We played under the moon

as if it were a kite on a string.

Its red ribbon tail taunting the gloom.

Read and leave comments (0)

I see poetry in places you might not expect.

In your texts, supporting a friend in need.

Hoping your words will be just in time.

When you think you’re wasting time

but realize, abruptly, the thing you’re doing

is feeding your soul in a way you hadn’t counted on.

Or when someone reaches down

into a dark place, fighting back fear,

and brings back something unexp...

Read and leave comments (1)

I was looking for someone who knew
if you listened to a story from a vulnerable heart,
your kindness would hear it too.

But this always seemed to be
the farthest you could have been
away from me.

Read and leave comments (0)

We regaled each other with our magnificent scars.

Tales of failures, love and redemption,

of which there were many.

Things that broke us, healed us, and patched us up

again and again, with a little wisdom of what is real.

And this was just enough for us

to hazard another throw of the dice. 

Read and leave comments (0)

Some left just their initials on my heart.

Others wrote their full name in delicate script.

And there were those

who used a stonemason’s tools

when a feathered quill would have sufficed.

But you laughed as you fingerpainted

all around a hardened heart

in all kinds of lovely colors

just to let me know what could be.

Read and leave comments (0)

“Where do people go when they’re gone?”, asked Piglet.

“I think they prefer to live in here.”, Pooh pointed to his heart.

“Important to have a big one so they have plenty of room.”, offered Piglet.

“Absolutely!”, Pooh replied.

Read and leave comments (0)

Along my favorite path by the water

I imagine I hear whispers in the breeze.

Diamonds on the water, reflecting an incandescent sun,

have things to say too; echoing the wind.

The words, not intending melancholy,

talk over each other, anxious to have my attention.

And have it they will. This chorus of voices

I miss the most, hailing me when the wind speaks.

Read and leave comments (0)

Our youngest dog, Indy,

insists on sleeping under the pillow

at my side. How well they’ve trained us,

our hearts I mean.

Read and leave comments (0)

Our dogs sometimes have trouble settling down

at night, when owls and other critters are in bloom.

Especially when we have guests.

They feel the need to check on them;

to make sure they are well, we suppose.

Once peacefulness is confirmed

they return to the comfort of our bed,

satisfied all is well and that we are not under attack

from the goblins they might i...

Read and leave comments (0)

She asks if these are the pants she should wear.

Or, would another glass of wine be a bad idea.

Should we go out, or stay in

and watch the movie we discussed earlier in the day.

I am not burdened by any of these queries.

These simple questions are where the love lies now.

Read and leave comments (0)

I pulled up a seat at the bar we used to frequent,
ordered a couple of beers and wanted to know
how my friend had been.

“Kind of rough of late”, he offered. “Missing some friends
I didn’t know how to tell I was going away.”

“I get that.”, I said. “A lot of people don’t know how to say goodbye.”

Pulling us both away from the shadows around me,
we reminisced and shared a few laughs for ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Grief never seems to care

about the currency I have,

be it pictures, memories, guilt or sorrow.

It’s always been willing to work

with the materials at hand,

and accepts any and all

in payment for its services.

Read and leave comments (0)

Love left unspeakable wounds difficult to bandage.
The scars will turn to whispers in time,
but absence will always be the one shouting.

Read and leave comments (1)

Sometimes she sat there next to me far away.

I imagined she could have been talking with the stars

and looking at all the colors she could taste there.

Or far away of a different kind; ancient Samarkand maybe.

I had no idea where she might go. I would always be patient though,

and wait for her return.

We would often speak about her journeys

looking out our front w...

Read and leave comments (3)

The old miner, who’d been in the back hills
for some time, hailed our small camp.
Best to announce yourself when you’re in gold country.
Firearms, gold, the dark and surprises are a risky mix there.

His friendly manner, great stories and good humor
put us at ease, earning him an offer of a spot for the night
to sleep away the whisky we kept pouring.

With first light the next morning
we...

Read and leave comments (3)

Sometimes, it seemed she burned

bridges for warmth. Sometimes

while I was still crossing them.

I learned to look forward

to the cool breezes of being gone.

I wasn't bitter though. She needed to be free

to understand the properties of fire.

Read and leave comments (0)

"Why did it end that way?", she asked
when we spoke some years later
at was once our favorite cafe.

Two cups in we agreed,
we couldn't find our way back
to who we wanted to be.

The bandages finally came off
our patched-up hearts in time,
but they were never the same.

Read and leave comments (0)

She rises and encourages our two dogs

to go out, then turns and tells me

she almost called out for Tuffy to join them.

We lost our very good boy just recently.

I said “I know.” We both turned and understood

in an unspoken way we would still be seeing him

for some time to come, as we led all three out

to do their business in their favorite spots before bed.

Read and leave comments (1)

You and I, confederates among the ashes,

find resolve in the face of loss bitter to the touch.

But sometimes it feels like it has never rained so hard.

Read and leave comments (0)

My neighbor, an irascible man, a few houses down,

often yells at the ice cream truck when it comes around.

He objects to the noise (or maybe it's the tune).

I take offense to his assault on my thoughts;

my youthful anticipation of cold sugary treats

on hot summer days.

I know one thing for sure, the next time the truck

comes around with its music and joy,

I wil...

Read and leave comments (2)

"That look, right there!",
I point at her and accuse,
as I catch her smile before it fades.

With no further words between us
we walked down to the azure coast,
as I imagined shells on the beach,
and second cups of coffee before lunch.

Read and leave comments (0)

My father is much older now

and not in the best of health.

He’s still with us, but I’ve been grieving

his loss for decades in different ways.

I tossed an old photograph of him today.

Damage comes and goes as it pleases.

I don’t mean to denigrate him.

He’s not looking for forgiveness.

Maybe he has no idea he might benefit from it

in ways he is incapable of imag...

Read and leave comments (3)

We hear the echoes of his absence

all around us, our best good boy.

Even though it's a silent space

Read and leave comments (0)

Her wounds were like being in a garden.

When we were together

there were blooms of many colors.

A bouquet that would need

constant tending and expert care.

Realizing this, I could never have been

the gardener she might have wanted.

Read and leave comments (0)

We were such close friends back then.

Now I've forgotten some of their names,

and some of those little things

we thought would keep us together forever.

Little things that have weight now,

because they’ve gone away

somewhere I can no longer find them.

I wish I hadn't been so careless

with the memories of my drift-away friends.

Read and leave comments (0)

Sometimes the way is not clear,
but today I’ll try to get my bearings
for the things that are important.

We’ll sit down in the morning
over coffee to see what we can see,
and maybe settle the debts we owe.

Read and leave comments (0)

She sometimes says "I love you Button.
But why does love often avoid an apple-pie order,
the tidier line?", she prudently queries.

I smile when she suggests this.
"Your unpredictable lines
and the things about you that
make them that way allow me
to wander a better path."

Read and leave comments (1)

Sometimes, when I'm blue

I make no distinction

between planes or trains.

I imagine they'll both take me

away to somewhere else

I'd much rather be.

A place where you're still with me.

Not helplessly fading away.

My weathered ticket in hand.

Read and leave comments (0)

I woke up this morning

angry at turtles, and parrots too.

They get so many years to be.

Who decided our dogs only get ten,

maybe fifteen brief years to be with us?

All that dog ever wanted was to be by our side,

the occasional extra treat and, of course,

his daily walk. All we really wanted

were a few more perfect days just like that.

Read and leave comments (0)

I put these feelings away

some time ago, where I thought

they’d stay where I left them.

But they felt no compunction

to stay were they’d been put.

In my youth, when you were letting me go

so subtly I didn’t notice until it was over.

The terrible act of love, having our dog

put to sleep from his suffering.

Hoping the day before her last one was a goo...

Read and leave comments (0)

“Why so sad?”

“Well, it’s you Grief, actually.”

“Oh yeah, it’s kind of my thing.”

“Why do you make people so inconsolable?”

“It’s really Love’s fault. We’re pretty much a package deal. Eventually, you’ll get to know us both quite well.”

“Your timing is terribly inconvenient.”

“Love doesn’t have a regular schedule. It’s a bit hectic for me too, to be ...

Read and leave comments (0)

It sounded like the last radio station in the West,

driving through Nevada, or maybe it was Utah.

The wireless acolyte, compelling us behind electrical static,

to accept his good Lord, and what we should do

to get in His good graces before it was too late

for those of us listening in the dark desert night.

I remember we both thought he sounded lonely,

and had some work to...

Read and leave comments (0)

Kind of obvious, but yeah,

when I was able to let them go,

I realized I was holding on

to things that were never mine.

Read and leave comments (1)

What an amazing thing hope is.

It has no senses to rely on, but

I often feel it, or see it, or hear it

in the voices of those who’ve been afflicted.

It can be given and shared with others.

It can exist in desolate spaces, calmly.

Impervious to troublesome circumstances

I sometimes allow purchase

in the borderlands of my thoughts.

And if you lose your hope d...

Read and leave comments (1)

You were a very good friend,

and we should have stayed that way.

But the more we tried for more it wasn’t good.

In the end, I could never decide

if it was the awkwardly lovely way of protesting

with your whole body when I teased you,

or your kindness I missed the most.

Read and leave comments (0)

You spent so much time trying.
Hoping to get your family to be
who you wanted them to be.

But some of them would never become
who you wanted them desperately to be.
Inflicting untouchable hurt that love applies so deftly.

Finally, the sting let you go to re-build with family
and friends who’ve always been there with you.
Exactly the home you’ve needed all along.

Read and leave comments (0)

I never felt spending time with you was wasted

waking up next to your sleepy-beautiful smile.

Or my heart jumping a little with excitement

every time you came over.

Even when I laughed at your concern

about Orion's belt having so few notches.

We were good for a while. And I've always felt

that was what time was for.

Read and leave comments (0)

It's been a very long time since I last saw you.
But I remember you standing in the lake with a smile.
The blue-green waves were splashing against you
from the transient wake of the passing boats,
causing you to sway in a wonderfully awkward way.

We were temporary people then. Changing,
like all the ripples in the water we couldn’t hold.
Unprepared for the hurt, it’s why you and I used to...

Read and leave comments (0)

I remember getting home from Christmas shopping.
I had just bought a lovely sweater for you,
when you called that afternoon and we spoke.
“We should stop seeing each other. It just seems
we don’t fit together all that well.”, you said.

And you were probably right about that.
But I occasionally think about that fucking sweater,
and still wonder if I had bought you the right size.
I’m sure...

Read and leave comments (0)

Every morning, when both our dogs wrestle
to jump in my lap to say hello. When you smile at me
with forgiveness for not noticing your hair,
which you just had done. Calling me out of the blue,
asking me if I wanted something from the smoothie place.

All of these things keep our home tethered to the surrounding shore,
so that it’s not washed away in a maelstrom of complacency.
I consider t...

Read and leave comments (0)

Having been in love a number of times,

my past hearts live in me like wounds

that no longer need dressing.

But a very small part of me

will always be in love with the scars

of the time spent there. 

Read and leave comments (0)

They say the Colossus of Memnon hasn't sung
or made a sound now for a very long time.
The one to the right is said to have had the gift.

Maybe it has nothing more to say.
Or perhaps there’s a fault in the ancient stone.
Its companion to the left, has been forever silent on the matter.

I can’t sing, but I don’t have the complaints
of these ancient stones, so I write lyrics for you all th...

Read and leave comments (0)

It took me a while to understand love.
The kind that stays around and doesn't light new fires,
but shows you how to tend the embers that last.

The heat is still strong and gives a warmth you shouldn't ignore.
Embers when she still thinks you're funny after all these years.
Embers when forgiveness is given with just a look.
Embers when she says she wants to pass first,
because she doesn't ...

Read and leave comments (0)

It's in the quiet I hear you.
My lungs elastic as they draw you in
with each comforting breath.

The memories of the day
expand my peace of mind
and careen my heart into you,

as you slumber next to me,
here in the solitude of our night.

Read and leave comments (1)

She was never like work. In fact, she was like walking up to an amusement park with crazy-colorful signs, always promising excitement. Like cotton candy too; maybe a little messy, but always better to have it, regardless of the colorful disarray others may see.

Read and leave comments (0)

Their memories shape and blend who I am.

Those I miss and are no longer here.

They’re like a crazy-long book that feels way to brief,

filled with short stories I never tire of. With each reading

from my book of hearts, I am grateful to the gifted authors

who share with me freely, what they still want to say,

written with love in stories that will always reside there.

Read and leave comments (0)

She could not stop questioning why I loved her.

How could I choose her? She used her scars as weapons,

cutting the offering into ribbons of doubt and hesitation,

never able to accept my assurances with her cutlass drawn.

Read and leave comments (0)

Maybe I should have told you how lovely you were

when the sun made you shade your look-away eyes.

Maybe I could have been more help with your troubled daughter

when you spoke of your regrets for her.

Maybe our concert tickets I left for you after we parted

was the right gesture for me to say goodbye.

Maybe I should have realized your crowded past

didn't leave ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Along the north coast,
where I last saw you,
dead trees still dance.

When you visit me there
I see graceful branches performing
for all who wish to attend.

Read and leave comments (0)

I mistakenly thought the departed

could have nothing more to say, but I was wrong.

For me, the dead do make a commotion.

I hear them all the time in discussions

I have with them about things left unsaid

when they were here, with you and I.

Do you talk with them too? I wonder

if you’ll share what they say to you.

We’ve no reason to keep this to ourselves now.

Read and leave comments (0)

Love had made mistakes.

More than I care to mention.

So, I didn’t see you coming.

The one that stood Idly by,

waiting for me to notice

the direction on my compass

pointing right there at you.

Read and leave comments (0)

Among all of these delicate warriors,

a lovely twenty-something girl with a Hello Kitty Bag.

Her damaged smile greets me as our eyes meet,

a determined waif with no more weight to lose.

An elderly man next to me with a tattered baseball cap;  

a soft gleam still in his eyes, but tested by our kindred journey.

Sadly, they are not the only soldiers here with a fight.

...

Read and leave comments (0)

The details of you have blurred

over the years since you've been gone,

but how I miss you still has sharp edges

that cut the ribbons of my memories,

laying them bare and exposed

against all of this night of your absence.

I’ll keep trying to patch the ribbons together

into something beautiful so I can remember you

only as daylight, and the jagged loss hopefully,

Read and leave comments (1)

“I hope I die before you”, she worries.

“I don't want to be alone.”

“But you'll have the two dogs and some family.

Besides, I'll need you to host my Celebration of Life,

and read a poem for me. Maybe this one.

And play the music I liked for everyone;

maybe tell a joke or two, so things don’t get too somber.”

“But you won't be there.”

“Yeah, more or less, that...

Read and leave comments (2)

Sometimes we talk about death
and all it has taken away. Maybe we'll find religion,

or look deeper into philosophy, or a similar comfort

to help us manage our grief and concern.

For now, we'll settle for what we have

together, among the here and now.
 

And maybe, just maybe this
will help keep the unknown at bay.

Read and leave comments (0)

"Can we dance on the moon?", she asks.

"We might even be graceful there, low gravity and all,
but the scientists don't recommend it", I reply."

"Well, if we hold on to each other at least
we'll be together if we jump too high
and float away.", her playful remark.

"Well, scientists be damned! I can't think of anyone else
I'd like to be with out there among the stars.", I assure her.

Read and leave comments (0)

She couldn't have been farther away.

Even though we were sleeping

here, next to each other. 

Slow on the draw, to be sure,

it just took me some time

to get better at recognizing

what empty looked like.

And I understand now

just how far away far away can be

when it’s there in front of you.

Read and leave comments (0)

I was no different than anyone else. Not really unique;

in that I was made, in part, from pieces of others I’ve known,

friends and family mostly. Those still here,

and welcome spirits who seem content to stay.

Also, there were a few women I loved at one time or another.

Although, some of them took a few pieces with them.

Read and leave comments (0)

If she could, she’d help butterflies

arrange the powder on their wings

just so, and they would thank her

with brightly colored performances in the air.

She envies the exhilaration the young ones must feel

the first time they alight after their first flight.

She wears a colorful dress trimmed with lace.

The butterflies accept this effort to be like them.       

Read and leave comments (0)

Sometimes, when I sit down to write,

a blank piece of paper in front of me,

I see beautiful words already there.

But it was always going to be you

who helped me put them on the page.

Read and leave comments (1)

In a very close moment,
I touched the striations near her waist
for the first time and she began to cry.
The marks, from the birth of her son.

She’d given him up before we met.
She had been in some trouble,
and made difficult decisions
that were still exacting a price
she couldn’t stop paying for.

To her, the lines were resentful,
and would never let her forget
the only physical rem...

Read and leave comments (2)

It’s an unhurried and easy love.
The kind that gently wants to help
solve important mysteries;

like where do the missing socks reside now?
Or who took the last cookie in the pantry
that someone hoped no one would notice?

It’s the kind of love that is comfortable
in pajamas at three in the afternoon, reading books together
while the weather outside is restless.

You wouldn't bother wa...

Read and leave comments (1)

We drive past the place
where she first said I love you.
Perched on a cliff by the sea.

The location has been closed
for a few years now,
but not in my reflections.
As we drive by, I take her hand
while drifting back to that day.

She smiles at me just then,
as the waves break with commotion
on the shore, and joins me here
in a memory I’ve saved
for all our tomorrows.

Read and leave comments (1)

She danced for her friend the moon
most nights. And occasionally during the day,
when its appearance couldn't be subdued.

Sometimes she wished all of her friends
could be here with her. All of them
had spent time under the same moonlight.

The same light knew them all
and shared this connection with her,
inspiring joy in the spectacle of her performances,
rewarding her companion of the...

Read and leave comments (0)

Our little fella, with his prancing gait,
trots down the hall. His feet sounding
a slap, slap, slap on the carpet
he was chewing on a moment ago.

He looks up at me with all the cuteness
the universe could possibly bestow on him
with a brief and curious look – ears at attention!

I smile back at him, to thank him for his youthful joy.
Given to us with no expectation. And certainly,
no g...

Read and leave comments (1)

I show her the poem

with the noisy words

building to a crescendo.

My scribbled paean, foolishly trying

to say these things to her

better than they’ve been said

by others, in ink on paper.

“Maybe I should tone all of this down some?”, I propose.

She smiles and says, “I like the clamor just the way it is.”

Read and leave comments (1)

"Where are we going?" his young daughter asked.

"To cheer up some of my friends," he replied.

"They seem to be a lot of work for you," she offered with concern.

"Yes," he said, “You’re right. The very best kind of work."

Read and leave comments (0)

Sometimes I think poetry is

the time you first learned to skip

a rock across a glassy lake.

It touched the water five, maybe six times

before sinking below the surface.

You looked forever for the perfect one

to toss. Even though forever is where

the stone came from and returned to.

I don’t know for certain

all the places poetry can be found,

but if it l...

Read and leave comments (0)

I was with a woman

some time ago, who wore her love

like a pistol on her hip.

With her suspicious heart for ammunition,

one inevitable wrong move by me 

and I was going to be done for.

Pretty soon I stopped

trying to avoid her aim.

She had already put holes

where we needed to breathe.

Read and leave comments (0)

My thoughts, difficult sometimes,
compete with the flowers all about me,
offering their hues to the sun above.

The petals seem to understand
small wonders can be anywhere,
and attempt to share their wisdom
in bracing fields, in every shade of bloom.

Read and leave comments (1)

How long would you miss me if I was gone?”, she wanted to know.

“That’s easy. See that star up there? The really bright one?
Until the last of its light can be seen here.”, my reply.

“That light will take a very long time to get here.”, she said in wonderment.

“Exactly.”

Read and leave comments (1)

It's like, what if moths

aren’t attracted to light,

as they flutter chaotically

around the source.

What if the thing we think

is pulling them closer confuses

which way they should go.

Love has been like that.

Read and leave comments (0)

It was my silliness, I thought.

Or maybe it was the smile.

Turns out it was our laughter too.

Read and leave comments (0)

I'm not much of a runner. 

But I've traveled long distances

trying to stay ahead

of the grief in my thoughts. 

I don't see it as an adversary anymore.

It's simply trying to keep pace

with how I miss you now.

Read and leave comments (0)

I've lived long enough,
but not long enough
not to miss it when it will go.

Seems I am just now
getting the hang of things.
Not all of them, to be sure.

But certainly all of the beautiful things.
Those that began long before me
as dust and dirt from the stars.

Read and leave comments (0)

When we would often ask

why we loved each other,

the usual items on my list were there.

Her melancholy for the brevity of shooting stars.

And wandering out to greet the rain at first light

as it begins its release from the night.

But the best explanation, we both agreed,

was that there didn’t need to be

any specific reason at all.

Read and leave comments (1)

Listening to records with my roommate

that summer. We were very young then.

We talked about the girl. The one we met

at the western shore but didn’t get her name.

We watched, furtively, every one

of her eccentric and mystical movements,

and the dueling colors in her eyes.

All of it imperfectly perfect.

Later, while putting on another LP,

he said, “If th...

Read and leave comments (1)

Crazy was never boring.
But it couldn’t be built to last.

Her love had sharp edges.
The cutting kind with no concern.

As if she could mend everything
with all of my pieces.

Read and leave comments (1)

That’s the kind of girlfriend she was.
After a few dates she had me listening
to a little hip-hop, and some other music
I knew very little about. And going to nightclubs

on Tuesday nights in brightly colored shirts
she bought for me soon after we met.
Ensuring that everyone would see them before they saw me.

It was the same when she looked my way.

Read and leave comments (1)

Over coffee that morning

we both smiled. Remembering

when we first met
we were both already old.

But we were free

from the awkwardness
of first encounters with love.

At the time, we didn't know
we would share in the sun

the rest of our shadows together.

Read and leave comments (1)

"Can people dance on the moon, Mother?"

"Maybe, but they probably want to avoid the craters there."

"But would the holes on the moon be lonesome?"

"They might be Honey; they’ve been there a very long time."

“Mother, will you be here as long as the holes on the moon?”

“I don’t think so. I suppose you’re right about the holes there.”
 

Read and leave comments (2)

With maybe enough money
to make it to Los Angeles,
I hoped he had enough to stay
ahead of the monsters he knew well.

The ones that had him on the run
somewhere around Bakersfield,
where I last heard from him.

All these years later, with struggles of my own,
I sometimes smile to myself, thinking
I might see him again someday, healed,
while I wait for the corner light to change.

Read and leave comments (1)

Her smile in the morning when she rises,

sleep still in her eyes, and tells me she slept well.

Her face framed in perfectly disheveled hair.

Pictures in frames, echoing smiles

that stay with me. Even though some are gone,

leaving scars I’ve learned to live with,

with or without the assist of the still images.

And the newest one for this list:

Our puppy, sniff...

Read and leave comments (0)

I can look at their black and white photo

whenever I want, to take in where they’ve been.

The old wood frame somewhat worn

from years of repeating the memories.

The image within, from long ago, is a little blurred.

But that’s not why I couldn’t understand

where the love, captured in time, might have gone.

Read and leave comments (0)

And it was in that moment,
after her fall, making sure
nothing but her pride was hurt,
that she understood that time
would always win. As it always had.

But her spirit was not defeated by this.
It was as if the fall had shaken her to her senses,
allowing her to finally accept the nature of things
on a journey that many never get to make.

Read and leave comments (2)

On the phone she tells me
she looks forward to the rain.
She mentions that she forgot her umbrella
again, but she’ll be okay without it.

And would I be kind enough to bring in her book
left outside on the table. Fretting in jest
that the author may not forgive if I don’t hurry,
and refuse her the denouement she hopes for.

I wonder, once more, if it’s forgetfulness.
Does she worry I’ll...

Read and leave comments (0)

“What color would you call that horizon?” she asked,

as we walked along the waterfront at dusk.

“I really don't know. I'm not good with the names of colors.

Sometimes I think people just make them up.”

“Well, let's make one up for our sky tonight.”, her offer.

“The sky looks mostly blue and pink along the horizon,

but it's changing quickly. How about ‘blinkish’?”

Read and leave comments (1)

She was saying goodbye
in so many muted ways.
But I was somewhere else
in my redoubt of indecision.

Indifference that couldn’t mask
her blue and walk-away eyes,
should have made It clear
she was already gone.

It took me a while to get here.
To get you to fade away.
It was just that my timing was bad.

Read and leave comments (2)

We invited the sun to join us.

To come out from behind that sullen cloud

and share with us late in the morning.

With amber light breaking through,

in tow as company for the day,

our hands were together and warmed

but not by the busy sun.

No offense was taken,

our yellow star assured us,

as we walked between the shadows

being painted all around us.

Read and leave comments (1)