Like laughing, spending time together, trusted family members, dad and mom, aunt and uncle, brother and sister, niece and nephew. Closed to completion, adventures galore, camping and swimming, croquet and cornhole. Life in love. Making up for lost time, lost years, lost words. Missing persons. Death and disease. Life has taken its toll, life and death and then life again.
Category: Poetry
Brothers
I never thought we’d come to this place—
You and me on opposing sides, in a race
Against time, against each other, against freedom.
Never thought I’d be fighting a brother in the kingdom.
Sometimes, I get confused about all the issues.
Hold it now, I need a box of tissues.
Life has taught me to be true to those
Close to me, who’d give me the clothes off their back.
Maybe if we try to make this moment count,
Dig in, and give it all we’ve got.
Can you see the light coming at you now?
Don’t leave me here to just fester and rot!
You mean a lot to me, I wish you could
Accept that simple truth as a fact.
Let’s do the right thing, like eating your favorite food.
It feels good, even to be caught in the act.
Everything we learned yesterday doesn’t come
To mean a thing without love.
Every heart we’ve broke just feels like some
Kind of putting our head in a stove.
But you and me, we’ve been around the block.
We know the rules, and the pain, there’s no going back.
It’s not too late to correct yourself.
Just put those lies on the back shelf.
Hear me say, it’s not the same thing
As going on the first date.
Going steady makes me irate.
Take off like a big spring
That’s all I got, so take it or leave it!
A Rose
Wishing for a prick from a rose.
A simple thorn on a living stick.
A crying form, a tenuous flick.
Close your eyes and sing a song.
Prove me right, though I am wrong.
From the top of my pointed head
To the end of my bony toes.
Believing
Safe harbor, a dream. Closing eye lids.
Can you see the darkness coming across the sky?
An echo in the chasm, a silent scream.
Dragging one’s feet in the dirt, the stones, the ice.
Only to find one is alone.
Cast one’s sight into the distance.
Nothing present, Nothing past, Nothing to come
Will separate one from the love of God.
Heirlooms in a Broken Family
Dripping poison,
Those little words,
Snarled,
Under the breath,
Then pushed out
With the stomach.
You passed on your mother’s china
To me, the first grandson to marry,
But you wanted to keep a teapot.
My wife wanted the entire set,
So, I said no.
That’s when you got nasty.
I don’t care what you do, you said.
Just sell it!
I had no intention of selling it.
Now that we’ve had it for a while,
We think we’ll pass it on
To your grandchildren.
Isn’t that what you would want?
Don’t Wake the Sleeping Giant
Don’t remember much,
From those years.
In the house,
But not a home.
Walking on eggshells,
So as not to wake
The sleeping giant.
Saying the wrong thing
Could instill rage
Overflowing like lava
From a volcano.
But it wasn’t my fault.
I wasn’t taught
How to avoid conflict,
And, really,
I shouldn’t have to.
I just wanted
Something to eat, or,
Someone to talk to.
Was that too much to ask?
Saying It Again
Does what’s already been said,
Need to be said again?
Perhaps. Maybe, if,
In a new way,
Or, maybe, if,
From a new person;
For, it’s not just
What is said, that matters,
But who says it, and,
Who they say it to,
And, Lord knows,
Just because it’s
In a book,
Doesn’t mean
It will be read,
Certainly not by everyone.
Creating
Trying to do
Something
That hasn’t been done before.
Something, perhaps,
That cannot be done.
Or, if it can,
Perhaps it shouldn’t be done.
Unique. Personal.
Subjective. Abstract.
Creative. Mystical.
Is it true?
Does it make a statement?
Or is it just nonsense?
Time will tell.
Knowledge
Do I know more now,
Then I did, back then?
What I know now,
Is how little I know.
When I was young,
I thought I knew everything.
I thought there wasn’t much
Left to learn.
How little I knew!
Much less than now,
And yet, the more I know,
The more I realize,
There is so much out there
That I know nothing about!
I have forgotten a lot
Of what I used to know.
But I am wiser, now,
Because now I know
That how much one knows
Doesn’t really matter.
But wisdom is precious,
And comes at a price.
I do not think so much
Of myself anymore.
I am humbled,
And I have suffered
Quite a bit.
Suffering has a way
Of showing a person
What is and who are
Really important.
Family and friends
Shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Love, above all,
Is to be cherished.
Freedom
When I see your face
I think of those
Whom I grew up around,
Messing with me
Whenever possible,
Invading my privacy,
Taking away my freedom.
But my freedom
Was intact.
It was my race
That took away
Their freedom.
They didn’t have
A fancy free childhood
Like me.
They weren’t given
Whatever they wanted,
And weren’t free
To go wherever
And with whomever
They wanted, like me.
Their parents couldn’t afford
To buy them a computer.
They didn’t have
Highly educated parents
To help them
With their homework.
They had to worry
If they’d have breakfast
Each day,
And dinner was nonexistent.
No, my freedom
Was not taken.
They were just reminding me
That they were there,
And they deserved
Freedom too.
And when they saw me,
They saw privilege,
Someone who couldn’t imagine
What it is like
To really struggle to get by;
Someone who didn’t appreciate
How much freedom they had.
Indeed.
Stumbling along the sidewalk 