Friday, October 31, 2014

Headline Poem 10/31/14 -- A lover's tale

A lover's tale

Maybe there's a world that's as flat as my hand where ghosts come to find the sweetest of lands,
fish for treasures among the bears who hibernate through the winter without a care. 
I'll sleep like them but when I wake I expect a buffet 
and for you to take 
the golden rod
of spectacles 
and open
the eyes 
of all
you meet
in order to
do good
and then 
repeat. 

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Headline Poem 10/30/14 -- Sweet!

Sweet!

Singing at the top 
       of my lungs, 
window down, 
feeling the breeze, 
the biker next to me
gives me a thumbs up 
because he heard the whole thing 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Headline Poem 10/29/14 -- Anglesey, Wales

Anglesey, Wales 

The fertile land 
beckons them home 
partly 
because they romanticize farm life 
and drinking at the pub,
and partly because roots in sacred places
grow deeper
than in any place else. 

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Headline Poem 10/28/14 -- Overview of Remorse

Overview of Remorse

The sun is so bright on the 
days you don't expect it to be
     so you stand, unprepared, blinded
by this thing that's good, but that hurts. 

You squint as a tractor drives by, 
with big wheels and endless pride
  But then --  it runs over 
what it's not supposed to, and

you scream like you would at an 
old lover who you are now forbidden to see because
your encounters were a release, 
a place to breathe,

but what mattered was scattered
and so it's now an 
     overview of remorse,
a thing that shines 
from an outside source 
that judges
when it shouldn't 

because    each    of    us 
has been in a place where we didn't belong, and have stood, completely assured that justice should be served when right is outbid by wrong,

but then when it happens to us,
our views on all kinds of rules start to change. 
    Maybe second chances aren't so         bad. 
    Maybe third aren't so bad either. 

Maybe it's when we walk in on our
own disposable 
shit,
that life starts to matter. 

Monday, October 27, 2014

Headline Poem 10/27/14 -- It's right around the corner

It's right around the corner 

I love that you do not ask
for what you have yet to get. 
There really are no words to 
request such a thing, 
a web
sticky and sturdy and sweet,
a car parked under a bullet proof sky,
a full cloud above 
already green grass, floating suspiciously by,
a best friend wearing no mask,
a crown, the center of a tic tac, an open wound. 

It's waiting for the perfect temperature, a powerful storm,
for the eyes of it to open 
and feel warm. I'm here, and I'm ready, it will say. But not today. 

It's right around the corner, packaged as a spring sunset, or a pelican's feast-filled dream,
natural, instinctive, perplexed.  

It waits while we move
and helps make
all of this 
easier for me 
to maneuver through--the directions of you,
April echoes through magnetic walls. 
I wait while you do,
content to 
make sense 
of geese who fly East 
and stars that twinkle till morning. 

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Headline Poem 10/25/14 -- Curves Ahead


saw this sign on a walk, and... 

Curved Ahead 

When the street sign says 
there are curves ahead, 
do not balk or turn your back 
like an eye that's blind 
or a watch out of time. 

Shiver if it's necessary, 
but then get back behind
the wheel that turns 
where you take it. 

Salut with respect, 
tip your hat like you've 
finished the last show, 
closing night 
when you're exhausted 
but grateful 
that there were people 
to watch 
and applaud 
     who know 
nothing about 
your yellow warnings and black zigzag lines,
but 

thankful that by watching you 
for a little bit,
they were able to forget 
their own. 

Headline Poem 10/25/14 -- Curves Ahead


saw this sign on a walk, and... 

Curved Ahead 

When the street sign says 
there are curves ahead, 
do not balk or turn your back 
like an eye that's blind 
or a watch out of time. 

Shiver if it's necessary, 
but then get back behind
the wheel that turns 
where you take it. 

Salut with respect, 
tip your hat like you've 
finished the last show, 
closing night 
when you're exhausted 
but grateful 
that there were people 
to watch 
and applaud 
     who know 
nothing about 
your yellow warnings and black zigzag lines,
but 

thankful that by watching you 
for a little bit,
they were able to forget 
their own. 

Friday, October 24, 2014

Headline Poem 10/24/14 -- Forgiveness

Forgiveness 

There will come a day 
when she will wrap 
her arms around 
his heart 
with forgiving grace, 
and smother
the forgotten things with 
her best self. 

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Headline Poem 10/23/14 -- New Neighbors, Welcome Home

New Neighbors, Welcome Home 

Let's all settle down 
in a somewhere nowhere town 
to the North or right 
of here. 
Let's tell all the ghosts who've lived there before that it's our turn. 
Let's explain as nicely as we can 
that dirt's not cheap and either are words. 
You pay to use both,
whether you whisper or run. 
So no promises 
no guarantees... 
Put your shovel in the ground and don't ask for any favors. 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Headline Poem 10/22/14 -- Something I know

Something I know 

A bird flies 
with familiar certainty,
a confidence,
natural and inherent...
     not because 
it is born
with      wings,
but because he learns
how to use them. 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Headline Poem 10/21/14 -- The Man on the Moon

Tonight, I saw a headline about what the earth looked like from space in the 1960's. This, and the loss of imagination that comes with youth, and a bit of undeserved trust that we give to our television news stations, inspired The Man on the Moon. 

The Man on the Moon

From my 
bedroom window
I wondered if I'd be able to see 
the man on the moon
the president promised 
would be there soon. 
I waited. 
Each night, I asked my mom and dad 
if he was up there yet. 
Not yet baby, they would say. 
But soon. 
I never saw him 
because as the nights went on,
and the years passed by,
I stopped looking up. 
I knew if he made it, 
they'd show him on the news. 

Monday, October 20, 2014

Headline Poem 10/20/14 -- October Monday

October Monday 

Tonight 
I stopped and 
closed my eyes 
so that I could hear 
the trees lose their leaves. 

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Headline Poem 10/19/14 -- There comes a time

There comes a time 

There comes a time 
when the people in your life 
reflect you 
and what you want to 
become 
and so you allow yourself 
to be picky and 
choose to 
surround yourself with those 
who are lovers and thinkers 
and huggers and givers, 
      because life is too short to 
spend your days and nights 
with those who suck 
the energy 
out of your soul
with no intention of
replacing it. 

Headline Poem 10/18/14 -- This Year

This Year

I watched as you shed 
layers of anger,
replacing them 
with skin 
smooth with wisdom,
aged genuinely 
with love 
I watched as you became 
strong enough to hold up 
parts of the sky 
drenched with abandonment
and inches of the earth 
afraid of their own shake, 
growing and 
manifesting 
with rich new soil 
better for planting, 
but still
foreign. 

Friday, October 17, 2014

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Headline Poem 10/16/14 -- Mixed



There are days when 
the messages are 
all mixed up. 
   Your fingertips drip with insults, 
while 
   your tongue covers 
them up. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Headline Poem 10/15/14 -- Wind

Wind

It's a call we get
and must obey,
an invitation to escape 
from all things 
 
noise 
and heat and Southern places
like cars and classrooms and 
heavy mistakes 

We wait until it's time 
to pack the car
and grab
some pillows for the long drive

We've five pairs of clothes, 
with a few left in the drawers,
and it's time to drift off --

watching folks fly by, 
we turn the car up North 
 and head 
toward the 
curtain

That's where we're let in 
to live a few days of
make-believe reality 

     in ferns and moss and rain-soaked leaves, 

we answer when she calls, 
because we believe 
     
in 
silver walls and other things 

We know it's in the wind 
and in the color of her skin
and so we go home

We know it's in the wind 
and in the color of her skin
and so we go home.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Headline Poem 10/14/14 -- DEFEAT

DEFEAT

I turn spastically from the
left-hand turn lane 
  to  avoid entering 
      the on ramp 

of uncertainty 

for. the    third     time    this     week
in an attempt to 
face the. speed 
       
      and not evade 
the     suffocating lanes 
  that I once   called 

FREEDOM. 

Monday, October 13, 2014

Headline Poem 10/13/14 -- Falling into you

Falling into you 

I close my eyes 
like our children who fall. first
and ask   questions     later

 i didn't dare before 
out of fear 
    i'd 
be dropped or overlooked 
or criticized    
for my approach 
 i just knew 
   it was a game.

And although i like to play, 
 i'm no good at games 
where i become the fool,

 a patron,
crisp ticket in hand 
for the traveling show 
    calculated      and set up 
in the name of 
tradition 
without     rest 
where you are rewarded. for 
earning a second guess
      What   kind   of prize is    that?! 

When lives     falter 
where 
money thrives,
the tasks 
performed are. 
not worth the cost 
(though THEY will assure you    they are). 
      Deny the they. 

I gain confidence 
each time I decide 
to fall into you,
regardless of the rules, 
regardless of the price,
     for if you miss, 
     I'm still stronger 
     for trusting you. 

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Headline Poem 10/12/14 -- You'll be my friend

You'll be my friend 

You'll be my friend 
until we can no longer 
get to each other, 
until we are out of reach, 
or out of touch,
  perhaps with reality, 
or maybe... 
well, not so much. 

You'll be my friend 
until our children's children 
have children of their own. 
I hope we will still eat cake 
       to celebrate
that turn our teeth purple and blue,
or better yet that we have teeth 
      and zest 
in which to chew. 

You'll be my friend 
even when it's hard because hey,
  we're still here, 
and it ain't always easy. 
But really,
our friendship shows up right 
where it's supposed 
    to be. 

You'll be my friend 
through the next election 
and more, 
how can it not survive 
when 
we've already made it through 
both Georges, Bill, and Al Gore, 
and even though it was heated, 
the last two? 

You'll be my friend 
because some of my favorite memories include you. 

You'll be my friend 
until the day 
I hear you sing Gospel & Reggae while bowling and wearing 
anything but blue --
See? I get you! 

You'll be my friend 
because if I stop
you're down to one, 
and 
characters on The Walking Dead 
shouldn't count 
(I thought you'd appreciate 
a poem in your honor ending 
with a joke, 
rather than on a sappy
note). 

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Headline Poem 10/11/14 -- Untitled

No title 

I can't   turn   off 
      the secrets  and lies 
  and   humor 
of your ways.

It's like  I know you. 
It's
like I'm 
   part of you. 
 
 I    should 
hate you 
      and yet 
 I find 
         myself      
 
filled       
    with love. 

Friday, October 10, 2014

Headline Poem 10/10/14 -- Your best self

Your best self 

Breathe in 
the air 
of uncertainty 
and vanity 
and irresponsibility
and breathe out 
your 
best self. 

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Headline Poem 10/9/14 -- I will write you because you ask

I will write you because you ask 

Your story keeps coming, taping
  me on the shoulder
following  
  me in my dreams. 

You knock on the front door, 
and my dogs bark as I try 
to ignore -- 
I peek out the window 
because I'm not prepared 
 for the company. 
I'm not ready, but you are. 

And so like a humble farmer, I dig. 
And like a naked maid, I scurry 
to dress 
before my mistress rises. 
I know once dawn comes,
she will keep me occupied until 
another morning
with cold coffee-filled mugs 
and half eaten chips, 
grapes and scraps of paper 
scattered. 

I wrote before, and although I shared,
I didn't listen as much as I spoke. 
I edited the ugly. 
I feared the confrontational. 
I sheltered.  
I prevented 
connections 
that deserve to be made,
but in all fairness,
they were not yet made. 

This time I will 
watch. 
I will listen. 
I will plot. 

You  have     much to learn, 
and I will oblige, 
but writing about you 
will be the most selfish 
thing I do. 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Headline Poem 10/8/14 -- Logic

Logic 

is a pastime
on display, 
restless, fidgety, irrational,
safe. It calls a strike from 
six feet away 
and watches volleys 
struggle and exude 
before they conclude, always
  a winner each time there's 
a serve
      over measured nets 
double-checked 
by both teams
(and the ref).

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Headline Poem 10/7/14 -- Tuesday

Tuesday 

Fire magic octagon 
burns 
from all sides
with flames 
that burst 
and then 
fade
only to chill 
in circles 
and fragments
dancing 
to music that is 
never turned
    down 


Monday, October 6, 2014

Headline Poem 10/6/14 -- Words

Words 

Sometimes words
drip like honey on the end of 
a spoon,
anticipating the swim in the warm mug of chamomile. 
Sometimes words
refuse to move, stopped like hair
tangled and matted, stuck 
in a brush 
      after spinning. 
Sometimes words 
speak to strangers despite the warnings, throwing danger to the wind 
for the third day in a row. 

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Headline Poem 10/5/14 -- Courage

Courage 

On some days
it hides alongside
hangers and curtains
and lots of 
other things 
that hold people up. 

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Headline Poem 10/4/14 -- Although

Although

Although there are nights I 
long to see the world 
of galaxy stars, 
ivory and milky,
from beneath 
other trees, 
I know the view from here 
is mine. 

Friday, October 3, 2014

Headline Poem 10/3/14 -- I know

I know 

I know that love is not a 
simple thing. 
It is more than a mouth to kiss, 
from a stranger at sunset. 
It is more than a golden layered lasso, 
given as a gift 
from the generation
before us. 
Love is tongue-tied 
and twisted, 
a vine free to 
grow blissfully 
without warning. 

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Headline Poem 10/2/14 -- Let

Let

Let me come to you 
to steady myself 
in the canyon of orange,
   bright from fire. 

Do not be afraid of the 
sparks though they are 
  unpredictable. 

Embers fade as they rise, 
and will be cool 
by morning. 

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Headline Poem 10/1/14 -- Game Day

Game Day 

Silver dollars and slimy snails 
pave the way for 
the contentious masterpiece 
of shovels and shoulders 
and dry heat. 
I shudder to think 
of the power you hoard,
but I'm letting you keep it 
till morning.