life, death & the in-betweens

honesty shot through the prism

of a rapier wit,

poetry from laughter and life.

--

life is on the edges,

still we too often cling to the cushioned walls

afraid of death omniscient beyond

while killing ourselves so subtly within.

why does it take the loss

of a loved one to give us pause

in this slow-motion dance of subliminal waste?

--

that fairness not be fair weathered

or kindness out of vogue,

that searching wanderlust go walking with a quiet resolve.

--

that simply to be and be hilarious

might just be the most important,

the most caring,

most healing thing of all.

for Larry, RIP.

Musing on Claustrophobia in a Snowstorm

She's soft like pastels in a water color muddle,

determined to the fault line;

cracking open, tearing closed.

She's breaking, then crying,

then sobbing with anger.

Then a commercial for Lenscrafters

as I bear passive witness on the couch.

My walls breathe down on me;

sponge-painted, closing in.

Snow bound and fear bound and thought bound

and wound taunt to tearing.

Fury.

Seething.

Shaking.

The tectonic plates shift beneath

a calm disposition as I smile, agreeable.

Seething.

And strapped into distraction from all that,

watching Aquos and Macintosh

play substitute for life.

A Moment Damaged on South toward Jim's

The neon store signs splash into the rain,

echoing across the inhabitants of South Street

on a winter's Tuesday evening.

She cries melting melancholy past the TLA head down in a rush,

all frayed corduroy and thoughtless shoes trailing blonde highlights.

Then time stops abruptly on the corner of 4th.

She looks up, catches your eyes catching hers and smiles damaged.

Somehow broken in places she's forgotten but you call home.

An instant and she moves on.

Smiling sadly, you brush past her into Jim's,

fried onions and whiz with a coke numbs the sting

and fills the belly.

You felt the hibernation melt in that moment and harden again.

Unseen, she fades into the denizens moving east on South,

sweet damage in tow.