Far from Home

Headlights catch the highway
old thoughts of the day

worthless reasons
he fought for you to stay

the road seems dark
on an aimless journey 

when you hold steady
spiral and crash

wake up to the wall
that man with his flashlight

hanging on to your pulse
more full than empty

the rush of a blood army
keeping you on your feet

while down the street
loud engines accelerate 

making destruction 
worse than what appears 

and with each passing one
you hope to be anywhere

with anybody to take you 
far from home 

Never Arrived

It's too quiet for the cry
of a car crash, playing
over and over again,
but you wouldn't know
the sound if you heard it,

you wouldn't know the lights
of a rescue car, reflecting
off my ghostly face,
wondering how you
never arrived to see.

The Aftermath

Icicles melt like cold drops of blood
from naked roofs, clogged gutters;
they splash into puddles and disperse
with sounds that hush in the frost.

Backyard trees lay motionless;
they stretch diagonally,
divide the raw lawn, and sleep.
Look how they carry

the weight of snow, beautiful mounts;
for hours, it falls, it settles in the arms
of an oak and a maple, making the bark
tear outwards, like fresh fruit peels.

This is the sacrifice of nature,
the sound of quiet death.
These are lazy limbs that lost the fight
against untimely affliction. 

Listen to the aftermath—
souls passing by, saying, "farewell, goodnight."

Dog Years

Speak to the one
who stays home, who barks
when you have a good dream.

He will die on, say, Christmas
or your birthday, where the loss
will seem greater than the gain,

and you'll forget that some loves
never start, that your mother kissed you
from the doorway.

When you have to either bury
or burn him, some might say, 
"it's too bad dogs can't understand."

Ignore them
would be my advice.

Pouring on the Front Porch

For all she knew, he sat to watch
the power-line crows, the red-haired lady,
her sister running in the rain,

and what a shame that she stood too far
to see the blood breaking though his eyes,
the sweat puddling his crooked lip,

the idea

growing toxic
inch by inch,
night by night. 

The Boats at Bay

Two rows of houses diverged from a bay.
I could not see to both sides
and decide which I admired most,
and at the same time, gaze at the boats.

I thought about taking one out to shore,
if only any belonged to me,
with an initial of my name.
I chose to watch the others

load their possessions and ride off,
to where I understood how far I was
from them, and could only turn around
back to the countryside, back home.

Through time, I paced; through I, time passed,
and perhaps it all happened too fast.
If not for today, it would merely make sense,
and I would find myself in a different day.

The Wolf

There is a great, black beast
brushing his fur against the door.

He listens for an answer,
a quivering breath, a whisper.

Sometimes he paces the hall;
sometimes he waits.

I lock my lungs ever so still
for no subtle movement at all

and the clock holds eleven-ten
for eleven whole minutes long.

He knocks once. He knocks twice,
the second louder than its last.

His shadow casts orange light,
like an October moon.

It moves from quarter, to crescent,
to new, and stays as the room darkens.

Before We Die

we are fires
burning in a forest
of wild moose and cabins
tearing bark from old pines 

we are black smoke
in early daylight
disguising the beauty
around us

weeds are tainted yellow
and raw

flowers cry
we hurt what is innocent


and slowly




die

Pandora's Box

dark one, hidden beneath
the esophagus. Unhooked
and ignited, she opens
and cries softly for life.
Her words die easily, push
back inside, unheard and
often misunderstood like
foreigners in the countryside,
torn like the head of a hunted
deer, blood trails in runny snow...
consequences rush.

Two Ghosts

Response to Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art"

For all we lose, we find another,
when two ghosts fall from all you knew,
but let us know what is no disaster.

When two ghosts have drowned forever,
the sea will bring something new;
keep head over water, try not to falter.

For all we lose, we find another.
Sail in one direction—more forward, leave two
ghosts behind, heads tearing crookedly where

they will float, lonely, to wherever,
leaving you icy, porcelain-blue,
but let us know what is no disaster.

Know they are gone now and will never
leave again. They are two to say you outgrew,
two waves, washed away offshore.

For all we lose, we find another;
like the current that flows east onto
a foreign beach of burning fire,
after you lose two ghosts (you love) forever.

Lake of the Valley

Together, at a nature park mountain top,
two birds fly by across the same sunrise sky.
Not knowing one about the other, 
they follow each other in an even line,
and if one were to surge into the lake of the valley,
the other would hastily do so too
without sign of panic or restraint.

Both of them fly,
plummeting downwards, like shadows falling,
disappearing, as they dip towards the valley.

Together, at a nature park mountain top,
two birds fly by across the same sunrise sky.
People do not bother to wonder how or why,
they just walk on by,
blinded to ways of the humankind,
when we were born to fly side by side;
this is why nature made us to live long, long lives.

Let us find a way to abide by this,
search for the peace we truly meant to find,
tear down the barriers that break us;
make us a revolution — evolution.
Bend conservative marriage, meld offshore language,
look to Mother Earth for our only source of bliss. 

Let us live as one, equal force
the way two birds spiral, together, off course,
leading the other into new regions of space.
Nature wants us to search the lake of the valley;
this is why she made us in a far, far off place.

Disease

We went screaming in the hazy weather, you and I, 
laughing so hard, I forgot where you were,
but you said, "oh, isn't this better?"

I learned a lesson or two,
to live hard and hide from disease —
that's what you were to me,

what you wanted to be,
but darling, what's worse,
running up or falling behind?

The Diplomats

Diplomats don't know the grass is on fire.
It's burning and who's to blame?
Everyone's on aircraft and ship.
But look here—war is everywhere.
We're drowning.
We're going down.
Everyone knows it but the diplomats.

There's two cents per pocket
just enough to go around.
It's been this way and it will always be.
No one hears us SHOUT.

We die for peace buried beneath us.
Even dogs know better
and roam with their tails up
when we're down.
That's why they smile
with their tongues curled out
laughing at the human race. 

We are the evil eye in focus,
retina, reversed retina. 
We're dizzy for freedom;
everyone's dizzy but the diplomats.

Paradise

I had a beautiful dream.
I saw a road with yellow light
and I took it.

I walked against a sea breeze

where the ocean sparkles
against gold rocks and white sand

where I lied my head for a while

wondering where I'd been

and where you are now.

If there was ever

a time to laugh at illusions

it was this.

I searched for a face

in the cumulus pillows of the sky

but I never found it.

And realized all I see is gone—
one day, here,
the next, forgotten.

I am paralyzed and free

a reincarnated soul.

You were there

in the clouded paradise

with your metallic streams of hair.

You were merely a vision

swept into a fantasy,

of what was lost. 

I saw a flock of seabirds crying

showing me the way home.

They whispered

a slow voice

calling me back.

So I dragged my feet away

with a flaming picture of you. 

When All Fail

We want it
Without question
Or doubt.
To be in love
To find friendship
Closeness.

Where are our eyes
Where are our souls
To love ourselves
To trust ourselves?

When all come together
When we cross city streets
Shoulder to shoulder
Face to face
Breath to breath
We are alone.

And when all asleep
In our beds
With selfish thoughts
And prayers for ourselves
In dark silence
Or screaming abuse
We are alone.

It's strange to say,
But we are alone
For every day.

And when love fails you
When deceit greets you
You are alone
With all you held onto
With all you never lost.

Ambiance of Midnight

On the black walls
it sticks and stays
until you tell it to go. 
In the drone
it hears you and stays
when you tell it not to.

On the telephone pole
it hangs and I stare,
wondering if you stop
like this.

She

struts over cobblestone
as my teapot screams
and shrieks on her first visit
since the rains of March.

The doorbell rings
and I hesitate to break
the silence.
I push my hand

between the blinds just enough
to peek an inch.
I am caught in a long pause
as I crack open the door;

she let's herself in.
The hairs on her head
catch me in the sunlight,
mousey strands of old age,

poorly disguised
by streaks of stringy blonde. 
I want to say something,
but her mouth opens

and condescends again
over a cup of tea by asking.
 
Ready?

Bluesy Melody

When everyone sleeps

She creeps down —
down to the underground

where the evening rises.

There is a song in mind
she plays

for a moment

lets it seep out
slow and weak

The bluesy melody

Rhymes and weeps. 
This is

How she lives.

Fade

It's a faint smoke and fuel for the breaking.
What happens when it's empty, vacant burning?
I know you'd say it softly if I called it,
Not love's offer,  just a plead to high being.

I'd ask for a fool's return if I couldn't see
You're clinging to cooling fire -
 
We'll wait for rain to clear it away,
Bring this back to gravity, fly on furthur.
For now it shakes me down, the hallow beauty I see,
Slow fading light, our shades of gray.

I'd reprieve you if I could bury it around,
But it's keyed inside of all the words you said to me.

Spider Webs and Smoke

My friends, could we leave this town?
Winter will come soon;
It's too cold for pain to bear.
If you won't follow, I have no choice;
I'll write you letters from where I am
In a quiet country, with hills and roads
And people who will talk
So I won't understand, but I don't mind.
It will go for miles and miles.
I will walk as far as I can go
'Cause Darlin' broke my heart.

So if you will not follow, I'll see you soon,
When this is over and I've grown
Stronger bones than the ones
Stuck here, in this body.
Don't you worry, friends, I'll see you soon,
When I can love without a rattling soul.

Could you save me when I'm down,
When I've forgotten all I taught myself,
I was pushed out here and there.
They couldn't hold me
No, they didn't want me
I had to raise myself, I had to grow,
Taller somehow, with no walls or wide arms.
Friends, you know.

I promised I'd keep singing songs.
At times I've never screamed louder,
But lately I'm so quiet,
Will it really be alright?
Have the birds flown down yet
While I'm stuck in this old, cold town,

In this old, cold home?
Friends, come with me,
Leave this old, cold home
With nothing but spider webs and smoke.
There's nothing but spider webs and smoke,
And cheap bottles of wine
I drink with magazines,
Watching the sky grow darker each night,
Always darker.

Let's leave this town, so I don't have to go alone.

Race the Day

There is nothing like an ever-going road,
Circling in and out of what keeps you
Up in darkness and down on your face.

There is nothing worse than a countless beat,
The doubt in your head, kicking the truth at you again,
When all you want is to flash through and forget.

Race the day
To a sleepless night.
Race the day
To show you won.
Just race the day
To race it again.
Race the day.
Race it 
Again
Again
Again. 

Storm Soon Passes

Daylight rotates like a broken clock
A slow farewell to strange times
Loose wing feathers
Fly
Float

Below the dark sky
Hear the thunder roll on by -
Loud
Long

Fading.

Casual

Your eyes are red and drowning.
Darling, how is it you're still smiling?
Come into my bed and lay a while,
So you can love again.