woman at the Window)

Stirring voices down the hall
Churning pictures on the wall
Love has left her

Saw an Ocean in two eyes
Saw a sail boat lose the wind
Saw a Woman at the window
Beckoning the Moonlight in

And shadows crept to her bedside
And sorrow drew a line

Curving body all alone
Watching her hand extend to dreams
Voices move behind her eyelids
Is it true love beckoning

The daylight streaming in her face
Morning shows the way

Saw a Woman at the window
Whispering for the sun to go away
It's much too painful to watch him stray
Like a lonely leaf, she tumbles
In a graceful way

Stirring voices down the hall
Churning pictures on the wall
He handed her a birthday present
(I took this photograph and had it framed)
And she hung it on the wall
And looked at it a thousand times
Now love has left her

Saw a Woman at the window
Saw a Woman at the window

Saw a Woman at the window...

Lunar Eclipse

And she said to the Moon,
Does my sky have an end
Without you?

And the Moon did not reply,
Instead
Dipping his face toward the Sun

He cast a shadow
Upon where she stood

And her Universe became an envelope
And she, a lonely gracious Swan
Upon a lake of unbounded Stars

And she silently wept within his arms

Swan Lake

The Moon,
Called her name
For several hours
Beckoning for her reply

She swam gracefully
Among the stars
Inches toward his light
But remained diligently silent

How can I come to you
When you are so far?
How can I give you a response
To only hear your last breath of me?

I have loved you for such a long time,
Longer than having knowledge of you
Longer than touching your face
Or being bathed in your light

And she deeply
fell
to
sleep

Covered in the Stars
Dreaming of his face

Full Moon

And the Moon
Turned His face toward her
And asked "Do I know you?"

And she suddenly felt
Like a cloud, but only less dense

Shuddering, she whispered,
Yes, you know me
You know me better than anyone in the Universe

And suddenly, she could feel the hurt,
Licking at her cheeks
And she wished her eyes would lose their sight of him

But how,
On nights like these
When he is so close,
She can almost touch his face

How can such A full Moon
Feel so empty?

New Roads

No matter how many times you turn around
The Skyline shows a different view
and you wonder who
would let this happen
You feel yourself searching
for the rewind button in your mind

And there are new roads that lead you home

This isn't how you want to go
But this is all you know
And you turn, just like the others
It is a quiet line

You look in the eyes of other drivers
You tell them silently,
These are new roads
And they answer, Yes, we know

New Roads will lead us all home

I Am You

I am,
I am

I am you

You would think you were me too
But I can't make you be me
I can bring you pieces
Of my mystery

Will you ever come close enough
To smell my hair
And see the Moon through
My blue pair

Of eyes
I will not compromise

Who I am
To make you see
To make you believe in me

I am
I am

I am you
Only
with a different view

The Intricate Key

She looked at the sky tonight
And realized that sometimes life isn't about
Things that are a million light years away

Sometimes it is about taking that next breath of air
And how a person sighs
Sometimes it is in the wind
That unfurls a single strand of hair
gently emerging from conformity

sometimes life is about a whole sky
And not one round center piece
All lit up

Sometimes we engage in something truly beautiful
And the world pauses
To hear our joy

It is the sound of forgiveness
And many hearts extending

These Pressing Moments

They were laughing
Sitting as close to eachother as they could
Their knees pressed deeply
I am you
I am so you

They felt like twins
A double yolk
A body of laughter
Connected precisely in the center of a lake
Of rippling genius

But soon they grew distant
Two trees standing adjacent, but rings apart
Their roots winding like thirsty bamboo
I am not you
I am so not you

They felt like siblings
Evaporating years
A hollow sound that bellows across a frozen lake
dispersing into the winter air

Still,
He caught the fine light in her hair
And she, his creases... smiling

Their knuckle bones touched
And white light crowded their room with stars
AGAIN
Like magic that comes
IN round open mouths of awe

I AM you, she concured
With the years ahead of me

And I AM you, he knodded
With the years behind me

Danny

Oh, Danny
You wouldn't sing

And so, I stayed with you
in your little world
Getting in enough trouble
For the both of us

You hated that yellow
Piano
And green book
Of Big Bird songs

And I hated that you
Had drawn inside
Yourself
To let just one friend in

Oh, Danny
You wouldn't sing
And I sang like a bird

I sang those big bird songs
every one

While you sat,
with your little arms folded
Up like dividing walls

(I grew up, did you?)

Oh, Danny
I dated many of whom
All Were you

waiting for my little voice
To come back to sit behind them
And share my golden strands of hair
And the scent of my understanding

Oh, Danny
I don't sing much anymore

I hope now,
It is your turn

Please Danny,
sing for me

Teaching Love

Living inside this Oyster,
This Mother of Pearl dream
I am your beautiful Daughter
I am made from a painful partical
A grain of sand
But I am whole, because of love
I am your twin oracle
Your nodding little head
Balanced by your whole hand

I am everything you shall teach me
First, Mother...
hold me close to your heart

Cranberry Park

Hold my Hand in Cranberry Park
With the wind lapping at my hair
Understand I am more than the years
And we are much more than a pair

Kiss my Lips in Cranberry Park
Close to the Winding Chinese Maple Tree's boughs
Collecting my finger tips, gathering me in
More than plain lovers allow

Tell me you Love me, In Cranberry Park
Darling, I shall whisper the same
And the trees will tell secrets
(For more than our years)
and will never feel longing again

Tell me you Love me
In Cranberry Park

Gravity

Blonde head of Hair
With no one to share
Grow-Growing Up, Growing Fat, Growing Tall
And it never mattered at all

About Grades, and futures
English Teachers

Just pushed through a crack in the wall

And no future
And no plans
Just pointing fingers
And fisted hands

They Couldn't wait until I had grown up
(and had gone)
And I struggled on

And you wonder why
I'm full of Childhood
And yearning for touch, and belief
Hard to let go
And when I'm gone, (a relief?)

Insecurities running wild
And All I want is a moment of smiles
And perhaps a dream, you dream for me
Proof that you believe (in me)

That you believe
How could anyone believe
In me

Yes, You are my Moon
And all I wish, is that you could say
You're not ever going away

All I need
is a little bit
of Gravity

Gravitational Pull

It is tough to stay grounded,
She said, as she clutched his lapels,
When you're far beyond Grasp, In the sky

he nodded his head
And Hugged her, and said
Have You forgotten your Wings again?

Fly!

Circle

Oh, I said
My eyes again
bathing in their lids
Was it something that I said
Was it something that I did

He answered, Yes
That nodding head
Beneath security
Dipped itself again in fear again
And now I've broken free

But, what is there
Without me here?
Two kindred lovers be
And what inside, oh how it dies
To find obscurity

I lift my head,
And how it rains
Upon my vacant world
And how I see, and pity me
A somewhat, flighty girl
(Flighty)

Ah, yes... The Wings
And how They sing
To somewhere hearts find lending
And truth is wise
And patience sighs
For feathers that need mending

The Last Words for Tonight

I could write
one thousand lines tonight
But you would crinkle up your nose
And wonder where The Moon has gone
And how your window knows
And how upside has a downside
And fingers count like toes
And how love can draw a circle
Around, and around it goes

But I will put my words away
One thousand Lover's Pleas
And You will cross your knees
And sit within the Moonlight
Closer to your windowsills
And tell me how The Moon is there
No matter how it "wills"

And tuck this flighty nodding chin
And whisper how you know
And how love begins again

Within a day
Or half a week
and how I gather him

Wondering

We are all Wondering
What's happening

All the daisys want to play
Another day

What's wrong with the sky
The birds refuse to fly

We are all day-dreaming
About the Spring

All of the innocent hours
Beautiful meadows of wild flowers

We are all wondering
What tomorrow brings

Each hour is such a mystery
Each day, marking history

We would ask for yesterday...
If we had our way

We are all Wondering
What's happening


(Although seemingly a Simple poem, it was a song of return to innocence written shortly after 9/11)

A Thousand Leaves

The sky is blue
My heart is
full of you
and you
Oh
and you

A crack along the wall
A face that turns
Toward my voice
That calls out
That calls your name

You are my poetry

There are no words
When I am free
Oh
When I am happy

and there are no words
When I am deep within the sky
So blue

So full of you
and you
Oh
and you

A gate that holds the key
A Lover's mystery
Hides beyond a garden wall
A garden wall
that covets Pages
Like a thousand leaves

You are my poetry

Nervous Engraving

On their Wedding Day
They engraved
Their names
In Leaded Glass
in 1634

Those were the days
Of chivalry
Fear of water

Fathers bequeathed
Their first born daughters
To guard a name

And Tudor roses bloomed
In English knot gardens
where primrose daughters
Wept in hidden corners

Love was not within the glass
Though we trace time
With our eyes

How could Love be bought
Or kept within
Or swept beneath the stone

She lay her fair head
Upon a stable boy
And there her heart broke
There she died

But her heart,
soon forgave her

And she walked the earth
For eighty years

The leaded glass
Was not her heart's engraving

Folding

A little song
He sings
from memory of a bird
With gilded wings
and he never heard
her voice again
like breathing
like falling
folding
into the wind

now all he knows of her
is what is left
upon his lips

and so he covets
her little song

and flys to her

Forbidden Love

I AM THE KING!
He slammed his hand
Across inlaid Mahogany
The goblets smashed
The Cook ran

But the peasant girl
Stood still and silent
Eyed him with her steel blues
She did not turn them
to the ground

And for the second time
he Slammed his fists down
And bellowed
I AM THE KING!

I AM!

She stood in her place
and showed him the face of a dove

WHO ARE YOU?
He screamed at her

I am the other side of your longing,
Your majesty

The others murmered "Poet"
"Scribe"

WHAT...? YOU...? HE YELLED

Nothing, your Majesty
I am No one.

And he looked at her, now
With her wings torn away

YOU ARE EVERYTHING I SHALL NOT WANT FOREVER!!

and inside her heart
the little bird
died (AGAIN)

With that, the elegant guests
All shook their heads
At the foolish girl
And the King threw back his head
And bellowed a wicked laugh

That evening, in the Kings chambers
The peasant girl was secretly brought to him again

And in the Kings bed,
He tucked his arm around the little wren
and kissed her neck
and proclaimed his secret love again to her

Her eyes
filled with his words

and tears spilled
down her face

you are my everything, he whispered

Chosen Moon

When do we
Fall for discovery
reach to take a yearning place
and hold it close
and find the most
secret space
Just by holding her hand
or glancing once more at his face

Where do we
Find our true destiny
In the lining of the stars
Until we know who we are
In the sea
Of each breathing tide
We reach deep inside
And show our hearts
Until the Celestial Charts set us free

To choose our own Moons

A Billion Light Years

I hold the hope of rivers
I grasp the farthest light
and bring to you a single seed
I grow

and you think you know
you think you understand
How a woman bends
Around a man
as he takes her hand

but I hold my own roots
and I slip through your fingers
and you wonder why
I am so difficult
why am I not ordinary
why do I reach for everything
I cannot have
why do I mourn
What do I long for
What do I grasp

Why am I so difficult
Why am I so difficult
Why am I so difficult

You need a little patience

Daughter

Mother tilts her head
Her tears rain in my eyes
I am so sorry
I am not your dreams

But I could never be
I was the creation of my own destiny

And I look at you in a different light
now

I always refused to climb your stairs
because I wasn't you
you never understood that

Mother, I was me

We rest on different mountains
I still dream of your eyes
and my small hands

and I try to see your point of view
but if you only knew

that I was different
that I was the birth of stars

and you just wanted me to be
A daughter

Angel

She laughed
Like birds
And they all came down
To crane their necks
And check for wings
But she had no back
For those sort of things

Woman at the Window

Saw an Ocean in two eyes
Saw a sail boat lose the wind
Saw a Woman at the window
Beckoning the Moonlight in

And shadows crept to her bedside
And sorrow drew a line

Six Trees in Nebraska

When you live in the City
on the east coast
All of the faces blend
and shadows linger against
dense oceans of windows
and you tend to
forget yourself

When you live in the Country
on the east coast
All of the mountains bend
and the pine trees reach out to you
Like Willows of childhood
and you tend to
lose yourself

But if you drive a thousand miles
Out to the midwest
Where there is a large vast open sky
Where The Moon dips his head
Upon the crest of fresh fallen snow
And black trees, all six of them
stand together in line
and you stand there
among them, like seven

you remember your life
and you look at your hands
and you cry like an child
because they're so cold
and life is so beautiful
and those six trees, so empty
They appear to reach out to you
and the Moon
You can't stay forever
No, you must leave, you tell them
and your voice echos over the fields
You'll try to remember
what January told you
in the year of two thousand and one

Six trees, become seven
as you drive past those fields
and hundreds soon join them
and thousands again

and They all know the language
and they all grow the same
but only six in Nebraska
remember your name

Spoon

That spoon,
That sloop
That curving road
leads to your voice
And, I... alone
discover you
again

Your hair
Your smile
A child's nose
That knowing smell
All your own
Oh, Mother

Gathering twigs
Gathering rocks
Gathering time
in pockets of Home

stone walls
stone walls
I am still
reaching

Do you know these hands

That
falling
falling
Spoon

lands on the floor
and disperses a calling
a noise

Oh, Mother

Winged Lining

She lived POETRY
for a few months
the way her long hair
drew up in curves,
and her lips once full of prose
that failed to drip like honey

you know how the story goes
those mirrored days
that reflect
but silence pages

She lived those moments
in huddled thought
how he held her hand
and what the sky tasted like
in leaves
in cabs
in buildings

and how a heart sleeps anyway
no matter how it aches
for time
or dreams

creativity doesn't linger
for distance (self or soul)
or ponder how
flesh can pause
in the blink of shining eyes
that seem to dull

She BECOMES Poetry

until, the words return
like winged birds
like flight
that fleeting light
upon the jagged glass
of calling
her name

and jointed light,
two knuckle bones
return

Commercial Souls

John Edwards was talking to souls
when I was falling asleep
on my loveseat
While I was thinking of loved ones
who had left my life
without goodbye

John Edwards was connecting
to the other side
While I lay sleeping
on my loveseat
Dreaming of McDonald's
Subaru Outbacks
And Lemon Fresh Pine Sol

Soulman

A gulp of air, A Christening
(So to speak)
You
bring me the Universe
...again
In it's little toe
Dispersing stars
Oh,
S
O
U
L
M
A
N

Fall From Grace

The words lept from her
After the storm
and the long pause

Until Someone else discovered her

She disolved into this new Man,
like an instant cure

and thought to herself
"I will teach you to replace"

(Poor soul)

He didn't even have a chance
to play his cards right

Because he wasn't he
who had sat beside her
now he, like all others
Sat directly across

and he didn't know
how to hold her hand
that way
you know, that way

and he called at the wrong times
and said regular things
no roller coaster
zig zagged
dream filled words

just promises of foundations
and futures
the cement stuff
that hits you HARD like a rock
and plants you for the rest
of your life

You're not HIM
she wanted to scream
and She's not the SHE
that SHE was

And she threw down the cards
And they scattered,
all of them

HE HAD NO IDEA
WHAT WAS GOING ON

But you don't understand!
She wanted to tell him.

Love
Once
Grew
Here

and what the hell do flowers mean
anymore

and so, she regained her composure,
and let him know
That she wasn't ready

and that perhaps extended silence
is a gift
and time, is a healing process
Time alone,
doesn't hurt others

Doing Nothing

You know you're in love
when he tells you, "We can do anything"
and you choose just to walk down the street
holding hands
enjoying the pear trees
in bloom

Out of Place

She used to ask him
to take her to the same places
Building romantic blocks
of co-existance
He used
to take her to those same places
When they felt lost
or needed inspiration
They used to meet eachother
at those same places
Where the tastes were the same
Or that table nook
beckoned their names
It was always the same
It was comforting
being repetitious

But time changed hands
and they slipped away
from the same places
and life tumbled
and seasons drew a line
and distance became
distant

And they chose different faces
To smile next to

Until everything
Was no longer the same

Until their voices
recognized light again
and pear trees came to life
In beautiful little spurts

They gathered at new places
Everything was strange
The streets
The tastes
The tables

But places no longer mattered

Soul mates don't require them

Their Pair of Bluest Eyes

Mouthfuls of words
like little fish bubbles
collecting,
dispersing...
My Mother

How are you
(the same)

How is work
(the same)

How is it out there in California
(the same)

Maybe we'll get together this year
(yes. maybe.)

(what do you look like, Mother?)
(I sometimes forget,)
(until I see my reflection)
(yes, there is a hint of you...)
(Sometimes.)

(I wanted a Mother)
(who would hold me close)
(laugh and sing with me)
(believe...)
(in me.)
(I held the greatest patience)
(All of those years, waiting)
(For you to change.)
(You did.)

(you left.)

(I love you with all of my heart)
(even though we never laugh)
(or sing together)
(I know I'm not the daughter)
(that you wanted)

(I was the child)
(who never wanted you to hug me)
(who never wanted to sit in your lap)

(Patience, is sometimes, ignorance)

(We've lost time)

How are you
How is work
How is it out there in California
Maybe we'll get together this year

Yes.

Maybe.

Worth

How does the river sigh
And curdle up the bay
of ocean's birthing waves
and huddle one lost stray

a tiny little boat
Who's wings, now rest their oars
and cuddle up to sorrow?
this lonely heart of yours...

Learning "Touch"

You think I have held
all of the hands of love

You think I have been held
for all of my years

But, Know, only once
have I been caught,
or
Do I reach

For a body to touch...
To be held

Oh,
What
Freedom
is
This
Love

and yet, how cynical
is time, and space

half a spoon to me

Branches and String

Inside one certain breath
she builds her nest
and lives for dying

And he will tell her
That he recognizes her life song
And for this,

How can love be wrong?

From Branches and String
A whole life
Begins

Banishing Potential Suitors

Some will sail their little boats
To read, what once were eyes
and anchor all their hopes inside
A solemn lake of tears

And she will only glance at them
And casually lose an oar
And watch as they slip into
a circle that finds it's way

Photograph

Frozen into place,
A face
One day will be erased

Always young,
But now... A crone
Time will make the face
Unknown

Long Dive

What happened to the branch
As you fell
Into yourself
That breaking bough
And you,
You
bending back
As though
You were about to dive,
into a shallow pool
that hid
it's depths

Forgiving Canvas

I could paint like
that hand
that didn't
care
and find more passion
In the wares
of oiled bristles
and deep forgiving canvas

But New York wouldn't
hang me on the
wall

Compass Door Knob

Absent, is the sturdy frame
From which to hinge the door
The thrushing out, and beckoning
Hallmarking the floor

Absent, is the little bell
From which answering a poem
The flushing face, of time's embrace
One knob to turn us home

Cranberry Bog

A North,
The needle asked,
But altered, just the same.
As she waded in the long pond
And watched little neck clams slip away.
(How time, will cast aside
Such simple ours)
She's still out
waiting
For A thousand crimson voices

Trilogy

One soul inside a vessel
And a lake, owned
by a soul
Pair of eyes
The branches heavy
With loons
and sky, oh
mirror,
how I delve inside

Someplace Land

That someplace land
Is where you go
when waking does reverse

Dreamers simply understand
and view their world
in verse

Oil Fever

One day they light you up like fire
and say "You give a certain fuel"
Like beauty raging
Oil burning on the water
Take the scene below the depths
and say,
You give, only an inch of your life
and that's what they take
but do they ever
know your clear blue soul?
Why do they only want
A height of insignifigance
marked down against the tides

One day they light you up like fire
and then the next,
you're killing birds

Someone Like Me

If The Moon Fell in Love
With someone like me
Would he fall from the sky
Would he change destiny,
Just to hold me?

Find my peace, in his eyes
In his space
Our souls erasing how the sky
Is supposed to be

If The Moon fell in Love
With someone like me
Could I ever be enough light

Would I understand
That I couldn't let him stay
That darkness isn't the way
To hold True Love

Could I return him back to the sky
And never look behind to see
The Moon waving goodbye
To me

The Seeker & The Dweller

Down the little hall
Is where you once had stood
Where others hang their coats now
While you stand, deep in the wood

And hear the echoed greetings
The closing of the door
Forsaking a Lover's dwelling place
Their light burns at the porch

Down the little hall
Is where Mortality bows
And Muse beckons, and curtsies
While the winds of Jealousy, prowels

Old Maid

OLD MAIDS ARE MADE THIS WAY,
They almost chant, and shake their heads
(And know that knowledge suits them)

As she smiles, rather coyly
Knowing with the cards, hidden in her pocket
Neither one of them is playing
With a full deck

Momma Mosaic

Tell me
Tell me
I'm your child
I'll go the extra mile
To use the scattered pieces
Momma

Little nose
Little blue
Favorite day
Calming calming piece of sky
Your laugh
Your look of pride
Momma

Break me
Break me
These forgiving years
You would arrive
Like rain
in a glass

My Hands
My Hands
Circling, creating
Combining
How you would look
If you knew

Momma,
If only you knew...

These Years of Silence

Someone took the breath away
And someone took the hand
Someone took the life away
Someone took the Man

And all that now is left of him
Is a silent land

They direct to change the battery
They demand I change the clock
They know his heart was just some TIME
That tick would murder tock

And I would wander through my life
A key without a Lock

Someone please, remove the words
Someone erase the day
Someone stop this silent world
And let Love live another day

For all that now is left of me
Is all I cannot say

The Wind and the Laundry

someone gave the stars a bath
Someone sang a song
someone let the laundry go
scattered on the lawn

And the Moon, he cried to somebody
about how time can make you old
as he watched a bitter aging woman
take a sheet and make a fold

She was young, when she was in love with him
She had stars within her eyes
And he covered her with foolish dreams
Each night they lit the skies
But he simply could not hold her
And she nodded and replied
If I could not have those dreams back then
I surely would have died

She stood holding all the laundry
And she stared up and caught his eyes
You know, you're still in love with me
It was not a real goodbye

And she opened up her kitchen door
and she slid the basket through
and she wept once more before she went inside
To be held by someone who,
had arms and legs and flesh and bones
who had slept right by her side
and carried all their children on his shoulders
Deep with pride

And she loves this man, God knows she does
But it's written in the wind
How the Man in the Moon once held her heart...

And she brought her laundry in

Falling Stars

I reach
I fall
I stumble through it all
And
You wonder why it matters
You would rather just default

But
I won't
Lose faith
Even though it leads me astray
And
I can't come Home
Until I somehow find a way

Through these Stars

You are still my Universe

Figure out the verse
And endings are beginnings

And falling stars are Lovers
Coming home...

Silent Heart Talking

What if the chance to see your face
was over
And I could only watch you walk away

What if these arms could never hold you
(again)
or find a way to reach into your heart

Other people will never know such love
Other strangers have faces that I'll never touch
And they walk toward
And they seek my mystery
but never know of the fire
You kindled in me

Why does the sky seem to burn in the ground
At the end of the day
Dispersing stars in the air
And we lay down
And think nothing at all
About the beauty of the last twelve hours

Why does the sea bring itself back to me
After it left me so dry
Thought it took my dreams away
But now it licks at my side
Virgina Wolfe in my pockets
Fourth of July rockets waving

And The Moon is everything
You can't believe
It happened to me
The stars know my name

And the fire begins again...

Playing God

You can stand in line
Forever
Eventually you'll earn
Your own ticket

Or you can be the Entertainers
Look in their eyes
See what's inside
What keeps them alive

What you do,
is a half turn to the Moon
A rotation of imagination
On your own pedestal
of creation

Mr. Jones' Bank

He said, Listen Miss, I'm not complaining
But my bank account is wrong
And the bird outside my window
Isn't singing the right song
Got a Mirror in the bathroom
That doesn't recognize my face
And my dentist in the city
Can't see me yet today

Won't you change all of the zero's
Won't you look into your eight ball
Won't you Give me just a quarter
So I can give My "Boy" a call

See, I've got a dream in Europe
And I bought three thousand shares
And my whole face now is throbbing
Please see that my retirement is spared

Be a dove, little voice
Find my way out of paper
Take me down the street into her arms
Take me up again
My desk is full of this nightmare

And I say, Mr. Jones
You know, I've never felt that kind of pain
But this kind of life isn't a game
It isn't a wheel on wall street
Calling your name
(That's what I wanted badly to say...)

But instead, I said I'm sorry about your Toothache
I hope you'll see your Dentist real soon,
Is there anything else
I
can

Do

The Wisdom of Hope

Sorrow turned the light out
But Hope turned it back on
You thought I'd stay in the hall way

Love played some music
And Peace began dancing
and Memories scattered the table

And You're here for dinner
(The Man in the Moon)
As the sun slipped out of my hands

You know it's funny how Laughter
can change a whole life
And the Stars can make you understand

Sorrow turned the light out
But Hope has projection

Amaryllis

How Amorous is the "Ryllis"
How Naked are our Beds
How do we Fly with Wingless Backs
And Feathers in our Heads

Nodding in sheer Wonder
Like open Nectar, Breeds
And Covet what is Velvet
Our Arms, Embracing Needs

How Stringent are our Sheets
Where a Garden should Replace
Where the Scent of Amaryllis, Wills us
To seek our Lover's Face?

And How we Sow
Is what Love Knows...

Canvas Sail

The Ocean chimes
A hundred times
And its frothy wings
Come beckoning
Tell me,
How do you sail
How do you fade away

Before those strong arms take you back
To a sturdy door frame
Children laughing upstairs
Sitting in the third floor alcove
Listing to the rain

Your childhood was made of canvas
sneakers
On a barren road along the lake
black berry thorns
Torn pair of faded jeans
and a superficial gash
From a turn you didn't notice

Sweet angel
How do you fly
like fire flies
Your children dancing
In the back yard
As the moon sighs,
Bends to whisper your name

The Ocean chimes
One more time
And a finger reaches out
Licks your swollen ankels
You're giving birth again
And you tilt your head
and tell him,
You only sail
Down the drain

And he tells you, No...
This isn't life
It's just a canvas ride

and you've got the most beautiful
pair of Ocean eyes,
Canvas Sail...

Cemetery Wall Flowers

They spent their whole lives
Planning angels
importing marble for their graves
And treading up the long hill
to watch over grandmothers
And the babes that never saw blue

Was it Your Voice

Was it your voice I heard
Was it the clear night sky
Was it the curtain blowing
Reaching out to touch my face
You always know how to erase
my

l
o
n
e
l
y
n
e
s
s

The Dancer

I would now wear the leotard
I would carefully slip on the shoes
I would dance around in circles
Mother, just for you

If you would just take time to look at me
If you someone found a way
To whisper something beautiful
And the years would melt away

And I'd be you're little dancer
And I'd be your precious child
I'd dance until my shoes were worn
Just to capture your proud smile

You always wanted a Ballerina
But I never had the nerve
And I always thought your love
was not deserved

Mother, you've moved away
And we never make the time
But I'd love to be your Dancer
If you could somehow change your mind

I would dance around in circles
And gently extend my hand
because your Daughter needs a Mother
More than you can comprehend...

Polaris

Wind, took the house
She said it herself.
But years, left it standing
In the halls of her thoughts

In her dreams,
She often went home.
(it was very quite simple)
Nodding chin,
And suddenly everything
fell
into
place

There are souls with vacant eyes
You think
inside their minds,
they are aboard their own master ships
sailing
Northboard Home

Their charts
Brilliant and unbounding

You Know, The Girl...

She extended her hand out the window
She was eight years old
And the breeze blew hard through her fingers
As she watched her Mother's hands at the wheel
And the world was fast
And the world was slow
And the windows changed
You know, The Girl...

She extended her hand out the window
She was twenty years old
And the breeze blew hard through her fingers
Her other hand at the wheel
And the world was strange
And the world was full of change
And the windows,
well when you're twenty,
You know

She still extends her hand out the window
She's a few years over Thirty
And Now she keeps both hands on the wheel
But the breeze blows hard
Through the open window
And it captures her long blonde hair
And the world is small
And the world is always just one more turn
Around the corner

Change is everything
Change is every
every single thing

You know, the Girl...

Chasing the Pie Man

Driving down those dark
Brooklyn streets
At dusk
The misty rain, settling in
Against the old brick
warehouses
Clambering metal poles
Shaking memorials
The patriarch ship men
shed their sweat here
hoisting up their souls
to dry
And we come here, for pie

The Lady, sheds her light
Against the harbor's thick
green rind
A
Key
Lime
Pie
adventure

With the mist of rain
Falling down
trickling against
our cheeks

where else
can romance
live?

Beauty, Leaving

Fragility
Spoke,
with the softest tongue
Tell me, Dear, what I have done
Was this right,
Or do I fear
The leather in my hands
Has forgotten
Again

And I took her, with my voice
to a place
Where we could giggle
About her dreams
And infatuation with Richard Gere

Tell, me Love...
What's your name?
I'm quite sick
but still hold wonder
and laughter

I told her,
And we both smiled, on the telephone
And then
dispersed

You Would Have Thought

You would have thought
The story would have complimented
That the Lovers
Had their way

In the evening fold
Of Happy endings
But there was too much
In the way

And so they fold their arms
And turn their heads
To where the skyline hides the Sun
You would have thought
You saw babies in their eyes
And deep memories
For the Summer Suns
That had yet to rise

Life has turned a page
That no one wrote
But they somehow intertwine
And Love has lost two pairs of eyes
As they turn their heads
And catch the broken lines
Of sidewalks
Left behind

You would have thought
He saved the Girl
That the mirror broke
That the Moon fell from the sky
To hold her for the first time
But it was reason over rhyme

You would have thought
The story would have complimented
That the Lovers
Had their way
But you know
How life... goes
On

And you would think
For all the years your eyelids
Could have saved
Ten thousand tears
But they spill
Anyway

You would have thought
He saved the Girl
Instead
He walked away

Someone tell the Moon
That the night is cold
That the Summer's lost its way
And the babies don the stars
And fade away

You would have thought
You knew
But you never do...

Poet Tree

If
Poetry were the Death of me
To slumber, I would go
Like two wings without one bird
so silently, to slow

And lie within a vacant ground
where no one's shadow goes
And seek me not, for how you sought
Two prisoners were we
Like a rock split by the roots
Of immortality

And carve no granite
And Mark no Date
For birth was all I knew
And mouth the words of brilliant height
True Love
is how I flew...

Unchartered Moon

Beautiful,
Beautiful Moon

Precious
Oracle of Love

How do you descend
From such a beloved plain

Where his voice
Raised such brilliant Light,

That even the Stars
Felt devoted

Beautiful,
Beautiful Moon

No one will ever seek you again,
Like this

How shall you fall
To sleep?

I Lay Dying, In His Eyes

I am no longer rare
Or beautiful
But a wave of time
A reluctant addition,
Not a merged plight
I am singular
Alone

Dare, I writhe in sorrow
I shall lose him, whole

I am an unchartered Moon
In his Universe
An unblinking eye
Withholding a single grain
Of salt

Pearls once strung
Around my neck
And my song
From his lips
The taste of my kiss
Was his force
Of happiness
My Voice,
His need

Oh, How to become this Nothing
Is such a breaking
Declining sadness
As I struggle
With beauty
And fall
Where unchartered Moons
Are meant to find their
Endings

Bookends

Everything I do,
Is you.

A Year of Light

He gives the world
A light,
A pause
A slice of harmony
Softly beckoning shadow
To disperse
Itself in poetry
As color passes
Over the eyes
Of luminosity

His gift unfurls
At night,
A bridge
A piercing through the dark
Curves reflecting beauty
To orchestrate
A symphony
As radiance thrashes free
From the arms
Of obscurity

I am a piece of light
Within the realm
Of shadowing plight
And, how I shine
For him this night
And, how I dance
Off jagged glass
And erupt into
Thousands of prisms
Like pure crystal
And love him more deeply
Than the sea
For he is depth
Cast into me

A City So Warm in Winter

I love
Your love of flowers

Your most intimate places
Within your walls

When you reach
For my waiting hands

I love how your eyes light up
When you first come through the door

I love our pensive moments
Between real laughter

And our long walks
Through the unfolding city

I love
Loving you

Red Scarf

I will wear a red scarf

A red pashmina scarf
A soft red kiss
Woman in the city
With a flash of red

I will wear a red scarf
Over a red sweater
In December
A scarlet red sweater
A soft red kiss
Woman in the city
With a flash of red

I will wear a red heart
Beneath a red sweater
Under a red scarf
A crimson red heart
The one he brought to life for me
Tucked inside my chest

A crimson red heart
A soft red kiss
Woman in the city
With a flash of red...

Must be loved

You And I, And She

Perfect company
Is not fine bone china
Set out for tea

It is you
And I,
And she

It is not fancy icing
On dainty cakes
Or lady fingers
Lined on lace

It is not
Victorian grandeur
(Such whimsical things)
It is the truth
Inside the whisper
Of wings

Eve in the Bakery

She pondered upon baking a cake
Around herself
So, one day
She could jump out
And surprise the World

Now,All she had left to consider
Was Clothing,
or No Clothing

City Bus

Now
There are fewer stops
And the world flows along
Without yellow tape

Void of
Silent impaling eyes
Retired circus men
Who can guess your
Height and weight

No longer
A body
Pressed into conformity
Dizzying row houses
Rapid eye movement

Alone, I walk
Those cement blocks
Away from
The bellowing growl
of the city bus

Jonah
Exhumed from
The whale

Man in the Moon

I ran
Not from,
But to
The Man in the Moon

A slice of light
Within the walls of a gallery
As fine as paper
With precise edges

I am drawn
To such an invitation
Upon discovery,
Captured and enveloped in white

Turning around,
He is there... smiling
My Oracle lover
Unbounded stars within his eyes

Restlessness becomes a certain calm
I am my own Universe
I am love
I am light

Ever After

(We all have wings...)
She chose not to use hers.
She wanted to stay grounded.

When she walked back to her familiarity,
She noticed all of her old friends
With holes in theirs.
They claimed it was from lack of use,
The endless folding and unfolding
of the past.
"Moths", they complained...
And they all chuckled, and nodded their heads

She watched
Their children ran around the back yard
Like fire flies
Escaping from Bell jars
So free, she could feel an emptyness
That biological clock
Drowning in her magic

(She chose not to use hers.)
(She wanted to stay grounded.)

Still, she coveted the parachute twins
On her back
She knew it was a priceless wait
That patient tapestry

One day
Her dreams will unfold
A pair of awe inspiring wings
All
Babies Breath and Diamonds
To alight
In delicate and gossamer flight
And for one brief moment
Own pure beauty

ABC's of Life

Age
Beginning
Crusting
Deforming
Every
Face
Gracefully...

Tiger Lily, Tiger Lily

In little whispers
Out little wings
Black eyed Susans
Wild little things

Tiger Lily, Tiger Lily
Craning at the walk
Curly little tongue
Wishing it could talk

In little whispers
Out little wings
Listening to Daisies
Sing

To Lips

Tulips
Are cut from Earthen bliss
Two Lips are pressed
Against a kiss

Tulips
Are blooming in a vase
Two Lips are smiling upon
A face

Tulips
Are red, just like the rose
Two Lips romantically
Speak of prose

Tulips
Die a watery death
Two Lips are stunned
And hold their breath

Tulips
No longer blossom here
Two Lips tasting
Salty tears

Tulips
Two Lips
To Lips...

Beyond Arm's Reach

Were you not in my arms
This night
So softly in my dreams
Were you not
A thread of star dust
Sewn up in celestial seams

Were you not
My thirst for water
Held to trembling lips
Were you not
A breathless sail
Harboring a lover's courtship

Were you not in my arms
This night
Darling, if absence called your name
Could I ever love
More loving a Man
The same?

Lapis Lazuli

Every time he saw her,
And looked into her blue
He remembered,
Ocean Summer afternoons

A girl in a wide brimmed hat
Barefoot at sea
Bending to pick up sea stars
To set them free

And as each star fish
Took it's breath
He knew that living
Meant more than death

Wisdom of the Wind

There is a little bird
Who sings
To the morning wind
Her heart is such
A delicate thing
Though lonelyness lends
It's chilling hush
Spreading wings
Welcoming
Death, a friend

There is a little bird
Who, when leaving, brings
A sharp pin
Through thine own heart
Silencing the wind
Who turned it's back this day
To mourn her through the night
Impaling her precious song
Against it's breast

Never to let one single ear rest
Forever pressed against
The Earth
Weeping more than Willow trees
Upon the roots of legacy
Crying softly for the voice of eloquence
As the rain falls down again

For no one, other than the wind,
Ever heard
This little bird

Good Air

I'll stick around a while
In case you need some good air

Wandering child
Flying golden hair

When I smile
The moon shines through

Those crecent pearly whites
Flying down to you

Hanging on for just a while
Perhaps for one more smile

Showing that I'm there
But do you really care

Minnow

I am your yellow
String Bean
Eight years old
With a pixie cut

The Summer sublets
Every freckle
Ice cold water
Quickly drunk from
The bathroom
Faucet
Legs racing down
The back stairs

Bell Jar
Full of Fire flys
The night air
Enveloped
In the thick songs
Of crickets

I am your silver fish
Your Minnow
Racing down stream
And you, void of a net
Just let me go

The Sound of a Voice

How frail,
How breakable
Such lingering, bides
Upon the threshold of sound

A rationality
That listening, to distance
Resonant walls
Cascading relic

A larynx, witholding
An underwater timepiece
The unveiling inner ear
Like a potential widow, mourns

The sound of a voice
Such an eloquent composition
Maintained by one paragon
Inexhaustable calling

How boundless
Such beauty, attends
For two lips to part,
Breathlessly in their calling

For your voice, My love...
Struggling earnestly
Within the realm
of extremity
To implore my response

The the Heart Allows

When the heart allows,
Beauty surfaces
To inhale deeply
And breathe

Nothing is taken for granted
Graceful steps
The moon reflecting off water
The sound of little wings

When the heart allows,
We live soulfully
And when our lights flicker
Toward an end

We unfurl each napkin
Like white doves
And learn to fly
If only, with wings inside our eyes

There is No Poetry, Like You

There is no poetry...
Like you
When you reach to hold my hand
There is no sky
There is no moon
There is no other man
Who puts stars inside my eyes
And brings me home again
There is no poetry, like you

There is no poetry...
Like you
When you gently kiss my lips
There is no line
Of destiny
There are no certain ships
Who can sail me out to sea
And bring true love to me
There is no poetry, like you

There is no poetry...
Like you
When you touch me
The way you do
There are no gardens
That love grows
Where flowers turn to prose
And I'm one rose
Who knows
There is no poetry...
Like you

Truth and Consequence

Tell me, heart
How long you wish to go
Loving him so
There is always consequence
Waiting
Deeper

At the brink of heartache
You sing within the lingering shadows
It is a peaceful dusk
There is always truth
A silencing
Beauty

Narcissistic Lament

Yellow, Yellow Daffodil...
Oh, How I believe in you!
Beneath the ground, such gentle grace
I'm yearning for your yellow face!

A loved one is forgetting my name
It's not his fault... January is to blame
But Spring is the song of Lover's flame
Which will surely bring him back again!

Oh, Yellow, Yellow Daffodil
The coldest months make hearts grow still!
Selfish dreams, I'll yet, fullfill
To hand him Yellow Daffodils...

Go Figure!

My Mother
Who shook her head at me
Watched Women's Figure Skating
Every Sunday on Television
My Mother
Who watched Figure Skaters
And shook her head at me
Every Sunday
Watched Women's Figures on Television
While shaking her head at me
My Mother
Who always shook her head at me
My Mother

Out of Reach

Here I am
Still dressed in Childhood
Wide eyed innocent
Afraid of the world

Large shoes
A big sky
Strange trees
In mourning

It's Winter, Mother
Come back to me
My hands are so cold and red
Without yours

Your voice calling me
Calling me
This time I swear
I would run home

You say, Go away
It's Spring
And you'll be fine
I'm a dying tree
Struck by lightning

Oh, Mother...
No...

Without you,
It's never Spring
But I suppose the seasons
Don't listen to me

Here I am
Still dressed in Childhood
Still sleep walking to you
In my dreams

And no matter how much
You grow your branches
Too tall
I still reach for you

Oh, My arms are tired
I'm so tired

Please, don't ever let me
Become a Tree...

The Wall That Went for a Walk

It began to curve
That unknown Sculpture
Storm King
Goldsworthy Wall

Winding field stone
Whimsical thirsty tail
Cascading downward to the pond
Seemingly, for a drink

But, surprisingly, inhaled!
Dove in ~
And lept out to the other side!

(That Andy! Such a Card!)

Walking Stone Wall
Meandering
Up through another meadow
Seperate only
By a body of water
and a Waltz

Taxi Cab Moments

My head in your lap
Looking up in your eyes
You bend your neck to kiss me

Stroking my hair
As we cross the miles
With Taxi Cab moments to spare

I love you so much
You make my heart cry
Please never tell me goodbye

My head in your lap
Looking up at my world
How lucky am I... to be Your Girl

Where Belonging Waits

Always it rests
Just beyond the tip
Of my furthest reach


Come Home
(I've heard those words, before)
But not spoken to me

Where is it, I wonder
Where is that little space
That crevice of mine

Flowing by large windows
Capturing bits of sunlight in my hair

My Belonging

I whisper, Take me
Take me there
That spiral staircase
My climbing thoughts

Is it you, I ask
Oh, tell me, is it you?
Within these arms of yours?

He tells me, within his own silence
(No, I am sorry
I can only offer pockets of it)

Oh, I tremble, with understanding
Where is it?

Tell me that it isn't
A cut patch of Earth
No.
Tell me that it is within
The rain
Or
Gossamer whispers
And hearing my name
A thousand times

That it is whole,
And remarkable
Like falling stars
Which descend into the ocean
Grow tails, and learn to swim

Tell me,
That it waits
That it's soul purpose is written

And as I forge ahead
one day,
A day I should forget to reach

It instead, beckons to me
And scoops me up in it's arms
And holds me

For the life of my entire being,
Belonging takes hold
And refuses to let me go!

Belonging

She longed to walk barefoot
On hardwood floors
And flow slowly by large windows
Capturing bits of sunlight
In her hair...

Clapping Erasers

What is your job, they asked...
Oh, I erase lines all day, she replied.

Lines?
Telephone lines?
Fishing lines?
Lines in a play?
Clothing lines?
Grocery store lines?
Lines on the sidewalk?
The line across the horizon?

Oh, no... she replied,
Invisible lines that people draw...

(And then she crossed over to their side,
With such grace
They didn't even notice
That her erasers needed clapping again)

Spun Sorrow

For love, there must be loss

And so these days come,
To her in emptyness...
But still, her heart speaks
through ink and bending wrist

It was not your eyes
Which harbored tears
It was your filling cup
Overdrawn

Let a heart speak upon deaf ears
And a silent life will listen intensely


Spun Sorrow
Is Cotton Candy for the Martyr

"If"

"If we lived together in the same house
Under the same roof
Eventually, one day we would have a huge argument
And our 'monster-selves' would come out
And eat up our smiles with their ugly, warty tongues,
And gobble up our beautiful eyes,
And spit them out across the room," he said.

Smiling her beautiful smile,
She replied,
"Yes, but even a monster can have an eye for love..."

White Horse

Not to ominous eyes,
Do I reflect
But a gentle white horse
In silent plight

Why do you search the sky
On bitter nights
While your Master sleeps
Beneath warm down?

White ghost
Do you mourn your partner
In years,
Those riding days?

In his death, you escaped
And stood in the middle of the road
My father
Made the call

My faithfulness returns to you
Does not see your white turned grey
Kisses your old velvet nose
Brings you pockets of Summer

Before I sleep, you haunt me
How cold can it be
Within those dark eyes
During those hours
That reflect the moon?

Haunting Eyes

With a heart full of tears,
She walked eleven blocks
Passing the horse and carriage area
In Central park
She wept inside
As she passed each horse
They all looked at her
With haunting eyes

They had an exhausted look
Their smooth bodies had sunken in places
From where their harnesses attatched
The leather had worn grooves into them
She thought,
If only she could save each horse
And purchase a lovely bit of land
With stone walls, and lush grass
And set all of these horses free

They would never pull carriages again
And their eyes would tell different stories
I'm so sorry
Beautiful,
Beautiful
Horses

December Apples

I give gifts of apples
To a white horse down the road
A white horse who adores apples
Crimson red
Delicious
Apples
Adores
Me

It is so cold
As I stand with her
She chews with great thought
What does she think of...
(Who is this person with a contagious smile,
who brings me apples in December?)
She noses me for the second apple
I gently kiss her velvet nose
She nods with approval
(Just give me the apple, Lady!)

I give a gift of apples
To a white horse down the road
A white horse who adores apples
Crimson red
Delicious
Apples
Adores
Me

Piano

Ivory hand ~ onyx eye
Each wave, and blink goodbye
Sweet Master's bench, he seats to play
For wandering ear and lullaby
Soft trundle beds and cradles tucked
Innocent babe's night sigh
On it sings with mingled keys
Until the player dies
And moves yet, to another stair
Beneath stained glass, cathedral panes
A young girl's touch, plucking notes
For this, music remains...

Nursing Home Reflection

A Child
Sifting grains of sand in his hands
Does not realize
That as the grains slip quickly
Through his fingers
So will the cycle of his lifetime
For tomorrow, he will be an old man
Grasping for the last sands
Of his life
Which will finally fall free
Only moments away
And his life will drift out
Into the sea
Just a distant memory
For as the child laughs today,
His own children will mourn
Tomorrow...

This Time

The barren roads fail to cloud me
For this time, they promise
Such things
They never dared upon
To suggest or tease

Shall locked doors open
Releasing bitterness
That cannot stagnate upon
Two loving hearts?

It must flutter away
Like a sad thing, growing wings
Which must proceed to other things
Or else drown in it's own ignorance

You and I,
We are survivors
Of Fate's lashing statements
Of long, barren roads
Of thorned roses
But, this time

There is a choice of clouds...

Glass Mother

You take her out, like a glass doll
You were never allowed to play with
You touch her face
Smiling, within...
(She is still beautiful)
You place her back on the shelf
She is still there
But never quite as real
As you would hope

No one

No one ever told me
That I had to grow up
I would have played harder
I would have run faster
From the Adult Hand
Closing me in
Making a fist

Image of Time

There's a clock in my life
Which needs to be wound
Yet, it can't work again
For it can't be found
Far away the last Tick ~ Tocked
Long ago in a rhyme
But now it is lost ~
Both my life,
And the time...

Wasting Time

It's Five to One
And the wind is blowing
Night is passing by
With your eyes shut tightly
You are missing the moon
And the stars
But it really doesn't matter
You've seen the night before
It's only time...
To you.

Face

That face ~ That face
That haunting face
From sleep I wake to pounding door
Stumbling across the floor
Fumbling latch ~ posture, I take
So sure am I to place
That face ~ That face
That haunting face

The tenant upstairs
Before me ~ dares
Pound the front door
At ten to four
I let him in ~ my face is grim
He climbs the stair
Without a care
Fumbling latch ~ haunting erased
Surely, I will miss
Your face...

The Need

I do not need you, I say
And push you well away
How I suffer most
When you are close
But when your absence stays
My heart cannot obey
But rap at window pane
Into your arms again...

Visitor

I know he'll run astray
But, I'll invite him in anyway
Tantalizing fate
Plucking rose petals like butterfly wings
Until my heart is exposed
And there is nothing more he wants
His evaporated desire
Proceeds back to the door
Invisible
Transparent, his hand turns the knob
As I sleep
Dreaming of walking down stairs
A door closing, echoing around my heart
As once again the gate is locked
With an inspirational justice
Protecting my naked soul from love!
So he runs astray, just as I thought
Into that world
Of vast, shadowing strangers
And all the while, I'll sleep (sleep)
Until he knocks again...

Sleep

Come, Sleep
For delicate closure
Black, hovering thing
Seeping into the edge of eye
Prince of darkness
Come, Sleep
For he is gone
My half heart
My right cheek
Silent tongue
Come, Sleep
For I am a wretch
Wandering the nights
Dressed in a blanket of stars
Naked body
Come, Sleep
For the meek life
Distant reflections
Dark moon
Compass
Come

His Face

Cupped into my heart
His face
Those eyes that embrace my light
Surfacing, Surfacing
Fish that need to know beyond
And jump out of their little gulps of water
My hands
Tracing, Tracing
Over his lips
Kisses that wait at the brink
Of passionate words
Forming over invisible water falls
A lifetime spilling over

Give me this face
In my dreams, which doesn't turn me
But captures my silhouette
Caught in a lightning storm
Grounded in such beautiful white light
Electric and alive

Encompass me, with the thoughts
Of this man
Who calls me beautiful
When I have walked in shadows
All of my life
Give me a blanket and pillow
To sleep
In the crease of his smile

Allure by Chanel

The World
Has an important flowing grain
Sweet Mahogany
Our lives slide across
Dining Room tables
And water goblets

I am Alluring
Scented evenings
That certain way ivory necks tilt
Away toward other conversations
Meanderings
Hearts unfolding like napkins

You are that Jazz
Interlude
That brass precedence
So smooth and full of soul
Searching to swoon
White gloves
Toward your lips

The City
Has such a defined line
Sensuous and eccentric
That Black Velvet
Sliding off
A Woman's hip

The Flame & The Dim

Having had both The Flame
And The Dim
While in pain
You harbor being burned by The Flame
While in sorrow
You bask in lonely silence
But once again,
I will always choose The Flame
Because all of the fire within
Is a beautiful rage, an enchanting dance
A light and calm
A breath of wind to flicker
And haunt life itself
Cry and Rage!
But, Love passionately
and Die,
Having Lived

Lips like Sails

Oh, sweeter than wine
And softer than thine
Does he kiss my own purse
And feed me with verse

Oh, love never fail
Blow soft, your sail
Carry me home with his touch
How I love him so much

Gentle and light
He kisses me tonight
In our dreams we both trace
Every last embrace

My fingers, they seek
His jawbone, his cheek
The hair on the nape of his neck
His eyes, I deeply inspect

He draws me so close
How I love him, he knows
He kisses me, then...
Sails me home once again

For Fear of Flight

Where are you going, whispering wings
(to the garden's edge, past the gate)

Why will you leave your most precious love
(how can I stay)

What if there is nothing beyond, only ugliness
(he made me beautiful)

What is your saddest thought
(losing him)

What if the wind tears you down from the sky
And the rain dampens your wings
What if you never find your way back to this garden
(I will remember that I was truly loved)

Why are you crying, whispering wings
(because at this moment I am truly loved
and I don't understand why I must fly)

(wings can be such terrible things)

(I will tremble in his arms tonight)

A Man's Tears

A Man's tears...
More delicate than sand castles
More precious than the tides

A Woman's love...
An Ocean's music box
Secret heart shell

Lonely Swan Song

A well of sadness opens up
From deep within
And though she is loved more deeply
Than ever before
She crys tears of lonelyness tonight
She will carry his love, always

And others will come to see such grace
And know not
That her lake is mixed with tears

Two Wings

Where does love fly
When it can no longer hold it's wings together?

Do Angels pick up dead butterflies...
One by one?

Together, my Love,
We are flight...

Please... Wind
Sail for me tonight
Sail him to my arms

I love
I hurt

Willow

I was once a Willow Tree
For I carry on her sadness
My arms reach out, falling to the ground
Aching to hold and be held
Forever, I can stand in a peaceful field
Listening to the birds
While watching the seasons change

I was once a beautiful Willow Tree
With long, sweet branches
Extending out my tempting limbs to climb
Yet, there I stood stationary
Alone
For no child had embraced my friendship
And no man welcomed my shade

I was once a kind, old Willow Tree
For I carry on her dream
My arms reach out, falling to the ground
Aching to hold and be held
I belong to the field
I belong to the earth
and I weep forever...

Quail Dusk

She tells her love...

Take me back to Arizona
In the same spot
We sat quietly
Watching the Quail
Tip~Toe through the yard

Their little bodies
Happily skirting
Rock to rock
As the wind blows gently
Cooling our brows

Take me back to Arizona
Where it was just "us"
And the "us" part
Were the gentle smiles
We shared
As we watched the Quail
Darting closer...
Closer

Such Love

Within a clenched hand
I've held the fears of my lifetime
He entered my life,
Looked into my blue eyes...
And with an endearing way,
Walked beside me
And gently held my hand
Unfurling my fears
Into the air, like fire flies
On a beautiful evening
We watched them light
Scattered bits of darkness

Now I live with open hands
And slowly learn to believe in myself
Such Love
He gives to me

In Every Garden

For a few moments of your life
You nurtured one of the world's rarest flowers
You loved her
Her gift in return
Was innocent
She opened her heart to you

Now you must tear down the sky
Because the flower's fate
Comes hushed

Your water cannot save her
Your tears of rage
Cannot hold her
Don't fade, you cry
With every fallen petal
Her colors leaving...

Her heart exposed
What's left of you, you whisper
(What's left of you)

Soon there will be nothing
Only moments
Which you'll continue to erase
(She never existed)
(I never loved her)
Until silence comes
As a weight
To rest upon your heart

She waits in your pools of silence
Although she has but one petal,
She beckons to you,
Come...
(Come to me)

You are distant and reserved
But you come
She cannot say all of the things
Engraved within her soul,
But shows her heart instead
Through all of the pain,
She can only smile

Thank you, she whispers...
Thank you for recognizing me
I will always love you
Her last petal falls
Like a whisper
upon your hand

She is gone...

The years come,
And Life.
The Spring, in flowers...

But still, she calls your name
But still, you search for her face
In every crowded garden

A Flower Grows...

They Told him...

Don't try to plant a garden there...
It's full of rocks,
Nothing will ever grow there

But, he brought out the spade,
His watering can
And with his careful hands...

He bent down gently to the ground
And moved rocks
Until he found sweet Earth

He had a vision
Of me

And somehow,
By some strange miracle

I grew from his seed

He showered me with love
And coveted my soil
Even in the rain,
He stood by
With watchful eyes

And now I am more beautiful
Than the others could have ever imagined

For even in a garden of rocks
A flower grows...

The Garden

Can I be a flower
In your botanical garden?
Will you visit me
And talk to me?
Will you whisper
That you believe in me?
Will you smile
When I bloom?
Will you tremble
When you touch my petals?
Will you come to me
When you are lonely?
Will you covet me
From Winter?
Will you shade me
When I am weak?

And if you are ever alone
And your heart is empty
Even if you had once
Forgotten me...

Even if I am fragile
And withering away...
Even if you must
Cut me from my roots,
Leaving us, merely moments
Together...

Will you carry me Home
With you?
Oh, my Love...

Will you carry me Home?

Dragon Fly

Dragon Fly
With your metallic coat
Timid, yet, steady and wise
Hovers and glides
And harbors nearby
But never lingers like the butterfly

Off, you go
With such short notice
We've failed to invite you to stay
You give a short buzz, and you leave us
Because
You never have much to say

Oh, Dear Dragon Fly
With your wings, dancing wild
And your glitter which cranes our eyes
You leave, but return
Through the years, and we learn
To seek you again
Through the eyes of a child

China Blue

Rocks, surrounded by water
Chinese gardens
Circles of islands
The rippled hush
Of water embracing your boat

In these rare moments
Will you seek my face
In mirrored lakes

The rush of exquisite birds
Lifting up from the water
Spreading their wings

For a moment, will you rest your camera
Slide your fingers in the foreign lake
Almost touching my lips

Will you find yourself smiling, a thousand smiles
Lean back
In the China Blue
To
Become one?

The House Where I Live

This is the house where I lived
When I was a child, he said
But paused only long enough
For me to see the door
Stop, I pleaded...
I want to see the windows you dreamed out of
The front steps you sat upon
The familiar old cracks in the sidewalk

I want to hold the hand of a little boy
Who became the man I love

We will go back one day, he promises
It isn't a sad place
Because the house still stands
It still exists

This is where you dreamed, My Love...
This is where you laughed
And smiled quietly
This is where you ached for the world
And the stars cut you out
Hanging your dreams upon the moon

What do little boys wish for?

I placed my hand gently upon his heart
And whispered
This is the house where I live...

(He smiled then, and two inches in, took me home...)

Dark and Bright

Every time she saw him
She handed him a colorful piece of glass
He thoughtfully looked at them
Turning them over and over in his hands
he thought of her unique gifts
Colored glass

They saw eachother for moments at a time
But they embraced tighter
And loved more deeply
Even the wind knew each of their profiles
Their hands
Their faces
Their laughter

He began to understand the glass
They were not worry stones...
But a gift, only in pieces

He pieced their moments together
Until one day
He knew

Cupping her face,
He grasped her hands
And took her to their home
A house, built with their love

He brought her to the heart of their house
A stained glass window

He had pieced together
The story of their love

Turning Around

Suddenly, His Eyes...

In the early mornings in the country
A slight fog hovers above the fields
A blanket of thin mist
Eventually begins to life
As the fields unveil their landscape

Before the mist rises
Deer roam silently
Pausing to lift their heads
Slicing through the cold air
Their elegant necks
Heads tilted, ears poised
Lingering beauty
Cautious movement

Beckoning my heart
To embrace you even more

If only, every time
I turned around
Suddenly, in such quietness
Your Eyes were there...

Wings for a Day

Wings for a day,
The soul was told
Anything, Anything
For Wings
And so a birth,
And tiny white wings breathing
Delicate flight
Up, Up, gently above a meadow
A swirl of world, and air
Lightness
White moths on the wing
Enchanting the wind
Until dusk
And then, sadly
Fate
Descending into the meadow
Wings, Closing, Closing
Slumbering into death
A complete life, in one single day

Imagine...

That each one of us,
Are all "Wings for a day"

Anything, Anything...
For Wings

Almost There

Let me tell you about
White moths on the wing
And a mountain sky
Harboring billions of stars
Hummingbirds
That come in search of my new nectar
My Lapis eyes that look out the window
With their longings...
Puzzle pieces that hit the floor
Scattering
My limp hand

There are moments
When the air is sweet and cool
To my bare feet
The white horse down the road
Lifts its eyes to mine
The stone walls lead me
To your picture
In the darkness
You quietly stand waiting for me
And I'm almost there
My love,
I'm almost there...

Silence is Not Deafening

When your heart forgot...

And our world narrowed
Words escaped us
As we joined the silent hall
Of dying lovers

Whose last hand holding ceased
Within consequence
And music was abandoned for longing
Standing motionless in the middle of the dance

Shadows cast upon my profile
Forgetting you once, with every movement
My body remembered you twice
Still, I loved you

Those seasons haunted me
As I crept through our memories
Like a starving child stealing bread crumbs

My heart remembered passion
Turned it's thick pages deep into the nightfall
Until restlessness succumbed to sleep

The world became my oracle, daily
The trees took their course upon me
Reached out with their limbs, whispered
Their children at my feet
I tread softly through the leaves

Years comforted me,
Spring bulbs
Coveted within the solid Winter earth
Music returned to me,
And I danced again
But, the opposite face was never yours

How could such a love as ours ever die?
Other souls wait lifetimes for such passion
We possessed it instantly
It was too precious to let die
And so, it lived
Within it's own painful consequent

When Beethoven was stricken deaf
Did the music within him, cease?


My heart never forgot...

Lover's Plea

Such a vibrant love as ours
Cannot fall off this tree
and succumb to Winter

No.
Darling, please...

Do not turn cold, your cheek...
There will never come a love like ours again.

Gently call the birds to return,
To rest upon our brows, and sing their embracing songs
Inside our hearts
And let the music come again

A love so bright
The stars will reconsider if it is truly night

Seek these docile hands of mine
Which cannot hold winter yet...

Sailor Moon

Oh, my love...
Can I not be jealous, but of the wind
That touches your face
In these moments in which
I cannot?

The whispering wind
Which returns the tides
Silences the night
Enchants each single leaf

Oh, my love...
Can I not be jealous, but of the wind
That touches your face
In these moments in which
I long for you?

Oh, unabashed wind...
Sweep gently through his hair
Touch his cheek
and ever so gently,
Brush against his lips
Set breath to his dreams tonight
My nod,
My sailor moon

Ode to Emily Dickinson

Such a little room I keep
Where tiny garden flowers sleep
The ink, yet, in my pen, aware
At night my heart descends the stair

And out the door it wanders far
A lightning bug escaped from jar
Then fly and glow, then dream and be
Oh, Emily! So secretly!
That neighbors think of me as plain
Within these walls and window pane

They're sealed their doors from chill dark cold
While every one, they all grow old
Within their fence they think they're free
Such lonely lives, dear Emily!
Until miniature selfish flags unfurl
In stature cemetery states, they touch the world

Long, Long after your Earthly grave
One understands your poems saved
And spreads each page, beautifully swept
Oh! Such a little room you kept...

To His Arms, I Run

To his arms, I run
Thatch and candle's glow
or wild, night sky
Unbounded stars
In billions, yet Alone!

To his arms, I run
Among collapsing stone
Meadows overgrown
Tremble my heartTo find his Own!

To his arms, I run
Earth and oracle
Against the rage of tides
Or calming, blueReflecting Sky!

To his arms, I run
Effervescent grasp
Eyes, inhaling
The hush, nod
And... Life!

His Universe

The Universe, he gave to her,
And said take care, her step
And when the moonlight stung her eyes,
It held her while she slept.

Roses bloomed without their thorns,
While Eden's gates were crossed.
True love grasped her ivory hands
Until sorrow paid it's cost

Morning came back with the tides
To introduce the Sun
Who stated, "To think she lived the days,
But completed only one!"

Pearls

Who is she, the oysters cry
To wear our precious souls
Our life songs knotted up
Around her neck

Who is she, the oysters cry
To carry the legacy of our deaths
Does she not know
Within her soul, she also covets a pearl?

What necklaces do Angels wear...
The souls of women?