homily

i can write the words
tell myself they're true
but the homily is empty
until i hear it from you

littoral

sail a figurative sea
water the metaphor
for all things unsaid
between you and me
in a boat made of maybes
navigating shoals
of nouns and verbs
littoral not literal
crash upon the rocks
smash our hulls on
drunken midnight talks
that end us
drowning in language
without a drop
to drink

flounder

in the shallows
floundering
on sand
abrading
waiting
wading
waiting
for turning tides
to rise
and rip me
out to sea
into the deeps
danger filled
but free

numinous

trudge and toil, strive and climb
to find the divine
reach the numinous summit
and stilly sit
to bask in the beauty
to breathe in balance
beguiled by the land laid out before me
like a bed
by sunset luminous stretched over me
like a blanket
world wide and full of wonders
like a dream

doff

how oft we doff
our caps at those
who passing us
turn up their nose
bend, bow and scrape
to them that seem
to have escaped
connive and scheme
to join them there
above the fray
not realizing
that it was they
who used our backs
as steps to climb
they need us in
the muck and grime
or else they stand
upon thin air
we are the platform
and the stair
unless we rise
and let them fall
we shall remain
within their thrall

pidgin

no two random aliens from across a wide universe,
no dolphin squeaking at the dance of a honeybee,
no wildly gesticulating tourist
escalating in amplification emphatic
babbling in broken brogue
pattering in pidgin patois
rambling in recondite rhetoric
gibbering in jangling jargon
could be further from being able to deduce
in language obscure and abstruse
what you and I
trying with delicacy
mean to say
when we attempt without affray
to relay what we need
without expicitly saying
what we need to say

berate

others i oft forgive
where myself i will berate
i assume their innocence
ascribe their intentions
as the best
while blame myself
for ignorance, inconstancy, idiocy
and the rest
knowing the wrong i do think
though upon which would never act
convince myself
that thoughts are as deeds
though i know this is not how, in fact,
the world is or works or sees me so
my harshest critic, i am, i know
but i know best - or worst
and worst am last - or first

simulacrum

upon a stage
he stands
the simulacrum
of sincerity
armies he
commands
blind themselves
to the disparity
of what he claims he is
and what he is for certain
so tied up in the
suspension of
their disbelief
they would
come to grief
should they see
behind the curtain

vatic

grandiloquently disarming
so it seems less alarming
caught in your vatic soliloquy
dystopic distortion
in epic proportion
the mists of your prophecy
the fog about your face
whiskey the divine diviner
a leather barstool the alter
of your oracle
caterwauling Cassandra
as you tell us all
what we don't know
nor want to

usufruct

once i was
not my own
i was chattel
a bargaining chip
the price of land
or name
or dowry
a thing to ogle
or made to obey
but today
i am no usufruct
i am mine
i am no other's
though if some
in power
had their druthers
i would be reduced
to the usefulness
of my uterus
it could happen
i wish it were
not ludicrous
but if we are
not vigilant
it could in fact
come to this

tactile

put out your hands
cupped into a
rudimentary vessel

now fill them
with love
with joy
with sadness
with hate

you cannot

they hold naught
but empty air

and yet
these things
we feel

they weigh on us
or lift us up
wash over us
like water
like dust
we breathe them in

tactile and tangible
yet still insubstantial
our better and worser
angels that waltz
on the head of a pin

winkle

not from lack of trying
have I learned
you cannot
winkle out
the words
I love you
from a
taciturn tongue
nor affection
from a stone
regardless how
lifelike the statuary

raconteur

spiderwebs surprise
spun so fine 
stumbled into
unseen
distressing 
clinging to skin
disconcerting
sticky you are stuck
struggling squirming
truth stretched
by practiced spinner
arch arachnid
gravid with brummagem
revisionist raconteur
telling your tales awry
so sly
you can't recant
or recall
how it was
before they skittered
through your door

astute

sitting to the side
viewing askance
the astute attempt
to stifle their screams
knowing the masses
will ignore the truth
for the memes
awash in
common knowledge
alack, the lack
of common courtesy
rightness lost in righteousness
courage of convictions
replaced by entrenched predilections
and we weep as we wait
for our phones to beep
with more heartbreak
as the center cannot keep
and society dissipates

parlay

the question
always the same
evermore this
how to parlay
the joy of a day
into peace and content
everlasting bliss
the piecemeal magic
of moments stretched
into a life
continuous...
fleeting but repeating?

caesura

we do not cease
but in caesura
find the peace
the space
to breathe
to think
decide things
for which there is
no expertise
our joy
hope to increase
resume our pace
with new lease
on life
on love
the chase
to win or place
in a race
subject to
the caprice
of those who leave
no trace
in their decease

ostracize

the weirdo in the corner
buried in a book
picked last for the team
doesn't rate a second look
it doesn't matter what they think
or how they ostracize
the futures that await them
hold a grand surprise
someday they will be sorry
when they claim they knew her when
and she'll look at them quite blankly
"sorry, what's your name again?"

éclat

dispel the gloom
brighten every room
with constancy
a light that does not pierce
but suffuses
not the éclat of the disco ball
the flashing sirens call
not loud and proud and braying
brightening but not blinding
lightening but not lightning
you are the dawn

natant

oh why won't you
come out with me
into the sea
and natant upon
the waves be

above the green
beneath the blue
all I want is me & you
to float free

let go of care & worry

and hand in hand
we'll buoyant be

let tears dissipate
in the salty brine
sweetly kissed
by ocean divine

oh come with me
beyond the breakers
undulating sympathetically
forever we shall be

gust

text and context
words flicker and flash
watch with gust
because I must
see what you will say
the pause after the sent
signals descent into
delight or dismay
as I wait
wading through ellipses
anticipating future kisses
if only if only
I haven't wrecked
with misplaced words
the maybes of tomorrow
with the mistakes of today

liminal

I never understood
those who thought
their story was a line
from A to Z dot dot dot
a swirling blob of fingerpaints
strewn or swept or smashed
into canvas spilled on to table
walls fingers face anywhere at all
nebulous and ill-defined
a whole life liminal
applied without artistry
yet still art in my eyes
done on the fly
for in the messy mix
joy derived

iconoclast

the time has come

the people see

injustice clearly

those with open eyes

that is

iconoclasts no longer

shout into a void

but those with eyes shut tight

can still avoid 

the darker truths

or eyes a'slit

see them but blurry

through shimmering light

of the bubble 

they have built 

they who shout and screech

not liking the view

they yell "untrue"

as if their words 

can make it so

but others, now woke

finally know

and if they choose 

not to fall back asleep

perhaps, forward

towards fairness

the world can leap

for those who benefit

from privilege

it is our choice

and as we sow

so shall we reap

jovial

on a crowded city sidewalk

on a sticky summer day

when the daily news depresses

until you want to scream and rage

heat of the air oppresive

heart filled with much dismay

a grizzled man with grumpy face 

lines deep etched by years of toil

sitting on a sidewalk crate 

flashes a jovial grin

and you smile at his smiling 

turn your head to share

a brightly colored swirl of skirt

dark eyes peek through dark hair

one hand on mother's kameez

the other holds a rope

drags a tatty plastic toy dog on wheels 

caught on a sidewalk crack

a little face stops, looks back

shouts "heel" and yanks

and when it lands beside

the tail seems to wag

the hand lets go of mother's shirt 

and claps

lout

that I met you
happenstance
a lucky chance
and that with
storm-sky blue eyes
you saw the me I was before
a litany of louts fostered all my doubts
foisted on me all the wrongs
of those before I came along
until I disbelieved
my sense and senses
certain all I did
would cause offense -
that you saw through
to who I'd been
and more, could be
and in seeing her
you made her me
me again
there are no words
but thank you, friend

hoity-toity

oh you've got all the answers
and you never take the blame
i guess it makes life easier
when you never feel no shame
the hearts you break, the lies you tell
convince yourself they're true
you never put me on a pedestal
oh, but you made one just for you
and you climbed up, hoity-toity
and you issue your decrees
as you look down on us peons
picture us on bended knees
and we all should sing your praises
cuz you never meant no harm
though you set light to the theater
and you shut off the alarm
i was burned but now recovered
all your smoke has left my lungs
and i finally learned my lesson
yes, i learned that done was done
but it's okay for i am gone now
off your road of good intentions
and this poem is irrelevant
you really shouldn't rate a mention
so off into my sunset
with those who do not mind
a difference of opinion
those who are both nice and kind
or walk the road alone awhile
still in better company
than when you walked beside me
dictating how i should be

negotiate

through eyes clouded
by cataracts of complexity
stumbling over objects unseen
we negotiate the world
ever toddlers

searching for balance
for a guardrail
to help us
as we pull ourselves along
and barring those...

we long for
a soft place
to land

felicitous

scarlet painted across the sky with a careless hand
the streaks bleeding into the waves below
on a pier we stand bathed in the beauty
the gentle pressure of fingers intertwined
indicating thoughts, i think, aligned
my thought (and yours, I hope) this:
a moment more felicitous could not be found
suffused with such joy and peace profound
what separates us lost in the setting sun
for a moment, at least, not two but one

Yankee

split betwixt

a wide world apart

on southern shores

in sunny climes

an Opera House

to guide me home

but north

a different harbor calls

a pulsing throbbing throng

where cab meters tick

the click of a city's heartbeat 

and shining lights

twinkle through the night

the apple of my eye

a Yankee Aussie 

an Aussie Yank

SYD to NYC

forever twain my heart shall be

both adored

both missed 

when on the other shore

ossify

say yes
accept the adventures
as they come
let go of the ought
otherwise ossify
become a became
ever the same
and wondering why
things never change

defalcation

thief
you stole my heart
in increments
your defalcations
so covert
I never even noticed
how much of me
you'd taken
until it and you
were gone

qua

emblematic of a quixotic nature
decisions made then mulled
fretting and regretting
moment qua metaphor
for meta from micro
should I have, should I not
I thought
for once
at last
I was right
but in novelty
how would I know
whether yes or no
was the way to go
close your eyes
pick a hand
and hope