Aftermath

This morning
I'm left with
fragmented images
of what I dreamed
last night:
a drug sniffing dog,
a river, a sunset, a canoe,
a mandate
to be out by dark
and finally
left behind in the woods,
betrayal.

Nothing was what it seemed.
And I got up twice to pee.

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

Sunny Day In The Park

In the grass
anonymous
your agenda clear
to my damaged
adult's mind
now

There was a time when
I ran these fields
as a super hero
a warrior
a child
free

With no sense
of the eyes on me
or what they
intended

Stranger Than Kindness

Again From None

I run a labored mile in
the heavy darkness, finding
the pain of starting over
again from none.

A girl, newly thirteen,
reads Siddhartha, doesn't understand,
and before she finishes closing the book,
a new road has opened
before her.

A boy of ten, fresh from his
first complete confession,
washed nearly clean of guilt,
starts over from here,
sharing his Easter candy as penance.

A smaller boy of five, feels
the inkling of his first
loosening baby tooth,
and cannot bear that it takes
so very long to happen,
foiling his vision of a family trip to Disney World
fully funded by the
Tooth Fairy.

We Want The Airwaves

Thrust

Thrust, parry and fall
breathless
there's no time to
get any younger
yet something stirs
half remembering
half forgetting
sit and cry

Stand, give an eloquent toast
it's time to get it all out on the table
to say your hellos and goodbyes
your I love yous while you still can
to give it all
all you have
or to roll over and go back to sleep
before it's all gone