Run, Red Dress, run
Run to him
Down the hall,
‘Round the corner,
Through the door
To his bed.
Let your tongue dance
On his cheek and lips
Dance slow wind
Speak hot breath
Bear him away on waves of kisses and
Deliver him again and again.
Lost Coast Review Fall 2014
Her smile and those stars.
If one could only sit amid these many lights without feeling cold.
If one could only do this.
(Lost Coast Review Fall 2014)
With my eyes, I do not see everything.
There is so much in the time between isn’t
And is that I will never know.
Wondrous times of becoming,
Inchoate and virgin,
Mysterious and energetic.
But among us, I know there are those that do participate
In the birth of dawn, rising in the breath between heartbeats,
Each marvelous morning.
And witness the shift of winter to spring
In the way light changes focus in the
Prism of the sky.
As for me,
Last night it snowed,
This morning it rained,
This afternoon while my bedroom window burned
With the sun’s brilliant metallic fire
The trees out back unfolded their first green buds.
In hours, there will be more.
Tomorrow there will be leaves
And in a few days I will not be able to see through
The trees at all.
A version of this poem appeared in Lost Coast Review Fall 2014
winter come
spring come
summer come fall
moments pass with no name
when comes love?
when comes birth?
death?
It is not a secret, she whispers
whispers in, whispers out
secrets in, secrets out
when do we begin to cry?
when do we begin to know?
when do we begin to love?
move closer,
she whispers
But you are next to me
and yet so far away, how
do I reach you, touch you?
create
fold upon fold
petal upon petal
leaf upon leaf, infinite and
forever
But are there not dangers?
Will we not be
handed off in the darkness to
mysterious rivers that
carry us in, carry us out?
unwrap
the changing tides
each changing, each changing each
today becomes tomorrow
to reveal the
moments
breathing in, breathing out
in each others arms
in each others love
magic in, magic out
rapt in love
wrapped in sex
flowing in, flowing out
creating tides that swell the universe
pulling us together, pulling us apart,
she whispers
like flowers blooming, petals unfolding
swelling the tides,
we unfold petal by petal
complete as we were in the
beginning
you touch me
my thoughts
my dreams
slip from my fingers
it is not a secret, she whispers
holding me in her arms
breathing the words in, breathing the
words out
in that perfect moment.
It is a moonscape: broken glass, oatmeal concrete, opaque shadows.
Still dim;
eyelashes to break citrus, gold, yellow-
Tumbling down stairs, boxes flatten, dominoes fly,
Millipede arms, legs and fingers drumming.
Pictures wave on a curtain of wind, Strobe lights, lasers and messages on the wall.
Broken down, white cat front-end transmission, Stagger weighted motion, swinging outward counter-balance steel ball…
The smell of machine oil, the tap of feet Passing overhead
re-lock.
Cylinders revolve, levers catch, barrels rotate,
Meaning, vision and dreams return
Complete.
Start again the day.
(Lost Coast Review, Fall 2014)
others
grow on their own
unknown and silent in
the garden or out back beneath
the sun
complete
each piece and each
element of our lives
is solved and contained within each
moment
minutes
rosary beads
slipping through her fingers
a moment to forgive, her smile
his eyes
I played guitar
I heard my thoughts
with my fingers
I climbed long stairs
swung from the trees
I braved mighty floods and oversaw nations
I danced drunkenly with another man’s wife
marshaled troops and made the heroic charge
I cried to heaven to raise me from my pain
asked her as cleverly as a sprite for just a bit more
and shined in the happy sun to be with my friend
And when you came, I played for you
for your parties, for your friends, for your
highs and your lows. I played to make you smile.
I played at our wedding and I played with
classic triumph profound for the birth of our child
And I played with sorrow yet untold at his death
I played to survive, I played to do a little more than just live
I played to god and I played for you
I played to help you, when sorrow bound your feet and hands
gagged your mouth and drug your toward the pit
I played vigorously and I played bravely and I played when there was nothing left
but it wasn’t enough
your sorrow turned to hate, your tears to venom
you demanded and drank my blood and I could not hold back
I let you have it all and when it was gone, I left
now I tell people that I am afraid to play
because
I will not know how to stop