Desert
An open wound is hot and
stretches like a memory across a
desert of salty white sand
scars are left to slowly heal
in the heat, as if footprints on the dunes
were following a Gypsy caravan
It’s purely mystical how the
flesh regenerates - in time
a faint raised mark smoothes over evidence of a pain never forgotten
2009
Eyelids
Your eyelids cover the the moon
and back to June
Smooth and forever
I see your affection crack through September
When you peer in me
who are you to be
A child wanting to hide
or woman to confide
2010
Georgia Ref
Like a squid out of water
Like a long lost daughter
Nothing feels complete
And everything is left undone
2003
Homeless - To Be Without A Home
Adjusting the load on his five wheeler
Wearing a long leather jacket
A maroon scarf and a red woven hat
He’s gone down the street and out of sight
In the direction he was heading
Likely with no destination at all
As quickly and as soon
As his belongings were secured
For his journey
To nowhere and anywhere
2002
House of Empty Empire
Kitchen cupboards full
bookshelves weighing south
designer furniture spread adoringly around
nothings' like life uptown
A house, a loft, a mortgage
complimentary,
a garage with a car to spare,
don’t look now
but nothings there
Kids running through the
grassy green yard
with a fence all the way 'round,
suspicious eyes watching from afar
like a hired security guard
Hollow halls, quiet
and modern spacious,
nothing out of reach,
nothing too far fetched,
organized in order,
all has it's place
Closets and clothes and
shoes, and jackets and fashion news,
yet more space is required
not enough rooms
Credit is maxed, but
still more can be squeezed
a call away can quickly jack your limit;
that’s all part of the plan
Keys on an end table by
the door, wallet removed,
bedroom sheets tussled from
the gale that entered the room
but you checked out
this time last June.
2010
Laundry Day
The thought of washing clothes is never a thought that gets either attention or priority when weighed with other responsibilities
To know that laundry day exists brings animosity and fatigue over my entire body and effects every single one of my senses
Before this dreadful idea entered my mind, all of my faculties and limbs were working, as far as I was aware
When suddenly laundry day materializes as a task that must
be done, usually when I have worn every conceivable article of
clothing I have ever possessed and collected since birth,
Life and time come to a halt
To look at someone who has just realized laundry day is eminent and unavoidable, can be described as follows:
Shoulders slouch forward and slowly come together,
The head is lowered - almost coming in contact with their chest,
Their eyelids droop almost shutting, and are neither half open or half closed
A steady, long breath is taken, followed by a quick and sudden exhale
Depending on the person, they may put their hands in the air and say,
“Shit”
As their arms are brought down in the space in front of them with deliberate force
Laundry day affects us all
In the end
We must bow down and crawl
To the laundry god
That rules us all
2003
Leave Me Like You Found Me
Leave me like you found me
On the couch with my books
To my evening outings down at the bar and grill
With friends and friends of friends
I don’t mind
You know that’s how I like it
You never could take subtitles in foreign films
because it takes a certain amount of effort
to read moving pictures like a book
to see the poetry in text on screen
your eyes only see tireless-some distraction
That’s just a fraction of what separates us
Yet one must grapple with basic facts
that negativity can be the worst perspective
into a situation as delicate as love
why trust such an unforgiving eyeglass
truth is what I want to live by, as hard as it is too find
Surely to live truth one must be fair and kind
Leave it to our young son to binds us together
I can’t deny you carried him in your belly
you are the mother
To make life together is forever
Lovers can choose to break sacred vows
Offspring months in the womb cannot be undone
To dismiss creation no one has won
How can I ignore the life we made
To look in his eyes I see you
I always will
He has your wiry smile of mischiefs delight
Your eyes full of unyielding life
To leave kin is wrought with much fret
2010
Left Behind
Nights like these
we forget ourselves
all our dreams
left behind
in the falling leaves
and so it seems
we move on
2010
Life Line
Between the laughs
and the endearing looks
I see joy
Fear or worry are not in his name
Nor are guilt, doubt
or shame
Pure and unbiased are his gestures
His innocence refreshes me
and conjures tender father pride
He is my life line, he is my
guide
2010
March Is Far From November
On a November afternoon
the cold breeze crawls its way in
through our patio screen two stories high
I type, but the words do not come
November takes over and I sense
winters quickening numb
Late this year it may be
snow is sure to blanket us over
and into ourselves for free - for months
I can feel the dry coolness already
imagining the white landscape covering
and hovering until March thaw
I know March is reliably melting season in Winnipeg
because it marks my birth like a mud stain on a shiny coat
Oh, to be born into a season of mush and slop
I can hear the rushing water draining from the streets,
cars splashing by, widow wipers spraying, dripping trees
and glossy rubber boots, the oblique water soaking everything
Cascading through drain pipes is not a recommend
way to start life, but washing away before life’s breath
takes hold again, is not a bad way to end
But March is far from this November
with absolutely no precipitation near
this clear blue air
2010
Natures Lullaby
The rhythm of falling rain
a cooling breeze
water flushing through
spouts and drains
sounds of sloshing cars
and wet lanes
cracks and holes
overflowing souls
trickling drops
splashes and splooshes
mother robin
feeding her young - grooming her nest
a symphony
sound for eager ears
a lullaby for
rainy day naps
2010
Projection
I’ve seen most everything if not through my eyes
Through the collective yours
Through digital transmission
I have lived the fullest and the emptiness of lives
Wore a smile greater than this earth
I have even given birth
Heard babies laughing, children clapping
I am a witness that all this is happening
I have realized the moon shines, though from afar,
on us all no matter where we are
Only to die slowly of hunger and deprivation
Comfortably observing the macabre violence we all commit
Massacres or genocide on who’s side
Do you lie
To no end to the extremes I have experienced
Victory and defeat
The episode has been quite alarming
Though not mine, I’m crying
I have entered this life and I will exit
But to who do I owe
This cursed leisure
my decay started as soon as I entered stage right
Only to exit after the lights dimmed dark
I opt for stage left
Executing my part, I deduce is the logical end
But that depends if life and death flow
From side to side
You know you can’t hide and yet we all try
So I close my eyes so I can enter myself
and look inward to see what I can see
I wonder who I would have become
if I had looked solely through my eyes
How different would I have been
In another invented golden age
Am I me or a byproduct
of the latest mania
Whatever I have been
I must claim this life
the only one I got
and reclaim it again
if need be
Until there is no separation
from my eyes and the perspective projected onto my story
2010
Realization
A writer of life
must be clear of clutter, least
words on the page return
stained.
2009
Restless
Our moment is lost in the moment I try to record it.
A humming city stills the room,
the air, the night. Her breath consistent -
breathes in and out.
Half my bed filled with the body of my enduring love.
She may rest assured I am lying next to her, and so she travels
deep, rolling into calm, spacious regions
open with emptiness.
How sweet when trust stretches far beyond one’s arm’s length
and further still ‘till night touches morning,
‘till darkness pokes the light.
A past barely noticed if eyes shut out history.
To carry ones weight through those lonely nights,
certainly would keep
anyone from sleep.
But I am here. Rest assured, I am here.
2010
Open Windows
As the wind blows through
open windows in my house
I think of
Him
For no locks can protect
and no neighbourhood can keep
my family from
harm
The only safe haven
that truly exists
is in the assuring arms of my
Saviour
No spot on the map
no geography of place
no security system
can secure
For I would rather trust Him
than anything or anyone
so I close the window
once more
- hesitate -
reopen the pane
and let the world blow through
my castle
2010
Sea of Serene
Sea of serene
wash over me
cover me blue
and soak me through
take me out to
the depths of mystery
where nothing exists, where
sea and sky meet
I want to touch
the skyline
I want to smell
sea salt
and the clammy
air and misty moons
I want to drift
far out beyond charted waters
beyond borders
beyond reason
I want to drift
and keep on drifting
take me away
to your quite centre
and then some
2010
The Forgotten Notion
I pine for the letter
the notion of sending a piece of paper
folded into three crisp creased sections
neatly inserted into a white envelop
the licking of the flaps glue to hold close
the intimate corresponding between two kindred spirits
with their discrete address on the front
then the act of walking it down to the local
drug store or post office (which ever is closest)
to be sent in the mail via Canada Post
delivered by the dwindling yet ever diligent postman
Letter me, no email please
are words I long to send through my lips
to see the expression on faces and friends
contorted in utter disbelief the forgotten letter rearing its head again
but sadly there is no hope for the illustrious return
of the letter in our engaged calendar schedules where
wifi digital technologies make us quicker
communicators than light but slower in life’s genuine touch
dulled to the sensitivity of human longing of our fellow man
or woman that are in need of words that take effort
through thoughts that dictate time to prepare, walk and deliver
I hold hope the offspring of deliberation
can be born again from necessity for a genuine bond
2010
The Sea vs The Land
I have honed my craft
(though it rarely floats -
barley passing for a boat)
for many a calendar year.
Numerous times I have pushed out to sea
to get away from land and the loaded gun to
find I am surrounded by debris.
At first launch I am filled with glee,
“I am free”,
I yell,
“I am free”
My craft has drifted me far,
though not far from home
far from any earthly tone.
It has taken me to unseen geography
To seas in my mind deprived
of crime and responsibility.
Many days and nights,
and suns and moons
pass; and I am singing a different tune.
Far from my motherbone,
still afloat now full of calamity,
come ugly thoughts of jealousy.
Oh how I long for land and all it’s messes.
For further I float, the more I see,
It’s not land I loath, it’s me.
2010
The White Mountain
Snow leopard
High upon the mountain
Hiding in the white and the rock
With all the power to rip/crush flesh and bone
Peering through the sleet you see a fawn
And patiently you wait still-stone like
A marble statue
Till dawn
Refraining from pouncing
You weigh life and death
Knowing your power and your stature in the land
You sit, covered in the wet downfall, weighing the fawns life
Inhaling one more breath, you allow
The fawn to return home safe to it’s mother
With no blood to stain the
White snow covered
Mountain
2010
