Linoleum
Road construction
Chokes Spokane
Kids suck bathtub rings
Tweekers smoke cheese
From lithium batteries
Drano lollipops
So bomb
Seen the white light?
Tired stretched skin
Over unspoken regret
You can’t buy your soul
Once you sell it
Innocence and virginity
Socks won’t be white again
Met a girl named Whitney
Pristinely beautiful
I’d kill to protect her
You’re a policeman
Make everything perfect
I can’t speak to you
And don’t violate me
Whatever my rights are
Sure I care
Hey turn that up
Talk to the hand
F2001-2005
No rules
Listen up
Hit a girl in front of me
You won’t see me coming
So let’s stand down
And save respect
It’s about anger
And safety
Threaten hers
Risk your own
Stop yourself
Before I must
We don’t want that
F2002-2005
Summer
I first noticed
You hug your friends
Out of social custom
But more than that
You really care
Your smile and hair
Shine as the sun
You present confidence
And walk carelessly
You look like summer
Wait
You know my name?
I didn’t know
But it’s a perfect name
For you
F2003-2005
Perspective
How many are afraid
Of what the world will do?
Expecting
How many will survive
Anything that comes?
Defying
How many will welcome
What will come?
Accepting
How many will embrace
All challenge that comes?
Thriving
F2004-2005
Backstroke
As I swam lying back
In the middle of the lake
Circling above I saw
Three eagles high
I focused such that
All I could see was sky
I imagined swimming
Across the pupil
Of God’s eye
F2005-2005
Call of the wolf
Why do we admire the wolf?
Is it strength?
A look in the eye
That can’t be tamed?
Is it envy?
They mate for life
That’s important to us
They don’t care
We love the wolf
And don’t consider
What it stands for
It’s romantic to want
What’s repulsive to be
Think before you want
F2006-2005
Inevitable
Gone has no echo
On the steps in the rain
No shoulder to comfort
Or welcome return
Absence of presence
Gone is a hole in your way
Carried by wind
Scattered by silence
Preserved in memory
Gone is inevitable
Someday
F2007-2005
Church of God
What if a church
Was bigger than a building
Bigger than a country
Or world?
What if every day
We woke up inside it
Lived in it
Died there too?
Could we still
Act the way we do?
Could we claim to be more
If we were all the same
In one church?
Could we maintain
Our differences
And if so
How?
F2008-2005
Ballet
To appreciate Ballet
Not for pageantry no
Nor music or costume
Nor story told
It’s the artist’s heart
Sacrifice pain
Courage dedication
To give of themselves
Body is instrument
Dream is flight
To become the dance
And live as art
F2009-2005
Cures
There are people who live
For building bridges
Such as color to sound
They turn hopes and dreams
Into art and toasters
We take them for granted
But they’re beautiful
The colors of our world
Who turn love into art
Some dream of living
Another’s dream
Makes living possible
It’s called cures
And cures are art
From colors who shine
As they save life
Don’t think
Be
F2010-2005
Wind
Life lost to moments
Flavor unnoticed
By those too busy
To pause and taste
Too hurried to feel
Pressed for time
Eternity escapes in a second
Overlooked and abandoned
As passing winds
Winds came today
They held me for awhile
I know you wind
I love you
F2011-2005
Headstone
Oh child of my child
You’re from my soul
A part of time continued
What will you take
When I’ve gone?
What will you know of me
Of what you meant
Or how I loved?
Will you wonder?
I want to give you
Endless oceans
Sky and earth
So you’ll look in
And outside yourself
With curiosity
Give you infinity
In silence once held
As my own
Now it’s yours
F2012-2006
Perfection
With vulnerability
Is imperfection
We love imperfection
Which makes it
Perfection
F2013-2006
Erika
Poor little victim
Decides
That’s what she wants to be
When she grows up
Hurt at eleven
Not believed at seventeen
She’s spent her allowance
Of sympathy
Making everyone else pay
Four months and she’ll be
An adult victim on her own
Still crying ‘poor me’
At deaf ears
As silent tears fall
The human spirit
Has the ability to heal
And live if we let it
The mirror will reveal
Who’s got their foot
On your throat now
F2014-2006
I’m my first teacher
I accept the task of me
I’m responsible for myself
For what when and how
All my other teachers
Are responsible to assist
I expect them to do so
But I’m my first teacher
I’m responsible for me
F2015-2006
God’s Assassin
A moments dream
White hat falls
Plane filled with people
I pick up the hat
Turn and I’m alone
Chosen for battle
Between good and evil
Marked for discretion
For this revelation
An assassin for God
Choices stolen
My destiny defined
By faith
As tomorrow dawns
F2016-2006
Her eyes see me
I see her face
A cloak drifts
Off her shoulders
Her eyes see me
She opens her mouth
There’s darkness inside
Not inside
She’s an empty shell
I see distant lights
Through darkness
This shadow of her
But her eyes see me
Why can’t I see her
Who is she
What is this?
I reach out
She’s not there
But her eyes
Still see me
F2017-2006
Cold impression
How do we greet
Someone who can’t help us?
Because it says a lot
About who we are
It’s naked expression
Sometimes ugly reflection
To look better
Always remember
The cold impression
F2018-2006
Playground
There’s broken glass
In the vacant lot
And it will cut you
If you let it
More so
If broken glass
Is all you seek
There are also
Extraordinary places
To occupy your imagination
And fill you with wonder
More so
If that’s what you seek
We live together
In a vacant lot
It’s your playground
What do you want to find?
F2019-2006
Friday’s kiss goodbye
Thanks for caring
Allowing me to share
Please accept my gift
A parting wish
May your heart fly
And taste happiness
Love
To one who sings
Pretty words
I won’t listen to
Love
To one who writes
Pretty words
I won’t read
Today
A good sun passed
And I stand outside
My deepest colors
Waiting
Perhaps tomorrow
A rose elusive
F2020-2006