Thursday, January 28, 2016

What ducks will say

shovelful after shovelful
to clear the patio and the pit
and the question mark back
remains after shaking snow
and ice from the iron cage

behavior of an older age
an age once I will be soon
where I can take the time
to ponder over such things
and look back at where I am

for now, paper is torn
to strips and laid over sticks
in the concave metal disc
as remaining snow waits
to melt and boil and fade

little flames flicker with
the striking of a match
and the wind whistles
through the paper tunnels
its love song for fire

the box of junk mail slowly
empties into the growing
heat and smoke, the pair
a paparazzi who will not
stay out of my face and breath

in avoiding their constant
attention, I look up and find
a scrambled flock of ducks
who sound of loose belts
on old cars speeding on by

their flight reminds me
to pause from my endeavor
to find more than feeding
a fire is happening in this
moment I choose to live

that I should stop and
see the ash from the flames
and how the winds scatter
black bits across the snow
in this small scaled backyard

to remember a larger scale
of the world I choose to
live in, the darkening snow
of a thawing sea, something
more to fight a war over

but I am only burning
the mail I didn't want so
I can clean the office for now
and go on with the day
I choose to live in now



Sunday, January 24, 2016

Momentary mountains

reflections lay gleaming
and tired on the ground
where weathered stone
cups the light of the lingering day


remnants of the torrent
tearing through the skies
lay in a now silent eve
unmoving silk draped over stone


reservoirs from broken heat
are libations of miller moths
when suddenly the sun sinks
behind the horizon's momentary mountains







Thursday, January 21, 2016

Eye sickles

it's the clouds
that keep the fangs around
the crystal clear
slowly dripping to the ground

some so sharp and thin
to pierce the heart,
to tear the skin

above the doors
the clouds keep them around
pointed daggers
slowly dripping to the ground

as angel wings hide the sun
they scoff in their
teetering possible fun

of when one might
decide not to stay around
and surrender the
slowly dripping to the ground

to collide with someone's head
to cause mischief,
surprise, and pain instead

that surely is why
the clouds keep them around
in their agonizing
slowly dripping to the ground

as angels hide the sun so well
I'd tell them all
to go straight to hell

for playing the odds
in keeping them around
and savoring  the
slowly dripping to the ground





Thursday, January 7, 2016

Napping



savor of solace found


in the last breath before sleep


the forgotten image in


front of the heavy eyelids


the tiny bit of muffled


sound lingering on earlobes


before slipping into the


inevitable and unknown


 


and not knowing digs


down into depths of souls


with thirsty tyrannical roots


 


be it the first nap of a babe


the initial night terror


with the call of a banshee


tearing through the halls


to snap a parent out of bed


the tyrannical roots have


scattered their spores


throughout man's psyche


 


and not knowing infiltrates


the borders where now


no guard has their post


 


though it has been habit


day in and out, sun up and down


to slip into that other state


left behind our daily clothes


and stark we run through


the glare of both moon and stars


and dance on spider threads


dripping with the cold wake


of the next routine and hours


 


and not knowing simmers


on the back burner of brains


idle yet scheming yet biding


 


following the rabbit through


this habit of falling again and


again into the abysmal sea


where we don't see but feel


don't feel but sense as we


are the incense that burns away


a scent that fades from the air


to drift and wander off somewhere


 


and not knowing turns cold


when the idea of death dies


giving way to sleeping, then waking