FACING IT

On any ordinary morning He would have gotten up And about his way And braced up for another round Of an unremarkable life —nothing special; granted taken as usual… Starting up the beaten up old Toyota (The one with the blue duct tape fender) And, with a song in his soul, Gray and pendulous; Off...

Punching Bricks

On this black path through a new chapter there stands a wall. It rises from the ashes of the past and spans the width of the dreams it pushes against. My wall is constructed of used liquor bottles, Nights unconscious on the floor; Not heeding the warnings And now paying the price…. Leaving broken hearts...

Loose Feathers

“You mean to tell me you’re back?” She said to him— This Angel of the ward Who saw to it That not only did her patients get the best, But, when the loneliness, and the dark, And bitterness of the curse hit, she was always there one in one —For them—and they got all of...

Damn Dad….

“Damn Dad, where’ve you been??” It was a Friday and he and his oldest son Were doing a watch party on Amazon Of an old TV series As COVID had locked them all inside And it was the only way to see his son And his grandsons And he looked forward to it each week...

The Game’s Afoot

Laying awake in the shadows, Wishing for sleep Like a child wishes for Christmas Yet being denied that treasure As the swelling and pressure Grasped and clawed away At this senses “Well that’s enough of this shit”, He finally said out loud, Wishing someone could hear Except the silence of the dark And the corners...

The Swing

He looked at the clock; it said “12:56” But it also said, “time to get up And get these Atrices a break— They’ve laid too long and need a walk”… And the clock was right. Meanwhile, softly in the background On the old radio he kept at his side, The Moody Blues were telling him...

From the Sill

The sun broke through today; A long missed and welcome Sphere of true hope That had hidden it’s face From me for so very very long… Or maybe it was I who Hid my face from it for the eternity Of my journey in the months past. Clouds that once entwined me in their iron...

Bleary

“How did I get here” He says to himself Bleary, numb, and burning behind the eyes, After three nights of insomnia, Night eating for no real reason, Mood swings that would floor a horse, And being best friends With his toilet from guilt driven nausea (And so very thankful that it is there) To serve...

…and so it goes

“You’ve got cirrhosis, sir..” And life crashed into A wall like an egg on a tile floor ….and just as messy. My emotions shook themselves awake and said: “Hey! Let’s find those covers man! Let’s get you cocooned ok?” It’ll be fun!… Life is all nice and grey and shitty now!’” And so it began,...

Collapse—whatever

The walls stopped closing in and just fell in Surrounded by the rubble of my life and the end of sunlights sweet kiss, I now accept life isolated and knifed by the stab and cut of the inevitable razors embedded in the storm of shadow whose tentacles grasp and will never let go. What do...

ENOUGH WITH THE CHRISTMAS!

It’s NOVEMBER people!! Can we hold ourselves for just a little bit or should we just redraw the damn calendar and eliminate the month and ThanksgivingAll together!!! Yes this is a rant. I am so tired of the super early Christmas decor already up by November 1st and the incessant Christmas music already blaring at...

Walk out of Reach

I look into my minds eyeAnd smell the dog salt airof a beach I’ll never My soul longs to play as a pirateOn a shipnof stoneRising and falling on a silent wavelost from the shore and time Time looms short on a road that still stretchesTo the horizonAnd ends at a green dome that rises...

The Winning Hand

I sat alone this creaky nightPlaying as a cat alone with stringMy whimsical game of cardsSolitary and silent The cards, full of the colors of a life once lived,Now dingy and tinged with yellow on the edgesfound themselves stacked edge by edge,Top by top,One suit here and one number thereUntil one was last to hold—solitary...

Soul of a Leaf

Why is it that a soul can weigh as much as a freighter,As solid as an anchor of driven steelAnd as mighty as the roar of a thunder strike Yet fall and fly as a leaf in deep autumnWhen life plucks it from its tree of hopeAnd sails it away on the wind of destiny,as...

Brink In Fall

I lay in the bone room,Stunned by the explosion of color through the paneWhile hooked to dripping tubes of cold realityKeeping me alive through this season I cannot touchBut can only feelWith my eyes I look at my armsTheir own explosion of colorKeeping me in a season of isolationThat all can only be sensedThrough a...

Candle Dance

A flicker is thereBut not of light;It belongs to a candle remaining unlitBut it’s warmth shines in a dark felt not seen It’s underlying pulseGlimmers and shuddersIn the cavern of the silent mindAnd blinds perceptionWithin an eye and a spirit long stilled, A flicker burst then goneWithin the fleeting of a breath in the dark,Yet...

Haiku: Bleary keystrokes

They call to me; early, impatient,--and creaking. Looking down at the keysand squinting through a cracked mirror of blur,raising hands which are balloons of lead,to push into life words that wait in the queue of the addled Tilt-A-Whirl in my smeary mind. I find that the "T" key and the Space Bar will have nothing...

Haiku: We are all in The Village

Freedom is but an open door to illusion.When we are "entertained" we are numbed,numbered...and herded. For we all live in The Village,all bright and colored and quaint,yet impossible to leave and driven to stay yet we dream of freedom that laughs at us...and raises it's skirt to promise easy love.We are flowers in a terrarium;growing...

My life as a Bagel

It's 4:00 in the morning and I have risen from the all too brief, coffined sleep; driven by both insomnia and thoughts that race as shards of glass from a mirror cracked. There in the dark of one small lamp, I see the keys and they call again to feed from me, from my soul's...

Haiku: Thorn in my Eye

A sudden look from afar this smoky room,A fleeting dream of hearth and home...only a glimmer;A dream caught and trapped forever in gleaming glassWhile the thorn of her gaze both punctures my mind and brings my heart of rusty gears to full stop.