[Untitled Haiku]

swollen clouds gather
as wind chimes sound the alarm
the white dog cowers


Non-Attachment

Stretching in the sun, lost
in a moment stolen,
I float
feeling the warmth
and the gentle grass
beginning to grow right through me.


Longing for Poseidon [Fibonacci]

A
wave
crashes
eternal.
Sea breeze buffeting
the laughing gull's clean white feathers
brings tears to my eyes.
The brine swells
and I
am
whole.


Ishtar's Demise

Her face was flawless,
her structure sound,
her strength and grace were world renowned.
Owned by none but claimed by all,
the Fates decreed that she should fall.
Now in pieces strewn apart
one can see she had no heart.


Gratitude to Bekkie Sanchez for the challenge and Mag 280 for the image.


Formidable Opposition

Tiny fingers tap the table top
pushed to the back of my mind.
Incessant pen clicking follows
furiously forcing a pulse
to rise at my left temple.

The muse ignored
does not suffer this practical fool gladly.


South Carolina June 17, 2015

         --Mourning the loss of those at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church


What kind of hate
born from what possible womb of fear
could sit seething for an hour
in the company of such loving souls
and not be swayed from its murderous mission?


May we find the strength to turn this bloody tide... may we face our fears, embrace our differences, and see our way to love one another.



[Untitled Haiku]

Shuffling paper--
the crisp sound of cleaning up
to finish the day.



Corporate Caecilian

A thin veneer of mascara and make-up
float atop a seething cesspool of judgment.
Resentment turns rancid as
overcompensation projects blame in an acidic spray
burning every pathway to redemption.



Baltimore, MD: April 27, 2015

Bricks and bottles.
Fists and spit.


Beautiful flowers
pressed flat by injustice,
break like fragile neck bones
igniting in a flash
to set the city aflame.



Birthday Haiku

A decade today
of life with my little boy--
my four-legged son.



[Untitled Haiku]

Gaia scratched an itch
and the snow came crashing down.
Will we ever learn?



Monday 2:30PM [Haiku]

The Monday doldrums
threaten to swallow me whole
but music transcends.



Reluctant Dragonfly

Perched on the edge of
grief or relief,
I don't so much jump
but am pushed by the momentum of events.
Once in open air,
I hover--
not knowing if I will fly
or simply plummet.



Greased Verse

A snort in the ear.
The restless oinking
in the back of my mind.
I touch the tip of a slippery back bristle
and it's off again
at full tilt--
happier to play in the muck.



Up Against It

Caught in the corner,
accosted by shadows
and whispers of inadequacy,
she flinches.
Batting at sight unseen--
her inaudible hisses
swallowed by the demand
for silence.



Chomping at the Bit

A watchful pot never boils...
and an expected phone call never rings.
Caught halfway
between what was
and what could be,
we wait
like horses bucking
behind a starting gate
thoroughly encased in ice.



Night Terrors

April winds wail
with early morning rain.
Resting an ear on my love,
I watch our dog's steady breathing
and pray
for the banshee to pass us by.



Recipe for Recollection

Last summer's thyme,
shriveled and brittle,
waits to be crushed--
to be crumbled
into the stock pot
so it may blossom once again.



Bah! Relief?

Feeling like a wet towel,
heavy
and unable to function properly,
I wait for the opportunity
to wring myself out.



A Mind Under Stress...

I think,
for me,
the pearly gates would resemble
the LVH-M radiology waiting room--
a small pleasant space
with comfortable seating
where people enter,
check in,
and wait to be called...
to be taken gently away
by a sweetly smiling
someone.



Ray of Light [Fibonacci - Acending and Decending Variation]

A
glimpse
of hope.
We waited--
never giving up,
never backing down from the fight.
Steadfast but tired, we faced the harsh wind and yielded
just enough not to be broken
and found our reward
in others'
kindness,
and
care.



Stalagmite

Doubt's
persistent drip
accumulates mass.
Rising from the floor in a giant fang,
it waits patiently
for me
to impale myself upon it.



Gobsmacked

Astounded.
Astonished.
Completely blown away...

The calls were made
and we waited.
The hoops were set aflame
and we took a deep breath,
grabbed our big people pants
and jumped through...

Now, at center stage,
there is nothing but silence.
No applause.
No reward.
No consolation... just a shrug and an offer to reschedule.


Modern medicine sickens me...

Cleaning House

Three year old residue
from Ramen noodles
thrown in a momentary lapse of reason
is finally scrubbed
from the dining room wall...



[Untitled Haiku]

The small white dog sleeps,
curled in the sitting room chair,
safe and warm and loved.



Heights in a Hurricane [Cinquain]

Out here
on the thin line,
I curl my toes and breathe--
balanced on high tension wire
in wind.


Mourning's Ritual

Tender kisses hope to hide the worry,
to dull the desire to curl back into bed
and hold him through the pain--
but the whistle blows
and the bank
demands its mortgage.







Tranquil Tanka

A trickle of rain
casts a gray hue on the day.
Finally at home,
I sit in the company
of the family I love.


Nokia Nightmare

There's a smudge on the camera lens--
a greasy semi-transparent blub
messing with the auto focus
and all my images are nothing more
than diffused distortion.


[Untitled Haiku]

House sparrows sitting
on the telephone wire
wait for me to leave.



Four Days in Spring

A concentration of connection,
effort,
emotion and care
crammed into a long weekend
of hope
for a more radiant
Monday.



Early Morning Air

Robin song greets the dawn
only now just coloring the clouds.
Spring successfully shattering
the ice of dormancy--
its warmer wind
offering a much needed breath
to break my silence.



Determined Devotion

Love, fierce,
digs its talons into bedrock
and begins to ascend.
Barely bearing up under
its own weight, bruised
and beaten
and burnt,
it claws to a break in the cliff face.
A moment to rest--
to let its wings dry in the sun.



A Turn of the Vice

Edgy.
Ramped.
Keyed.
Juiced...


I wonder...
Does an orange feel
this strung-out
as it's being squeezed?



Exile, Self-Imposed

Like hearing sound
through water--
a muted murmur calling
from far away
reaches across a digital landscape
of a thousand physical miles.


It is only when the silence resumes
that I realize I am the one in the distance.



A Quiet Insight

You,
him,
he, she, it,
them...
                                  me.


Something needs to change in the priority of things.



Pondering Optometry

I need to get my eyes checked...
maybe a new set of lenses
might help me to better focus.


Assessing Damages [Fibonacci]

I
had
fallen
off of the
face of the planet.
Caught in a tornado of life,
I was spun into oblivion and disappeared--
creativity sacrificed
for a worthy cause
but not lost,
only
stilled.

A Promise Kept

  Post-it® Poem from April 30th on a 3x3 note. And that's it for this year! :) Thanks for following along...