ludic

sliding on
the hardwood floor
in stocking feet
with a thump
and a giggle
as though no bigger
than the pupal you
who's peering out
behind adult eyes
holding hands
and skating though
on padded paws
the ludic, vaulted halls
sun-dappled and silly
aging yes, but never
getting old, not really

poltroon

had you lied to me
to protect another
perhaps I could forgive
but your lies were just
to provide you cover
& cowardice to thrive
poltroon marooned
on the shores of truth
with nowhere left to hide
were you younger
you could blame it on youth
this running from the tide

flat-hat

a parade ground on a summer day
planes swoop and swerve
and all the people there observe
the derring-do of the pilots
as they dive and roll
like lovers do in fields below
and when the planes
flat-hat above the crowd
all the people ooh and ah aloud
the pilots woo the earthbound
as all eyes look to the skies
mesmerized by this
as bewitched and mystified
as after a first kiss

inalienable

those intangibles
inalienable
yet are frangible
and when some degrade
the value of the other
based on race
or religion or color
when the life of mine
means more than yours
when we build walls
and close our shores
when we limit
liberty arbitrarily
but only for those
who "don't look like me"
when we succumb
to manufactured hate
we denigrate what actually
makes America great

construe

accidental nap to
insomniac night
hours of gazing
at the backs of eyelids
at the shadows ceiling-dancing
from the light of passing cars
at the contours
of limbs under sheet
in the passing hours
mulling and musing
long past amusing
attempting to construe
a screaming id
babbling unintelligible
until exhaustion
finally takes you

dithyramb

no ode exalted nor dithyramb of delight
could e'er contain the joy of the nights
where wild like bumptious puppies
we sang and swore with newfound grace
never again or before the world to so face
greener than green we were just guppies
burning with passion unrestrained
not yet by the world were we trained
in disappointment that would dare have lasted
beyond the stretch of one wild night's end
no sadness not gone by daybreak again
nor could we believe such ever forecasted

sericeous

i imagined
how it would be
the mix
of you and me
tiny fingers grasping
chubby cheek cherubim
and i'd breath in
that soft scent
that wafts
from sericeous skull
above blue eyes
serious and solemn
and smiling and wise
all at once
in that way
they do
she haunts me
that phantom
of me and you