COLORS
Monday, February 24, 2025
never cross the moon
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
wander
into a pen or a brush
sweep away all betrayal
you start out small
in your honest repair
one line or two
the masters you learned from
are laughing at you
these strokes
that you dare
this unspoken poetry
is easier than you think
so stop thinking
be unfinished
for once and forever
dip the brush
draw the chalk
drag the oil through memory
your face is a story
still to be told
your face is the memory
the future unfolds
unfinished is sanctity
unfinished is bold
unfinished is memory
unfinished is gold
5.1.17 nyc
Friday, February 14, 2025
russian river valley
sonoma county
pinot noir
you are here in underdressed stories
crimeless passions of the lone
ly
among a live human choir
you are here to rectify coyness
you here for the judged
you here for the mulching
you here to remind him
writing is vengeful reminders of love
writing is something to witness
flown like the wind
an unharnessed forgiveness of sin
you are lacquered with golden reminders
useless rations in the cupboard
wedged between the writer’s lies
you are here to stamp out forgiveness
you are here to put out the humorless lies
you are here to touch the forgiven
you are here to witness denial
tramping across the
russian river valley
sonoma county
pinot noir
for your underdressed love of freedom
countries you have never ravaged
he went there for the love
he went there for moments
he lacquered dreams of old glory, impaled
he risked nothing new on the grand scheme of things
russian river valley
sonoma county
pinot noir
an undermined noise
better than bee stings
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
NORTHERN LIGHTS
urban cliff dweller am I
with the soul of a hermit
searching the light
in an alien sky
I’ve been warned of the storms
considered regret
I wander in restless
celestial deterrent
sit at my desk
and wonder what’s next
I pound keys into stars
words land uneasily
the rest of my scars
are stories told freely
I wanted to witness
that unearthly glow
cramped as I am here
in darkness below
the cat creeps beside me
his eyes all aglow
what more do I need
what more can I know
evil is written in stone
and in snow
in rivers that rage
deserts I don’t know
urban cliff dweller am I
with the soul of a hermit
searching the light
in an alien sky
I am home with my light
my river that flows
my witness to self that
continues to grow
my desert that kills
each passing word
I live by the light of
unknown northern night
I wonder what’s next
shall I stay shall I fly
I wonder what’s next in
my northern light
3.18.15
Monday, February 10, 2025
PHOTO:
Tim Tapling Reflections : Thurstaston : Wirral : 07:Feb:2025.
when wandering in poetic gloom
me with my penchant for
comments uncalled for
me with my trek through truth-raking ruin
me with a fathomless distrust of
small birds in a room
finches have gathered in a field of thistles
little birds fuck in the shadow of eagles
they are lovely no doubt
their feathers of hope
the eagle the hawk the falcon of nope
starlings are chunky in nature she says
invaders more like
armored wingspread today
for the entitled right to belong to somebody
when rightful wounds mended unsung is okay
a long-term cornering has begun with me
with an abstract bag of poetry
lines unaccounted for as long as it takes
it is me the raker
it is i who rakes
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Friday, January 24, 2025
SIR SHADOW
Sir shadow, you drunk
Sir Shadow, you mean
and crazy man
Sir Shadow, you hopeless shoe lacer
you angry defacer
Sir Shadow of mine
you black valentine
swing from the wing with a ghosty divine
Sir Shadow, you hopeless
reminder of loss
comic trickster of heaven
Byzantium’s loss is
a place where nothing of import
gives into dull hymns
or nudged the sweet need of sorts
Sir Shadow, it’s now
in the cinnamon dark
when I drink to the owl
to the falcon, the lark
and the music still hovers
like a family of sorts
Sir Shadow, the sum of
my disparate parts
gets childy and needy and
begs for the stars
the way to lace upward
the wayfaring boot
send me on to the place
and dig me my root
11.12.14
Thursday, January 23, 2025
LISTS
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Thursday, January 2, 2025
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Who is in danger?
Me and U says the pointy-headed horse
Of Medieval cloth
For a second you were the pegging thing
For a life time I was the withdrawal thing
We are both in anger
Wrapped in inexplicable danger
Disguised as only
the last true stranger
When the mask is discarded
Revision lasts only
Until the gun is reloaded
For the second you thought
Though I knew better
I dribbled the court
Around a face book letter
Though we both understood
what makes things better
I am drunk now
And I will sink the basket
you will retrieve and unasked
roll down the court
eye on the prize
I am drunk now
To you a good night
To you who appears in my wandering gloom
To you I invite into my insular room
Unicorns, like ghosts
offer magic in anger
My pen pal friend may we write for longer
Than life or death
Hunger or strangers
Who arrive at our door
Who sidestep the angel
For we are humans
Glad to entangle like
Deep ocean squids
Knowing the angels
That keep us alive
That make sure we thrive
This poem sucks
It’s late
This poem sucks
Don’t care if I’m late
This old heart rusts
A unicorn opens the gate.
4.27.19 nyc
Thursday, December 19, 2024
IN BETWEEN
in between the in-and-the-out
in between the stop-and-the-go
the whisper the shout
a shoulder-forced entry
while eyeing the exit
reason seek solace
the migrant regrets it
in between the in-and-the-out
I’m dancing like somebody’s
drunken reminder
my past or their future
such flypaper traps
keeps me hovered above
I don’t know what matters
I do know what loves
in perfect blood-splattered
space and time and anger and mold
rats and betrayal and centerfolds
those who beg mercy
those who are old
are the same are the game
of the lessons foretold
we don’t ever learn
it’s a useless road
we don’t beg mercy we don’t share the load
rats and betrayal and centerfolds
sniff the lost, look for the found
beyond the cheese smile and the
deathly confound
when we know that the worst
is within our grasp
then we know that deliverance
is a panic a curse
in between can be planning
a way out of the cask
red wine should flow freely
like blood from a gasp
I will never beg mercy
I will always ask
how to find the in-between
that safe place before
it all goes mean
shoulders are rolled
head thrown back
finding my way out of yearning
finding my way to the ask
2.20.16 nyc