Maybe
she had
her head
down
forehead pressed
against the wheel
her long hair
hanging like curtains
she wasn’t dead
turned her head
to the left
then back to center
maybe it was about money
or the lack of it
maybe it was about her kids
or the lack of it
maybe it was about her husband
or the lack of it
maybe it was about her job
or the lack of it
maybe it was about her family
or the lack of it
maybe it was about her home
or the lack of it
maybe it was about everything
or the lack of it
TL
Moments
tiny and I
were watching
people go by
and wired were we
from free
mocha shots
swinging our feet
to an internal beat
and sipping sweetly
above a whip cream rim
she told me
about her day
how she made a crown,
a necklace and raced around
how Jack doesn’t like girls
but plays with her anyway
and then she sings …
“Alligator Pie, Alligator Pie,
if I don’t get some
I think I’m gonna die …”
and she whistles
and winks
and sticks out her tongue
and says,
“Ok, I’m done,
now, let’s go do
something fun”
TL
“With Friends Like That”
if you love
anybody
right away
just as they are
you’re in for it
for the gift
of love
is it
where’s there
left to go
when there’s
nothing
above it
only below
so if you’re
feeling
anything
anything at all
best you wait a bit
and see it through
past the fuzzy hue
and you, and you, and you
for when it all
goes south
it’s only then
you’ll see
what love is
really
if you were right
all along
or wrong as wrong could be
if you love
anybody
right away
the day
will come
albeit
a week, a month, a year
when it’ll be too late
to take it back
and then what a mess …
what a friend
you turned out
to be
TL
Love
don’t leave it
there
pick it up
and put it
in your pocket
and take it
with you
TL
Why
but he was
just on the phone
he said he was
on his way home
we were going
to watch a movie
“The Last of the Mohicans”
I don’t understand what you’re saying …
we were just on the phone,
and he’s coming home
TL
Fighter
to the kid
in the corner
don’t lie there long
GET UP
GET UP
GET UP
wait for
the opening
one, two
one, two
one, two
that’s you
that’s you
that’s you
fight for it
for everything
you don’t have
yet
TL
Bill Robinson
he used to shuffle in
his possessions
under arm
sacked in rumpled paper
cave fire in his eyes
like an old lion
he’d take stock
of the jungle
and eye an empty throne
and on the descent
he’d let out the breath
he was holding
and wherever he chose
to reign
you’d hear his deep, low growl
and whatever you said
he knew the verse
like he wrote it
wild words loved him
he could take
the balled up page
somebody trashed
and make it move
like wind on water
and you could swim
in that channel
dawn to dusk
from key to key
without tire
TL
Balance
we live
on the same planet
yet, for each of us, it’s
a different world
our story
a universal rhyme
but within each line
a note
unto ourselves
read by one
not by all
the need, the want
the dream, the nightmare
and if you’ve suffered
some at all
then you know
the tears that travel
through time and space and class
for there is love
for the pauper and the prince
the saint and the sinner
and the greater it is
the deeper the death
this love you’ve found
in this life you live
ever greater still
would not it be
the sorrow that was never yours
the love you never had
to lose
TL
Forecast
Friday night
two-lane street
dot of lights
strung neath a sliver
window watch
fist of coins drop
in the slot
almost hear
the whirl
of the dryer
and there’s frost tonight
snow sometime
morrow
grab a buggy
hope the wheels
don’t stick
cross it off the list
and there’s a guy on the corner
of high traffic
and he’s mopping the floor
old school
as a young gun
pushes through double doors
hauling boxes of juice down the aisle
and he calls out to the guy with the mop
“Hey, Mr. Wire. How ya doing tonight.”
and he says, “Good.”
back and forth
and it’s gonna be a long night
from the look of things
steady stream
in and out
and old Mr. Wire
he’s got nowhere
to go
but back and forth
TL
Take It
was it right
all the wrong
this little girl
over her shoulder
sees the dawn
and knows it now
what was right
what was wrong
take the blood
take the bones
take the heart
take the memory
but forget
the soul
for it moves on
and on and on and on
TL
Night Falls
and the stars
in the sky
look the same
cardboard box
or prison pane
multi estate
or backstreet alley
seafaring vessel
or locomotive ribbon
concert stage
or welfare line
boardroom
or bathroom
country road
or city street
mountaintop
or silent sea
cycle lane
or Harley hog
ringside
or bar side
football field
or distant knoll
courthouse clock
or vacant lot
treetop
or mud hole
third world
or Disney
hat
no hat
TL
Faith
the track they see
is open and free
if only they could run it
run it for me
the sky before night
is a palette of passion
if only they could see it
see it for me
the steel of a guitar
the depth of a sax
the weeping of a violin
the wave upon wave of lapping keys
the boom da boom da boom of dealing drums
if only they could hear it
hear it for me
the touch of a hand
barely a butterfly
like a baby’s breath
if only they could feel it
feel it for me
the kiss of the sun, the hold of the moon, the jewel of a star
the loss of leaves for greener ones
the high wind a distant breeze
the lilies of the valley say, “I do”
the dust of snow in your hair
the rain, the rain, the rain
the fog and the dew
the clouds of dust that show the road
the well with a wish at the bottom
the wheat in the field
the roots rising, the tiny plant punching up
the rocks of the river in surrender
the mountains shadowed and symbolic
and the prism turns up in a frown
and left you
a smile
bottle it for me
TL
Measured
at the light
a standard style truck
braked at the front
of the line
never saw the faces
just the backs
small forms of white
the smallest to the left
neither turned
nor talked
the sky gray-blue
the wind a memory
what was the necessity
packages or papers or property or prescriptions
ever it was
there was a purpose
a plan, a priority, a process
and at the appropriate speed
they went
about their way
TL
New Year
just a different
day
pain doesn’t up
and go away
whatever the struggle
it’s within
numb to most things
the heart hardens
harder to break
work the next day
and it’s just a job
less you love it
and the children laugh
and play
and the only ones
who really pay attention
are the old and gray
or the “no cures”
and the grass isn’t green
like when the stone was planted
and something happened
to that someone
for it to be that bad
and the wash is waiting
order up
“out with the old”
and it’s never new
was it all for naught
or did Thou
love Thee
deepest
in the dark
TL
Stranger
sitting in
a Chinese restaurant
waiting for
fortune cookies
and the cook comes out
his shirt wet
from washing
and chopping
and mopping
and woking
and he starts systematically
clearing away tables
and looks over at me
inquisitively
and asks, “what nationality”
automatic reply
predictable follow-up
automatic reply
“no, I don’t speak the language”
silence
then the look
pity … no family
then he looks at tiny
“is she your only”
automatic reply
predictable follow-up
automatic reply
“we’re talking about it”
silence
then he looks at me
“she will be lonely …”
nod my head
and look at the floor
and say,
“just don’t know
if I could ever
love another
as much”
he smiles
and says,
“it’s the same.
I have two girls,
and it’s the same love.”
silence
is it
TL
“White Christmas”
snow
and was
too tired
to care
barely there
to freeze frame
never felt
more adult
walked barefoot
in the cold
watched tiny
gobble gobs
looked up
at the moon
looming large
and lonesome
stood like a statue
like stone
the night
a chilled drink
should have
toasted it
instead
traded it
for a cup
of hot tea
TL
Lazenby
keep thinking
about him
out there
in that pasture
all alone
praying
his last
how he won’t
be there
Christmas morning
when his grandkids
undo the ribbon
how he won’t
get to taste all the treats
his wife made
or be there
to hear his kids talk
to ask ‘em how they’re doing
or to answer the doorbell
or the phone
or somebody’s wish
how he won’t
be driving around
in his truck
over the 2-lane bridge
on 2nd Avenue
that maroon truck
his dog knew
so well
TL
Education
what is a world
where conformity
steals individuality
where the need to feel big
makes another feel small
where the jealousy
of school girls
sends another
out the door
where the power
to “fit in”
blurs the pane
and breaks the frame
where instant gratification
removes any inclination …
where the need for public attention
overshadows the best intention
where the likes and the dislikes
carry over
to the love and the hate
multiplied and divided
to total what
where what a girl wants
is altogether different
than what a boy wants
where lessons
are learned
and scores are settled
where the strong rise
and the weak get by
where the sensitivity of a boy
is mocked and ridiculed
and brought to bare
where looking good
means more
than feeling good
where concealed weapons
are not the only
cause for fear
and it really is the world
out there
just contained
in time
within stone walls
hidden in locker halls
and made visible
in the blank stare
of that boy
here
that girl
there
TL
One Down
dropped a dish
THUNDER CLAP
on tile
swept white shards
and lint-like specks
whole one second
shattered the next
trashed the pieces
and swept it over
not fine china
or heirloom sake
just a plain old plate
set of seven
used to be eight
TL
Christmas Tree
he said
he wasn’t
looking forward
to Christmas
this year
80 odd years
nearing 90
there must
have been
some great ones
somewhere
in all that
time
but met him
late in life
later still
used to be
a tree
they put up
each year
but there’s
no tree
blinking
in the window
this year
and hasn’t been
the last few
but he smiles
when he sees
tiny
and his eyes
blink
TL