would you come to my funeral (2006)

Would you come to my funeral,
Weep at my eulogy,
And tear at my burial?
Even if you tortured me when alive?

When you talked about me behind my back,
Snickered when I walked by,
Felt it necessary to comment on my clothes,
And the lack of friends by my side.

Will all thought be forgotten,
When they announce my passing,
When my true friends fall with heartache,
And you don't know whether to cry or laugh?

The truth is you'll go to my funeral for theatrics,
Cry like a baby at my graveside,
Regal what good friends we were,
Even though you remember your cruelty,
You'll put on the act and pretend to be a mourner.

Would I want you at my funeral?
I'd rather not die than have you there.
Because your malice will always be,
And I'd rather not bring that to the grave,
Not even if it hurts so much to live.

ode to innocence (2006)

It seems so long ago

that we last met;

back when your name

was too hard to spell.

The world began

with screaming parents,

trying to awake you

from your fantastic slumber;

and ended when playtime was over.

When the doctor's shots hurt

and the candy felt rewarding.

When nap time didn't mean so much;

when all you wanted

was mommy's tender touch.

Having one-hour quarrels

with your best of friends;

If only you could consume us again.

You are blinding,

but the good kind;

you meant so little then,

wanting to grow up

should have been a crime.

We may no longer turn back

to see your beauty:

you are a golden treasure

worth more than anything.

The sad thing is:

you don't exist until

you're already gone.

the sea's traveler (2006)

A man once master of the sea,
Longing to venture to his territory.
His brittle bones mock the frail ship,
The ship that was the key to his heart.
Wrinkled hands tell the entire story:
They are a righful pair,
Weathered by the ocean's fierce passion.
His bright memories of the past are faded;
Eroded like the shores he longs to stroll,
The once frightful barrier he dared to cross.
Whether for the catch or for the waves,
Days and nights are passed under the crisping sun.
His body is openly sacrificed to his maiden:
One who does not betray him with death.

hope at sea (2006)

Amidst a foggy imagination,
Against the perilous waves,
In the dead of night,
You are my lighthouse.

In a world clothed in darkness,
Where gloom is born,
You are the lighthouse,
A beacon of truth.

Your light pierces the darkness,
And condemns the evil,
Lifts the righteous,
And gives hope to the hopeless.

Sought by many,
Found by few,
But where would I be,
Without you?

insanity (2005)

Inside the chamber

Residing the forest

Anguish and terror have befallen

World around stops

Maniacal shrieks

Beasts scurrying

No outside contact

Unbreechable walls

Penetrated with fear

Pain lurks beneath the tiles

Darkness succombs

No escape

Torture for breakfast

Smell death lingers

Slimy cage

Trapped nowhere

Prisoner of war

Victim to a mad man

The end is near

friday (2005)

Looking out my window

children playing in the distance

car tires squeeling down the highway

birds chirping in the naked trees

Sitting in my room

watching a game of basketball

an urban racetrack just ahead

autumn has arrived for everyone

Bored on a Friday afternoon

people making lots of noise

morons got their liscenses

more leaves for me to rake

The week is finally over

annoyed of constant sounds

five o' clock traffic

struggle to keep warm

The week is finally over

bored on a Friday afternoon

sitting in my room

looking out my window

choka-tonka (2005)

Choka

drowsy sun yawns

twilight stretches into night

mist gathers in the valleys

owls seek their prey

talons pierce warm trembling flesh

screams echo through dark stillness

final sleep hushes

gentle breeze hums lullaby

until sun rolls into day

why is there no rain

the land cries out for water

but cannot shed tears?



Tanka

with a scent

evoking a certain

sense of loss,

lavender in flower

around my old home

hogwash

Cherry picking promises
Flying in clusters
Mellow, we rejoice
Filled with unnatural voice

Clear this sky of the fog
I want to see where we are
Carefully stepping backward
Hoping to cross fortune’s hand

Plead with me as it beckons
Grab the reigns tight as it calls
Cheer with glee so loudly like its scream
And embellish the evening breeze

Bordering the land we passed
Was an air of nature’s past
As if time were foreign to its vegetation
Why must we hold life so near to our dreadful faces?

pilgrim fashion

Fiction has no jurisdiction
A fleeting move becomes the show
As well as chance beget the flow
To harvest what was sewn back steadily

Without progress there is nothing to attest
Vacancies and hypocrisies loitering carefree
Where is the garnished gem of which we sought to defend?
Back beyond the briars and the old scattered snow

Falling down as we swiftly plummet
No one can ignore this ruckus
Ignorant or not there will be much to surface
And it will be daring – be wary

Splattered paint and hapless trash feign the only words we cannot speak
Used like the worst form of symmetry ever beheld to me
We cannot sleep
Without heat
Beneath

And though it carries many blessings
There are the wounds under my dressings
Plentiful as luck would have it
Make a strike solely out of habit
And pray once more
Then shut your door on me

splat

While rain trickles into
My broken home, I
Cannot recall the meaning
That had enveloped me before
Yet as it passes
It leaves a gentle,
Calming feeling
In my gut
And my mind is gone with the wind
Buried under the snow
Running from time as it chases
What is left
Though it has surely taken much
And claims it has just begun

page turned backwards

All in one
Behind tight skin
Like drums for life’s music
We find many bones
Keys, perhaps
There is this unwritten law that cannot be followed
It can only be forgotten
And maybe that is
What happened
To me

A Little History for Today's Future

Paths are crossed but never broken
The sweetest smells turn putrid
But when my maker goes to sleep
To dream of where to place defeat
This tale is unforgiving

There is no need to make amends
No goodbyes to solemn friends
Because that man can see us shaking
Covered up while the sun is breaking
Through and through

Challenge epochs with subtle schisms
Attempt to shake up nature’s rhythms
All in vain I must confess
For his only duty is to bless
Those who look up

Where it is bright by aged delight
There is no shadow of which to fright
Follow the trail in morning dew
Speak from beneath a soul made new
And let it be the day it came to be