Half-Sentences

2012-01-08T01:05:00.001-06:00

All these noises
Loud

Click.
Turn.
Water rushing through pipes
Somewhere in this house

And I can feel someone's arms
Around me as I say something
And fall asleep.

You were with me
all this time
holding me together
As I fall
As I laugh
As I sleep

We hear these noises
and we're complaining
The way couples do
Before they drift away
Into dreamland

I'm typing into a screen
Sitting alone
At one in the morning
The way I always have.
You don't exist.

Forgetting to Live

2011-09-27T18:47:00.001-05:00

if I don't think about it
I will wake up
one million miles wide
but not one foot
more wonderful inside

Daily Choices

2011-09-18T14:47:00.000-05:00

In 35 years
will you still be
everything to me

you are
because
you have been
for so long

but in 35 years
you might
only have been
so little
if we're not careful

With or Without You

2011-09-11T16:48:00.001-05:00

The grass outside
like the late afternoon
in my former unhappiness
When bitterness followed hope
like a daily hangover
follows an enthusiastic party

that hope is like a memory
of that Alexander Graham Bell play I was in
Wasn't I dancing in a yellow dress
Or was that the star? I can't remember my part anymore.
Trying not to lock my knees
while the main characters talked and talked
that bitterness is like the taste of warm water

Like a lighthouse
was some feeling of old knowing about
how thing really work out
how things improve
how life is hard and good when you least want it to be
Change in the air
could have just been the feeling of
being at the end of one's rope

The sky was hanging over us
We didn't know each other yet
But I loved you before
Before I knew why I should love you
Before I knew my own strength
Before I was
this happy so alone

The best part of me was always in you
Even then, before we met
when I saw you
I hated you for some invisible reason
Maybe I saw me in you
And hated me ~~you~~ me for it.

Those days are fading with all the other memories
But you go on, like I do

Now you are me in some other place
Without me
And I am here
With or without you

The Darkside of Lampposts

2011-08-21T04:59:00.000-05:00

One doesn't always like to shine in the darkness

After all,
Under every lamppost
Is a puddle of bird poo

Family Life

2011-08-21T04:57:00.000-05:00

Twirling fingers around my arms
Hovering over me while I eat
Wanting me to teach her Chinese
Hoping I will wake up and find her

My heart fills and spills over
Hopes twirling around my soul
Hovering over me while I sleep
Wanting children of my own
Hoping I will wake up and find them

Like Us

2011-08-21T04:53:00.000-05:00

All these questions about you
And before long I wonder if I've invented you
I've exaggerated the good parts
Undoubtedly you are just cotton and brains
Just like all of us

Homeward

2011-08-21T04:51:00.000-05:00

This is the street where I lived -- once,
But I've lived more than once-
And more than once I've loved
More than once I've died of embarrassment
More than once I've gone to bed full of hope

Yet this street trumps them all

The Darker Stains

2011-07-25T10:55:00.000-05:00

I didn't want him to touch my feet
The darkness of these dirty streets
Has stained my foreign skin

This impression--
Me, dirty deep into my skin
Receiving help and care from him
I don't like it

I'd rather be the clean one
Surrounded by a world of dirt
Than have a stranger clean my feet

Such vanity
Such egotism
Such hypocrisy

What typical humanity
This strange city reveals in me
Not only my feet need cleaning
But my heart also

Current Mood: Tired

2011-07-20T11:41:00.002-05:00

Utter exhaustion
Like trying to see the sun
Through layers of pollution

Roots

2011-07-20T11:35:00.001-05:00

One foot must be planted
Like those firm oaks of childhood
I used to wrap my arms around them
run my fingers along the deep grooves in the bark

Often I ran beyond the edge of our land
To the stream to drink
from that old mug hidden under the rock
Yet I always came back home
and found myself sitting
at the foot of that big oak

Even now, one foot will wander
But one foot must be planted here
In this place where I am free

2011-07-17T06:27:00.001-05:00

I've learned to say
"I don't understand"
In two languages

But inside
I am not satisfied
With one－liners

Xi'an

2011-07-17T06:11:00.000-05:00

This dirty city
Outside my window
Seems like a heap
of broken grey toys
Forgotten in the backyard
In the heat of summer
Piled in that place
Where the sprinkler doesn't reach

Sudden Bursts

2011-07-17T05:50:00.000-05:00

When I purposely remember your face
I don't feel strange

But when I suddenly remember
How happy you were
To hear my voice
And how you smiled
When I came down for breakfast
My heart breaks
A great, pale loneliness

You were my dad

Where To Now?

2010-09-25T14:28:00.002-05:00

Not good enough

not good enough

posted everywhere

a banner on the mirror

a sign on the streets where i drive

across my heart

my eyes look like the bottom of teardrops

just as wet

i could evaporate, too.
i don't want that.

gratitude could save me
could reach into this cloud that overcame me

it could crystallize this truth into humility
instead of empty frustration
instead of pity.

Walls

2010-07-16T11:38:00.000-05:00

These walls are unseen at night
They hold everything in
They stand
This is my floor, where I walk
My desk, where I sit
My bed. I sleep here.

Morning light, my eyes adjust
I see these blaring, empty walls.

Logic & Love

2010-06-17T08:43:00.000-05:00

And I suppose
that logic lives
in every water drop
that flows
and heaves
through these veins
up and over my heart

But the whoosh whoosh
whoosh
of pumping blood
beats love love love
and joy joy joy
and logic has no voice
in the heart or over it

Renew

2009-12-01T16:14:00.000-06:00

I sludged through
Each day dreaming of you
Of life inside the dream
Of life that is more than just bearable

But we're here
You, my education
My dream coming true
The one thing that I can do with my eyes shut

And I won't do it
I wait and sludge through
Trying to make the time pass
Even though this IS the geener grass
This is my other side of the fence

What must I do to be saved.

Raise It

2009-12-01T16:11:00.000-06:00

I don't want to do what must be done.
A childishness-
Feelings of futility that tear down
All I've worked for
Ten weeks destroyed in ten days

If this temple has been torn down
Raise it again in three days

Done

2009-09-29T19:30:00.000-05:00

Fighting words
Fixing you
Stretching for the light
Almost free
Almost free

If I could just leave

New / Old

2009-08-16T22:03:00.004-05:00

Something about you
Mesmerizes me
Pulls me toward you

I want to reach out
I want to find you
On the other end of my fingertips

Passing

2009-08-08T12:29:00.003-05:00

It takes me reading the words
Entering into the story
Walking through Narnia's wardrobe
To know that you're gone

Is this door an entrance or and exit?
Are these words taking me home
Or farther away from home
Do they bring you closer
Or push you farther

Away, you passed
These words take me there

Storytelling

2009-06-23T23:25:00.001-05:00

In my story
I'm not afraid

Every single day

Whether I have it all
or have nothing

I'm not afraid

Screen

2009-06-23T23:23:00.002-05:00

I tore a hole
In the screen
Hanging between us
Between life and death
Dividing father and daughter
I tore a hole
Walked through
Jumped through
Touched you
We made a new memory
Standing together

Intermediate

2009-06-23T23:22:00.003-05:00

I looked at your face
It's covered in mud
Filth
Where you are unseen
And everything is extraordinary
But Jesus put mud
And spit
Into a man's eyes one day
And afterward he washed
and was made whole again

Tragedy

2009-06-11T00:32:00.003-05:00

such a broken mess
we don't want any more than this
we don't want any less
we're never no
we're never fully yes

and your love opens old wounds
like paper slices open skin

Trees

2009-05-02T22:57:00.002-05:00

All this new life hovering over me
A protective canopy
The Spring trees are in bloom

Scarves

2009-04-23T16:41:00.001-05:00

Freedom
Her brown, patterned scarf
Indiscriminate
Covered
Among us

Her skin
Holding her bones in
Keeping us out

Crowded

2009-04-23T16:33:00.003-05:00

You're a crowded cave
There's nothing right between us
Why am I waiting

Flowing

2009-04-17T11:54:00.002-05:00

I don't own any poetry
For these
Anymore

No longer
Do I pull apart their ribs
And climb into their heart

The best of me
Flowed freely
Mixed with too much rain
Washed down the mountain

Now both of us are clean
But so far away

A Safe Place to Stand

2009-03-01T02:39:00.002-06:00

A void behind me
Blurring the past
Until it's senseless
A void everywhere ahead
An indiscernible future
The only safe place
Is a mathematician's quiet office
An old book on problem solving
A familiar place to drink coffee
Old towels and jeans
The here and now collapses
and falls into the void
Like lungs that cannot sustain breath
Each moment races past me like this
There are hazards everywhere
There is void on every side
I strain against the blurriness of it
Against the ambiguity
I struggle for a safe place to stand
And there is none
This is my Lent

Self-Indulgence

2009-01-09T00:28:00.001-06:00

Self-indulgence
A little sleep
Driving the opposite direction
When you know
Where you should be
And who

Held

2009-01-09T00:25:00.002-06:00

A strange calming peace
Like a hand against the door
Keeping this life safe

Misconstrued

2008-12-26T00:51:00.002-06:00

These new words
Are afterthoughts
You didn't think them
While the picture was being taken

It wasn't until later
That it seemed like
Something
You should have felt

I was there
It was more like irritation
Than love
Or than fondness
You should have smiled less
Because now you don't remember
How bothersome it all was

We Are Bending

2008-11-10T20:16:00.003-06:00

This room I've established as my own
Unthinkingly shaped into my soul's target
Bullseye
Unfortunate
That pile of laundry has taken over

Learning

2008-11-10T16:05:00.004-06:00

I go

Not to teach
What God has said
To the generation before me

But to learn
What he is saying
To us

Similar

2008-11-10T15:45:00.002-06:00

That homeless man
Sitting on the short wall
Paused in reflection
Looks a lot like my dad looks
When his mind has wandered
And he's looking off into the distance
Hands holding onto the bowl

Like I will look in a few years

Prayer

2008-11-10T15:44:00.002-06:00

Sometimes sadness
Is the only prayer one has

Sometimes anger
Sometimes fear

What Is

2008-11-08T20:56:00.000-06:00

What we have
Is unattainable

Shopping Carts

2008-10-20T13:32:00.002-05:00

Shopping carts
Rolling across the pavement
Our lives are out of control

Life Mottos

2008-10-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

Making it
Common
Getting it
Cheap

My Waterfall

2008-10-05T16:58:00.003-05:00

In the forest at the top of the street
I played in the waterfall
And as I swam I had a dream,
I was alone on an island
This cool water was mine
Here in its loving arms
I became a woman
Grew old and died
Then rose again anew
This very water
A body surrounding me
Waiting for my aging
Healing with its waiting

I was alone on my island
My secret waterfall gave
I took and cherished everything

Brick

2008-10-05T16:46:00.004-05:00

She feels with her hands along the porch steps
Rubbing roughly, the skin and brick
Paper layers of life scraped away
The textured dark red
Exposes the fresh
By touching the old

Being

2008-10-05T16:45:00.001-05:00

Not new
But old
That I have read
That I have been
More dead
Than man

Golden

2008-10-05T16:43:00.003-05:00

Childhood to adult
The difference is
Playing in the sun
Now laying in the sun
That cherished tan of youth
Was really like
A chocolate smile
And shoes wet
From balancing on rocks
To cross a stream

Reach You

2008-10-01T13:27:00.002-05:00

This space was filled with cotton balls
I never could say things out loud
I would sit for hours in apprehension
Wondering what was wrong
My head so heavy and tired and
My body so agitated all the time
And never knowing how to reach you

I'll Leave With This

2008-09-29T00:46:00.004-05:00

What can I administrate
So that when I wake
Ten years from now
It is your words that call me

The only keeping's rule
Is for me to set
This letting go in motion
To fret, for sure
And give you what
I can give you now

To burrow in the opposite direction
To make a world alone
A world without you in my bones

To trust
That you will know me
And you'll find me
If you want to

Hourglass

2008-09-23T13:18:00.003-05:00

Time winds away
Flip the canister
A full soul pours
Into an empty space
My trickling soul sours
As it feeds that hungry place
Time winds away
The grains of sand have drained
My strength has sifted down
The empty space remains
I change life around
and flip the canister

I Don't Know For Sure

2008-09-21T23:13:00.003-05:00

What if I said
Three short words, like
I need you
All you would say is
You can't know that for sure

What if needing you
Is simpler than knowing
Whether I need you or not

Dreaming

2008-09-21T23:07:00.001-05:00

Dreams and conversations
My pillow, couch pillows
Seriousness
Laughter
Faces
You talking while a strange man chases
Another strange man
Waking up to heavy air
Not knowing if we spoke
Or kissed each other
The last time I saw you
Or if you were being chased
By someone

Close Enough

2008-09-20T00:33:00.002-05:00

I feel the pressure
Something right here
Touching my bottom lip
I can feel you in front of me
In this empty room

Cigarettes

2008-09-16T23:15:00.002-05:00

Burned cigarettes
Curled up

Like little girls
With unwashed, yellow hair

Sleeping in a bed of ashes

Dinnertime

2008-09-16T23:07:00.003-05:00

Not food enough for one
A girl that feels as though
She should be fine
To skip her meals
At dinner time
A stranger, an adult still talking
Legs of antagonism on
Waves of alcohol, walking
You don't talk that way to your parents
Laughter bouncing off lipstick smudged glasses
We're the kings, we're the queens
These children can't take that from us

Shopping Carts

2008-09-16T23:05:00.002-05:00

All my thoughts
These words
Like shopping carts
In buckled rows
Like a rolling, steel fence
Someone come and drive them home

Beggars

2008-09-16T22:55:00.003-05:00

The one who must plead
At the door for some food
Cannot help but dread
The giver's foul mood
And yet, stuck, here she stands
Weighed down with empty hands

Sunrise

2008-09-16T22:44:00.005-05:00

Freedom happens by degrees
A city materializes behind a row of trees

Waste

2008-09-16T22:44:00.002-05:00

It's such a waste
Spending time with you
Like spilling precious paint

Clear

2008-09-14T01:01:00.004-05:00

No new messages
Still trees on a sunlit day
I can't see you move

Emptied

2008-09-12T16:44:00.003-05:00

I emptied out
Until my insides were scraped
Until I had nothing left inside
To squeeze when I breathe

I left nothing hanging
By thin, silky threads
In the basement of my soul
No spider webs

No hanging laundry
Dampens these rooms
Or fills them with the smell of soap

With Me

2008-08-25T17:07:00.001-05:00

Come be with me
Lord of my mornings
In the night hour
When my dreams come alive

Come be with me
Lord of my dreaming
In the daylight
So I can live

For You, Cameron

2008-08-22T14:16:00.003-05:00

I'll write you a treat
Something sweet
A quirky word
as yet unheard
Not spoken yet
These lips not wet

But scribbled here
If you'll appear

I'll write them out
If you'll allow
Rants that leak
Like a prison break
A pen hits down
The key strokes drown

The noise of normal daily life

Fate

2008-08-19T16:23:00.002-05:00

I wrote a poem the other day about fate
And I turned the words inside out
To make it sound as if I wrote about my feet

Words come easily
When eternity plays
Like an album in the background

Every other kind of thought
Is like collecting eraser pieces
And piling them to build a tower
It is never as high
Or as beautiful
Regardless of the effort

If Looking Leads

2008-08-19T16:19:00.002-05:00

If looking leads to love
Then blindness is
The best resolve
To love you not
More and more each day
To stay away

If looking leads to love
Then steel shields
Must cover these eyes
So that finding you not
More and more each day
I love you not any more
Or in any way

Ring Around

2008-08-18T17:29:00.001-05:00

A three car pile up
An inbox full of mail
An unanswered letter
A guest from out of town
Something said in haste
Spoken out of waste
We all fall down
We all fall down

Until You're Threadbare

2008-08-17T20:26:00.003-05:00

Of course I'm searching all these pages
Just for you
Hoping that your scent lingers
That I'll see your eyes reflected here
I'm wearing your thoughts like a blanket
As I lay here
Fumbling with pencils
Drawing sketches
I put you around me
And I twirl you around my arms
Like this

Language Fit

2008-08-17T00:39:00.003-05:00

An experiment
Without words
The warm air
Like an energy conductor
My thoughts barely more than whispers
Heard inside my knees
Echoing of silly strings
Tying all these bones together
Shouting from ligaments
Elbow to shoulder
My spine, a giant typewriter
Like words across a sky
Graffiti on a side street wall
Pass by me
Look this way
My body language tells it all

Pounding, Beating

2008-08-14T11:36:00.002-05:00

Pounding on the wall
A simple beat
Stamping feet along the street
The sound of seeping energy
Windows open, fingers tapping
Driving through the fields
Musical echoes
Like heartbeats
Alive and well

I'll Change My Mind

2008-08-13T11:28:00.003-05:00

I'll change my mind
Ten thousand times today
I'll change my mind

By the time I've eaten lunch
Your soul will pierce me
Through and through
Five thousand times
I will fall in love with you
Five thousand times
I'll not love you
I'll change my mind
Until it's true
All day long
I'll change my mind
Ten thousand times
Before this day is through

Hands

2008-08-12T14:20:00.003-05:00

My fingertips brushed your hand
You walk so fast
Our faces burned in the silence
I changed the subject

Blonde Paranoia

2008-08-12T13:15:00.002-05:00

In fluorescent lights
she snipped the ends
My hair tumbled down
Into the mirror
I watched my eyes
Imagining how different I could look
As a brunette
Or even a dark blonde
Darker than this golden mix
Darker than this bleachy, depthless me

I'll go darker
Right now, I thought
I'll leave here and go get a dark syrup concoction
From the corner drugstore
And I'll fill in the bleachiness with color
With dark and brooding color

And in a moment I'll be smarter
I'll be deeper
I'll be more fascinating
I thought to myself

Then a woman walked in
Frumpy, reddish cheeks
She had dark blonde, ashy hair
I wouldn't have seen her in a crowd

The blonde stays
It's not so bad
It brings out my skin tones

Summer

2008-08-11T16:51:00.002-05:00

Traveling this fall
My lips upon your forehead
An early rain storm

Me, Flying High

2008-08-01T14:15:00.002-05:00

I'm finally done
With fighting fights that I can't win
Singing songs without a key
to sing in
I've changed my sails and lifted high
a mast the color of my eyes
To sail a sea I've always been
Sheltered by death from death's hand
Forced ahead by a bending wind
Flying now, and skimming heaven
With a trail of beginnings
Falling away from the many oars
Diamonds
Falling away

Me, flying high

A Word Unfit

2008-06-21T23:25:00.002-05:00

Not all words should carry the same weight
Not all are meant to
Occasionally, such words are spoken that can
Separate the firmaments
Until the fountains of the deep are broken
Spilling out water from a great, unseen well

Heart Racing

2008-06-16T20:21:00.001-05:00

Piano keys and broken fingernails
Playing songs so quickly
So breathlessly

Actress

2008-05-21T20:37:00.005-05:00

I'm not the thing I was before

I walked in on someone else's dream
Ran away to end the scene
But left with the wrong purse and hat
And I can't seem to make it back
To find my favorite pretty things

I know that none of this fits right
And I can't say for sure if I loved you
In my dreams this heart was screwed on tight
And I didn't have to hurt myself
To make it easy for you

The Horseman Cometh

2008-05-21T20:05:00.003-05:00

A childish heart and futile gestures
Thrashing to pieces the box she's in
Pulsing frustration in desperate answers
Falling on the ground again

Obvious inequalities
Servitude to rules unseen
Falling short of every hope
Falling short of everything

Solitude is coming for you
Put on your best and wait for him
The time has come to give what's due
To your reluctant, lifelong friend

Absolution

2008-05-21T14:53:00.003-05:00

Lift the weight from your chest
--up to the sky
The faithful ground holds you down
You won't be tossed aside
Open your arms wide
A love will close your eyes
Fill your arms with paradise

Fill your breath with heavy confession
The wind will come and bring absolution
His mercy
His forgiveness
His strength

In return, your deepest regret
Most unspoken hurt
The continued breaking
Of a heart born in death
All these things
Burned away by His longing
Capsized into a dark sea
Like travelers destined to ruin
Your misery falls easily

Wrong Place Wrong Time

2008-05-21T14:30:00.002-05:00

Shoveling into soil
Digging for a four leaf clover
Stopping at last
This pawing at the water's edge

Storm

2008-05-14T17:49:00.005-05:00

Heat seeking missiles
My thoughts will find you
These hopes
Like ropes
Will bind you

Your breath
Is thunder's warning
Letting itself go
Clouds are forming

Into the storming rain
I storm
My storms, like sunshine rays
Still warm

These eyes can see in the dark

Complex Man

2008-05-14T00:21:00.003-05:00

The best smile you've got
Making the most of your rolling eyes
Sarcasm jabbing
Joy silently reveling
The vulnerability of a complex man

Night Time

2008-05-13T17:45:00.002-05:00

Silence like a graceful movement
A dancing arch
Starting, leaping, finishing
Without a sound

Life is standing on the corner
Burning under the midday sun
Wanting a cold glass of water
As the cars pass with windows up

The comfort of blankets on the couch
Candles lighting the way to the kitchen

A warm and heavy dream that begins
Before the eyes can fully close
A sleepy rhythm that orchestrates feelings
The night time breeze filling in gaps

The roof crackles as the air moves.

Sediment

2008-05-13T17:21:00.002-05:00

My love was an iconic riddle
A fantasy of color
My love carried itself away
Into the heart of another

My love was a swaggering boast
A guarantee and a wager
My love had empty pockets
In a stunning, velvet blazer

My love was a private showing
An all too expected encore
My love itself was sediment
Washed away in the downpour

Out to Sea

2008-05-03T00:14:00.002-05:00

I brought her another Coors
And a taquito from the oven
She was laughing
The Eagles played on the radio
They sounded like the beach
We watched the gulls hover over us
I owed no debt
No one was waiting for me
A whale was stuck
She left the Coors
She danced down to the shore
They all told her to get away
Don't go near the whale
You'll be killed
Their voices were drowned out
When she started screaming
Help me, she yelled.
Somebody help me.
They pushed and rolled the giant slug
They were covered with sand and water
She was laughing
Her hair was wild
She shouted out commands until the end
The water lifted the whale the rest of the way
Out to sea

Peeling

2008-05-02T16:00:00.002-05:00

We press our spines against the wall
Starting at our hips and rolling up
We close our eyes
And we push our bodies back
Until each vertebrae is touching
And pressing

We wait
We breathe
We feel how heavy our arms are
Our heads

We peel ourselves away from the wall
From the bottoms of our shoulder blades
We wait until each vertebrae
Lifts itself away from the wall
First one, then two

We treat them as people
As friends
We wait for them,
Until they're ready
And we slowly peel away
And hang down

In the Rain

2008-04-13T18:02:00.004-05:00

You fall like rain in this place
I have somewhere to run to
Away from the clouds that gather
But I won't leave you out here
Dropping like melancholy into puddles
No, I won't go into the house until you're done
I won't leave you--
You're crying because the sky has darkened
Watch my face
I don't need to be warm today
I'd rather stay with you in the rain
It's the loveliest place

Have It All

2008-04-07T16:48:00.000-05:00

I feel like I can have it all.
I can have savings
Opportunity
Volunteer work
Love
And FIDO

Why not.

It's mine already
Whether or not we planned it.

VIP

2008-04-07T16:44:00.001-05:00

Blood turns cold inside
He got uncomfortable
When I said your name

I can't have access
You belong a world away
"You don't understand."

Light

2008-04-07T16:22:00.001-05:00

Sunlight on the tile
I remember everything
Your life still shines here

Your Books

2008-04-07T16:18:00.002-05:00

I put on your books and music like an old t-shirt
I wandered around the town
In sunlight without a sound
But listening all the while
for you to come around
I waited at our table
Where I've been stationed on and off
For three years now
I drank my coffee from my cup
Remember when you offered me your tea
With all of your honey
When I talked to you
But you talked to the air
Like you always do
I sat at our table for hours
In your books
With your music
And my coffee

Underwoman

2008-03-24T23:51:00.003-06:00

Cotton familiarities scattered
Dollar bills, coins, worn purses dropped quickly
Belonging to a woman of her own
Not a figure of local social holes
Nor written down by an author's design
The curve of her cursive letters in pen
The only her that is ever written

A tired body curled inside the sheets
The status quo is silently asleep
The formulated face has come undone
Under the trance of quiet's simple song
One part of her is always wide awake
Her heart, that bleeds a thousand seas each day

The seas are born and bring ashore good news
They dry and leave behind an emptiness
That fills itself and never fully rests
The pumping pushes out and gathers in
In perfect time to do it all again

Destination

2008-03-23T12:15:00.003-06:00

I became
It satisfied me
A wholeness
A fullness
Until you passed by me
And what I had become
Stopped being a destination
And became a thing to start from

A Second One

2008-03-23T12:07:00.003-06:00

A second one of you
Much older
To get me through
When I think I need a second chance
To do it on my own
I really need a second one of you

An extra pair of hands
Much stronger
To raise me tall
As I fail to find a stairway up
My knees buckle
I need your hands to break my fall

Cold

2008-03-23T12:05:00.001-06:00

Cold air tricks the mind
Even light can't warm through
This season must end

Light

2008-02-25T17:34:00.000-06:00

The string pulls me close
Now that we have no secrets
Love is light as air

Drawings Cannot Save

2008-02-25T17:28:00.003-06:00

I made the sky for you
A pencil sketch
A metaphor I hoped you'd get
Surrounded by a wood
Filled with good
A sky of all the dreams we share

But trees cannot see you
Arms cannot reach you
Sky cannot cover all of this

I drew a pond for you, crystal clear
I held it in the air
And the pollen danced invisible upon a slight breeze
But I heard rushing sounds
Called heartbeats
All was pleasant and perfect
Like honey being poured
Thick and rich for us

The sky cannot save
Arms cannot save
Trees cannot save
My drawings cannot save

Level

2008-02-17T22:38:00.002-06:00

Who will level blame
That life could be better spent
Than finding Jesus

Loosely strung guitars
Pianos missing white keys
Men without heart beats

I loved you in sounds
The wind sings chorus for us
Your harmony lives

He says Leave your nets
Leave all and come follow me
He says those words still

First steps make deep marks
The water's filled with silence
All is singing now

Who can level shame
That my nets caught a big load
After I left home

Who could level blame
That my life shoud have been spent
Somehow better yet?

Metamorphalyss

2008-02-12T18:35:00.000-06:00

This woman saw his face
And grew in power by her love
He searched on, beyond her
His heart tugged toward the boat in harbor
His true love lay there
Her face burned raw
She changed into a lion and chased him.

He ran through the woods
Led on by visions of his lover
He wanted to find his way to water
She relented and turned into a tiger
"Ride on my back to safety" she offered
He took her at her word,

She delighted in the journey
Made safe his voyage to her
Gave every comfort to him
Until she saw again his lover
And wrath once more filled her

She turned into a windstorm
Frightening the schooner
Threatening to take her life
And wither all the spurned her

The man turned round to face her
And without hesitation
Dropped his human form and
Became an apparition

He raised up to her level
And wordless eyes did see her
Naked in between her forms
And petty in her anger

She startled at the seeing
Of this, her opposition
A form of her own makeup
A man of her condition

She turned back to a woman
And escaped into the forest

Message Not Sent; Resend?

2008-02-12T18:33:00.000-06:00

Unopened letter
Unsent message of our love;
This conversation

Climbing

2008-02-12T18:27:00.000-06:00

Gain new perspective
Far from where the storm confronts;
Stumble to safety

Sunrise

2008-02-07T23:42:00.000-06:00

Morning under quilts;
Like a book that cannot end-
Oh, To sleep all day!