Rachel Platten
Pandora streamed
your song
VEVO played
your video
Spotify plugged it
online
and radio went
round after round
and knocked it OUT
cold
TL
Poetry
Rachel Platten
Pandora streamed
your song
VEVO played
your video
Spotify plugged it
online
and radio went
round after round
and knocked it OUT
cold
TL
Inward Eye
on a highway
headed somewhere
out there
the world in a win
dow
and you see it
in a shutter
the mind frames
some images stay
with you
others fade
away
and it could be
breathtaking
but you missed it
‘cause your mind
hasn’t moved
past the first
frame
TL
These Days
their boy
has an arm
a MLB arm
and even when
they can’t agree
on the sun or the moon
or the stars
they agree
on that
their boy
has an arm
a MLB arm
TL
Little Things
took a hankie
outta the drawer
the one I never use
but love
‘cause there’s a cherry blossom
hand-stitched in the corner of it
and even though I never use it
I knew I’d need it
and when it was over
the careful folds were gone
soaked through and through
into a wet, wadded ball
we got in the car
and I was glad I decided to ride with her
over there
instead of going alone
like I’d planned
and after I got home
I realized I’d left the hankie in her car
along with my umbrella
the next day
I found a zip-lock with my umbrella and hankie in it
she’d washed it good as new
dried the tears
and folded it back in place
with the cherry blossom facing up
TL
“Peter Pan”
decked out
in nautical trunks
his goggles
suctioned to his head
this pint-size pirate
was unafraid
to walk the plank
he’d stand
at the edge
and clap his hands together
prayerlike
and raise them up
arrowed over his head
not out like Superman
once his form
was just right
he’d plop on in
and go
and do it
all over again
TL
“The Bell Still Rings”
driving along
and somehow
we got on
the subject of Santa
“has anyone ever seen Santa,
i mean has anyone ever seen him
put the presents under the tree …”
“I don’t know”
“do you think this year
i could maybe set up my ipad
to record … i just want to see him …”
“no, that’s illegal”
“why is it illegal”
“it just is”
“so, if nobody’s ever seen him put the presents under the tree …
then how do we know what he looks like …
how do we know he wears red and has a white beard …”
“well, in the olden days there must have been some sightings …
like Bigfoot … we wouldn’t know what Bigfoot looks like
if people hadn’t seen him; we wouldn’t know how hairy he is …”
“oh yeah, Bigfoot …”
“now, remember what I told you about Santa
and how when children reach a certain age,
he lets the parents take over for him so he can
share the magic of Christmas with all the little kids who need him …”
“what age do you think that will be for me, how old were you …”
“well, I think I was around 9 or 10 or so …”
“at school, somebody told Alex that Santa wasn’t real.
That’s all he talked about after that, and he asked me what i thought.
i told him, ‘duh, of course Santa’s real.’ Alex loves Santa as much as i do.”
“well, you know that some people don’t believe in Santa, and that’s ok.
We all have different beliefs. Some never believe, and some always will.
Teenagers and adults, sometimes, forget how it was with Santa when they were little.”
“i won’t forget …”
“I know. I know you won’t forget …”
TL
Thomas G
and he’s still
on the job
on a Wednesday
in 1983
not a Tuesday
2015
his men
have to be paid
they came in at 8:30
and left at 3:15
and he can’t get so and so
to understand
his men
have to be paid
on time
everything has to be
on time
he has a schedule
to keep
things work best
that way
tell so and so
his men
have to be paid
on time
TL
Watercolor
at first light
the stars fall
and rest on blades
winking like the sea
some cobblestone street
where shadows seep
like wet sand
and there’s always a bird
somewhere near
and some can’t sing
puffs of smoke
a stack, a stick, a saucer
people nicer
not quite awake
the dogs sniff
the cats stretch
somebody blows their nose
and spits
the water pours
and turns black
then brown
at the bottom
of a cup
you can still see the moon
in lingerie
if it rained the night before
the puddles will tell
and the pinecones will be drawn uptight
the spider can’t be found
her work a silver strand
the wind took
the building bare
an empty chair
switches on the wall
codes and passwords and logins
digits
seeds in the dirt
growing underneath
and somebody just
walked by
TL
The Necklace
wasn’t there
to shop fer her
“we need to focus on
a grad gift”
but she didn’t hear that
nope
stood right there
unfazed
staring into a glass box
“mama, i have to have it …
please, i’ll do anything …
and i won’t ask for anything else
for my birthday
if you just get me this now, that’s all
i want … PLEASE …”
this went on
and on
the lady at the counter
smiled sweetly
and says that everything is on SALE
today only
75% off
“can’t we just look at it …”
so the lady opens the case
and takes the necklace out of the box
and hands it over
the begging gets worse
and I can feel another gray hair popping out
we start going back and forth
and hand it back to the lady
“we need to focus on
a grad gift”
finally I find something
reasonable
and go to check out
“but mama …” trails behind me
“yeah, no”
“but you don’t understand …”
“yeah, no”
“i’ll pay you back when we get home”
she feels me folding
I ask why
“what is it about that necklace”
and all of a sudden she gets real quiet
and looks around to make sure nobody’s listening
so I bend down
and she whispers in my ear …
“it’s magic. i know it. It looks exactly like the medallion
on that show where the girl wears it, and it gives her special powers
so she can talk to animals.”
when we get home, it doesn’t work on
the dog, the cat, the bird, the rabbit, the hamster, the fish, the second fish
but what was interesting about it all
was how it worked on her
when we typed in: blue abalone
her eyes got “minion”
“i knew it! i knew it! i knew it had magic power in it!”
she never did pay me back
well, actually, maybe she did
TL
Cosmic Dust
how I wish
I had a room
big enough
with nothing in it
but a floor
a reflection
a pane
a reverberation
TL
Seaside
sitting there
watching the sun
come up
over the waves
those gentle, careless waves
that crash aggressive
against the shore
then slip back out
to sea
where the paper planes
come in for a landing
and drift away
I’m reminded
what that little girl said to the seagull
“someday, i’ll come back
and live here with you
in my stick house by the sea
and i won’t need much
… happy i’ll be”
this thought turns over
like a tumbling shell
and I feel like I could walk forever
but I know I have to turn around
and go back
not a little girl anymore
but my daughter is
and she’ll be waking up any minute
wondering where I am
as the ocean rakes over the sand
leaving not a trace
TL
Woods
to be able
to put your life
in perspective
is an opportunity
not met
by a hurried step
we live a thousand lives
in the end
the experience of emotion
is what molds us
and we take its form
its ever shifting, folding form
maybe Kipling said it best,
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
and treat those two impostors just the same …”
an observation of the very old and the very young
displays this adage
while one is in the process of continually letting go …
food falls off the spoon, scrape up another bite
the other is in the process of constantly attaining …
food falls off the high chair, stop and watch it fall
yet both are open to change
in a way that is harder for the middle minded
to obtain and process
clarity comes in those small, quiet moments
when the grass has long since grown
over the mound of dirt
and now needs maintenance
TL
Butterfly
when you don’t
think it could
get any better than this
any worse than that
it does
in the expanse
the shape and form and fit
there is dimension
an angle
a shard of light
when a door opens
a black box when it closes
where’s the window
cut a square
in your cardboard box
and wait
the sheers of the sun
will pool in
drape over the moon
and soften all the stars
‘tis a curious thing
metamorphosis
TL