canvas sky unknown

game called travelers have flown

golden diamond

WHAADYA DO when your book is finally approved for printing? Sit back and relax and await delivery? Why you start back in on the next batch of short stories and their characters…all new, all waiting to be heard.

Among Us

what was less then

what was lost

what was found in

in our round table

was mostly future

among the cats and the wine

what we failed was the nurture

we traveled away

from the canvas the studio

we huddled too close

to the answer the obvious

I shed you

I did

for my own self worth

Sacrificed you for me

Still undecided

You touched the bottle

a reprimand to my flight

I understood

too late

too angry to fight

Amsterdam pulled the plug

Amsterdam was the flood

that lifted me over redeeming waters

I was young then and mostly drunk

I was young then

and mostly alone

you tracked how I flew

my singular path

Breakfast in Amsterdam

Breakfast was a drag

And I made a picture

of us in the round

Of us as artists underground

the basement the studio

I have never recovered

your sly criticisms

your tiny canvases of mirth

I am still here

That’s my singular birth

the spell

For Carole with reservations

before I knew it I’m roped
tied to a heart you call dope
until the wheels fall apart
on that nail driven road and
I shatter the mirror that
fails your rear view
before I know it shit happens
hot as the blast from my secret weapon
when the clues break away
from the you meant to stay
under spells I’ve forgiven
who I am to rattle your mission
before you know it’s that rope
tightens years on those lies
hands me a wasteland too heavy to fly
nothing to do but drive on
through a firestorm of redemption
from the me meant to stay
it’s going and coming from under the spell
it’s me with the age of the tarot that tells
it’s me in a crown of the victory wreath
it’s you who’s to grieve
the race never won
nothing gained in those lies
nothing to do now but salute
that road we’ve been on
paved with dying allude
nothing to do but delete and drive on
from you

it’s the miraculous

in the normal, he said

she glanced up from
her reading

what she did before bed

what do you mean

she asked

her question loaded

these small things

between them

often exploded

these small things

between lovers

that came with warnings

it’s the miraculous

in the normal, he said

she turned round

from her stirring

a traveler returned

with small gifts
that unraveled

like a story retold

lentils with cumin

simmered on the stove

they were still human

she kept them fed

it’s the miraculous

in the normal, he said

she glanced up from
her reading

what she did before bed

like the darkness

in prisons she said

like gold in decay

when night becomes

the hard light of day

keep it simple, he said

straight forward

at home or abroad

take time for the tea
wear good shoes for the road

It’s the miraculous

in the normal, he said

gently insistent

she glanced up from 

her reading

what she did before bed

I know what you mean,

she whispered

it lives in my head

the dog walker

you fall in love
undeniably
keep your heart
in check
give her the best
you walk that
fine line terribly
for years…

beyond in love with you
leaves me among the stars 
eaten by monsters
scrabbling for stories
before we know it
beyond in love with you
carries a briefcase of regret
stuffed with earnest unforget
that is still undecided
beyond in love with you
keeps me quiet in
the dark silent night
you have your job
and I have the dogfight
beyond in love with you
is the message I carved in
the still wet cement
never easy
never repent
you loved me before the
message hardens
I love you like a threatened garden
I am yours
you are mine
lost the rings on our fingers
found the heart stopping reminder
in a small place in Paris
understanding distress
I came to you in
combative redress
and you welcomed me
you welcomed me
beyond in love with you
that is all
that was then
this is now
no regrets

CLASS WAR

They die by fire
histories are built on
wishful origins
dead arise to become
another’s story
there are as many questions
as there are redemptions
that room at the top
is she one of
a family of five burned
now to the ground
what is lost in a fire
is this:
memory
sweet empathy
bloodless revolution
left behind is the
crafted solution
to memory and godless
Innocence burns
faster than guilt
spontaneous combustion
controlled revolution
what is lost in a fire
depends on the flame
birthday candles alight
again and again
like the magic
of coming from a
long line of nobodies
they die in a fire
they are our story

They die by water
cities are built on
wishful origins
assembly lines hum
another’s story
there are as many questions
as there are redemptions
that home at the top
is it one of
a family of five poisoned
by water unsound
what is drowned in neglect
is this:
memory
sweet empathy
bloodless revolution
left behind is the
crafted solution
to memory and godless
Innocence drowns
faster than guilt
spontaneous disruption
controlled revolution
what is lost when they drown
depends on water
prayer candles alight
again and again
like the magic
of coming from a
long line of nobodies
they die by poisoning
they are our story

DELIVERY
church basement
heart casement window
a family of five
slow motion crescendo
breaks onto seats
at the table I serve
fire pending
boy chasing questions
a family of five
much older descending
slower to speak
at the table I serve
life downward
hot chile with white rice
a family of five
small eyes seek repentance
slower to speak
at a table I serve
this father
man burdened with white lies
a family of five
smells history’s acceptance
slower to speak
at a table I serve
his eldest
eyes growing without life
a family of five
mourns passive resistance
unlearned today
at a table I serve
They come to it again and again
and again there’s no where or when
a family of five
my mantra my alive
in the deep sweet archive
at a table I serve

unfinished

you start out small
half baked undecided
the reverence you learn
complicates arrival
at your feet your head
your heart your denial
until you make a start
with an argument
a holler
then unwillingly wander
into a pen or a brush it
sweeps 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 and
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 unfold
unfinished is sanctity
unfinished is bold
unfinished is memory
unfinished is gold

LISTS

for Scott Garrison

people come

people go

lists remain

our blind farrago

algorithms

inner cracking sound system

bleed me

bleed my

love or defeat me

I have met that person

I don’t do autographs

but I am up for the duration

people come

people go

lists remain

our blind farrago

patriotism

secret weapon stashed within

free me

free the

horse underneath me

riding wild to reason

to a place unaware

of the knee-buckling seasons we share

people come

people go

lists remain

our blind farrago

somnambulism

eyelids lowered to the scrim

teach me

teach the

heart that belies a

beating past of war cries

in the thin underneath

of the root killing history we know

people come

people go

lists remain

our blind farrago

this minefield of posts
under a curious step
explodes grief and joy

I don’t even know why 
I’m tethered to the word
I know what I like
I know what I hate
I know what bores me to tears
I know what annoys me
deploys me
underscores me
I know what has nothing to say
I know what you are
what I am this time
I know what will change
when the words
hit the rhyme
and the backbeat rebels me to fears
I may have forgotten
those words when
they meant
the stuff purely rotten
things I don’t say
when I want to play
the garden
when the beat was
uplifting
when the song was
a drifting on a Montauk sea
I know that you got
the challenge in me
like a clown on the wire
like surfboard on fire
like a man who knows when to
quit the desire
I love you beyond
the why
I love you here
on drunken denial
I love and music is our
special friend
I love you forever until our end

Glare

on an inkspot

an argument

trial by fingerprints

Glare

on a shadow

a sweat stain

tunnels through restraint

Glare

from decision

a revision

mistaken for benevolence

Glare

when the answer

reels up

smacks the heart with insistence

Glare

at the bottom of

the blood red glass

desk lamp the focus on the ask

Glare after all

Glare before fall

Glare when it ends

Glare will begin

Glare

like the poet said

in underground rhyme

this brutal heart with the hole is mine