Poétique

Articulate

Sacred woods were kept
Ancient prayers were said
Our foreheads pressed together
Reciting hymnal things
Barely awake and barely asleep
I was following directions
I knew the most powerful
Words had been spoken
I had repeated them as I was
Instructed to do so not once
But twice in an hour long gap
I stood up from the sitting
Arrangements to meet you
In the hallway heads in unity
Hair pulled back we slid down
To the ground slowly in harmony
Repeating the oracle chants
Never like this for this is the
Only time it is ever like this
And we repeat the resounding
Process again to confirm the
Treasure of its force an encumbrance
Of seance and spirit what sorcery!
To feel loved and connected
So deeply as the words seal
The echos through all time
Only like this ever this way
A matrimony of holy joy
In a peaceful reverence
That is the language of
Petroglyphs heard
Yet still unspoken

Second Guessing

Caught up in the druthers
Did we take it too far
Or just not far enough
I could be a lot less afraid
If you think the ocean’s deep
You should see my eyes
When they’re looking back
At you into your everything
Not too fast not too slow
Feels pretty expressive
Conveying how we feel
To one another sometimes
Even without words
Picking up on your signals
Attempts in sharing this
Experience with others to
Figure out somehow
What you were saying
If what I saw was real
If I leave it alone or
If I continue to share the story
And find out that
I should go back or
That I missed the first
And last chance or even more
That it didn’t matter really
Whatever we choose to
Spend time thinking about
How much what didn’t happen
Actually matters

Lovetail

The story of love must be told
Many times before it has been
Looked over and tossed around
I’ll just close my eyes for a minute
See if the maudlin moment passes
Shine my shoes and eat less
Brush my teeth early so as not
To be tempted by myself
Or is the temptation coming
From somewhere else!
O, no bother to run up and down
The stairs of my mind it’s always
A sane distance traveled
I haven’t had a cry out in years
Silent tears and sobbing at the
Loss of a loved animal is to be
Expected oh yes there was a wail
I spooked my coworker
Thought I should go home
But that wouldn’t bring my dog back
So I worked and hid my tears
Even from the other family members
I wanted to be strong for all of us
Once again the story of love
Absolutely must be told many times
And also in many different ways

Outside

I love the way the light glistens
From the artificial lamps
Outside after it rains on the
Black asphalt canvas
Every which way you turn your
Head is a different spectacle
Like the dark matter of the
Universe is looking back at you
Listening for the low hum
In the backdrop of fall morning
Wields a faint ocean-like roar
As if a lion is hiding around the
Corner waiting to devour us
Blinking lights in the distant sky
Remind me of taking a trip
To Thailand of course this
Could also be extraterrestrial
I’m not opposed as every morning
Coagulates a new planet and
A new beginning somewhere
There are dark moments
That dance with me in the
Coming attractions of
Celebrating the unknown
Inaudible messages

Wilted

I remember I was so angry
You could cut the tension
In the room with a machete
It would have been easier
Just to move on but I
Already felt so discounted
By you
I always thought someone
Or something would get in
The way knowing we would
Have our Ursula and I was
Shown in some other worldly
Way that the truth was coming
I had no way of knowing
It would be through me and
Not through you but
When a scissor comes to cut
The ceremonial rope
It doesn’t care what the
Ends are tied to
Not like we did
Not like I did

Not like we knew…
Treachery to be gilded past
And hesitations that were
At long last the end of the
Line that was thrown out
Into the abyss never foretelling
That the end was always waiting
To begin when the riddle of the
Pools of purple black and magenta
Swirled beneath us like a
Sinkhole in the sea of our
Once hoped for destinies

Rocking Chair

She never thought I was a good writer
Or really had anything worth saying
Worthy of her eyes to be read almost
Beautiful enough to look up from
Whatever was more important but still
Tragically not enough to remember or
Care that it happened “just not her thing”-

Accusations for adoption; what else?
And so I was born into a world that
Wished kidnapping by some genie
To have been dropped off generously
By a courageous stork in Bornholm
Where the roe deer and hares
Would be left to raise me still
Their ears would turn to listen
To my songs and echo my words
I suggest it might be like a Snow White
Situation although the dream was
Always that the mother would be
The understanding loving ear to
Listen through a channeled heart that could not
Preen itself without the caressing knowledge
For what the psalms of her boy
Would scribe but time passed on without a harp
And the web grew colder

And the need grew stronger
Bite clenched deeper for to pierce
The flesh of his soul was the only
Capable reaction he could query
Extract out from a lady who doth not hear
What rendered love wished to
Be heard in pure even from a rocking chair
The carpet or a tree if everything
Around her was that it could be
Beautiful except were it from me
No wonder the second guessing
Many years after lingered on

Tacos

Is it because we
Feel like we have less time
As we get older that we
Somehow lose the sense to
Live haphazardly?

Is it healthy to fantasize
About the possibility of a
Relationship that may or
May not happen in the future?

With somebody you know

Who cooks for someone
That doesn’t want to show up
To eat and what’s the point
Of making dinner for a person
That has no impulse to enjoy it?

I have a swim cap that might
Fit you if you’re afraid of
Getting your head wet or
Maybe you just want to swim
Faster than the rest of us

I feel idle when I’m just trying
On something new so I can
Feel differently in it for no one
But it could be that I’m trying it
On because I’m hoping to meet
You somewhere sometime
Somehow I’m not sure

It’s cheesy no?

You’re so unpredictable
I could think of a few reasons
That we should do this in order
Meaning if there’s dirty dishes
To be left in the sink and a
Place for everything perhaps
We might find out if there’s a
Spark when our lips are crossed

Then tacos

Room Service

Wild horses and warm springs
Lost creeks and campgrounds
Far away from the hotels and
Rooms we rent those things are
Uncivilized to dreamers like me
Destination unknown I could
Hand pick the places I wanted
To travel to and you forgot
That I was an important part
Of how you got to where you
Ended up but I think I saw
You remember why in a pigment
Of my imagination violet and green
Brown carpets below where
You were crawling under
My arms working your way
Through my chest of feelings
It was almost as if you wished you
Could be in two places at once
I’m not sure what you were
Going for but there had to be
A plan if you could you probably
Would be capable of loving us
Both even though I wanted even
Less than what was expected
I new I was going to miss my flight
And the rooms weren’t even situated
Next to one another to knock
On the door but it didn’t matter mine
Was empty because you were
Always over there with her until you
Snuck back just to see if you
Could wrangle the both of us
Like we were equally important
You almost did it but I knew that the
Best place for me to be was back
Home where I went looking for
My responsibilities no tug-of-war
I packed up and grabbed what was left
The suite looked completely
Untouched were we even here?
Loaded everything into the rental
That had been sitting there for
What appeared to be the entire trip
But I couldn’t tell the front from the back
So goodbye is close unmentionably
There was moss on the car
I jumped in the front seat and drove
Around the corner to a daycare
I was looking for my child but I didn’t
Have one upon my recollection
However a little girl stood up
For me and of course she wasn’t mine
But she recognized me as the teachers
Looked up my eyes clear I knew it was
My sweet boy that I was searching for
To find him standing up on two
Hind legs my little Brussels a dog the only
Child I had but I loved him
Just the same as a son or a father would this was
What I came here for this was the
Unconditional love that I didn’t have
To fight for this was home

Every Life

Drinking up every moment
Living every life
Barely keeping alive financially
But still the richest person can be
Existing without anything
Saving the lives of people
That took the lives of others
We are all damaged goods
None of us are free from the
Wind blowing through the grass
Who’s responsible for that?
It didn’t matter much to most
Which way the winds were
Blowing where I came from
So long as the car works
When you turn the engine over
I never had much use for
Complaining but as I got older
I guess it creeped in the redder
Your hands got or the less your
Tendons wanted to bend over all
There was a tiny corner in the yard
That felt more magical than the rest
Of the field kinda like ya
Just wanted to lay there longer
Even if it was time to go inside
Airports hadn’t really come
Into the picture yet but the way
You could miss someone
Coming and going now that
Was a feeling we could all relate to
Wondering if they’d ever come
Back or if this place even felt
Like a homestead does
Drinking up every moment
Watching the dragonflies
Living every life in my mind

Solitary

As the fog was slowly lifting
From around the edges of the
Dimly lit lamp post I could see
In the distance it was all still hanging
Congregating with the firs
My hands had not yet warmed
Adjusting to the eminently
Cooler air more than was the day before
The crunching of shells and seeds
Beneath my boots and an array
Of differently colored leaves
Quiet now just the drips of
Early nights rain and the slow
Subtle humming of a machine
In the background idles
Still no smoke from chimneys riding
Through the sky but the dream
Of living this life beats strong while
Walking in it became more apparent
If to survive like a lone dog
In Mexico that people occasionally
Put food out for or a solitary sandpiper
Wandering the archipelago
Asking for nothing in particular
Perhaps the only breakfast of
A grasshopper or the comforting
Of a sun and stream though the
Days are full of little things to
Remind us we’re alive often
We are peddling about the earth
With aimless meanderings