An uprooted tree lies ebbing in the street.
The one who pledged everyone with a refuge
is herself in exigent need.

People come, see the fallen one.

Not a soul seems to be concerned.
Zero, zilch, nada, none.

They don't remember
those cloistered, sizzling infernos of June
those solitary, shivering nights of witchy new moons

and those

sodden, sultry volleys of pouring monsoons

...

Read and leave comments (0)

Decorated lives
shuffling onwards
towards inevitable darkness
we cloak ourselves
in the hood of love
cover the cage
deny the sky above
the truth is sadness

Tiny movements
helpless gestures
elliptical orbits
around the heart of happiness
an argument
with a river
convinced of our control
tilting the rudder
towards hope
the truth is sadness

Fold the patterned sheet
around your ...

Read and leave comments (3)

If I knew your poetry would suddenly 
disappear, 
I would have memorized 
every poem,
to comfort me
when I feel alone. 
Your words help heal 
my savaged soul.
I'm sad you had to go.

# # #

https://youtu.be/OeP4FFr88SQ

Read and leave comments (8)

Death of a friend

Ray Ray, my man Ray

My ray of light at the dawn of my darkest day

Ray Ray, so what a day

A gang of friends but you’re not here to play

Happy stories told, from young and old

By friends across your years

But all I could hear was your own chuckling voice

Telling those stories, that warmed our tears

We met in peril at the end of the road

And formed a fe...

Read and leave comments (0)

Dont worry my brothers,

Save a spot for me cus I'll see you soon.

These thoughts and memories,

The dreams that consume.

Me...

Had me thinking on life, feel choked till I can't breathe.

Losing my people, blinded me to the better things in life I couldn't see.

Losing these people brought tremendous amounts of pain.

Moving on in life, till my heart froze and changed.

Read and leave comments (3)

Inscribed on Emanuel Sweert's painting 'Florilegium': Man's life is a flower.

Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; 
like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
Book of Job 14:2

While I watched, her blossom

faded from the field

left no shadow

Now all life expects in this eleventh hour

we should revere lost heroes with a flower

But I shall not ...

Read and leave comments (1)

Cannot Be

The men with the guns do all the bad things

From shooting one another dead

To blasting innocent people for fun

And robbing banks to further their aims

Plus dealing and transporting drugs

Not to invading other countries for power

Complying with their mad leaders who also kill

All the above and more done by firearms

Waved about and fired by angry men

Who have ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Our Vets
What are we to do regarding our war veterans?
They served and fought for their country
Many paid the ultimate price dying in a far off foreign land
Or were injured by enemy action often carrying the mental scars
The cost of being a veteran for freedom the freedom that we take for granted
It's been like this since the 20th Century Wars and soldiers on and on
You all know the wars an...

Read and leave comments (0)

The bulwark is protection
from him, not for him.
He sidles along
the perimeter,
Touching the sides,
looking about furtively,
imagining tunnels and
catapults that could,
in another time and
circumstance, be his aids.

He’s come this far,
but in his old age
he has no choice
but to keep searching
for an opening,
for he’ll have no
ingress without invitation.

And at last, he finds
...

Read and leave comments (1)

Does anyone else but me wonder

when they look on Facebook

and see birthday celebrations

for dead aunts, uncles

fathers,mothers,

brothers, wives...

that no, this cannot be

Because the dead cannot age

take that slap on the back

notch up years or candles on a cake

They're snuffed out, like we will one day be

They're gone forever

Just memories - hopefully good ...

Read and leave comments (8)

Some times

I wanna' be gone
absolutely MIA
no longer here

when it feels right
to just leave the planet
for un-mind/body ventures

This may be where fear
pops up
in the minds of others

"Leave the planet?"
"Are you talking about . . .?"
"Ohhh God, I'm not goin' there."

We call it 'the circle of life'.
Perennials live, die and live again
so why just applaud life?

The stagec...

Read and leave comments (2)

While the world
goes about their day
talking about trival things, 
laughing their troubles away,
I am struck with 
paralyzing pain
that I try to contain. 

Everyone close to me 
is oblivious 
to my suffering.

Why should they care?
They have their own 
drama to deal with.
There is nothing 
anyone can do anyway. 

Meanwhile, my body
betrays me more 
each passing day.

I want t...

Read and leave comments (4)

This is me
Trying to write about you
But there’s too much pain
Too much sadness
I still don’t understand.
The words don’t come
The sounds don’t flow
I just really miss you so.

Backdated 10/8/19

Read and leave comments (0)

Some days I'm numb
Some days I'm sad
Some days I'm angry
Some days I can't get out of bed

Some days I'm happy
Some days I'm hiding
Some days I'm depressed
Some days I don't know who I am

Some days I'm ok
Some days I'm anxious
Some days I'm pretending
Some days I'm full of regrets

Some days I'm hopeful
Some days I'm suicidal
Some days I'm on track
Most days I'm out of my mind

Read and leave comments (0)

Living like we're Invincible

Convinced that the inevitable

Will Never Happen

To Us

Read and leave comments (2)

You can find volumes of information
On how to die, but the materials are
All prepared by interns and trainees.
The true masters on the art of dying
Have all lost interest in our struggles
With mortality and how to be shed of it.

Still, we want as much information as
Possible, so we can be prepared when
The time comes. We hang eagerly on
The words of those who nearly died,
Just so maybe...

Read and leave comments (0)

Tied down to time

You've committed a crime

By showing some signs

That you're older

Wrinkles & lines

Cutting it fine

Now you've started

Looking over

Your Shoulder

Stuck to your back

Is youth that

You lack

Like a shadow

Of the grim reaper

Eyes wide shut

You're staying put

That's why you're

Such a 

Light sleeper

Time keeps flying

Your a...

Read and leave comments (5)

Beside the river of death,

A poet gently breathes,

Praying to the water,

"Oh, please sing for me."

Read and leave comments (0)

The platinum fog surrounds reality’s vision
From life going about its simple disposition.
The echo of death-screams
Can only be heard
While awaiting for light to give back day in reverse.

Death likes to work in the shadows
Using the shrowd
While firing lustrous tipped arrows.

The lost souls have nowhere to hide
As life can’t see the dark between the living-disguise.
A night filled wi...

Read and leave comments (0)

Death Party

I watched my death party
And smiled
Because I knew what nobody can expect
When they leave into the darkness
Between the layers of time itself.

Some people shed tears of lost
While others smiled with no cost,
Many cry on their own
While I felt death
Like a wound
From a black rose.

I await to greet others
Within seconds
Not years –
Like time spent growing up with my ...

Read and leave comments (2)

What we think is lovely

shapes what we think

is not.

What we think is good

defines the bad.

Life defines death.

Long defines short.

High can't exist without low.

The Spirit-filled teacher

sees clearly,

is not trapped

in the pull of opposites.

She teaches

with her mouth shut,

nurtures others

with non-possessive warmth,

setting them free.

...

Read and leave comments (1)

It's hard to live a making, hard, hard to make a living

even without the exorcist interferes. I've been a fog

harmer, a hog harmer. I have hogged farms all my life

and my father's life before that. I'm so mad I can't talk right

and the priest will probably say I'm witch crafted too.

I've already paid the lawyer more than the pork

is worth. The lawyers available to represent ...

Read and leave comments (1)

On a snowy day,

In a dimly lit street,

An ailing girl, utterly dismayed

Perches under the canopy of an enormous tree.

Looking heavenward,

Her eyes well up a little.

Perhaps she’s waiting for a special someone,

But all that comes to her are snowflakes, frosty and brittle.

She tears the icy veneer of the earth

With her gloved fingers.

And buries a white rose b...

Read and leave comments (5)

My health insurance got cancelled last week.

This

I do not want to hear.

I do not care that I can

reinstate it today.

I do not care that I emerge

five days later, insured

and unscathed.

I am not grateful for the miracle

of good health which

is not a small miracle.

I do not want to hear

that I have to do it all

now alone.

My back-up man is gone—

the one ...

Read and leave comments (3)

Mortality stalks me 
like a jealous lover.

Breathlessly follows me
wherever I go, incessantly
banging a gong, 

chanting, 

it won't be long, 
come to me, let 
the pain end.

My eternal soul sees
this game of mortal gods 

and challenges me

to go where mortals
fear to tread...

Meditate in silent space
past the black hole,

beyond illness,
depression, despair

to that ...

Read and leave comments (7)

I watch you silently

Tears sparkling in your eyes

I wonder if you want the comfort

When you won’t tell me why (you cry)

You go about the day

As normal as can be

I wonder how you smile

But I know the truth inside (you cry)

Your voice seldom wavers

And your friends never see

But alone you start to lose the mask

And I can see the cracks (you hide)

I ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Road crashes are every minute 
Here and there, in every point 
More than a million killed a year 
And speed is death, no doubt 

“Drive Safely” is only choice 
ٍSafety belt, has no "price" 
Come back safe for the family 
We live "once", not twice 

Road is not real excuse 
But the behavior is a main cause 
For crashes all over that world 
No more anger .. no abuse
 

Read and leave comments (0)

I remember hearing my father's voice

      from beyond the grave.

      No dream—a single, scratchy vinyl

      had captured his characteristic

      lilting, homiletic style,

      that seemed,

       in and of itself,

       to be the message—

       no surprises there,

       nor flights,

       yet a resonance

       that touched

       and stays with me

...

Read and leave comments (0)

Clubs, ace to king, prepare for a day of wicketness.

Yoga (downward dog) helps. Limbering ointment

promises more flex, less ache. If cards crease, it's

Off with their heads!

Diamonds are dispatched to capture

hedgehogs. They trek into the woods with hedgehog

horns and nets. Problem is, hedgehogs who've played 

croquet past years are not invited for rematch.

The mo...

Read and leave comments (0)

Player piano in the empty funeral parlor foyer cranks

out old standards with a Dixieland flourish. The old

wooden cross. How great thou art. Take my hand precious

Lord. No one hears it. No one is here to discuss pre-planning.

No one peruses coffins for his aunt who has been sick so long

the family forgot she would die. No one is scooped out

by grief at the accidental death o...

Read and leave comments (0)

I cursed the day that you were born.

I waited, breath baited, for your last to be drawn.

I’d always imagined that when the day came.

I’d celebrate your demise with the finest champagne.

That on the day you laid down and died.

There’d be joy in my heart and a spring in my stride.

I’d throw my hands high in the air and wave.

I’d skip through the streets to dance o...

Read and leave comments (2)

One of my favorite games 
to play as a child 
was seeing shapes 
in the clouds: 

Dogs, cats, 
elephants, giraffes, 
airplanes, unicorns... 

It was one of the 
few pleasures 
of my childhood. 

As I grew up, 
I began to see 
scarier things:
 
Dragons, demons, 
torn hearts,
flaming arrows... 

Now in the archway 
of my golden years, 
I see beauty that 
brings me to tears:

Read and leave comments (4)

Less Than a Second

Less than a second

is the time it takes to fall in love.

             That summer night

             you walked out of the bright house

             on to the dark deck

             ready for the next day's wedding,

             already celebrating every damn thing

             anyone could think of,

             laughter floating out of your pores

...

Read and leave comments (0)

It seems not to know when to end
Words that proceeds are incomparable
What I await in the end is my morte
Death is what no one wishes for
There is no one who wants life to end
The only one who seems distrained
I am displeased by my society
It transcends anguish in my soul
But cessation I await with a smile
All my wears and tears on earth remains
No one to help me estimate my worth
I am ...

Read and leave comments (0)

I inhale the tears 
welling up in my eyes.
Feeling like I don't have 
the right to cry for 

letting so much time go by
without saying hi,
how are you doing, 
what's new in your life?

I "kept in touch" 
watching your 
adventures
on social media, 

restoring 
power
after a 
hurricane, 

providing water 
and food for 
people who didn't 
know your name.

I was proud of you,
...

Read and leave comments (6)

I attempted suicide,

But I didn't die,

Not losing my life,

But what it means to be alive.

I'm drained of all motivation to continue,

But also of all strength to follow through,

I shouldn't be here,

It hurts, but it's true.

My days feel so long,

My existence feels so wrong,

I can't look at life the same,

Because I simply don't belong.

I can't be happy,

Or even...

Read and leave comments (0)

Is there sex after death ?

A fascinating concept

But let's keep the topic formal

Are we talking Necrophilia

Or something Paranormal ?

If you intimate the former

I must caution self-restraint

It's illegal in this country

And I don't know where it ain't

But if you mean the latter

I submit this brief synopsis:

The outcome could be mutual

Between cons...

Read and leave comments (12)

You do not exist anymore 

Scientifically speaking, 

You are absolutely nothing 

Unconscious, intangible, not there. 

You exist in my mind, 

Poetically speaking, 

You live on through that funny anecdote

Or recipe, your legacy, our memory.  

You are my tragic backstory, 

Therapeutically speaking, 

The key to solving why I am the way I am 

What you made me w...

Read and leave comments (2)

Live life today,
Like there's no tomorrow,
So forget about the pain,
And embrace the sorrow,
Life is a struggle,
That we all go through,
Searching for deeper meaning,
And contemplating whats true,
Beauty and complexity,
A trip through the divine,
It can't be mere coincidence,
It was done by design,
At first we are taught this is it,
The material is all that's there,
Then what is my p...

Read and leave comments (0)

it pulls back, tight,
a finger falls away
gone
flung through the air
till it hits
and falls
a heavy stone sunk at the bottom of my stomach
but you’ve left the slingshot on the bench outside
and I don’t know how to leave you on that bed
a cold hand still holds my heart
instead, you’ll stay
a heavy stone sunk in my stomach
I’ll never leave you behind
I swear
I’ll take you everywhere
b...

Read and leave comments (0)