Rainy Days
tea bags
keep breaking
a p a r t
and the bird’s going
crazy in his cage
and the balls keep going
over the wall
and the songs are all sad
about love
and the sun covered its head
under the clouds
and granny’s in her house
getting old
and the feathers are floating
top to bottom
and she’s checking her look in the mirror
6 to 16
and those yellow roses always turn
brown by morning
and none of it’s new to me
so why
“and Mother Mary speaks to me …
let it be”
TL
Stories
you can
do everything right
or everything wrong
you can read all the books
or none at all
you can fall in love
or never come close
you can travel the world
or never leave home
you can work all your life
or not
you can believe in dreams
or give them up
you can pick all the flowers
or leave them in the ground
you can drive down the street
or walk
you can save all your money
or spend it
you can talk and talk and talk
or listen
you can give and give and give
or take
you can hurt someone
or heal them
you can shuffle
or deal
you can hold on
or let go …
you can live as if you know
or live and know you don’t
and no matter what you do
or don’t do
nothing prepares you
for The End
TL
Love Me
when nothing
makes sense
and I can’t see
my way
where I’m going
where I’m at
where I’ve been
tell me this again
tell me that you love me
I need to hear it now
tell me you don’t care
where I’m going
where I’m at
where I’ve been
only that you love me
tell me this again
I need to hear it now
not so much in words
just my hand in yours
TL
“Mind Over Matter”
close my eyes
can hear the gull
and children squealing
and palms swaying
and coolers closing
and umbrellas opening
and my heart beating
can feel the coal on my feet
and still I lie down
and welcome the pain
then rivers of relief
in the fingertips of foam
I swim in the sea
taste the salt on my lip
and float away
from shore
human no more
TL
Candles
within
the breath
of this moment
someone, somewhere
out there
is getting older
is walking down the aisle
is nursing a newborn
is marking a milestone
is remembering
is forgetting
is falling
is praying
is laughing
is crying
or just trying
to get through
the night
TL
Reassurance
an ageless
dance
we do
moment we appear
to the moment we disappear
the bundled baby
we say,
“you’re so beautiful”
the dying
we say,
“it’s okay … you can let go now …”
and the wind sweeps
leaves away
and the rain rolls down
ridges of bark
dispersed
even, uneven
and the butterflies
won’t be back
‘til spring
and the sun
won’t be back
‘til summer
and this is how
the story goes
for the young
for the old
so if you love
love now
while love is
TL
Submission
summer storms
are like fire in the night
flashes of youth
in the east
show the destruction
in the west
where the wind
spins the sand
a cyclone
of dust and debris
and just as sudden
the stillness
takes hold
and there looms the moon
smiling at the stars
between the sheet
of night
TL
Self
what would
you say
to yourself
if you knew
yourself
what would
you say
to yourself …
would it be
sticky sweet
or a bitter rind
would it be
light and airy
or a weighted stone
would it be
giving and kind
or eerily sublime
would it be
replete and replenished
or drained and dug
would it be
happy and whole
or a sad, sad soul
what would
you say
TL
Blades
many a morning
she sat on her narrow drive
and scooted along with a pair of scissors
conforming each blade
no wild weeds here
and in the fall
she’d gather dead leaves
and black bag ‘em
and carry ‘em across the street
lining them up just so
but some things could not be controlled
bike treads and hydrant dogs and solitary soles
would come and go
and if she were in her right mind
this day
those cars parked on her lawn
haphazard
would be towed
far, far away
TL