A sanguine felt
on blades cut long;
Inspire contemplation of
rapturous song.
Keys be rent to do as much,
through one man's
lifted precious touch.
Though know him not
nor ever will.
Our time be shared,
remembered still;
By those whose hearts
are bared.
What can be
of some as that
silky thin capricious cat
No ball of yarn
or upholstery leg
for but a moment
not to chance a term
of more... time
but rather for all
to unwind
Held in sunlight's
soft embrace
a potency been crushed
to taste
nocturnal blush from
safe inside
in morning time finds
space to hide
be held amidst the
sunbeam's touch
when daylight hours
are thought as much.
moonlit pillow
embrace in night's fog
winds on skin
a bon nuit
of ours
dawn lights
share deeper sights
original sin
thoughts within
rested now
are back alive
now
on beams afresh
share moment
and share rest
Erasmus smiled at me
teeth gleaming
peppered brow salted with time
left here as my guard
little man with a gleaming set
so I met his glance
I kinded him
fed him
and Erasmus lay down beside his captive
and slept
his gleaming teeth slept too
eyes closed
warming my chest
head on my neck
"he's gonna bite you too," she said
"no he isn't"
Erasmus slept.
Permit your time to take
with words
and actions make
with kiss to know
creases form
the thought remains
hearts beat drum in falling rain
upon wood or stone
puddle formed
revealed face from silvered trays
when sky cries heartbeats
My kiss permit your hiding place
rain drops thump
when tears are taste
overwhelmed clouds
unburdened
the rains fall from the eyes of she
who's chose to reveal
herself to me.
In the tower
cleats in stone
stairs in front
or the great walls around back
a forward assault
welcome for some
a great undertaking for others
the tower wall grows flowers
the tower wall gives hope
the tower wall has thorns
but what lies in this tower?
Is it worth the toil?
Is it worth my blood?
Is it worth giving my life?
Do I climb the tower because it is there?
Maiden's breath on my neck
scents of life
Do I take off my armour
to begin anew?
I climb because I know how
I climb because the tower is my friend
the stone knows my touch
my body knows the stone.
The white bird spoke to me
as it lifted itself up from
the paper covered wall
"I must follow the other.
Please forgive the hole
I leave in your home,
but I have no choice.
In my heart
to leave is to live."
The last fig I will ever eat
A sun sets on life of sweet
times among they who shared
love they had
at times
though scared
by worlds around them
I eat this fig
and think of them
the ones I held
who held me
one last fig
summer rests
its fire quenched
by the sipping of falls blood fruit
cold sleep comes
one last fig is shared for you.
rat tat tu tut tun
clanging heels across the grand stand
colors Castilian rain
ribbons fly
their hearts are with you
painted in silk
courage stands
her flowers are bright
scented of morning
embraced by her their scents mix
a lover
they watch as courage stands facing
welcoming his guest
loving his dance partner
celebrated for life
revered in death
a birth and a death
meeting
we watch as courage and beauty dance
a scythe descends
the dancers part
silver pirouette
life paints them
life streaks the dancers
we see ourselves
we know ourselves.
I saw god
in the face of the sun
as she crept over the mountain
I was blinded
drawn
"I've come here too early"
said I with a grin
She said, "you're on time,
so please come in"
"Silence your eyes"
she cautioned me once
my eyes quiet, dark
my spot taken up
Resting them
I found the warmth of her spark
gathered round me the softness
of knowing embrace
hair to smell
lips to taste
I dare not say
the road is away
yet on it I may
be seen
to forget the world
larger than they
a light step upon the
dust of this horse trod lane
left my imprint
a soul's impression
where so many have gone
my mark upon their's
to join the dust
and be reborn
on a horse trod lane
where light steps again
will impress.
C#min F#min7
dancing razor blades upon the eyelets of my breast
E C#min F#min7
I challenge you to rid me as the clowns they sit and cry
A E
know me when you need to but forget about the rest
C#min F#min7
just as razor blades are scraping at the eyelets on my chest
C#min F#min7
don't look for me in springtime for I won't be here for long
E C#min F#min7
this dance of ours will quit when the band has all gone home
C#min F#min7
drag your nails into my timbers and construct your house of glass
E C#min F#min7
challenge all my anger, but be denied your rest
A E
and I'll walk together with you, you can tell me no more
C#min F#min7
but to dance those razor blades is all the fire has in store
C#min F#min7
I am a wanderer and from your road I turn
E C#min F#min7
Razor blades they concoct my crooked thoughts and burn
A E
never ever come back my case upon the step
C#min F#min7
moons are bright and such is light now leave them to their death
A E C#min F#min7
C#min F#min7
the next towns offer promise of loves and regrets
E C#min F#min7
drowning stacks of wretched dancers, drunken pirouettes
A E
know me when you need to but forget about the rest
C#min F#min7
just as razor blades are scraping at the eyelets on my chest
C#min F#min7
just as razor blades are scraping at the eyelets on my chest
A E C#min F#min7
We are the windblown trees
our strength is what we're used to resisting
Dionysian lap pools in our drunken pirouette
the spiritual waifed
more alive and yet more dead than we care to admit
Em
knowing how to love you
Am
puts the ink inside my pen
B7
a thousand years will have to pass
Em
to meet with you again
Em
I remember you at the sermon
Am
with the sun upon your hair
B7
and how you laughed at me
Em
with those eyes didn't care
Am
I chased you down in Paris once
Em
and you tossed me in a stream
B7
But I didn't say I'd seen you there
Em
if only in a dream
Em
and my night caps
Am
a bit too strong a bit too plenty
B7
were there when you danced F.Scott
Em
through those roaring twenties
Am
I had you in my arms once,
Em
on a plank out in the sea
B7
but the life boat that had room for you
Em
it had none for me
Em
so I sit here pining for you
Am
through the centuries that pass
B7
I know I'm going to find you
Em
and I know that it won't last
Em
But I can't stop chasing
Am
no the devils got my tail
B7
For you see I'll hunt and search for you
Em
till they bury me in hell
Am
Oh the hounds have done their barking
Em
and the gates are open wide
B7
and through the smoke and embers
Em
its just you I see inside
Cafe corazon
in the heart
with the heart
latin fruit brought fresh
mano en mano
a tower's heritage
your morning fires
tended by skilled hands
a legumous perfumery
of Vulcan's ballet
notes teased out
cajolled composition of vida
crushed pigments
painted a demitasse
con amour
Another man's play
facade of they
whose greatness shadows.
Wrecked ships
resurrected upon these cliffs
that laid their claim
wood and iron castles
a purchase was made
on wild stone
young vine on an old tree
wrap your tendrilled arms
surround the trunk
caress old growth
infiltrate the canopy
parasite
welcome for your vines flower
weigh down these old limbs
laboring to support you
nourishing your needs
spent old growth
storms weathered
virility spent
succor this youth
amorous garote
when spent
your vines held aloft
till time calls home the branch
the wood
sleep
descent
borrowed heights reclaimed
the young vine
falls with it.
Blisters of change
Old skin
new places
gone to
Old places
new skin
here again
A calling
for greater harvest
blister
harken change
Old lane
on a fresh journey
movement of life
An old place
A new direction
restored.
Dancing child
alight with slippered foot
glaze the petals of morning
your footfalls
tracing dew streaks
across the humid breath
of a summer's rain
Evening's lights of Main St.
compliment the lady.
their fingers run through her hair.
Heel strikes
in time
the great clock raining neon upon her.
Tonight she has decided
she is beautiful.
Quieting breeze
her movements
slow
down
time.
We love her
beauty.
Glimpse the divine.
Moments pass
shifted light residuum
Left us
with unlaced
melodies.
fire and shadows
delights bestowed
the steady wind of you
blows so unceasingly
begging the question
'will I stand if it ceases?'
your constant pressure upon me
support I have grown around
a parasitic symbiosis
granting easy life
by invading the mortar of my joints
you are a beautiful creature
time has bestowed you
gifts
your youth's cacoon
chrysalis
silken shroud
scarified and removed
you as I met you
in ninety-six
returned
youth remains in your eyes
motherhood has polished
your soul
abrading the residue of
poisonous thoughts
cleansed mind
washed in time and tear
roots cut at the trunk
'we are not trees'
picked up and shaken
free to dance.
The ants on the rock
they have singular purpose
The ants on the rock
no concept of time
The ants on the rock
do not watch me and ponder
The ants on the rock
they chase after food
no discouraging words shared
or bad moods
The ants on the rock
do not fret during slumber
neither burdened or
encumbered with thinking
The ants on the rock
drill forth at their pace
across the shadows of us
at our hurried haste
The ants on the rock
no hearts they possess
to churn and ache
in their black polished chests
The ants on the rock
have no lessons to teach
No mistakes no emotions
no falling in love
no misteps of grandeur
no head over heels
The ants on a rock
seek only a meal.
Butterflies dance
the meadow of morning
wild onion scents the air
pines swerve in the soft breeze
poquitos kratis
as small things rule
blooms, bugs and grains of sand
Big blue dragonfly
ripples like Saturn's rings
reflected on the silt below
Damselfly dreamers
on the blades of grass
floating on
life's summer days
I've lost my compass
hung around my neck
it has guided me
from childhood to today
I've lost my compass
it does not worry me
the years of guidance
made these ridges my friends
My compass gone
it is for me to know
where I go next.
Morning sun
drive back
the vampires of night
they lap up my blood
until you arrive
expectant vampire mothers
as gentle fairies alight
upon my skin
and drink in my life
to preserve their own
morning sun
clear the air of these mothers
who's parting gifts are
welts and irritation.
Brown trout
wary creature
exotic brought here
for a challenge
hard to find
hard to catch
worthy of obsession
to win your favor
is the heart's own trophy
Brook trout
so eager
no fear you possess
fly on the water
soon you will take
but no thrill of the chase
nor stalking in shade
too easily caught
too easily played
agreeable to a fault
though your wintry coat
is a marvel to behold
Silt to my knees
barefoot
in an alpine lake
two great fish lie at my side
a fly rod sits by them
on the grass
of the meadow banks
of this lake
the sun dries my clothes
a scent of flowers and grass
fills the air
an insect hum ever-present
the granite cliffs behind me
and the forested banks in front
bring to mind
the sierra lakes I've been to in the past
there is an abundance
of life in the grass.
whisky slide
sip
rested
opening unfolding
patient lips
demonstration of
wait worthy
a longing dance
all night
but one girl
gentle
held
know
depth sought
held close and far from
sway upon and in
unhidden eyes
yet unexposed
the chests know
locked
thump thump
quickening
softening
the hot moon melts resolve
lens
fog of night
dissipating
scented glass
emptied
Ursa's cup upended
as bodies seek
Tendril
silent beauty
shifting lith
enter my vein
a break in the armor
laceration unnoticed
while life falls
a trail left to follow
grow across my body
my chest filled with you
branch out
seek my soft tissue
be my undoing
please me
rest in my eyes
it is light
overwhelming
heart overburdened
cheeks sore
drifting into warm currents
its waters wash
over me
they drown me
and yet
suffocated I breath
held in your arms
I am free
to love
Thin
weeks of thought
concentration of my person
food for thought
my nourishment
ribs, count them
held close
my heart unloads
asleep in arms
my heart finds sleep
rest softened eyes
in the mirrors
of friend eyes
quieted
My head spins less today
Sittting here absorbing the pleasant sounds of this place
Carmel Valley awoke from the fog
to find me sleeping
My calm has found me here
Far from home where it hid
somewhere
Among too many familiar things
My cappuccino delights in showing
A relation between light foam, warm milk
and searing espresso
Elements very different
yet special in their union
Tenor banjo strum
along piano rolls
This morning
in among the people and their times
Take me back
for I've been here before
the music of a coffee shoppe
the cafes of my childhood
What a treat for
a little girl and me
Music and people in real time
natural
no stage
just players, a little girl and me
Two old men
sit as friends do
a tune between them.
In this cafe there are none of them
only us.
She, who sits with a wine glass reading
I with my pen
My companion looks on as her gin dances in its glass
Take a closer look and you'll see
there is a difference between us here and them there
I lied to you
Well sort of a lie
this place has made me dishonest
I said I would share no drink with you
in a bar
This is no bar like those..
A special place deserves more than our rules.
As we transcend the base
So must our places dance past a base form.
You, my Adler, my 'the woman,'
So few should sit here
and feel as we feel
This place knows its kind.
On this summer night
Orion lies hid
There being no moon to guide us
Stars run free and unhidden
Streaks form across the sky as they fall
Twinkles on the horizon
Summer's heat is softened
with night's calm
The heat sleeps
in the rocks
under my back
Oh dandelion girl you're crushed and battered
Run over again, it doesn't seem to matter
Up you spring after the mower has passed
A bright sunny face amid blades of grass
Oh dandelion girl you're beat and trodden
But you've worked so hard and far you've gotten
When the boot heels crush you down so small
Again you rise so sleek and tall
Oh dandelion girl they try to kill you
But all that seems to do is thrill you
Your knuckles cracked you head back in
At home among the clanging din
Oh dandelion girl please do take care
Your petals must soon show the wear
Of a thousand battles readily fought
A peaceful home you've surely bought
Oh dandelion girl your toils be over
Just set your roots among the clover
And breath in summer's fiery blast
The home you've sought is yours at last
Out on the water
we leave the shore behind.
Isolated from our native element
and returned to the first
we know some peace.
Simple joy wash us clean.
The crooked heart
and the crooked spine
walking together
steps in time
desiring nothing but
the peace and solitude
of good company
Playful girl play
Your arms laid bare
Bob and weave through this cafe
Youth's kiss among the relics of time
They were young
Some like you
Not many I suppose
Your sharing smile
brought me some joy today
The wind has shifted
my safe lee is gone
I must find another place
to seek shelter
Tides are in
and waters lie deep
Thoughts must be tended
before I find sleep.
Once set free
we cannot put back
What is
must be until
course is run
Let the cloistered keep
their bad habits
They may have none of mine.
Where the old house stood
on the river's left bank
I waited
Eyes don't betray me
not yet
Oh have some courage pal
life only comes around every
now and then
I drove over California's broken heart to be here
Sometimes things work out in your favor
you get lucky
The hot wind across the water brought a dusty calm
scenting the air with field and flower
Should I sit and write?
My head is too jumpy for that now
Oh hell, go knock on her door
Life is for the living
you have to go after your desires
I watched your silhouette notice me
A voice assured me
An uncomfortable calm inside
mirrors my own
Walk with me
down the path by the lake
I follow
The same hot wind that has
brought the scents of summer
now bends the rusted grass around her
I am older
She is beautiful
You're dried up now
though signs are clear
you we're somebody's baby
swept clean of the years
in a glimmer
hot waves ripple across your skin
revealing marks
of care
telling stories of dancing years
you brimmed with youth's passion
oil stained hands sought you
their six string's serenade
past whisky and beer
past the handrolls
past worn boot heels
and the gasoline at sunset
Now quieted
just shadows from the past
in this town
on the broken in side
there lies you in rest
waiting on that tele' twang
waiting for the boys to come home
just a honky tonk.
At nine thousand feet
no fire may be built
this arbitrary line
which man has assigned
stands between
us and warmth
In spite of this
we've both
brought
arms of sticks
in casual ways
brought them to lay
stacked with tinder first
unchecked it will burst
then twigs came
we've added them
just the same
though not without
a shoulders' glance
For to desire this warmth
is to seize upon chance
Logs we add next
our commitment is made
leaving naught to do
but strike flint with blade
so set the fire burning
we'll stand there
feel her great warmth
coming on
Heart, bone and skin alive
Enjoying our fire
this outlaw blaze
we'll be served more
than behavior ever could
a little chanced risk
and charred stack of wood
Find souls replenished
We lie eyes on the sky
embracing
man's ultimate question
Heavy lids stumble
with warmth all around
we settle ourselves
asleep
on the ground.
Your journey begun
my friend is gone
where do I go to speak
to you?
Close for a time
two thoughts combined
casual sure, but our
candor was pure
in time unsure.
Trust be had
a friend was made
Now, however, I'm afraid
you're gone and we must
submit to life with
no
you
in
it.
My pen won't write
where have you gone to
sweet inspiration?
no thought
nor rhyme
a story to tell might
do just as fine
but idle you sit
in my front right pocket
ink newly
filled
nib cleaned of residue
left behind
the inspirations consumed
In my hand you landed sweetly
though at first you were aloof
the tangle in which you found yourself
was but the only proof
of the need you had for
one like me
to your aid I came
but foundered
as the task required more
so off to friends I took you
and together at the door
we spied hope against your turmoil
the conductor deftly freed your wing
and there upon my hand
you stretched your wings
alighted
and left us
I've seen others like you
and have often wondered
if
it was you or I or we
that received the
greatest
gift?
Cafe coffee shop
of ground bean
and soft chair
a bitter brew
friendship the
thoughtful exchange
hear books
here sharing
where music
bringing together
not ale
no vulgar thought
that rich brew
saved nearer
in its own time
here are keenly
addressed
the ideas
undressed
disassembled
teased
out of the
way
join in
It is a great ship that
goes down
if there is but one
finely wrought lady
that does grace her
decks.
No great loss suffers
he with adoration
of one
these fine
exquisite creatures
for it is true
Rome will burn again
but who does burn
for you?
What is excellence?
For to be great
is but a moment
there is no great
but for the misery
and intricate insight
of failure.
Coming of age
involves so much
impacting this
process requires
more than a recipe
or a bit of sweetness
if anything it involves
an edge a rasp
a hard surface on
which to check ones
progress
aloud moment of
the sound which
drums upon my
ears brings a thought
to mind though it
leaves as quick
its permanence is
not assured
for another is on its
way.
The child of the vine
troubles us not with
sweet temperment
once oak and time
their magic worked
Subdued in its dark
intensity
but subtle in richness
charm
eyes which contradict
a tongue
caught briefly on
the wind
Olfactory of time
creased heart
the folden fan
Our vapored narrative
the scent in our rebellion
held fast
lest its releasing
satisfy our destruction.
If you desire a
child to show
cheer
the child must
see cheer
for we are but
mirrors of our
experience.
Opportunity passed
forthwith in decline
a road or river
or currents abroad a sea
Are we the traveler
standing still amid
turbulance?
Or carried along on
the journey
downstream through time?
Will you draw me a picture?
My child what do
you see among the leaves
recollections of summer?
Your first stayed with you?
animals
flight, slither, hop
crow and caw
will you watch for this
seasons flowers
because of last's?
Your garden grows
Mastiff at the gates
warm protector
between your feet
lie children sleeping
if blessed they be
let their ignorance
remain
till the child
they lift from life's
door be their own
and know then
what it is to
be papa
When pressed to service
by the condition
we rise much farther
If choice removed
and test is clear
We shall not crumble
before our fear
sure, some will fail
though more will not
and rise instead
their scars still fresh
body shaken, fatigued
through plight
A heart at rest
will sleep tonight
pang of regret
emotion separation
perpetual
turning the fired pot
pruining the fruited branch
awaken from your
purposeless slumber
cherish your tear
time will award you
so few of them
