Poem from Mom "Lost in the Line"

"Lost in the Line"


lost in the line
subject to verse
stanzas to find
poets curse

ebb tide moves
holding falling
can't hide
your calling

slanting verbs
lumpy adjectives
woven curbs
a poet gives

dance the dance
quintessential dandy
the keyless chance
inside coated candy

poets keen tell
always lip rhyming
posting so well
clever drift lining

holding on clever
will not succeed
stalwart endeavor
all you need

Poem from Mom "Rearview Mirror"

"Rearview Mirror"


rearview mirror
rumble seat ride
those left behind
creating their myth
voyagers black tar roads
huddling winter strangers
sinking from dangling chances
and lost unkept promises
waiting in mapped patterns
for dreamless dreamers
finding twisted highways
fearing to go
fearing not to go
hope behind the darkness
of velvet curtain stillness
rustling in the silky breeze
their maze in the mirror
tuned radio voices calling
hearts cargo in the trunk
where kept secrets are packed
in old deeply folded detours
hiding in the rumble seat
windswept in the rearview mirror

Poem from Mom "Our Place in the Day"

Our Place in the Day

our place in the day
centering the peaceful instant
detached searching to connect
sunlight shines through
a cottontails pink popsicle ears
looking like wet roses
on a foggy morning
a mother hummingbird
teaching her baby about
red hibiscus
texas yellow bells
hummingbird feeders
and feral cats
intense beauty clear message
fulfilling wanting eyes
quiet still presence
invading impalpable paradise
braiding us still tighter
ursurping our undertow
two souls in the breeze
dangling in its clear motion
showing us the way
touching nothing but the day

Poem from Mom "Sinking Down"

Sinking Down

sinking down
into the soft gray
glove covered hands
that are polishing
the solid sterling
silver tray
tap dancing on the
mossed granite graves
that echo the names
so carefully etched
clapping hands reaching
for us helping us
keep time
Five Foot Two
Eyes of Blue and
Ain't She Sweet
See Her Coming
Down the Street
mom at the piano
playing the music
we danced to
on her etched name

Poem from Mom "Flight of the Word"

"Flight of the Word"

flight of the word
at a desperate pace
wanting to be heard
entering the race

getting to hot
running at will
finding no spot
not being still

looking for line
wanting a verse
a poem of any kind
nothing is worst

just a lost word
who needs so badly
space to be heard
taking it gladly

never lose heart
words are needed
for lines to start
in a garden seeded

words put in soil
to patiently grow
their place to toil
is all they know

Poem from Mom "Lost and Found"

"Lost and Found"

paths need direction
they show the way
like nowhere maps
going nowhere
ambling needlessly
stomping the ground
making the ants run
breaking the flowers
looking for stuff
broken eggs in a nest
no chance at life
walking alone
making the most
of the finish
timepiece wound
wings on the wind
no horizon
lost and found

Poem from Mom "Endure"

"Endure"

foggy days rainy nights
alone in silence lost questions
pushing the knob on the top
of the top up and down
tilting spinning holding on
knowing this for sure
if we can't adapt we must endure
change is sticky routine boring
hard decisions easy ones
tapping fingers typing
good times bad times
holding tight to the page
oreo years of layered days
remembering you again and again
as I wanted you to be
finding your way into the misty night
holding me in the truth
telling me to endure

Poem from Mom "Java Trench"

"Java Trench"

inside the human wall
deep in the earth
plates are shifting
wanting movement
lining the scale
holding destruction
moving power
birthing waves
reaching beaching
faithfuls fate
from the depth
fingers grasp
the hourglass
turning in it over
and over and over
wanting the hour
it holds
as the plates shift
in the Java Trench

Poem from Mom "Ticking Clock"

constant strolling
thoughts roaming
flaming goals
endless glomming

leeching souls
hovering past
opening goals
longing cast

hummimgbirds know
blue morning glories
grabbing brain glow
captured stories

curving roads
groovy lanes
lock load
line claim

festering greed
grinds down
poetry seeds
by the pound

no more verse
always can
still terse
good plan

no key today
lock stock
futile clay
ticking clock

Poem from Mom "Plain White Paper"

"Plain White Paper"

ink pen in hand
i wrote my name on
plain white paper
i looked at it
and did not know
who it was
ink pen in hand
i printed my name on
plain white paper
i looked at it
and did not know
who it was
i wrote a poem
on plain white paper
and signed my name
i knew who it was
some of me was
left behind on
the plain white paper

Poem from Mom "Cedar Posts"

"Cedar Posts"

birds sit on the top
of the cedar fence posts
that house gypsys area
and my angel patch

they come to the post
near the cabin window
early in the morning
where I write

a big bluejay
has started coming
each day
looking in at me

he sits near
the jasmine
and morning glories
blooming on the fence

I wave at him
as he stares at me
both wondering
both watching

a sunny morning song
from the woods
serving up its
story on a cedar post

Poem from Mom "Sign of the Times"

"Sign of the Times"

a sign of the times
new times from old times
old is safe and familiar
buy burma shave stop at stuckies
crease torn map in hand reading glasses
old airstream you and he had together
new places filled with old memories
check for the next campground
get some gas unhook the car
dreaming the same highways again
broken lines and double yellows
two lane roads showing you
when to stop and when to go
trying to revisit the past
so long gone now so sweet
you let today get in your way
so the jasmine and morning glories
would not bloom alone in the warm air
next to the airstream at the campground
lonely hearts searching for ballast
for a new way to balance out the old
hanging on too tightly to the past
when miles filled desires
home is where the heart is
strung on beads from yesterday
you were a sign of the times

Poem from Mom "Poets Light"

Poets Light

we long for the days
of romance and rhyme
gone in all ways
of another time

lost in years
part of the past
bringing us tears
made not to last

forge on ahead
move into today
its all been read
goodbye naivete

rhymesters only
doing their best
come up lonely
losing times test

can hold your own
if you do it write
standing alone
in a poets light

Poem from Mom "Spring Fever"

Spring Fever

rain awakening
the cabin
still dark
espresso
favorite day
since jan of 38
springtime
after so many
trickling drops
falling softly
finding life
honeysuckle blooms
red roses
hummingbirds
rock pile kittens
spring fever
spring flowers
spring peeper
wet birds
bugs under rocks
sunrise
mornings
old dog gypsy
on our porch
still together
writing thoughts
born in solitude
a rain claim
abundance of pleasure
our secret treasure

Poem from Mom "Vortex"

Vortex

the river meanders
moving you slowly
the way you are
not changing a thing
you walked away
to determine a path
to unhook the world
that held you
in its pattern so long
cutting equal squares
of monotony
arranged in rows
of bored sameness
you walked away
and its ok
some come to see
how it would be
alone in the vortex
in the river

Poem from Mom: "Not If I Can Help It"

"Not If I Can Help It"


an old friend ask me
now that you are old
are you happy with your life so far
I said I wasn't sure
they ask if I was happy now
I said I think so
they ask what do you
still want to do
I said I didn't know for sure
they ask if I had
any regrets
I said I didn't think so
they ask if I had figured out
the real meaning of life
I said no
they ask me if grandchildren
were easier than your own kids
I said yes
they ask why I didn't
color my gray hair
I said why would I do that
they ask if I had had
any surgery
to make me look younger
I said no because
it would take too much
they said don't you know
gray hair and wrinkles
will make you look old
I said I am old
I ask them if they were afraid
to get old and if they thought
their lives would not be good
anymore if they had
gray hair and wrinkles
I ask them what they would lose
if they just let
nature take its course
I ask them why they can't
just be what they are
isn't it more important
to look after what you
look like on the inside
they ask if that is what
I had learned from life
I said I guess so
they ask if I wanted
to live to be one hundred
I said not if I
can help it

Poem from Mom "Too"

Too

it is quiet
so quiet
under water
bubbles going up
out of your nose and mouth
bursting on the surface
what do they tell
who will hear
in no particular order

let the sun go
leave action alone
contemplate
draw deeply
skitter
work your line
post no bail
a scorpion sleeps
under a rock
in the dark
he has found
his place to park
be still and see
how the sun follows
itself so you can see

Poem from Mom "Preacher Preacher"

Preacher Preacher


preacher preacher
standing before me
quoting scriptures
with certainty
someones words
held in fallen
centuries of change
this tells me you know
the scriptures
tell me the rest
of the story
how to live
inside the fence
of the ten commandments
how to forgive
dastardly deeds
that tore at your soul
like cold hands
ringing out
a hot wet sponge
how to find your way
in a world
so far off track
it shakes from its depth
and devours its surface
show me how to
move the stone
and get back to the one
whose words you
so easily speak
denying the time
on the dim road of truth
tell me preacher
if you can

Poem from Mom "Downtown"

Dowtown


downtown
for the wealthy
just bought a loft
in an old warehouse
for 450 thousand
with a swimming pool
on the roof and
a view of the city
am able to walk anywhere
in this renewed area
of shops and restaurants
safe and sound
you can still buy
comfort and convenience
in downtown
your success the walls
that surround you
isolating you
from the reality
of what you will find
if you go just
across the tracts

Poem from Mom "Decisions"

"Decisions"


things aren't the way
they could be
the way I think
I want them
change would be good
maybe I'm not sure
what is missing
a good decision
a smart decision
a decision
what about my plans
born on the wings
of dreamless decisions
that have brought my
life to a halt
my plans
what about my plans
get out of your way
and go out and live
the rest of your life
the life that is out there
waiting for you
waiting for
your good decision