Blue Butterfly
Shirley Flora
buzzed around
town
dropping seeds
out her pocket
knowing tomorrow
flowers would grow
in the soil
and someone who needed
a lift
would notice them and smile
she made
Opelika Beautiful
(Oct. 13, 1932 – March 5, 2020)
TL
In the Wind
one must
stay centered
in the smallness
of a moment
TL
“The Way Back”
Dear Dad,
thank you
for saving me
a seat
TL
“And That’s All I Have To Say About That”
a few days ago
was watching
an all-time favorite
Forrest Gump
with its all-time favorite actor
Tom Hanks
and even though I’ve watched it
many times
I feel it every time
the message is timeless
in its truth
the viewer sees the world
through oblivious eyes
like a quiet inside a storm
“i may not be a smart man,
but i know what love is …”
TL
Plan F
it’s good to
have a plan
they teach ya that
early on
have a plan
make a plan
in fact, have at least three
a plan A
a plan B
a plan C
and when i was young
i had a plan
in fact, i had five
plan A
plan B
plan C
plan D
plan E
all of the above
i never factored an F
i didn’t know F
i was used to rising above the situation
however hard
press on
but life has its way with you
finds your weakness
and exploits it
nobody is immune
unexpected factors
can make ya question
all those plans
things ya never foresee
things ya weren’t prepared for
things that change your course
things that change you
that break you
after my father died
sudden
i stopped
making plans
TL
Silent Suffering
what words
are never spoken
loud
that hurting
i first heard
relentless
in the weeping
the baby cried
in a corner crib
where too many
lie
in worthless waiting …
for who
for what
for when
for where
for why
the door opens
the door closes
again and again and again
a thousand times
the opening and closing
of doors
walked through
and away
triggered tears
follow first steps
into tomorrow
if ever left
then you know
leaving never leaves
a body
becoming an expected thing
in the unexpected moment
it lies
quiet
in the corner
waiting …
for who
for what
for when
for where
for why
TL
Dear Dad,
still take walks
by the water
found a new place
reminds me a little
of the park
across the street
we’d walk
not as nice
though
but peaceful
the geese are at home
here
they look like swans
on water
just as serene
as they glide by
they won’t be here forever
one day
they’ll fly in formation
to some other somewhere
but not today
today they’re here
with me
TL
Passage
the
r
o
a
d
gobbles up spools
of white thread
sewn down the center seam
and spits it out
in patches
quilted over
yards of green
TL
Marshall Mathers
last night
had a crazy dream
that I was sitting there
by myself
watching the Oscars
waiting for Rene
and I heard a familiar beat
when they showed a clip of 8-Mile
‘bout how music and movies can be magic
and then there he is
in the flesh
rising from the floor
bobbing to the beat
rapping what he wrote
what he won an Oscar for …
“Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
would you capture it, or just let it slip?
Yo …”
TL
When it Rains
small me
would watch
t
h
e
r
a
i
n
f
a
l
l
i
n
g
and think
God is sad
TL
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
Cattle
that was
no way
to die
haunted by
that was
no way
to die
those dying days
that led to death
saved you
from the suffering
I would
so many hard things
of this world
experienced and observed
and often thought
just why
why does it have to be
this hard
why did it have to be that hard
isn’t there another way
has to be
… a better way
and I remember what you said to me
on a sunny-blue sky-bird breeze-day
and how I didn’t understand
how you could say such a thing
such a terrible thing
on that sunny-blue sky-bird breeze-day
I didn’t understand
TL
Stars at Night
broomstick trees
are swaying
in the rain
swept away the leaves
bare as bone
were it not for the lights
of Christmas
who could bear it
alone
TL
The Kite
birds in a
V
invisibly attached
to the kid
in me
unwinds in the sky
like a wake of water
before the fog lifts
or a traction of snow
a sled left
or the trail of a gown
as it glides
away
TL
Awareness
time is
but
temporary
so sayeth
the fallen petal
where they bury thou
underfoot
above the sky
so blue
the sun sits
with clouds
before it sleeps
and wakes again
the day no longer new
to one
yet to the other
brief before it breaks
in infancy
there were no words
aware the light
shadows in the room
the heart is heard
beating in the chamber
beyond what is real
the music plays
offstage
TL