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Hurricane
Seeking safe harbor
A hundred times before
In saner days than now
I can’t turn from this storm
That knows my name
In preparation
I release the anchor
Cast it overboard
Lash sheets and lines
To violent winds before me
Under full sail I’ll embrace
The glory of this tempest
As it consumes all spirit
In the seasoned planks
Of my soul
I’ll give thanks to God
Content I didn’t fade
Into the wood
R2001-2000
Obsessive love
Selfishly wanting
To keep what we hold dear
So tight and intensely
We sometimes waste
Precious little time we have
To hold these things near
We drown in self pity
Fear loss before it’s gone
Instead of embracing time
And drinking wonder
Of what we have
As long as it lasts
R2002-2000
I’m sorry
Your jealousy demands
What I can’t give
I’m sorry
My kiss finds resentment
Instead of acceptance
I’m sorry
I came alive
And grew thorns
That cut you
And I’m sorry
All I can give you
Is my absence
R2003-2002
I do not believe
There exists
A path too difficult
To walk for you
Sadness too deep
To stand for you
Time too long
To wait for you
Sacrifice too great
To make for you
A prayer too good
To pray for you
Or a breath
I wouldn’t take
For you
R2004-2000
Jagged pieces of calm
Labor to learn
Someone’s name
It’s exactly important
Fragrance of a flower
Provides perspective
Evil has many names
Cleanse windows of priority
Countless angels are near
Attend only your own voice
At your own risk
Frustrated reflection
Of shattered self
Can leave
Jagged pieces of calm
Everywhere
R2005-2001
Love
Of all we know
And everything we have
Love can’t be depleted
By giving it away
Love’s not a threat
Some take it that way
Some conflate love
With selfishness
Love’s selfless
It can’t be redistributed
Love’s recipient specific
Love is within us
We may share it
With all the world
And those nearby
If we allow
A simple message
“I care about you”
Can you imagine?
R2006-1999
Naked
I stand here naked
Afraid of all you see
All I am and have been
All I’ve done
All I’m not
I want to hide
But I can’t
R2007-2001
Nirvana
Webster’s dictionary situates
‘That place of perfect happiness
In which the self becomes part of
The supreme spirit of the universe’
Between ‘biting cold’ - Nippy
And ‘lice eggs’ - Nit
How appropriate
To find good nestled with bad
Gems buried beneath sand
Missed meanings
Lost in common ways
Some dare brave beyond
Guardrails of interpretation
To find treasures in trash
Others see only waste
How sad
Presented opportunity
Would they be too busy
Too opaque
Too cold
To find ‘Nirvana’?
R2008-2001
Ripples
Ripples of our father
And our mother
As raindrops strike the water
Ripples spreading growing
Merging with millions
And millions of ripples
Each blending to propagate
Their own cascading ripples
Continuing just as those
Who came before
Is it at all fair
That we ask a sunny day
To pardon us?
R2009-2002
Rising intensity
You flash across my skin
Focus blurred
I’ve lost where I end
And you begin
I pull you on
Over my head
Entangled in you
We spill noise of our souls
Through us millions
Of butterfly wings dance
As mist above water
That cannot still
Lost is control
Of which I’ve no need
Nor want anymore
Faint is all I feel
R2010-2001
Rodeo whore
It was your boldness
Your nature
That beckoned
Your wearing of the label
A badge of sarcasm
The shock caused my heart
To fall without relief
Shock was the intent
Wasn’t it?
Thorns of your spirit
Left cuts in my core
I’ll embrace the pain
It won’t be the last time
Nothing to forgive
Just accept it
R2011-2000
Secrets
My secrets
Aren’t buried deep
You can find them
If you want to
There’s no reward
Nor acknowledgement
For death of a privacy
So drink it as you must
Then please move on
R2012-2001
Selling your soul
To put bread on the table
Makes for a shallow meal
Soon you’ll be hungry again
With nothing left to offer
R2013-2000
Silence
Dark sand suffocates
Without emotion
Distant
Resonant
Fading song
Exhausted bones
Anxious tingling
Rapid heart
Empty pulse
Draws me
To its rhythm
Deep breath perpetual
Isolation ringing
Nudge
Inquiry
Are you ok?
What’s wrong?
Nothing
Sinking again
Beneath silence
R2014-2001
Spills
I try to handle you so careful
So as not to spill a drop
Occasionally some of you
Makes its way away
Loveliness grows
Complexity is born
As beauty of rose
And reality of thorn
I’m crossed at wits
Gleaning frustration
At common sense
Because it’s too common
To gain my association
Drawing measure to
Whether they’re wits at all
Or wits in absence
Of my station
So if I hold you not so tight
Don’t think it’s because
I do not want to
I just sense that spills
Give back so much more
Of what I love about you
R2015-2000
Still with me
In a dream it came
We were in a place
With two women around us
Anticipating the arrival
Of your new twin daughters
The suburban pulls up
You’re crying and happy
I notice the tears
And your thin wet hair
I kiss the top of your head
And tell you
Get ready
To hold your babies
You say
I can’t do this
Can you take one?
And in that moment
My whole universe shines
I awake
Kissing your picture
And the closeness
Is still with me
R2016-2002
Strength
A river doesn’t try
To move a mountain
It brushes up against it
Caressing it with love
And ultimately gets its way
The mountain knows this
So it tries to be strong
But eventually concedes
It’s nature’s way
Neither is the same
Without the other
R2017-1999
Supremacist
Inner cowardice
Ancestral discretion
Threatened by difference
Riled insane rabid
Light traverses black to white
Humanities spectrum
Spans from fear to acceptance
Ignorance to compassion
Cloaked and camouflaged
In pack stench of fear
Your pride descends
Boasts ignorance
Suspicion
I do not share
If you do
Do you know why?
R2018-2001
Tangled together
Who told you
It wasn’t your turn to shine?
Who told you
That passed some time ago?
Who told you
Days would grow long
Cold and still?
Who told you
It didn’t matter anyway?
Raise up your eyes
And your head will follow
Raise up your smile
The Heavens will glisten
Raise up your hopes
And pick one for me
In waters reflection
You’ll see me
Just over your shoulder
In tangle of sheets
We’ll be tangled together
Turn around I’ll surprise you
When you least expect it
Crush you with timber arms
Kiss you into me
And you’ll know
That you’re special
And you’ll know
That you’re wanted
And you’ll know
That you’re lovely
When I tell you
I love you and need you
You’ll know that it’s so
And you’ll know
That you’re home
R2019-2001
The glass
The glass is half empty
The glass is half full
Passersby see it as a glass
Not two parts of a whole
They conclude illusion
Secured by bond
Suspend inclination
To ponder beyond
One half’s content
To provide stability
Admirable feats
Within its ability
No perception or care
Of a separate reality
The opposite half
May have to bare
Reflection and pause
To exist without purpose
Burden without cause
Tragic to feel invisible
Don’t be silly
It’s just a glass
Half empty or full
Depending on your view
Or is it?
R2020-2001
The voice
A voice spoke in my sleep
I could have my sight back
If I’d let you go
What good is sight
In a world that’s gray and cold
It said I could own you
Just by wishing it so
What good’s love of a spirit
That’s not free
I told the voice
If I could choose my path
I’d choose a path
That chose itself
I haven’t heard
From the voice again
R2022-2001