Verse: today is a poem

today
is a poem
that will not
wait

it is
inscribing
itself in clouds
like a skywriter

it is
pooling
like rainwater
in the school yard

it is
rejoicing
in church bells
and wind chimes

it is
regaling me
with stories
of traffic and weather

and i
am scrambling
to get it all down
before it gets away.

Old Verse: Valentine 2009 poem for m'lady.

Your eyes
are infinite and invincible
like a summer softly sweet
no, let's say
maybe a green million miles
of meadows
or aisles of
crowned oaks, no
pearly strands of
effervescence in
a champagne glass or
tinsled stars against
the onyx canvas of
an autumn evening
or emeralds that do sparkle
like a sun-kissed sea
that's it, the sun
Certainly, they are not
unlike that distant star
for they stimulate
and illuminate me
a tiny satellite
in your vast universe
ever grateful for
the warmth of your gaze

Verse: tonight

tonight
i count the strands
of moonlight
dangling
from midnight's ceiling

tonight
i dispel
each sleepless moment
with a single
breath

tonight
i can hear
the sound of
my one true voice
my heart
singing me to sleep.

Verse: Variations on a theme

(I could not bring these together as one, so
i
today i am
an empty bowl

i am not in love
but it is in me

if you put it there
if you feed me
with your warm wet lips.

ii

today i am
an empty bowl

put me outside
to gather weather

and the day's mood
will determine mine

or strike me
and i will resonate

serenading you with
my morning song.

Verse: Peregrine

(@Juicymorsel gave me a crumb, and I used it as seasoning to prepare a meal based on an idea that popped into my head this morning. Thanks, Morsel...)

point your self
skyward
and rise

breathe until
the air reveals
its original name

and hear
the cry of every
longing heart

their aspirations
collect in the fingers
of your immaculate wings.

verse: reason

(forgive the rhyme)

in the moments
when i forget

that i have
reason to be

your smile
slips through

my dolor
to remind me

Verse: explanation

(I don't like to write about writing, and yet I did...)

i was silent
for many years
until i knew
what i wanted
to say

emptied myself
of everything
that was not essential
so i could
focus on that

after much deliberation
i settled on this
which will be soft
and not hard
to penetrate

knowing full well
that sometimes
my words carry more weight
when I say nothing
at all.

Verse: reflections

when you
are done
with my reflection

please
return it
to me

so i
can put it
back in this mirror

and keep
my eye
on it

not because
i don't know
what i look like

but because
i want to remember
who i am

so often
i lose myself
in you.

Verse: recollection

what was it
the moon was pointing at

as we slow danced
in the parking lot

and Syl Johnson's keening falsetto
sweetened the air

i thought it might have been
some future as yet unknown

but most likely it was
something we let go of

when we gave ourselves
over to the night.

Verse: Saturday morning

in the mercenary morning
when i have sent
my dreams to bed

and taken my place
at the kitchen table
with the morning paper

i note the bend
of your bare leg
as you slice an orange

the way your black robe
nestles into your contours
like i do, at night

how your hair
hangs softly on
your shoulders sleeping

and I'm thinking
there is nothing you could feed me
as nourishing as a kiss.