On A Rainy Friday Afternoon

I was watching wind write poems on the sea

falling in love with pink scrub roses and dunes

their sugar scents and a sliver moon

i want to give my heart away

a bottle, a pen, a note afloat to you

on an outgoing tide on a rainy afternoon

The daffodil’s sudden yellow made me gasp in the morning sun
where yesterday there was none


i’d give a penny for his thoughts
a lifetime to his dreams
if they were about me


but sometimes dreaming in the wine
isn’t worth my stained lips


i would give a lifetime to spend a day in the sun
dreaming in black and white shooting stars
find love like lightning
where yesterday I had none

got a shiny penny for that?

Snippets From A Sunday

At closing time the blues man played

head bent and heart like a rainbow, he sang

one of these days i'll catch the right train

one of these days i'll do it for me

i hear those guitar notes again

rising like an April sun unlocking me

how does it happen

a tornado inside me

under a new moon's dark pools 

your soul like a mountain came 

in a fog i thought you might love me 

but the hot pink light outside the bar went out again

years and months could go by

but a day will come

to put you down

to walk away and be done

don't you have somewhere else to be

somewhere that you'll forget about me

A dying day's light shined on the lake

you thought you might love me

watching steam on my coffee cup

i knew it was time

a tide rolling away

my things stuffed in a bag 

i felt like nothing 

one day i'll catch the right train

one day i'll do it for me

a waterfall inside me

I Made A Promise To Spit It All Out

I kept staring at the full moon

like it could hear my question

like i could hear its answer

as if it understood me

just by shining on me

from far away 

why why

-------------------

Justin hated the lesbian. He slammed doors and banged chairs around while she made coffee. 

He said, who asked you to come in? She filled her lips with the first light, sweet sip.

I snagged the newspaper before Justin could rip out the crossword.

The lesbian and I sat with steaming mugs on a weary couch on Saturday -- early sunlight on her skin almost gave her away. 

But nobody knew just by looking at her. 

Nobody knew her inside. 

No one could tell who she needed to be when someone like Justin woke up angry.

I mean, what do you do with a guy banging around in early September when he realizes that the girl he jammed last night -- shrouded in cigarette smoke with his heart pounding in his ears -- was a lesbian?

Starting Small, Just Like Spring

Dawn stirred

spring slid with the sun across winter's dead fields

leaves trembled over hard ground

it held everything 

she whispered its name

raising green from the soil again

begging life from the clay

Throwing Pennies At It

A neon sign burned red holes in the night

I wiped away spilled beer remembering unfinished hopes 

remembering you

I tried fitting you into words but got lost

thought I would take a chance

like sunrise i would just happen suddenly 

warmth and light

but it wasn't right 

not this time

so I stuck my heart in my hands and let it burn

i cried and wanted you

saw my reflection in the well

started throwing pennies at it

Spring will dawn in a few days; she'll lift her head and bloom.

Ink babble, and a lot of it…

Can you put it together

add light to the stars

can you see it in pieces

bringing shine to a pearl

a poem a song a prayer

from a girl

----------

look, i just sit alone

with a pen and drinking wine

you made me happy

like everything new

sunshine and rainbows

and god damn summer dew

----------

do you keep the bottle

and all my bleeding notes

do you feel happy

the smell of cigarettes in the rain and old smoke

i still wear your sweater 

in a silver fall rain

we wait for darkness 

for the end of a day

----------

it's spartan in here

i guess you can't see

a pastel plaster corner

where i kept no TV

propped up on coke and war memories

you threw Johnny Walker at the door

listening to music

who plays this peace creep stuff anyway

----------

love's a cold weather game

giving out little bits of heart

little broken crumbs

----------

Stars were sliding slowly on a blackened sky while small and far below i waited for a sound or spark or hint of light.