SALT

SALT

I'm sorry that I didn't write.
My soul is just too raw & the
Thoughts dredged up
Wound me all over &
Poetry is the salt
Grinding itself into them,
Making them real, reminding
Me, digging into layers of
Flesh barely scabbed over as I
Drop words on the page drop by
Bloody, salty drop.



Writer's Digest Poetic Asides PAD12 -LAMENT

Unrepentant

This dry spell had stayed around too long,
Despite the faded billboard signs of
Sinners Repent and Pray for Rain.
Still not a drop dropped into sight.

A sinner herself, or so they said,
Even with all her efforts to belong.
She lit her candles, murmured her own prayers,
And waited for the promise of night.

Deep in the woods, in her domain,
Black cloak revealed pale, skyclad skin.
Likeminded trees looked on with arms outstretched,
Watching her dance in the soft moonlight.
The sky grew cloudy; the wind grew strong.
Wildly spun every weather vane.

Skyclad Sinner

Since the rain had stayed away too long and the town’s prayers

All gone unanswered, even despite the faded billboard signs of

“Sinners repent and pray for rain”

A sinner herself, or so she’d been told, she took to the night,

Feet stomping circles, puffs of dust from her soles

Dancing along in the moonlight.

Round, round she twirled, her heart on her sleeve with

Dark eyes raised, she watched for the clouds

She knew would soon gather.

prompt: since ____

For Better or for Worse

Separating peel and
Flesh in one long strand of
Dappled apple red

Cast on the floor, it speaks-
Of Daniels, Georges, Peters, and Samuels
Jameses and Olivers ripe for the picking.

Rarer are the Victors, the
Williams and Thomases.

 And Xerxes is right out.

But all end up with a woman,
Handy with a knife and
Wanting wed.



Prompt: message

"By Moonlight"

“By Moonlight”

We’re all mysterious

By moonlight, so hush

Now and sleep so I can

Watch you. 

I love the way your eyelashes

Flutter against your cheek,

Eyes dancing behind eyelids

Caked in mocha shadow and the 

Smeared eyeliner you 

Forgot to wash off again. 

I’d like to think that you’re

Dreaming of me, but you don’t

Even know I’m here.

bright/dark                            4/2/13

"List"

“List”

I’ll add it to the tally of

Things to do someday,

Scratch it at the bottom of a

List that stretches like adding

Machine tape as far as the

Eye can see - up one

Hill and down the other, a

Great Wall of China (certainly

On the list somewhere, probably

Somewhere after “learn to tie shoes” but

Before “age gracefully”) of somedays.

So if you’d like to wish me well,

Wish me a life long enough to live my list.

(tentative)                      4/3/13

5x7 Folded Card

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“Patient as the Post”

You get your mail here, but you’re usually just visiting.

I figure you have faded jeans and over-bleached socks

Spread over hundreds of miles by now. 

Envelopes pile up in neat rectangular rows,

Waiting patiently, more patiently than me really,

For you to stop being wherever you are and be here again.

prompt: visitor

“Venus & Mars”

She was from Venus;

He was from some other place.

She asked questions and prompted responses. 

He stuck to the basics and issued orders.

“It’s getting cool outside, right? Should you maybe take a coat, you think?”

“It’s cold. Take a coat.”


Prompt:  communication

"PROMPTED" IS HERE!

Great news!  Three of my poems can be found in a fabulous collection of 140 poems by 40 poets scattered across the globe!  Profits are being donated to LitWorld, a charity promoting literacy worldwide.

 It can be found at Amazon  & Barnes & Noble.

"Full House Funeral"

"reveal something"

I want to end it all
As the kind of person that
Fills the funeral home to
Standing room only with

Maybe a line stretching
Out into the street and
Snaking around the corner.
No one reading my death
Notice will say “Oh, that’s too
Bad.” like it could have been

Anyone else’s heart that had
Stopped beating and they just
Heard the News. I want tears, break-
Downs, empty boxes of tissues.

From my coffin, I don’t want to
Hear the time filled up by
Rehashed sermons and
People reassuring one another

That I’m in a better place, I
Want people lining up to tell
Stories of my kindness and
Then to realize that they also

Want a funeral with a full
Parking lot and front page
Spread in the hometown
Newspaper and go out and
Live their lives to make it happen.

Photo Card

Merry Montage Christmas

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"Drops of Liking"

Drops of liking

Spatter the roof,

Oozing their way

Through every  

Crack to the room

Littered with chipped

China teacups, frying

Pans, and flower pots

Scattered on nightstands,

Mantels, and worn

Turkish rugs, desperate to

Gather the bits of

Affection that might

Someday add up to love.