Jan
7
2023

keeps playing through my head and
i walk my way through
this melody of motion
stay busy stay busy stay busy
stop, drop, and roll
lay on the floor crucifix-style
stare at the sky/ceiling/sky
a bit longer
strangely, the race feels over. life has slowed to its essence:
breathe and begin, breathe and begin.
the floor, the ground, the hollowed out place where a heart used to be,
these are my constant companions, and i adore them for their loyalty.
(just as i adore the beautiful souls who stand beside me through my trial)
circles circling and life living and hearts bleeding/breaking/beating
just as they always have.
last night, in a dream, i heard rapping on my window.
hard, insistent,
and i thought it was you.
or the moon.
it doesn’t matter which, really.
the sky was filled with clouds
and lost coyote screams
and i felt no fear,
nor did i part
the thin white curtain.
for you have no face and i, no mystery.
just this silence
filling cracks
with bits of blue.
2 comments | posted in 2023, howl, what keeps me up at night
Dec
18
2022

integrity is honesty in words and actions
damn the game-playing,
word-changing,
hide-and-seek
gladiators
: :
i’ll take the bird singing joy
surprised by each sunrise
the child’s new word
wrapped in giggle and smile
i’ll take the plate washed with love
to complete a good meal
and the call in the night
to remember what’s real
i’ll be quiet and staid
in a world filled with pretense
wrinkled and worn
in the fountain of youth
i’ll walk steps on the path
my own feet have created
humble-quiet and found
through dark forests of pain
: :
i will listen with love
and be your best mirror
shining back your lost song
from a field
sown with grace
2 comments | posted in 2022, howl, my forest is filled with words, solo artist, what keeps me up at night, words to live by
Nov
23
2022

is the seed
you never saw
dropped by bird or breeze or
gnarled fingers
holding silent
in
the cold of dark
the dark of cold
the carapace
of old
tend the bloom
discard
decay
worship petal
over promise
the grey kitchen
sings in whispers
to the rainbow
of brevity
each flower is merely
the camouflage of purpose:
grow
continue
circle-cycle
rest in soil
the light was always
your beginning
…
no comments | posted in 2022, howl, one wrinkle at a time, this is my life
Nov
17
2022

of cold
spinning deep down orders
to watch and warble and
listen
the way you stand there, alone, in a memory
of sanctitude
as if
as if
as is
forgiveness is the penny with no shine
worth next to nothing ’til you save it up
build a bright copper mountain
watch sleet coat the north
with patina
so much patience, required
this bold gift of living
inhale
over there, the beast just keeps rising
sun-gold and heat brittle branches
painting red a beginner’s horizon
luck is the path,
compass forbidden
embark, unmoored
stand frozen,
arrested
these clouds all smell
of winter
exhale
…
1 comment | posted in 2022, howl, poetry in motion, what keeps me up at night
Nov
6
2022

and i carried silence
limbs crashed as everyone watched
gladiator gold and cold blue judgment
but it tell you, i buried the seeds.
tending was a way of life
and you left me to it
watering
feeding
trimming fat
from bone
it’s not the burnished quiet
that destroys me
it’s the wind echo
petrified singing
cracking hope clear through
those
ring-counted hard-growth years
the sunset stays the same
holding space for another
tomorrow.
all i want is the gift
of a bare sapling
backlit
horizon
…
no comments | posted in 2022, howl, my forest is filled with words, poetry in motion, solo artist
Oct
16
2022

release the girl you buried in sand
the broken mug you carried in hand
release the sun you held like rain
the bitter voice that slipped your name
release the carry
the call
the fall
release the heartbreak
of us all
release the truth you thought you knew
release the lies that no one threw
release the center
raw and runny
release the words that can’t be funny
release the cry
the sigh
the tarry
release the rhyme
the time
the merry
release the weight that broke your bones
release the scars carved from stone
release the hate
the love
the fear
release the flaws
that brought you here
…
no comments | posted in 2022, fuck you 2022, howl, poetry in motion, what keeps me up at night
Aug
28
2021

the world is on fire
stop what you’re doing
no
stop
nothing is fair and the sky is lit
broken
stop
listening
smiling dancing and buying
stop building hiding
breathing
complaining
stop spinning
stop spilling
stop drilling
for rain
i’m an ocean of echo
on the tilt-shift of dragon
i am gold and philosophy
still and bespoken
i am school with no student
blinded by billow
i’m the cloud of refrain
in a field of forgotten
stop
no comments | posted in 2021 poetry, howl, poetry in motion, what keeps me up at night
Apr
18
2021

and now they say it’s not that bad, the sky isn’t
falling and here we are, bits of blue in our hair,
trapped in the rat-maze tracks we’ve worn in the
carpet, no longer even trying to get out.
and now they say sorry, so sorry, sorry, not sorry
and no one knows who cares, doesn’t care,
can’t care, wouldn’t care, cares too much,
has gone mad with the caring, can’t find
a damn thing to care about.
and now the sky is blue but it’s always raining and
the basement’s flooding, water seeping in around
the edges, no one sees if we close the door, ignore
the smell, carry on with dinner and distraction and
pretend people aren’t dying in a dark spreading puddle
of sour statistic.
and now. the question that only ever has one
answer, the damned unprepared living of it all,
smiling when the sun hits your face for one brief
silent moment, aching for life, alive love
laughter landing, burning through the
empty stare of days.
and now.
…
1 comment | posted in 2021 poetry, a poem a day, howl, NaPoWriMo, Poetry Month 2021, stuff i think about, what keeps me up at night
Apr
17
2021

in the black lace
morning moment sunrise
hand held branch felled heart meld
water warped meander walk
of worship
…
no comments | posted in 2021 poetry, a poem a day, caretakers of wonder, howl, my forest is filled with words, Poetry Month 2021
Apr
13
2021

there is no bitterness here
nor regret
just the walking off
weary worry
weight of the world
no solutions to carry
no voice fuel to parry
no answers hidden
in the littered grey gravel
just anger fury fear glinting off the back
of the (slick fake true) reel news
this sky that sky this sky
always leading always following
bluest
not enough
never
not enough
too much too much too much
to reach so high
…
no comments | posted in 2021 poetry, a poem a day, howl, NaPoWriMo, Poetry Month 2021