Sticky Messes

Br'er Rabbit me
still tries to best Tar Baby
still gets caught up
in the emotional mess
as an ego-maniacal half-wit
when the best approach
is to not approach,
as if staying out reach
and staying out of touch
were one-in-the same
as running like hell
in another direction.
But as a gluttonous masochist
two, maybe three, times each year
I'll stand within reach
and swing away. No.
That is not letting go.

The Ripple Effect

a grain of sand
cannot enter the water
without creating a ripple
and she is more than that
and I am more
than I might have been
because of her entrance
into my life
her ripple having moved through me
and lapped every shore

A Wish

Have you been there?
Somewhere so far removed
and there by choice
yet you'd give anything
to be back where you are now.
Oh, I so have
and on return found it to be
something other
than what I'd left behind
and as wishing for a better past
can not make things so
I think I'll stay put now.

For A Friend, On The Occasion Of Her 20 Years

In the theater of our minds,
each we a magician of sorts
the requisite patios
and stage set to our design,
we can spellbind
at least a few
and enjoy a season
where it's fun awhile
until enters one asking
"Why do you do that?"

The disappearing silk scarf trick
was not so entertaining after
and then cognition falls hard on our construct
practiced to keep loneliness within reach
while performance anxiety increased
(it is only during performance we momentarily forget).

I could never do levitation,
but He does it well
raising me off a collapsing stage
saving me from a second career
as a comedian
in search of a punch line.
No, delivering a monologue of truth
in a world of love and beauty
is far more satisfying
than living with a coin behind my ear.

Sharing

I don't want to own you
can't, really
You are not yours
that I could possess
but if you, and yours
would share of yourself
we might come
to a new
understanding of love

Blah, Blah, Blah

Your lips move
like fishes' in a bowl
but I hear nothing
of what you say.
The shell held
to the side of my head
is more clear
and makes more sense

Judgementally Yours

I find him dull
she makes me nervous
they have much to consider
we are wise
you look angry
she is shortsighted
he needs to quit drinking;
my ability to constantly judge
frightens me.