dram

myth
more
enticing
than man:
a bitter dram,
the truth.
we drink
our poison
to forget,
we drink
to regret,
we fight
nail & tooth.
painstaking
proof
washed down
in vodka
and vermouth.

ritzy

downmarket
more my vibe
give me the dark
and dingy dive
with beers on tap
and the cocktail menu
is "do you want
a shot with that?"
in ritzy joints
I'm outta place
where fancy people
show their face

betwixt

i have
oft found
that by some
i hold dear
i am held
in a particular fix
stuck betwixt
one thing
and t'other
neither exactly
friend nor lover
i do not mind
the limbo much
but i would not
call it comfortable
as such

yahoo

flinging tension
like laser beams
in invisible pew pews
we dance it out
inebriate yahoos
drowning our sorrows
in an ocean of booze
and mending
our boohoos
and booboos

quirk

I've yet to discover
from whence it springs,
this quirk of character
that means I never
accomplish a thing
until I have gone
the wrong way round
at least once or twice.
If you know quite why that is,
I'd welcome the advice.

occlusion

see, i cannot see you anymore

age and the cacophony of daily life
act as an occlusion to perception
where youth and simplicity
allowed your company
now you are but as
an imaginary friend left
behind in adolescent pique
saved in hazy memory
still you are dear evermore

anymore you see, cannot i see?

audacious

I live a mostly quiet life
with quiet hopes and deeds
but in my secret spaces
my heart leaps audacious
and sings a cabaret
and a dances a burlesque
behind the everyday
within my quiet chest

impromptu

a pinch of this

a dash of that

slapdash recipe 

made of the mix

of you and me

an impromptu feast

surprise sauced 

with enterprise 

cornucopia

life is
a tricksy thing
a fairy feast
on table lain
this cornucopia
of delights
and mischief mixt
and we are
all bewildered and
bewitched
hungry children
we gobble goodies
till swollen and sated
we sleep

noisome

The leering eye as
He leans in
To kiss your cheek
And tries
To peer down your top
With bug eyed ogle.
And as his mouth
Nears your face
You stiffen against
His noisome breath that
Could peel the paint
From the wall behind you
And all you can think
Is “thank god, it’s only
Once a year.

perforce

we do not choose our family
we are dropped into it
and are forced, perforce,
to find our way...
and in so many ways
are shaped by felicity
or absence or belligerence
in which to
make ourselves
and someday
make ourselves anew
blessed or cursed by view
weathered by, and with
or against we all must
muddle through

henchman

loyalty led him here
beyond the realm of right
too far gone he finds himself
remorseful henchman now
he  wonders where it was
the moment when no
was still an option
he’ll go down
in this ship
he never
steered

chapel

deep in the woods
made of moss
and tangled tree limbs
a chapel with one bench
next to a crooked cross
of weathered rock
and on the makeshift alter
scratched this melancholy song
“for one who loved this place
from one who loves her still
though the years are long
and many years have passed
since she’s been gone”

susurrous

beyond the edge of hearing

they come to you at night 

in insidious susurrous

the quiet lies of doubt

telling you 

your worst fears

are true

I find 

music helps

to drown it out 

exculpate

i recognize i'm quick to hurt
wounded too easy by passing slights
wary too oft and hold on too long

i recognize i leap before i look
and blame the ground whereon i land
for giving no support, forgiving no support

i recognize my role in love gone wrong
and though it does not exculpate me
in recompense, in my defense, this:

i don't love easy
but i do love
my love hard and fast
for i don't love many
but i do love muchly
and when i love
i love to last

memento

I
find them

even now

every now

and
then

little       pieces     of you

fallen     behind the      desk

at the          back of the       closet

lodged        between the       pages

     of a         book I started     reading

   once upon
  a time

  and long ago

 tiny mementos

    that keep     you here

      beyond          the grasp 

    of grave           and grief

tomfoolery

time for childish things 

ephemeral as a bubble 

blown from baby lips

as it burbles and puckers

and suddenly it’s time

for tomfoolery and suckers

then coffee and consequences 

the wine and wistfulness 

and nostalgic whimsy 

before we end

and begin again 

recalcitrant

time has passed,
the world moves on
and still...
my recalcitrant heart
holds a dream best forgot.
a security blanket
of a wistful wish.
I would teach it
new aspirations
if I could just
make my stubborn soul
let go the binky
of Perhaps.

admonish

heart scolds head
for being too exacting
for plotting not reacting
head admonishes heart
for being oversensitive
for giving all she has to give
head would save a little
heart blames head
for being noncommittal
and in between them both
I try to arbitrate
but fear that an accord
will come too late
too late too late too late
already it's so late

valorous

they saw a need

they saw and sent 

themselves, their souls;

their sons and daughters 

as children told 

how valorous they stood

against a tide of terror 

that threatened sovereignty and democracy
a tide that disregarded diplomacy
and disrespected diversity and individuality 

against the tide
some lost their lives
and some lost husbands
and some lost wives
and some lost fathers or mothers
or sisters or brothers or friends
so many lost back then

still, they turned back the tide

for a time

but tides rise and fall and rise again
not if but when
and now that when is now again

will you stand
to face the wave
and fight
or will you watch
as all are drowned
by the fury and the sound
of those who think
that might makes right 

furlong

the music of the city
faded into the past
and all that's left
is the memory of
a whisper of a plane
flying far overhead
each furlong trod
measured out in
the birdsong and
the scurry of furry feet
release you from
the pounding beat
of asphalt locked
within your bones

boustrophedon

the word is full of wonder
oot snoitcidartnoc dna
snaking this way and that
kcab ot tnorf gnidaer
 or back to front in
nodehportsuob fo yalpsid a
 so run our thoughts
ssorca rehtiht dna rehtih
the mural of ours minds

*

the word is full of wonder

too contradictions and

snaking this way and that

back to front reading

or back to front in

boustrophedon of display a

so run our thoughts

across thither and hither

the mural of ours minds

*

 the word is full of wonder
and contradictions too
snaking this way and that
reading front to back
 or back to front in
a display of boustrophedon
so run our thoughts
hither and thither across
the mural of ours minds

palmary

a balm to heartsore warriors
collapsed at daybreak
from warding off the night
palmary coffee
restoring pluck
writer's pick me up

derring-do

fluorescent
flickers overhead
and our heads pulse
and throb in kind
we lose ourselves
and our collective mind
in row after cubicle row
a cell block we designed
and on our break from one to two
we daydream over salad
a life of derring-do

umbrage

i may respect
but cannot forgive
those who hold
their purity of purpose
above morality
i take umbrage with
the absolutes
who cannot see
that privilege allows
a laxity in community
it is hard to know
what hill to die upon
but die we all do
hopefully before we go
we push the next ones
past and through

mordant

another year
has passed
time teases with
its mordant wit
and laughs at
our dismay
what age
has wrought
what little life
has taught
what joy
has brought
what wisdom
grief has bought
all of it
a little
and a lot

gridiron

i fondly recollect
all the times we spent
watching rugby
in that little Aussie town
his face so smooth
for one so old
and he so full of love
for me and sport
would call our
US game gridiron
as football
was another thing entire
and not to be confused
or sullied thus

sinew

gone the days
where i could
flip on the tv
or scan
a newspaper
or website
insouciant
instead taut
like a sinew
about to snap
and lame me
with every
click or flick
i prepare to
be hobbled

connive

that ever thus it was it thus shall be
that hearts are meant to thrive
and those that cannot grow
a love their own do ever threaten
to cajole or to connive
to steal the joy that others gladly give
to break the hearts laid bare right at their feet
they never understand or value quite
the gratis love that's found as equals meet

verbose

now is the month
of the click clicky clack
the month where the aspiring
figure out if they can hack
their brains just a little
and throw out all their process
just get it all down
no matter how verbose it is
clena it up later
the drfat is the thiong
ignoring the spell check
write until teh bell goes ding