Category: Poems

Poem

Lashes

Barely able to contain herself
her militant stature holds back
 not understanding why
just some vague remonstrances of the past
 create a tension
so when she braves again to steal a kiss
 her grimaced forbearance
 some biting and tasting
 is either far away or hard–pressed
 lashing out in a constant stream of lacerations
The other: clever, laid–back, self–possessed
 never seems to want for affection
 till her eyes betray her
Only the tenderest kisses will she take
 and over and over, so deep her reception
Perhaps, one morning on a Tuesday
 after such an audience
 one unsubstantial half of tongue slips
 in tacit return

So when clever black stays home
 to rest her lame leg
And bold blonde bolts through the forest
 to terrorize squirrels again
I'm lost —
 yell and yell and yell
  with no recourse
Only when I whisper
 do her sensitive ears melt her heart
 and she comes bounding back
 out of nowhere

Under Auspices

Universe
how is it that I am the privileged participant?
Your beauty sings with each subtle movement
Shall we not be friends?
 Let us walk
 Each passing creature
 you know so well
 your sentient beings with each their kingdom
 introduce them to me
 And I shall be so well received
thanks to the auspices of my acquaintance

On Tiptoe to the Nightingale’s Lair

Universe of the stars
 and the silhouettes of trees
The delicate rain of
 new life on leaves
The chorus of whir
 from frogs in the stream
Nightingale, who beckoned me,
 twice I echo your somber call
Only when I quit you
 does the pretty fluting of another
 appropriately answer your question

Halcyon

It’s very nice here
 and nothing changes
 other than an occasional
  here or there
I forget now
 who had whispered in my ear
 “out of place
   out of time”
Well, now, where are we?

Back to doing whatever I do
 in this timeless atmosphere
 only a word or two
  and we are now on the same page
Late afternoon, early spring

Tears on Easter

Why so far from your path
 my little man?
Rest your head in my bosom
Lay your tears upon Mother Earth
Take sustenance from my teat
Be my lover for a time

Time for your medical training
Time to build roads and buildings
and fascinating devices of engineering
My, so busy
Not too busy
To dance and play guitar and sing
 with a gathering every evening
In knowing celebration
 of harvested humanity
Tasty food from the hearth
Long discussions of
 politics and mirth

One day your hairy legs will itch
Your hooves tap and your tail twitch
One evening you’ll silently fade
 back to me
To coax budding women into the forest
and sow boldness in them
so generation after generation
 humans in wilderness
and wilderness in humans

Spring at Dusk

I close my door
 on the descending darkness
A smile gently clings
 to the afterglow of youth’s
 sun–soaked pageantry
Lonely eyes take in their new surroundings
 tired limbs prepare to
 embrace the night
The incessant call of
 a solitary nightingale
 sings so close to despair
as innocent as a heartbeat

Beloved (Read by the Author)

One never expects love
She always descends
 in such inappropriate places
Soft, dulcet–smooth
 some kind, caramel–honey
Pouring into my ears
So low–down
 every murderous word
 tender
I bike against the flow of traffic
futilely thumbing for her to raise her voice
cursing the onslaught of society

About Time for Rain

The first time
 I allowed myself to see
 beauty in every being
was the first time
 the universe smiled upon me
 in the knowing smile of a woman
I stopped
 planting my feet to steady my bike
 as she crossed the street
 the air applauding with a
  chorus of strings
  from a idle car’s stereo
I gazed
she pondered, puzzled
then she saw
and smiled
knowing