una oración

BLOCK AND TACKLE (PEN IN HAND)

And though the world is coming ‘round,
This old heart says I’ve sinned…
Sit here breaking no new ground,
I’m only breaking wind,
But, in the grand tradition,
I burn the midnight lamp,
And sit here, poised with pen in hand:
An imperious knight,
With a serious Writer’s Cramp…

THE LAST DAY OF APRIL, APRIL…

…And it was on the last day,
It was on the last day of April when you said you’d have to leave-
When I could find no way-
No reason to make you stay, least of all me,
That, on a grassy patch,
'Neath a starry April sky,
In unfamiliar territory, I
Did attempt a desperate, hopelessly botched explanation…

cold-blooded killer

life is a cold-blooded killer
from moment you're born
it stalks you --

eventually snuffs you out
with rest of humanity
not to mention, birds, weasels,
pigs, grandmothers, fleas, sweethearts,
mice, hawks, polar bears, salmon,
grocers, presidents, carpenters,
butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers
and other conglomerates of single cells
that managed an ambulatory form --

Lady Pain
by: eddy styx and Dan Watts

wild horses
couldn’t stop her
from ruining her life.
She was hell bent
on destruction
and all her
shuddering denial
denied her intentions
of exposing her
tender pink
silk and satin
underbelly
and all her
feminine frills
like tea and crumpets
she needs her fix
of love and pain
laced with daily
humiliation.

solitude

solitude is quiet
in a
cacophonous sort
of way.

solitude is a print
with no
press.

solitude requires
endurance.

solitude is a memory
retold.

solitude is its own
price
paid.

sanctity of quiet

quiet is sanctity
of one --
an insouciance

caring free
nonchalance
as grape vines
burgeon fruit

a fly buzzes farmlands --
light shines
dappled between feathers
of birds in flight

not counting quills
to stay aloft --

avian brains
balanced as no others
know

but perhaps humans
who trod thin edges
of silent way

long and narrow
the path
pitfalls each on each side

one more day

lost chord
is hidden in chaos --

perhaps chaos is lost chord
in disguise

I came into the world screaming
I may stay under protest

but --

listening to lost chord
while still here is
a wonder in itself

midst chaos' clamber
tune keeps me

present

one more day.

vcp

BEST OF FRIENDS

We were lying on the grass,
We were talking of the past,
And I told you of my dad's old steel rimmed glasses-
Then, you told me of the man
With another in his hand,
And you couldn't believe that he was making passes...

Then, you spoke to me of touch
And you said it meant so much
To be touched when you are down or just plain lonely-
Now could that be the spark
Made you hold me in the dark-
Though you said you really loved your one and only...

craps shoot at thought café

in backroom
at the thought café
game of craps
was ongoing for as long
as I recall.

most of the regulars
were there with
their money folded
long ways between
middle and ring fingers.

action was a little
slow, and regulars
were looking for new
meat.

they looked my way,
and I shook my head, no
and said, “I don’t gamble.”

“why are you smoking that
damn pipe and drinking
cabernet?” they asked.