Month: September 2025

Autumn

can’t see

the ground

for the leaves

can’t see

the sky

for the ground

TL

Dim the Lights

had a dream

but don’t

remember

much

about it

even though

i tried

to piece it

looked for it

in the face

but

it was blank

like the page

nobody read

took a walk

but went nowhere

watched a child

laugh

and a curtain close

the world’s in the wash

ringed out

and worn

slowly drying

the wind picks up

running across the grass

like a ballerina

on pointe

and the stage isn’t big

enough

for the sell-out crowd

and the song isn’t long

enough

to forget where you are

so we buy another tree

and dress it up

with a star

TL

The Bottom of the Well

what of

the cuts

too deep

and dark

to bleed

the ocean

spills over

the edge

sizzling in

the sun

smoke lifts

and drifts

into the ether

catching in the trees

of Tennessee

covering the mountains

in snow

and each stone

in the riverbed

turns

over

with nothing

to say

footprints

in the dirt

where someone else’s

been

it’s autumn already

and i haven’t

said goodbye

but you left me

anyway

keep playing the same

songs

even if the new ones

play

all the rooms are empty

but the surface of things

are filled and overflowing

and i stand in the middle

of grocery stores

staring up at shelves

never reaching

what’s in the back

linger a little longer

in the rose garden

rows of wrapped petals

they’ve been cut

too

wish i coulda

saved ‘em all

i save their memory

in my mind

going back in time

to the place i was born

to the shadow of someone

on the ground

who cannot

bleed

TL

A Fallen Tree

and by and by

creatures

meek and grand

weak and strong

lost and found

might happen upon

your path

and you will learn

from each

what you need

to know

and they you

and this knowing

that each exists

in its own time

will give what it needs

to give

and take what it needs

to take

like the sky above

and the ground below

and in-between

the drops of rain

and the dust of snow

something green

will eventually

grow

TL

Out of Africa

Karen: “When you go away …

you don’t always go on safari, do you?

 Just want to be away.”

Denys: “It’s not meant to hurt you.”

Karen: “It does.”

Denys: “I’m with you because I choose to be with you.

I don’t want to live someone else’s idea of how to live.

Don’t ask me to do that.

I don’t want to find out one day that I’m at the end of someone else’s life.

I’m willing to pay for mine.

To be lonely sometimes.

To die alone, if I have to.

I think that’s fair.”

Karen: “Not quite.

You want me to pay for it as well.”

Denys: “No, you have a choice,

and you’re not willing to do the same

for me.”

Robert Redford (Aug. 18, 1936 – Sept. 16, 2025)

The Way We Were

Katie: “You’ll never find anyone

as good for you as I am,

to believe in you

as much as I do

or love you as much!”

Hubbell: “I know that.”

Katie: “Well then,

why?”

Robert Redford (Aug. 18, 1936 – Sept. 16, 2025)

The Way

how someone

dies

is how someone

grieves

it is a gift

indeed

to die at home

in your bed

in your golden year

surrounded by

the familiar

sights and sounds and smells

but seldom so

as circumstantial evidence

shows

much of it is

out of your hands

out of your control

when there is

no choice …

but to let go

but you resist

and hold on

for the whole

of your life

‘cause the way

someone dies

is the way

someone grieves

and so it is

and so it was

and so it will be

no matter how we wish

it were

the body bleeds

the mind goes blank

the eyes close

the heart stops

and the soul begins

transition

like waves in the sea

like wind in the trees

like rain in the soil

like snow in the sun

like color in the cloud

TL

Weaver

out there

in the morning

ray

watched a web-worker

spin

she followed the line

from limb-to-limb

nimble and light

her work

delicate and intricate

glistened

in the summer sun

like tinsel on a tall tree

a sudden gust

or torrential rain

could sweep it all away

on any given day

still

she’d find a way

to wait it out

and build it all

all over again

she’s unafraid

of seasonal change

too busy

building

and rebuilding

to pay it

much mind

she can’t worry

with the wind

it’s snowing

in Tennessee

TL

Labor Day

been a year

since she left

her home

feels more like 5

used my bed

as a raft

and floated there

too long

staring up

at stars

searching for

a constellation

got too far out

and had to paddle back

waited ‘til the ice

thawed

and the daffodils

lit up

took some breaks

along the way

and watched the water

change

birds flew ahead

in an arrow

the wind pushed me

the rest of the way

the grass was still green

and the roses still red

put my gloves back on

and found a bag

took my putter in hand

and found a green

made a meal for two

looked around at all

the stuff

and started going

through it

but if it weren’t

for the unexpected

far-fetched

hand-me-down-gift

i’d still be on that raft

hadn’t loved like that

since Forest

funny how an animal

knows just what to do

without uttering a word

been a year

the hardest yet

since ‘93

Granny’s

still

gone …

TL