The Last Poem

The Last Poem

I would not want the last poem I wrote

To be about fear and regret

I wouldn’t want the last poem I wrote

To be about loss, about death

The last song that I sing

Steal the last of my breath…

When it’s all about love, love, love

It’s all about love

That’s all

e

I Still Remember

Too much TV and heat, I’ll just leave this song here…

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I Still Remember

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How could I forget

All the broken bulbs

–

That somehow lit us yet

–

Like a billion dollars worth of heroin

Floating gently to the floor

A billion dollars worth of heroin

–

The black side of the red door

–

I’ve lived sincerely

Held our babies dearly

How many grand kids can you name

–

Things best forgotten

Lay festered and rotten

Wake me in my sleep

–

Every night the floor boards creak

–

I still remember

My breath growing tight

Dreaming there was more

–

Come the morning light

–

You’re a billion dollars worth of heroin

A billion dollars a day

Floating on the floor

Wishing there was more

–

In the morning light

–

e

A Little Bit Bent

A little Bit Bent

–

And the day rolled up hot as butter

All runny like you could barely sop it with a biscuit

So I splashed that coffee in my cigarettes

And hit the road with nothing but a bandanna

Between me and the risin’ blaze

–

Multi-taskin’

–

Smokin’ and jokin’ wise

Slappin’ pockets for a match

Gimme me all I can take, Mr. Blue

I’m right here beside you

–

My Daddy walked this road, on into the light

Me skippin’ along, with my tiny brown shoes

And holding those tobacco stained hands

As he tore at his buttons, in the ditch

–

Mamma flew off from here too

In the ultimate of switchin’s

When that old Mule finally got tired

Of being treated like an Ass

–

Ya, I been here before

–

But today, I’m all shiny, aflame and more

Singin’ and swimmin’ upstream at sunrise

Aglow in the wind like sugar cane eyes

A little bit bent…

But sweet to the core

e

Into the Ground

Into the Ground

–

It’s the little things

Till she stops breathing

And the junkie’s eyes

Are too blind to see…

–

She reached for the honey, in her mother’s tears

As shadows of bees laced her face

Ravens cried out

–

Nevermore; that, Belle told

–

Of the grasses so green

And the air too true blue,

The sun, it was silent, the moon made no sound

As that simple box slid so easily

–

On into the ground

–

For it was the little things

Till she stopped breathing

And the junkie’s eyes

Were too blind to see

–

e

In God’s Light

In God’s Light

The woman falls to her knees in the driveway

Her moans, her gasps

So unnerving

–

I awoke in the dawn

And checking your breath

I prayed that the children were stirring

–

And we rose to birdsong

Making cereal kisses

In God’s light

–

At the same time

–

As shade touched the neighbors

With every parent’s nightmare

In an outline of chalk

–

Too fresh to see…

–

And she falls to her knees in the driveway

Her moans and her gasps

So unnerving

e

In the Ether of Echoes

In the Ether of Echoes


If my heart broke
As the breath of tattered wings
Failed


If my voice choked
For the beauty of words spoken
Though unheard


If my eyes went blind
As a curtain of tears
Descended


I would still write
And dance
And sing


My love songs to you
Would still cry on the wind
And smile


Snow would still smolder
As sleeping blossoms
dreamed


Of embers I saw flashing
In a fire that died out
Long ago


And of daggers of ice
That dripped from the eves
Of home


I would be warm again
My blood could warm
And flow


If your strings would answer mine
Entwined in the ether
Of echoes


When my heart breaks
As the breath of tattered wings
Fails




e

Dark Flower

Dark Flower

–

It has the serenity of morning snow

Of candles in silence

In the dark

–

Your scent

When muffled cries

Ruffle the sylvan robes of grace

–

Dark flower

One that the dawn greets

Beneath spreading sheets of amber

–

For eyes flashing with emeralds

Time is a firmament

We breathe…

–

It has the serenity of morning snow

Of candles in silence

In the dark

e

Brilliance

Brilliance

–

Foggy

Eyes half open

On the shambled front porch

In the morning’s breath

–

Half smoked bowl

Crushed, a cigarette butt

Still echoes lipstick shade’s

Deepening curtain of stardust

–

No coffee

–

Empty bottle of whiskey

Though a third of a Rasta breakfast

Will suffice to swirl the worlds

In moot reflection

–

I remember a sword

And a wildness flowing

In pools of light I saw you and

Ripples of me spreading out forever

–

For as long as I could hold my breath

–

Did I tell you

I once cut morning from the sky?

–

But you can’t drink all day

Unless you start at dawn

And that street car

Left desire, long ago

–

The flight of stone’s lament

The so long of winged legacy

The wiggle, the grind in time

The dance…

–

That makes rivers of sand

–

But still I could use a polish

A gleam, a shine…

One that these old eyes could see

Without looking over my glasses

–

There’s got to be a way

To regain my brilliance

To trip again the light fantastic

To wear the red shoes at dawn

–

On a razor’s edge…

–

They sharpen diamonds

Don’t they?

e

(early morning thoughts on self improvement)

Black Opal

In Your Bed

In Your Bed

–

Sitting on the porch

Of the tattered shed

Sandals on my feet

Panamas on my head

–

And I’m dreamin’

Dreamin’ that the tide

Is red…

–

Bottle’s in the hollow, sister

Sing along and follow

In your bed

–

So long as

–

Wind’s a blowin’ somewhere

Lightin’s licking up down the bayou

Fire flies, flashin’ eyes…

–

Dreamin’ of

Bottling the hollows, sister

Sing along and follow

In your bed…

e

–

PS, repeat as necessary

The Old Dog

The Old Dog

There was an emptiness inside him

A still hollow…

Where the sounds of dripping

Echo off stones

–

A place where thoughts faded

And images drank of colors

Till only sweat was left

To rim the glass with mist

–

Breezes blew dreams away

As drifting sand on mirrors

Revealed only clouds

And the ghosts of his sighs

–

He howled in juxtaposition

Plying waters he’d never seen

Trailing his fingers down walls

Lest the ancient cobblestones trip

–

If he knew where he was

He’d run away screaming

His feet flying…

Never quite touching the ground

–

Breath forgetting

To simply lean and unhinge

As stretching arms

Grasped the sky

–

And he was gone

–

This muse clothed him

In bespoke suits and ties

His reflection danced on shoe tips

That once were of canvas

–

All muddied and torn

–

Then I awoke on a mountain

Alone for the first time

The salt of tears

My flavor of spice

–

As rice spilled from holy pockets

–

There once was a boy

Who invented a girl to love

A tinker toy construct
Painted with crayons

–

And doomed to fail

–

A treasure so large

No chest could contain it

No light could illuminate

That twinkle forever

–

And then just the echoes

Of stumbling feet

The sloshing of ink in darkness

A shaking of hands clutching quills

–

Thank God for paper

–

You are my light

Blindness removed as eyes opened

That dripping, a leaky sink faucet

One drop and then two

–

Tears dried on my cheeks

–

Day and night…

I couldn’t stop the rain

Riding Night Mares alone

Till the moon shone again

–

And took the bit from my teeth

–

That train rusts on a siding

The rush of steam, seeds and chaff

Trees grow through the wheels now

As phantom passengers laugh

–

And cry…

–

A faded schedule

Floats away on the wind

The names of destinations

Out of reach ’round the bend

–

On an old trunk leaving

As the tracks disappear

The old dog breathing

No longer feels fear

e