Just Away
in the quiet
i can hear the wind
brush against the clouds
brown blades turning green
seaweed in the sea
the tumbling of stones
in a river
weeping white butterflies
touch the face
of flowers
dancing in the wheat
the rain drops
down
gentle at first
before it floods
the street
and drowns the dream
underwater
it breathes
bending beams
in waves
nothing is hard
tears in water
never fall
TL
“Flowers for Algernon”
this was
required reading
that required writing
that required thinking
the tears were optional
it was one of those books early on
that stayed with you
all the way through
now my middle-school daughter
has it in her backpack
required to read it
required to write about it
required to think about it
the tears were optional
TL
To The Light
we do not
ask
to be born
none of us
do
and we that are
here
find out early
enough
that here
is no home
yet we stay
for a time
learning and re-learning
how to survive
and somewhere
in it
we learn
why we are here
not in function or form
process or purpose
but a matter
of depth
without measure or mile
for love is our lesson
for rich or for poor
not of the five senses
or the steps of becoming
well-traveled, rehearsed
in a life
full of distraction
there is this certainty
we carry inside
for if you have loved
like there was no love
in the world
and it broke you open
by its volume and weight
leaving particles of dust
in the air
then you know why
why you are here
and why one day
you too will disappear
from being
and like all things living
… return
TL
Delite
if it’s not
one thing … it’s
girl-scout-cookies
can’t say
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
to toothless pink pigtails
hopping up and down
with her curbside crew
chanting
she jest wouldn’t understand …
no-thank you-dear-everything hurts-when-you-get-old-
and-one-day-you’ll-understand-
and-have-20pounds-to-lose-and-unexpected things-
will-set-ya-back-a-notch-or-two-or-three-and-the-last-thing-ya-need-to-do-
is-devour-a-box-of-caramel delite-in-1.2
toothless grins wider when I hand her a $20
for five boxes of delite
and tells me what a GREAT choice I made
and as I walked away laughing at life
and heard them chanting to the next customer
I realized it was a great
choice
TL
Avalon
and even though
the red
of Christmas is gone
and the twinkle lights
went dark
and the trees all went
back in the box
or thrown out
to the street
and all the gifts are opened
and closed
like the year turned over
in memory
staring out
a lone winter window
at a field of gray sticks
their branches still strung
in drops that glisten
there was this gift
unopened
an ornament left
out on a limb
shining bright and round and
red
TL
Buried Bulbs
the water
ain’t clear
on the banks
of an Alabama line
but you go in anyway
like the rain does
and it’s hard to move in mud
wearing heavy boots
and a bag on your back
but there’s no way around it
but through
in the evening of an endless day
you imagine the daffodils unearthed
all lit up in the field
and you can feel their light
so strong within
they made it out of the mud
found a clearing
and pushed on through
nine months went by
and it’s good to see the sky
no longer dark or gray or blurred
but blue
TL