Poems and Particulars

Kindergarten

2010-02-10T20:34:00.010-06:00

As my world expanded
I never felt so alone.

Who are all these kids?
Where's mama going?

I won't deny
I was a little afraid
and not a little confused
as my hand slid from yours.

And I'm sure you didn't want
to see me cry, but
as my world expanded
I never felt so alone.

This is Me

2010-02-04T01:41:00.004-06:00

This is the life I choose,
this path is mine-
to sleep, to work, to play
as I desire.

If I must
I could stop any time, any day,
hop a different bus,
but not today.

It's simple to see
my vision is blurred with clarity
as I'm joking with sincerity
while avoiding parity
(I know, ain't that a rarity?),
but that is me.

Kaleidoscope

2010-02-04T01:09:00.010-06:00

Out of curiosity I pulled down the blue sky

to lift the purple from your eyes,

my rose colored glasses

telling me no lies-

Our beautiful hope is a kaleidoscope

of colors doing lovely dances.

Early Spring at Dames Park

2010-01-29T09:57:00.018-06:00

From this bench
I can see
Field No. 2.
where a

A brown stain
of bare
earth
runs along

its center.
I can only
assume
winter had

been so long
in leaving
that it became
bored out of its

own turf,
or so cold
that the ground
split as it

deeply furrowed its
grassy brow
in obvious distain.
How envious
it must be

of Field No. 3
where a young couple
has chosen to
play Frisbee

keep-a-way
with a very obliging
chocolate lab,
panting as he runs

back and forth
in the dew
of the mid
morning grass.

An Observational Poem of the Portrait 'Boy With a Hand Grenade' Taken by Diane Arbus

2010-01-28T02:05:00.010-06:00

You freaky little boy.
How do you curl your hand in such an awkward way?
And why make such a disturbing face?
It's so, well, disturbing.
Pull your overall strap back up onto your shoulder
then go wash your knees. They are dirty.

And don't forget to rid yourself of that hand grenade
or to get yourself a new hair cut (the one you have is so passe).
You freaky little boy.

Goodbye

2010-01-28T01:37:00.007-06:00

When I saw you serene in my dream
I asked if you were alone
or by yourself.

I had to know because
sometimes it's difficult to tell
these things.
Like when you told me you had to leave.

"When will you be back?"
"I'll only be gone untill I return."

And then you were there
until the time you left,
leaving me alone
or by myself.

Bedroom Arithmetic

2010-01-21T23:51:00.005-06:00

The math
was simple, even for a couple of lads
constantly fighting and always at odds.
A path
you could say, to establish the order
of living arrangements for two brothers.

A dresser,
your bed and a narrow pathway to the door.
The rest is mine- oh, spacious, space galore!
What better
way to sum up our sibling relationship
than simple division by masking tape?

A Hard Cold Morning

2010-01-14T23:30:00.002-06:00

A hard cold morning is what I remember most,
the frozen ground's snowy ghost

crunching its wintery protest
under my every foot step,

the night sharpened air
instantly biting at my ears

while the dry Februariness
does its best

to displace my breathing
with coughing.
Yet I kept walking,
my brother following
behind me, completing

our two soul convoy of silence- nothing spoken
while ahead Pepper lays broken,

her time with us expiring during the night,
her fur covered in a light
dust of white
snow and the yellow
glow
of the back porch light.

Brown eyes, still open and warm, seem to toast
us her final thanks, but
a hard cold morning is what I remember most.

2010

2010-01-08T00:22:00.009-06:00

Let us salute the beginning of a new year,
another decade, as time marches on
and our eyes scan the distant horizon for hints of tomorrow.

Onward we go in this journey,
some blindly and some filled with clarity,
as footfalls of the past still resound in our thoughts.

Soldier on we must, and bravely conquer
the tribulations of the present
while smiling
into the eyes of our children.

With will, hope, love and God as our guide,
soldier on valiant friends
until our boots finish
walking this path back home.

Wandering

2010-01-06T23:47:00.004-06:00

My thoughts are feeling a little bit restless today
so if someone would point the way
I think I'll get going.

Listen

2009-08-27T00:30:00.007-05:00

And I was sitting on a park bench
scratching out a poem,
when a man striding by asked me in passing,

"Whatchya doin'?"

Just writing. Nothing particular.

"I hear ya."

As he receded in distance
and memory
and relevance
I put the pen to my good ear
in hopes to hear what it might have said.

Pink Slip

2009-07-23T22:02:00.003-05:00

I saw Lord Jesus Christ
And bare knuckle fist fights
Break out on the work floor
That day.

Some of the folks were mad,
One of the folk was sad,
But most were simpley bored
To tears.

Said the company man,
"The shit done hit the fan!"
Then fucked us up the ass
Sideways.

With his gapped tooth grin
Said he'd do it again.
Surely our pain will pass
In years.

Shallow Waters

2009-07-23T21:39:00.005-05:00

I honestly believe that
there's no need to drown
in the shallow waters of our own lives
if we wade in aware and cautious
of what lies just beyond.

I say, leave deeper waters to others-
Dolphins, deep sea divers,
fishes and poets.

For most,
troubles merely lap at the ankles with only
the occassional small wave
wetting the shins.
No problem a dry beach towel can't resolve.

This or That

2009-07-12T22:27:00.006-05:00

While lying on the couch
contemplating a bit of this or that
I asked out loud to you,
"Then or now?"
In which you walked over
and kissed me,
your answer obvious
in the smile you wryly
failed to conceal.
The reason for my question
now forever lost
among the curls of your hair.

trailerpark@night.com

2009-07-12T20:38:00.009-05:00

To whom it may concern,

Across the street from my bedroom window a

burned out streep lamp that, until last week,

once shone down in a cataratic haze of sickly

yellow luminescence, now towers lifeless over a

recently vacated mobile home lot. Truth be told,

they never stay. With its gutted out electrical box

for a headstone and various bouquets of weeds,

ruts, broken bottles and cinder blocks strewn

about, this patch of dead earth resembles

nothing less than an immense unkempt grave

lying in wait for the next transient soul to arrive.

It's a foundation made not of concrete but of

wandering opportunities that brings them in

and sends them away, most poor of money, luck,

and life. It saddens me to count myself among

them, but I hold no excuses to absolve myself of

why I'm here, even now, as I sit staring at my

computer screen e-mailing the city a notice

about the burned out street bulb; the day's light

long faded, wrestled below the horizon by

darkness. Finished, I hit send, log out, and find

my way to bed knowing all that's left for me to

do is wait for the reply of a cataractic haze of

sickly yellow luminescence to shine once again

outside my bedroom window at night.

Blank Page

2009-07-12T20:29:00.004-05:00

It has come to my attention that this page is in fact blank-
absolutely and utterly devoid of anything
that would be contrary to the obvious.

It was verified to me by my wife, Jean
who is an expert in pointing out all things blank to me.

"Babe, you're staring into space
with that blank expression on your face again."

"Honey, please don't forget to take a blank
check with you to the bank."

"Darling, why is it everytime I ask you a simple
question you always draw a blank?!"

"Sweety, you're not getting far on your poem,
your page is completely blank."

As usual she's right, this page is as blank as blank can get.
Perhaps I should jot something down for her to read.

Tell Me When

2009-07-03T13:21:00.002-05:00

When can I finally leave this place to my back?
When can I let go the years learning to tolerate the
word home, it's mere utterance sloppy and loose on my lips,

A raw sarcasm that burns in a spoken heave
through my throat? When nostril hairs singe at
the word neighbor, when an ear-full of every passer-by's

love of music set to eleven drowns any thoughts
of listening to the quiet pages of my note pad scratch
its resistance to the dance-writing of my ball-point pen in

an ever searching waltz of prose and epigrams,
when I drag along my wife and kids (be it willing or un,
I can't be sure), my sanity, my misery on a bus full of resentment,

when I know the trailer park ambiance
around me makes me feel like an emigrant on
my own street, when the sickly yellow street lamp

outside taunts my dim optimism of a
fenced in piece of Americanan, when the word community
is said in the same manner as one might mention the word cancer...

When.

Human Race

2009-03-26T12:52:00.006-05:00

When the day has surrendered to yet another sunset

Run with me to meet the morning's saving grace,

For every new day is reason enough to rise and race

The coming sun to a western horizon we just left.

Impression:You

2009-03-24T20:11:00.010-05:00

It must have been the way the drops of moisture
gathered speed as they collected on their journey
down the vertical slope of the bathroom mirror.

There is simply no other way for me to put in words
how turned on I was by the image of your sultry echo,
an impression of nakedness obscured in humid
lust no less real than the dirty thoughts
gathering speed as they collect on their journey
down the vertical slope of my wondering mind.

Surely this is the way Monet would have painted you,
or the way Vettriano would have loved you,
or the way Picasso would have despised you.

Clarity

2009-03-23T00:08:00.004-05:00

Years weather to
Instances.
Instances soften to
Impressions.
Impressions,
Soft,
Vague,
Melt and disolve
In the manner of a Monet.

Fishing the Fields of Foley

2009-03-12T22:30:00.014-05:00

Morning comes early to the fields of Foley.
Before even the sun itself fully wakes to
Call away the groggy mist hugging either

Eye or ground, a strong morning chill
Penetrates through both soul and sole
As Russ and I parade in step after grandpa,

Ever mindful of the divots we dug during
Yesterday's dawn raid. With pitch fork,
Shovel, and coffe can all with us again

We stop, stab and overturn a moist mass
Of wriggling muck while breathing in
The moments of fresh dirt, worms and family.

It is from this Earth that kinship grows in soil
We now break up with our very hands.
It was here that field and family took root

Generations deep in the fertile bottom
Lands just a chew and spit away from
The muddy waters of the Mississippi River.

King of the Washing Machine

2009-03-12T02:15:00.009-05:00

Load:
Once, perhaps twice, you were someone's pride
But now you resemble a carcass lying unclaimed
After a kill, the pride of lions long gone after having
Their fill of you, leaving your cords and hoses strewn about
The ground resembling nothing more than undevoured entrails.

Soak:
Washed up machine colored olive green
Dressed in rust and three cycle misery
Sitting abandoned in an empty lot
Your only companion a busy street
In this unsympathetic suburban Camelot

Sitting dirty, rusty, far from your norm
Dry was once your friend, now rain is home
To a washed up world and washed up machine
I ponder my own on this throne set on heavy load

Disregard those who bare you such disgrace
I know in my heart it was no mistake
Our chance encounter in this urban sea
Fore with you as my throne I will take my place
As ruling king of the washing machine

Agitate:
My subjects rot
My kingdon grows
Bother me not
Your worldly woes
Of sexual inferno
Of fashionable clothes
Of self satisfaction
Or moral agitation

My pride bleeds
As hope takes seed
Trouble me oft'
As dreams take off
Of pure honesty
Of man's integrity
Of illumination
Of God's notions

Spin:
So load me your dirty dreams and your stained woes
Toss in your thread-bare hopes and torn souls
Together, my rusty friend, we'll spin the status quo
Until the world comes full cycle of what it should already know

Plight and Faith

2009-03-05T18:55:00.004-06:00

Be it April bathed
In her warm spring rays,
Or winter bound
Amongst her coldest days,
Else an empty night
With only a moons sliver
To light my way,
My love for you will forward on
Till you touch the clouds
Of a promised Heaven
Spoken upon our wedding vows.

It's True That...

2008-12-30T12:22:00.012-06:00

My written words are apt to spell out the
Less possitive aspects of my brain. Divorce

And pessimisms. Doubts and less than
Stellar childhood memories. Dreams

Of giant apes and spiders and ghosts
Seem to haunt the black well of my pen.

In everyday life I tend to be more or less
A cheerful person - quick to tell a joke

Or hug on my kids. I love the warm sun
And White Castles. Isn't that enough

To warrant me a happy guy? Perhaps...
Maybe...possibly...could it...might it just be

Poetry is my way to vent the poisons?
If so, why do I write so many poems of love?

Maybe I'm just graphically bi-polar.

Tourist

2008-12-30T11:29:00.010-06:00

Where to? Where to?
Where to in this wonderful land?
Drag me through your hills. Your valleys.
Draw me into your beautiful eyes.
I won't mind-

Which way? Which way?
Which way to your meadowy vistas?
Cart my curiosity across your countryside.
Cradle my love in your open arms.
I won't mind-

What now? What now?
I've been this way twice over.
My devotion driven on like a tourist
Returning to his favorite love.
I don't mind-

What now? What now?
I've been this way thrice over.
Your every curve mapped with kisses.
Each kiss an old experience made to feel new.
And I don't mind.

Like Warm Gum

2008-12-14T14:24:00.005-06:00

Does it matter how far someone falls,
Be it from grace or someplace
Closer to Earth?

Such as from the top of three concrete steps where,
At the bottom, you landed after I gave
The tricycle we shared a 'little'
Push with my foot.

Four pulled teeth and a quarter century later there's
Still an unspoken appology stuck
Somewehere under my shoe
Like warm gum.

Scuff Marks

2008-12-14T14:23:00.002-06:00

Some days you just get so low
That it's only when you look up
Do you realize your feet are
Dragging along the ground.

Withdrawn

2008-12-14T14:07:00.007-06:00

The quiet ones
are the ones I truly love,
saying nothing outside their
own thoughts, silently
revealing
themselves to no one
except to those who don't
need to ask. For them
silence is an action
that speaks volumes when
even whispers and breathing
are much too strident.
Even now
I can half hear their hushed
troupe of thoughts gather
like snowy drifts
in all corners of consciousness.

Dead Ants in the Basement

2008-09-10T21:47:00.006-05:00

Sweep. Sweep up all those ants.
One zillion specks strong.
Deader than a door nail
Daddy wants them all swept and gone.

Down. Down into the basement
On daddy's firm orders.
No quibbling about it
Cause daddy never gives us quarter.

Sweep! Sweep! I grab the broom
While Russ grabs the pan.
Daddy grabs the trash bag
While mama grabs Mellisa's little hand.

Down! Down! Our feet step in sync.
First daddy.
Then mama.
Then sis.
Then brother.
Then I.
The irony not lost on me
That we march down the steps like ants in a line.

Tired Mud

2008-09-10T21:45:00.003-05:00

Wetlands. Half dried from a
Modest winter waiting for springs
Promise of rain yet unfulfilled.

A rise of earth between
Two shallows offer clues
Of last years activities.
Tire tracks. Deep. Rutted.

Doze off in a slow and sleepy
Missouri curve.

Discontinuous

2008-09-03T23:15:00.006-05:00

It's been six years now
since the divorce,
the children under your wing
like two eggs in a nest
(yet grounded in a tree).

My daughter.
My son.
My God! I miss them much.

Somedays so much
I find myself in full curse of the universe
or belittling my sock drawer
but only my voice comes back,
reasurringly

if not sympathetically so.

Visual Aid

2008-08-24T20:14:00.005-05:00

As time passes it's remember-by-date,
as gathered moments fall to fate
of dust upon the mental shelf,
I know that now is never too late
to humbly ask for a photograph's help.

Love

2008-05-09T00:15:00.004-05:00

Somewhere between
The city's first breath
-My arm across
Your breasts-

The morning fog
Shuns it's misty
Veil. That's when you
Kissed me.

We Make Due

2008-01-25T01:43:00.003-06:00

I remember it was John Lennon's voice
Lingering in the darkened bedroom,

Looming over me like an audible mist,
Accompanied only by the hum

Drum rhythm of an osculating
Fan in the far corner churning stale

Air into a stinging breeze of late night
Emptiness -insomnia's blank stare.

Where my needs and desires are laid,
Bedsheets and thoughts of you are all I wear.

Over Bored

2007-12-10T18:47:00.003-06:00

I'm not angry
Nor am I mad
I'm just happy
You're only sad

About my loss
Of composure
That day I tossed
You right over

Into the cold,
Flowing current
And cruelly held
You under it.

There's no deny-
Ing that you're sore
When I say I
Was over bored.

The Odd Door

2007-12-03T22:33:00.001-06:00

My front door had been acting odder and odder
of late, staying ajar and being rather a bother
to keep shut, so I decided to take it to a shrink
and have it anylized like I did the kitchen sink

just a few short months ago (I found out it was mad
at me when I left for a week's vacation and had
brought everything but it). So I called to set
up an appointment for as soon as I could get

penciled in (which after talking to the receptionist
this ended up being next Tuesday at a quarter to four).
When I arrived that day with my rebellious door
the therapist firmly shook my hand and promised

me a quick resolve as to why my entranceway is stuck
on being unclosed. Then with a heavy pat on my back
he said, while desperately trying to hold back a laugh,
"Besides, I think we already know he'll open up."

Parting with Misery

2007-11-25T19:34:00.001-06:00

for Ron

I.
Farewell and goodbye misery
With grudging respect my hat tips true
As I take leave of your company with tepid adieu
Your shadow fading, I soon to bathe in the warm collection
Of luminosity that is the Texas sun

Enroute, countless moments weigh in, some heavy on the rough
Conversely, feelings soften when soaked in the trough
Of time, fore I know if we should happen to meet again,
If only by thought or post card, postage paid
That is fine with me

II.
Endless days of nights put to done
By embracing the Texas sun
Misery is in my blood,
Not tainted,
But in and of

III.
As time passes its remember-by-date,
As misery gathers dust upon the mental shelf,
I know that now is never too late
To wipe clean the earthen years from the self

Circles

2007-11-20T19:22:00.001-06:00

High gas prices
And the world keeps on spinning

Spiraling inflation
And the world keeps on spinning

Increased hurricane activity
And the world keeps on spinning

Slumping record sales
And the worlds keeps on spinning

Tour de France scandals
And the world keeps on spinning

Inadequate recycling
And the world keeps on spinning

Political non-reform
And the world keeps on spinning

She said, "Yes!"
And my world keeps on spinning

Stupid Monkey

2007-11-18T12:32:00.001-06:00

In the shadows
Of my house
I can sense
The monkey
Looking for me

He's out there
In the window
Eyes penetrating
Trying to seek
And find me

Without warning
He's reaching
Through the window
That's when the
Trouble begins

I run to
The next room
Only to find my
Anxieties brought
That monkey again

Over and over
Through the house
This monkey mayhem
Plays out with
Never an end

Monkey and me
Ape and boy
Chimp and child
Fear and hope
Foe and friend

Alone with my
Fears in the
Silence of darkness
I keep running
Wishing him gone

But it's darkness'
Silence and these
Loathsome fears
That continue to
Feed my Kong

And my parents
Deafness surpassing
My own in their
Inability to
Help me escape

They're oblivious
And detached
So I'm left alone
To deal with
This fucking ape

Call me brave
Or even weak
But I couldn't
Stop the king
Of psycho attacks

So I wonder
Once he's left
How long till
That stupid monkey
Will be back

Love Triangle

2007-11-18T12:29:00.000-06:00

You wrote me and said that

I took your breath away.

Next time we meet

I'll return it to

You sealed

With a

Kiss

The Useless Bush

2007-11-15T23:38:00.000-06:00

Don't beat around the Bush
This Bush bears no fruit
Pull it out by its root
Stomp on it with your foot

Burn it till it turns to soot
Answer questions after you shoot
By and by the point will be moot
Just don't beat around the Bush

Are You A Super Hero?

2007-11-15T22:49:00.001-06:00

Are you a super hero in disguise with powers extraordinare?
Because when I glance at you, you seem to float through air.
Do you have heat vision that you shoot from your eyes?
Because when you look at me I feel I'm melting inside.

ESP, powers of the mind I ask you, do you possess?
Because my every weakness and desire you always guess.
Telekinesis, the ability to move objects with a thought, that too?
Because I always feel moved when I'm in the room with you.

Are you a super hero with speed oh, so fast?
Because with me you're first and never last.
Do you possess the gift of stealth, to vanish anywhere?
Because even if I can't see you, I know you're always there.

Ice, can you produce ice from just your will?
Because when you touch me I always get a chill.
Photographic memory, I heard you have it, is that true?
Because you always remember the little things I do for you.

Are you a super hero with incredible hearing, nothing unheard?
Because when I whisper sweet nothings, you hear every word.
Can you fly to the moon and back with only one breath?
Because mine you take away, I'll let that question rest.

Courage beyond compare, I imagine you have plenty?
Because when I falter your courage is never empty.
And a will, immeasurable by any instrument on earth?
Of course - they can never measure what you're worth.

Sage

2007-11-14T20:57:00.000-06:00

I know I was born
A little too fast

Minutes after birth
I was hauling ass

I'm coming down on
You like a landslide

It won't take long to
Leave you all behind

Only way to slow
Down is to drop dead

Can't do that now I've
Moved too far ahead

I'm the brand new wave
Next kind of man kind

Don't bother digging
Bones, I'm a new find

I've got the mustard
And you can't catch up

The pace of the race
For you is too tough

People don't get me
They don't understand

I'm beyond them, they
Can't comprehend

On the run, no time
For the here and now

Feel the wake of my
Supersonic pow

A visionary
Just like Martin K.

Screw the old style, I'm
Going my own way

I Don't Know Angels

2007-11-13T23:59:00.001-06:00

An Angel appeared before me to say
My soul she sought to fill.
I don't know Angels, still
She reminds me of you in every way.

With halo high and a smile naught with end
Her beauty melts my will.
I don't know Angels, still
I'm grateful for my angelic friend.

Home For Sale

2007-11-13T20:41:00.000-06:00

4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths
Large garden with a stone path
2 car garage and a walk-in basement
Free credit approval and no down payment.

I live in a trailer.

Triumph

2007-11-13T20:39:00.000-06:00

Do not conceive I have gone astray
From my dreams or let down my guard.
Belive in me; I see the day
When triumph will be my reward.

Poem from an Admirer

2007-11-12T23:00:00.000-06:00

Perhaps you know me, perhaps you do not
Although if you did, easily I'd not be forgot
Unique you are among the wild flowers
Lasting charm unweathered is your power

Confess I do that you caught my eye
A friend in you to find if I might try
Look close and you will see my name
Loss of words, my voice does not wane
Always respect, my composure will be given
Whatever it may be, that is you decision
Ages I could wait to know your desire
Yours truely...an admirer

Closing

2007-11-12T22:32:00.000-06:00

Through fading echoes their heels click and clack.
The museum's hours come to an end
As the past and present part ways once again;
The Burghers of Calais beg them back.

Schedule

2007-11-12T22:26:00.002-06:00

Working ten years on the night shift
Daylight is a casual acquaintance
Passed in early morning skeptisism as
The sun glows
In obvious mockery
Of my dimmed state of awareness.
I'm not a vampire or a zombie-
Nor do I want to be.
I'm just a guy serving his time
Working ten years on the night shift.

Paragon

2007-11-12T22:22:00.000-06:00

Through fields kissed by the rising sun;
Among meadows hugged by the morning dew;

I searched oceans of wild flowers
To find one as precious as you.

Alas, one would not do.