On the wrap-around porch
Bitter cold breezes
And early
Darkness
thwart
The settings of a warm and inviting evening of summer.
With its sighs and
Dusky glows.

Rattling leaves
Clicking sleet
Supplant the hum of crickets
what katydids sing
and the creaking of the porch swing
Back and forth goes the
Hope for spring
Once prominent but
Now bound away
And raised to the ceiling.

the water glass
from where I sit
gives a shadow
that hides the surface of the water
and if I drop a cheerio
and it sinks
the shadow doesn’t change.
but it is cooler
and I want to sit there
on the edge
dangling my feet
eating cheerios
one by one

Be respectful of other fishermen,
Do not raise your voice,

As it will frighten the fish away.

Do not cast your line in the shallows
As it will catch on roots and stumps
And snap.

No fish will be caught.

And so we whisper in the shallows
Barely heard above the crickets
And lapping tides
We never catch a thing
As the day passes
Except each other’s happiness
Time and time and time again.

It is such a crude manner of introduction,
-collision-
not just bumping into something,
but willfully crashing
and shaking up the place around you.
there is no recollection of before and during
-only after.

i don’t know…
-what happened-

airbags deployed with a smokey haze
fluids dripping to the road surface
it is hardly the place for introductions

hi, are you okay?
yes, I think so….I’m so sorry
But, you are Okay?

immediately after yes, tears flow
and we are out in the cold.
The canopy of our cars left behind.

this car is less than 6 months old
I was just on my way to work
sitting at the light waiting for it to change
when…

I don’t know what happened
I was thinking about and planning my day
when…

Damaged pieces of car lay underneath us
now just two people
-no protection from the elements-
waiting for a witness to arrive
and help us document the tragedy
of our introduction.

It is only then that our names
are written,
and after exchanging information
we are free to move on,
after our brief encounter,
it is over.

A behavior experiment
(oh so sly)
Watching me
(up there on high)
Manipulating events
(for me to try)
Like God and Satan
with a one dollar bet.
Wondering if I’ll stumble, or better yet,

Disown my view of right
And drift directionless for spite.

Fling me from the tallest tree
Don’t worry ‘bout abusing me.

Hang my entrails from your door
Just make sure you clean the floor.

Bury me up to my neck
And watch me burn up from your deck.

Cactus blooms a spiky hat
Five of nine lives equals that,

Pierce my flesh and catch the blood,
Pack the open wound with mud,

Starve me of my food and drink,
Til I’m skin and bones I think,

Rearrange my insides out
Scourge me all for science, lout.

Tell me I am a worthless mess
Job was a guinea pig too, I guess.

to jot down this thought
but didn’t get to it until later
in the day
things kept me going for
hours like getting the dog smell
out of the
carpet
not quite
as productive as watching
bread
rise
pulled weeds from
the mulch beds
just because I
noticed
them
I cooked lunch while
I folded towels
and listened
to
SportsCenter
while I spent a moment
inside my head at a stone bridge
at sunset,
watching the cat-tails
flicker in the breeze

and then I decided to write that down.

goldenrod walls
avocado striped border
colored the realm of my childhood
where the dishwasher tangoed
on the patterned linoleum dance-floor

Low Hums
Low Hums

incandescent lighting
bounces off the brass cabinet fixtures
elbows on the countertops
with peanut butter smears
and chocolate tears;
a sanctuary
from the grave fears
of the monkey in the closet
and the ghost in the hall.

a strawberry pop-tart
a glass of two percent milk
and the static of the AM radio
hums low
cracks softly.

Pulling soundwaves in melodic precision,
she floats with wings
delicately hanging upon a blue note
sailing phrases that color the air
with pleasantness and care.

Drawing the collective consciousness in song,
harmony and crescendo
stack and build
toward a driven conclusion.
Pulling and drawing
are no longer necessary,
as it rolls and moves
of its own volition,
and she simply glides
to smooth silence.