Travel by Night (2008-2009)

Dusk on the highway 

Readjusting driver's seat

Clouds mixed with cocoa. 

Trees silhouetted 

Darkling sky, streetlights missing

Sorry hitchhikers. 

Short ramp, brief detour

Quantity of maps and guides

Hope of clean restrooms.

Final exit ramp 

Streets of unfamiliar town

Lighted motel sign. 

Sheets of cool linen 

Double beds, extra pillow

Go back tomorrow.

First post

A fellow Twitterer (or Twit? what is one called??) asked to see some of my verse. This site accommodates that request. I haven't written much poetry in the last several (uh... twenty?) years, but what I have written is here, along with some of my college-age stuff.

This stuff is copyrighted, so fer cryin' out loud, don't plagiarize!

Ladies (2008)

I have a friend who's a wonderful cook

If I could I'd live in her kitchen.
I'd pant like an excited pet
And have love in a doggy dish.

I know a girl who cuts her arms.
Why do I bleed, she asks me.
I don't know what else to do
But tell her that my heart bleeds too.

A pale woman with eyes like fire 

Gave me peace from her cool fountain. 

I splashed and drank, my shoes got wet 

And she kicked off her shoes and ran. 

I'll sleep.  When I awake, I'll be fine.
I'll smile and joke and laugh.
I'll think about a friend, a girl and a woman.

Gentle ladies all, fragile my heart. 

Love in the Year 2000 (1999)

If I could in one magic magnetic sweep
Wipe clean the thought-tracks of our memories,
I could clear the cache of cumulative baggage
And recompile the romance with fresh lines.
But would our love still exist
Without those date dependencies?

The Marriage Thief (1998)

Creeping quietly toward the prize
The thief arrives to find
One who gave away the gold for free
(But for lawyer's fees)

I find myself beneath your respect
Like a prattler who's bound to cease
But can those who dispose of love expect
To find release?

Silence and pain, only these survive
In the caverns of your sunken eyes
Scintillating once with beams of bliss
Now it comes to this

Truth is nothing but a slippery line
I'm possessed by a spirit within
To know the truth as you believe
Then (perhaps) I can grieve

Did I discard the sacred trust?
Did I ignore the fateful signs?
Did I malign the tears you shed?
Do you wish me dead?

The thief pursues me wherever I go
Sometimes I want to drown my woe
And anger and anguish and all my fears
In five or six beers

Ugly and tall the marriage thief abides
Knowing he will never lack opportunities
To steal precious memories from the rubbish bin of years
Leaving only tears

Solitaire (1997)

She deals the cards and frowns,
Silently surveys her hand.
She lays three cards down
And thinks, but doesn't understand

Two cards she finds to pair
One red and one of opposite black
Face cards she lays with care
Queen in front, king in back

With stiff limbs and a poker face
She plays according to rules
Set down in another time and place
By sympathetic fools

Darkly through the glass
She greets another day
She comes to an impasse
It cannot go her way.

Spreading cards across the floor
She quits the fatal game there
And gets up, heading toward the door
Thinking it's just solitaire

You Were Never There (1997)

I had a dream last night that a package came

Full of those styrofoam peanuts

I dug and dug and finally found

A shiny brand new you

An invoice on your shoulder

And then I saw you in the mall the other day

You looked so bright I wondered were you plastic?

And then the whole scene coalesced

And you weren't there at all

And a chord struck me

You were never there

Your body was an empty shell your smile

Went on for miles but you were 

Stone cold dead in the head

And now I guess I shouldn't wonder why you don't care

You weren't there

I had a dream last night that a package came

This time I sent it back return to sender

Last night I dreamt I buried you six feet under

Underneath a load of styrofoam popcorn