Silent Mend

Two silent voices cannot seem to mend
The constant pulling of these broken strings
Stretching and thinning to help us defend
The reasons we adhere to home grown wings
A warmer season existed before
But now it's given us a burning wound
Just take our hope and bleed it to the core
Slight pressure will relieve the danger soon
New maps of time and distance take my place
I'm thirsting for my future nights of rain
When all we've lost will somehow be replaced
And prove to me this love is not in vain
Silent poetry cannot seem to mend
I won't be back until September ends

When I Am Gone

My biggest fear is
your life will eventually
settle down completely.
Your home will finally
be comfortable and warm.
Your goals will be
successfully accomplished
You will have time
and energy for us...

When I am gone.

Breakfast

First word becomes clear
Yogurt strands of growing hair
One year passing soon

Mint Chaos

Glass shattering thoughts
Mimic soft sounds of new rain
Taste like mint chaos

Between

Remind me that it's all part of the game
You have to play because you need to live.
But more and more I'm feeling so ashamed,
Because I'm needing love that you can't give.
I watch from sidelines you will never feel
Removing parts and people I can't bear;
To watch them is to reinvent surreal
And reinstate how I'm not welcome there.
I'll sit beside the lake and watch the moon
Fade into the darkest midnight haze,
And reminisce about the summer bloom,
Who wilted in the past year's cold malaise.
We're missing in the breaks between the lines:
All the flower needed -- was love and time.

Defining the Divine

Explain to me again this holy birth
Of son to man and then again to death.
By God's own plan he lived to teach our worth?
Through sacrificing his only child's breath?
Through waters clear we reaffirm our faith,
Forgiving all that we have never done.
Until we grow and make our first mistake,
The lies are washed by red, engraved in stone.
Betrayal of the self is never shunned,
When some divine evangelist can cure
The bleeding from his hands when he was hung;
To make our certain disbelief so sure.
Like ventriloquist passions in the play,
We bow our heads and wait for them to pray.

Swinging

This fraying rope will break before I reach
The other side of you where no one dares
To open up your mind and cause a breech
Of safety and reprieve that you won't share
Experience has made your heart believe
The other side of you does not exist
Instead, you make my innocence retreat
And justify my love with angry fists
The water rises deeper as I swing
Further from your spiritless stagnant stare
And now I only hope my death will bring
Contrivance that I lived my life aware
The fraying rope, though wound with concrete bind
Abstracts your heart until you lose your mind

Cloudy Night

There is an old bench
it needs to be painted
hidden and unloved
at the foot of a dying palm
There is a young girl
who needs to be comforted
wandering and restless
through the summer grass
There is a night sky
too many miles away
full of artic white stars
which I cannot see;
Knees drawn to chest
sitting quietly upon the bench
squinting through the clouds
I wonder if you're sleeping
peacefully

The Sound

I don't know
what woke me first
Coyote in the distance
or some other sound
But the lonely wail
and cooing cry
entered my heart
and pulled me down
I walked quietly
from room to room
bothered by
the lonesome hound
or someone's heart
beating off tune
from missing a love
in another town

Currency

Two dimes, a nickel in my hand
I need much more to pay my way
Four quarters or a crumpled bill
Won't take me further than today

Countdown

In the hour it takes to till the ground
We could sit on the bench and sort it out
Or pick the blooms from the garden we found
Deciding which ones we can't live without
In the minute it takes to tie your shoe
You could easily send your love to me
But you have more important things to do
And you'll send your love eventually
In the second it takes to feel my kiss;
My lips turning up into a smile
We'll turn down the chance for pure happiness
Distance will grow into western miles
In the moment it took to write this poem
I calculate the times you left our home

Father's Day

Post-cocktail sunrise
Sunday morning, missing one
Happy Father's Day

Sunset

The sun and moon no longer friends
Will pass another day apart
Your enemy, I won't pretend
To feel the beating of your heart

Chalk Lines

We were here in the still life of morning
Where skin touching warmth begins a new day
Now I am cold in the still breath of mourning
The part of your heart that has faded away
Life we created from love we once made
Has moved on without us needing to grow
From tongue to lips upon wet sheets engraved
Was the chance to be free and finally know
Fingertip stories, art posed tete-a-tete
Outside of the bedroom, inside of your heart
Guided footsteps through every closed gate
But crisscrossed promises pulled us apart
Now we are here in the still of silence
Like homicide victims of love's violence

Out of Breath

The air that you need
is ten times my capacity
and each time you inhale
you leave me out of breath

Kim

Kindred spirit to my
Inner turmoil and
Mental tightrope

Retreat

Hearing nothing
but the sound
of one slow...
dying...
heartbeat
This silent poet retreats

Vow

He asked me if I often spoke with you
Among the stars and deep within the night
But this was love when summer's fall was new
We knew nothing of our missing hindsight
His voice was steady, calming from the start
Clear water dreams and madarin kisses
I leaned in to learn the beat of his heart
Though life was fleeting, full of near misses
Behind a chair huddled in a dark room
I sighed breath from my heart down to his soul
Though he was taught love would translate to doom,
Vowed to adore him as our love grew old
Stars and seasons change constantly with fate
But my love for him will never abate

Separated

I wish my daddy wouldn’t go away,
So often it just breaks my mommy’s heart.
But Daddy has a life — and cannot stay
Forever and it tears my world apart.
He doesn’t see my tears when he is gone,
Asleep, or busy with his family.
I thought before I was the only one
To bring him love and peace so easily.
I don’t care if my sonnet sounds all wrong,
I’m just a little boy who misses him.
And mommy’s just a girl who’s pretty song
Will never reach his heart that way again
Each night I watch my mommy kneel and pray,
I wipe her tears and wish for him to stay

Trash Day

Drag me to the curb
With a Do Not Disturb Sign
Leave me with the trash

Small Talk

We are now small talk
A smarting bitchslapped attempt
Holding onto hope

Illumination

Watching your silhouette against the tree
Shivering eves slightly shading your gaze
I follow your thoughts up to the night sea
Like some kind of astrology foreplay
The poem forms perfectly in your mind
Each star represents a metrical rune
I feel prose escape from your peaceful sigh
Enlightened by glow of the stars and moon
Reaching for the brilliant song you have made
To pour it into my passionate soul
Seizing the essence before twilight fades
Our eyes meet briefly to annul the cold
The quiet brightness of a starry June
Puts our souls in synch, our heartbeats in tune

Weeping Willow

I'm a weeping willow beside the lake
But an asperous oak is what you need
Arching shelter for you, about to break
When you need rest, you no longer seek me
Her branches have grown to hold you up high
My hope has mysteriously wilted
She's grown taller again and I know why
The balance of your life has been tilted
Captivated by the fresh new branches
Which extend out to you like open arms
Unaware of how the willow dances
You lean into her cragged, wooden charms
I told a sympathetic wind today
After leaves fall down, they all turn to grey

Tissue

Someone else
dried your tears
which sent us back
a thousand years
And the crumpled tissue
that relieved your fears
is me
at the bottom of your trash

Mistake

One soul is ours
between two bodies
Growing older
and wiser
with love and time
One heart is ours
between two passions
beating stronger
and faster
with perfect rhyme...

Those are the words
I began to write
then made the mistake
of answering your call tonight

Numb

Narcotize my nerve
Unresponsive to your undermined
Muffled, mixed up, mystified
Blunt, blind blur

Repeat Offender

Pour salt in my wound
Sprinkle with lemon juices
Repeat offender

Summer

Blue ocean seas are whispering my name
Mysterious deep waters embrace me
Paradise lingers like soft golden sand
My mere memories cannot replace these

A Call To Emily Dickinson

Emily, lend your voice to me tonight
I need your echo flowing from my lips
The lover's woe and hopless, endless plight
Need to escape my trembling fingertips
The poem will not surface from my heart
I need your sadness and your sympathy
The snakes, the rose and how you aimed your dart
Invade my thoughts like friendly empathy
When sextons keep their keys locked over there
I beg you to rewrite life's golden plan
So lovers can be blissfully aware
When gazing eye to eye and holding hands
Emily, lend your voice to me for now
So I may reach his heart someway, somehow

Stirring

Your ghost was passing through my open dreams
A midnight chill of emptiness appeared
North winds seemed unforgiving to redeem
The peace my mind felt when your soul was near
Breezes from the past and from the pages
Sang their haunting songs around my head
Locked up in their steel and rusting cages
My comfort and my faithfulness near dead
Stirring in my dreams I felt uneasy
And watched my inner self go quite astray
From sleeping fires no one could retrieve me
To view the silhouette where we would lay
I woke to find your ghost had left my room
And knew that death's cold hand would be here soon

Lonely

Lights burn across my city
Only to send reminders
No one to curl into
Everyone now asleep
Lights dim across your city --
You are miles away from me

Doubt

Did I say too much?
Or was my timing poor?
Under this fast approaching
Burning uncertainty
Tricks linger at my mind's door

Wound

And silently, I cry all by myself
For hurt that you have taught me not to hide
The way such prose can quickly break the shelf
Upon where all my deepest fears reside
My thoughts of happiness can't stop my heart
From beating out of this destructive place
I stop this moment, unable to start
And end our words without leaving a trace
Of sorrow on your inattentive sense
Tomorrow will come quickly if I pray
Your mind distracted will not take offense
If I dismiss it for another day
I can't deny the perfect symmetry
Of soothing, tender words not meant for me

Love Escapes Me

Love, you escape me and hide within pain,
Somewhere you stand naked and cold,
Wait for my kiss beneath the pouring rain.

Too elusive and fleeting to try to obtain,
And for the moment I grow old,
Love, you escape me and hide within pain.

My search for brief shelter is in vain,
Caught in a storm with no memory to hold,
Wait for my kiss beneath the pouring rain.

The burden of hope causes such strain,
Impossible to live life as we're told,
Love, you escape me and hide within pain.

Water washes all but one tiny grain
Found in the sands of our soul,
Wait for my kiss beneath the pouring rain.

But I will wait to hear from you again,
Make your voice daring and bold!
Love you escape me and hide within pain,
Wait for my kiss beneath the pouring rain.

Past Midnight

Past midnight tonight I realized this:
You don't need my love, or your infant son.
Each hope that lingers soon fades like your kiss
When morning arrives, I know that you've gone
I tried to be patient, loving and kind
Bending and changing to fight for your heart
I really believed I could change your mind
With faith - despite being so far apart
Harsh rainstorms tonight bring me restless fear;
With it, a sadness never felt before
You were not crying with me and my tears
Live stronger without me. Just slam the door.
Past midnight tonight I finally see
Without us near, you are finally free.

City Noise

She's staring past the busy city noise
While darkness tries to wake her tired heart
The only sound she hears is his soft voice
Her comfort while they are so far apart
The moonlight's eye reflects her flowing tears
With complements of friendship and rapport
Just for one moment she ignores her fears
Remembering the way love was before
Aware of echoed sounds she hears a train
Its lonesome travels speeding through the night
Her silent wonders prove to be in vain
And answers lie beyond the city lights

Lights and noise are lullabies at best
To keep her from the solitude of rest

No Voice

I could not write my song tonight
My mind felt pale and weak;
A baby bird that couldn't fly
A mute that couldn't speak

Stood Up

I waited for you patiently
Hoping that you would meet me soon
Three hours later I could tell
You stood me up this afternoon

Goodbye

Gently whisper farewell
Or say nothing at all
On this dreary day
Dandelions wilting
Bring me further from
Your promise to stay for
Eternity

A Mother's Dream

Beautiful rose
Touched with the breath of morning's dew
Beautiful rose
Gracefully, you open, then close
The rain's kiss allows you to bloom
Like a mother's nurturing womb
Beautiful rose

Between Life and Death

Bring me back home...
Let me find strength within your arms
Bring me back home...
To the only safe place I've known
Protect me from life's deadly harm
Save me from death's deceitful charm
Bring me back home