Thank You for the Feathers

How did our discussion
on Ferengi culture
morph into something
that vaporized my heart stones,
lifted my face,
clothed my soul,
left me longing
to kneel before my Maker?

I went home washed and winged.

Thank you, dear brother,
for the truth, and the feathers.

he knows about the sea

my pain is no baby

my pain is no baby
skin raw under leather
wee morning William
in one arm
and then my alarm

'08

Yes Your Words

Yes your words are sticks and stones
don't worry
the oftener you throw them
the blunter they become
And I'm not a posy
anymore
I'm a leather coat
I'm a wooden door
I'm an Iron Shield.

Without You

We buried your shell Monday
Without you

Lowered it down a green hole
The plastic carpet and the Lady with the Camera

The fakeness, the shine
The clicking clicking
Turning away to avoid
Having my wretchedness crystalized
In a memory card

I dreamed about you last night
We needed to ask you a question
You were nowhere

Don't Feel This

Don't feel this dream
Don't stand in the rain of the melting sun
So golden white
Close to friendship
Closer to killing me

Don't forget to breathe
Don't stand in this gilded rain
So urgently
Close to friendship
Closer to killing me

Don't breathe this dream
So heady you feel the danger
This melted light
Close to friendship
Closer to killing me

cornered

cornered
words come from my face
reality hangs fragmented
in dancing yellow haste
your jacket is food
and your arms are fire
your voice is a voyage
and I am a liar
you are alive
and I am.
Poison

the rescue

he found a knife in the field
found the field in her face
the pallor of the sky
compressed in her chest
slid steel between hands and back
her ropes went slack
he dropped the blade
and faded
into her bruises

My Friend, a Mama

For Esther

He listens,
Wide baby eyes.
You speak, the essense of
A raindrop-laden blossom
Against the white sky,
Lullibies and stories
By the fireside,
A dandilion breeze
Past bare feet.

You speak, his language
Melting with yours,
The hearts of mamas
Since ancient Eve
Distilled in the lilt of your voice.


2-27-10

Nocturne in C(heese)

There are nights
When
Dripping through the trees into the gar-
den
Mooncheese slips and settles in the grass

There and nights
When
Dodging mooncheese falling down from hea-
ven
Gerbils skip and scamper to their feast

There are evenings dark and indescrete
When
Gerbils dancing naked in the street
Drink
Stolen wine and gobble cheese of old
And
Act in ways that ought not be retold

There are nights
When
Groaning in their bellies without par-
don
Errant gerbils stagger to their homes.

New

6-13-08

There is a darkness
too comfortable in this house
unresisted presence

but God pulls hard a soul
that has tasted Him
yearns for Him
awakens from numbness
to an aching melancholy
a soul that glows hope because
pain is a sign of life

a love song comes
like tears
and goes to the One
who re-sensitizes
leaving my lips warm and sweet
like sun-bathed rose petals

I am not clean like a wall that has been washed
I am new
like a fragrant lily blooming in the afternoon
like an uncurling fern leaf

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Three Ways to Look at a Snail

I

Smoothness. Ripples.
Curves swirl inward.
A snail, God's disdained masterpiece.
Brown and sienna and stripes
With flecks of gold.


II

Sliming up the side of the tank,
The fat aquatic snail lets go
Sinks through the water like a rock,
Hitting a fish on the way down.


III

Snail?

Crunch.

Showers and Living

(a Villanelle)

I chose to walk the path where lives remain
When hollow fears and tripping blood would blend;
Another day and water fade the stain.

I set down the knife that scraped the vein,
Turned and stood and forced the thoughts to bend.
I chose to walk the path where lives remain.

For years I'd try to pray away the bane,
But fall asleep with dread of how to spend
Another day, but water fades the stain.

Though it strained and went against the grain
With insistence from a strong, exquisite Friend,
I chose to walk the path where lives remain.

Droplets streaking, hitting start to strain
The roof and and SPLASH, the covering will rend.
Another day and water fade the stain.

Monday, sloshing north across the plain,
Showers fall and, hand in His, I mend;
I chose to walk the path where lives remain.
Another day and water fade the stain.

Good Night, Sleep Tight...

the bed bugs are coming
as small as can be
they're hungry for you,
and they're hungry for me

they're racing and galloping
toward warm juicy skin
they're pushing to be
the first one to bite in

now though they're a vicious
and downright bad lot
there's one way to fight them--
it's something you've got

if ever while sleeping
they bite into your knee
don't panic or kick
or you'll fill them with glee

instead oh-so-quietly
just start to sing
a nice bed-bug lullabye
it's just the thing

before long they'll nod off
now you reach for your sock
then stuff them all in
and secure with a lock

well that's all for tonight, dear
sweet dreams and goodnight
and now you know how
to stave off the bug bite!