Friend

Friend

At times

Most times

I long

To be alone

At times

Most times

I’m insulted

By a knock on the door

At times

Some times

I enjoy

The company of friends

But understand this

All times

Every day

I crave my solitude

The clock and I

Have a relationship

We do not like to share

Time is a very jealous friend

Being alone is time absorbed

Absorbed alone with my universe

It’s how I share this galaxy

So say it again

And again

At times

Most times

I long

To be alone

To be alone

Is the sum

Of me

Of me

Missing you

Talk To Me Baby

Talk to me baby

I’m tired of my voice

Talk to me baby

My thoughts have no choice

 

The bartender pours

While he ponders my look

I simply wrote my desires

Tonight that will be my book

 

To hold a beautiful woman

Delivers the brain to flesh

Words are useless in that moment

Darling it’s you, not the dress

 

Talk to me baby

I’m tired of my voice

Talk to me baby

My thoughts have no choice

 

Talk to me baby

I have spent all my cares

Talk to me baby

I’m the only one listening to your prayers

 

My love, after dinner

There are two things left on my plate

One is love

The other is hate

 

I write words that need to escape

I read words that seek a home

My muse sits on my shoulder

I realize he’s on loan

 

Talk to me baby

I’m tired of my voice

Talk to me baby

My thoughts have no choice

Marching

 

They should have left Jesus in his tomb

It would have served us well

Leave the dead

Sleeping in their coffins

The living would sleep better still

 

Serve the living

Glorify our heartbeats

Sing songs praising the universe

Write poems about justice

Celebrate humanity

Talk with the old

Play with the young

 

Onward marching soldiers

Marching hand in hand

With the mark of stardust

As our only brand

We, the loyal master

Leads against folklore

forward into kinship

See our banners flow

Praying Presidents

Photo: pieter pastoor

Praying Presidents

I guess certain prayers do work

Today only born again candidates want to be president.

Many have actually talked with you.

Tell me god,

Did you whisper in their ears to forget the homeless.

Did you send a heavenly email to call real sinners gay.

Did they get a note “from the desk of god” to ignore the poor.

Why are you sleeping with the rich, didn’t your son despise them?

Oh I see – its for the cause   -    cause ya love us.

                   †

Names

Names

Give them names

The hungry, the homeless, the beaten

Give them names

The dissenters, migrants and war weary mothers

Josh

Mohammed

Jessica

Jose

Yolanda

Give them names

The jobless, the jailed, the fanatics

Give them names

The orphans, the dying, the poor

Carol

Mark

Yusuf

Susanne

Teresa

Give them support

a home, dignity, work

Give them a reason

Share your humanity, your voice, your talents

Jesse

Rebecca

Hans

Nora

Dominic

Give them your vote

Your activism, your government

Give them peace

Oppose wars, discrimination and greed

Mia

Elijah

Leah

Jake

Samantha

Give them a name

==

Oasis

Oasis

What young man doesn’t like to roam the desert

Hot and sultry

So many hills and curves to hide in

Territory constantly being searched.

The search for the oasis

is exhausting

But it hardens most men

Shrubs hide the well

The well of pleasure and life

Old men also roam the desert

The hills and curves are oh so familiar

It offers comfort

A place of rest

A place of restoration

The softness of the well

Compliments his own softness

The well of pleasure and life

Mess

 

Mess

Get up, look back, a beautiful mess

Non better then an unmade bed

Thoughts of who took off that dress

When worries left my head

Rapt in the unkept

Room for discord

Such a joy

Extol

Love

Three Valves

Three Valves *

All he needs

Are three valves of expression

Eyes 

gently closed in invocation

Hands 

holding an external exclamation

Lips 

verbalize a vibration

His face shows years of creating

Tuffs of gray border brass

His body aged with intonation

Swaying swing 

                Sharing song

                              Spirits’ slang

Freedom from timidity

A story is spoken

With notes and love and soul 

Sounds that paint a picture

Colors patch a canvas of cadence

Listen, see the psalm 

Thank you trumpet man

Your vibrations reverberate

Pulsate

A

Universe of jazz

Disarray

Disarray

The judge sentenced him

Like a wolf in a storm he stood alone

Now knowing he was the hunted

While in school

He navigated the dismay

In buildings that manifest the disarray

The community center’s padlocks

Expose a broken pledge

Yet the wolf knew where to play

Broken families manifest the disarray

He enters prison, modern and new

Guards salaries twice teachers’ pay

His prison family accepts him as prey

Society now stands in front of the judge

While leader packs look away

Feeding on those with green in their claws

And prisons manifest the disarray

*******

String

String

 I found a string this morning

Amidst the leaves

Near a bench

The air had that morning scent

A scent of autumn

A scent of stars

I walked to pick it up

Crunching leaves with every step

My scarf secures me with warmth

I squeeze the string

Longing to find you on the other end