Start

Let me meet you up an hour early,

Near that cross street where you first met me,

And I'll sweep you off your feet if you let me

I just won't beg for you

And we'll talk like we're old best friends

Stroll down the cobblestones and laugh about our future

And if theres ever gone to be an end

Well we'll laugh about that too 

You're smart when you talk

I think you to seem to know me

And I think you're down to start something

You just need to show me

And we'll see how we feel about it

If the stars are all aligned 

Then we know what to do 

Outlook

We sat on a bench in a park;

A placed we'd made love in the dark.

But on this sunny day a lonely old man,

Found solace with pidgeon feed in hand.

As we watched him feeding the birds, Behind him the bushes were stirred,

And out popped a laughing little kid,

Who chased the birds and screamed as he did.

The frown on the old fellows face

Made us grin as we took it all in,

A charming little slice of life, 

Had unfolded right before our eyes.

Later, back home on the couch, 

The same couch we'd longed for through months on the bench,

We had rented Iron Man and together held our breathes

As Iron Man battled the bad guy to death

The bad guy had lifted a van, 

And in doing so put a family in danger,

You tssked and said 'I can't believe how mean he is being'

And I stared at you in adoring wonder.

The reason I like benches and couches,

Is because I like to share your world view,

But when I step back to look at who I've been looking with,

There's no view that's better than you.

Intention

This is not an epic set in modern times

There is no need for poems or your useless rhymes,

This is where I draw the line and I'm serious, I will not be a part of this..

But then again..

It's been so long since I've been kissed

Since I felt a hand around my wrist

A heart under a chest

A slow steady breath

An excercise that leaves nothing left..

This is not my style, so you must take care

I am fragile and worse, I don't need you here

This was not my intention, in fact I wish I never had done

But here we are so you may buy me a drink, and only one..

But then again..

I have learned of longing, or more precisely, the absence of

I was scared to find I could be content to live my days without love

You have made me foolish, you have lost my nerve,

You have put us on a path we didn't deserve

This is not a romance, where it all works out,

You sowwed the seeds of uncertainty, now you reap the doubt..

But then again..

There were times you surprised me, where you made me strong

There were times you impressed me and admitted your wrongs

There is hope but it's fleeting, what chance do we have

Its getting late and by the eleventh hour, you'll just have to ask

Intertwined

With bells on, leaning forward, keen as morning sunshine, keeping calm, keeping warm,

But then alarm bells, startled backwards, frozen like a blizzard, lovestruck strong;

Tummy shudders, gentle caress, elevated heart rate, lowered breathe;

Icy eyes, charming smile, passion like a storm, 

Intent in a clenched fist, goosebumps down your arm;

Midnight spill, morning guilt, hesitant laughter, awkward pauses, shit-eating grin, 

Should have left before sunrise, God's scrutiny, forseeable consequences, shouldn't sin;

Knowing gaze, subtle blush, sentimental good morning touch;

Entwined fingers face the day, and leave behind the bed they made.

Mine

You wanted a second opinion when our canary died,

You pushed further into the abyss

And I was reminded of the time we were stranded 

In that Portugese police station stitch

My favorite t-shirt and all of those pictures

Stolen by wandering tramps 

But all of my feelings were trapped by the ceiling

Hammered down like passport stamps

Was I to blame, because I took the bait

Or were you to blame for seeing too late

That the writing on the wall 

Said this place has been closed

Its a danger to be here at all

Walking

Can I watch you smile again,

To ease my soul from a lonely stroll,

To see you bat lashes and get flush in your cheeks,

To take your hand and not let go.

Can I walk you home again,

To hear the crunching leaves and see your breathe,

To touch palms under street lights and stars,

And spin around until we're all that's left.

Soliel

Without sunlight, we stay warm huddled with friends

And with the daybreak, head home to our separate beds

At high noon, without shadows for company, we gather again

And look back on fun memories,

Redefining what our days meant

Traffic

With our ambivalent friends,
Around the Eisenhower bends,

Switching lanes in stop and go traffic, 

Like addicts spitting Grizzley,
With the static speaking swiftly

From the stucco beats,
We're calm as can be.
As the rain comes down drizzling
On the dash sits a keychain,
With the image of a towering lady.
She keeps drawing your eyes,
I speak up, to your surprise;

'What if, instead,'
I said calmly through breathes,

'I could tell you your destiny.
But in the future,
Gazing from porches,
You'd forget about me.'

You rolled your eyes gently,
Like the rain.
And said, 'Not this old thing again.
What if instead, my old friend,
We unravel our mysteries'.

Sleep

In castles on the water, on trains over valleys,
I know how far you go, and I want only to follow.
Wishes from snow globes, late nights walking alleys,
Remembering my travels, and conversations tomorrow;
Your moon is mine, do you dream of me still,
In the new places you've found, where lovers abound?
Whether it's heaven or hell, in the quiet we keep,
I remember it well, you said don't forget about me.

Animals

Fighting like animals for low hanging fruit
Because it's all we can see and
It's all we can reach and
It's all we can do

Until the enlightened says shake it
Or stands on your head
Or makes a ladder or a slingshot
Or takes an ax to it instead

The high fruit is devoured
It tastes just the same
And the fruit tree is dead
And we all share the blame

What a loss, our sweet fruit tree
We squandered our fortune
But we invented new tools
And we planted an orchard

Patience

That frantic need, that Cistine reach

Those pebbles on your window not letting you sleep

That short of breath and stuttered speech

These things that make you wait and see

Standard

Through the haze on the horizon it was hard to say
If the dot in the distance was coming or going

A flat open plain, backed stately by mountains
Was mirrored by foreboding clouds in the sky

Whipping in the wind on the top of a pole
A tattered standard defiantly swayed

An oasis is gracious for those lost in the desert
Though it attracts those of all different kinds

The dot in the distance grew larger
The distance gave some time to think

Redeem

Heart of glass with a heart-shaped face,
The hopeless heroine with the impossible dream,

Heart in pieces and the wisdom of age,
The hopeful romantic can't say what he means,

Heart of darkness and the vacuum of space,
The obvious villain may not be what she seems,

Heart in conflict and the importance of place,
The subtle fool whose jokes hide what's unseen,

Heart of gold and the value of grace,
The beautiful damsel was cut from the team,

Heart of stone and the counting of days,
The lonely antihero, who the rest would redeem.

Elephants

After a clumsy little walk down an infinite hall, I drew a dotted line door in a space on the wall,
With a higher art wave like a hallucinating painter, I swept in to find you in a Victorian parlor.
I smelled hemlock and oleander, heard a harp and a baby grand, saw a library of Shakespeare and Dickens and a photograph contraption on a three-legged stand.
An elegant room with crown molding and fine sconces, complete with clove cigarettes in little bone boxes,
Intricate weaves in floors of polished pine, a brazier with a flue that disappeared into a ceiling, painted like the night sky.
There were set mahogany tables and antique upholstered chairs, and there you were, in all your glory, just sitting right there.
You were practicing parlor card tricks, gesturing abra kadabra, as shadows flickered mildly from the gold candelabra.
You were glowing green and red like you were made of emerald and fire, while I glowed white and blue like I was ice and sapphire.
There was a magic about you as if you were cast by a mage, as if a breeze swirled about you, making you shimmer and shake.
I approached you with caution, it had been years since we spoke,
You looked wiser and wilder, I wondered what feelings evoked.
I felt born again but ancient, like I'd died a thousand deaths
Since the last time that I saw you, and I wondered what that meant.
Then you looked at me and smiled and your fire melted my ice,
But as I traipsed closer to you I looked back on my life.
By some trick of the eye or a hangover dream, it was clear things in this room were not as they seemed.
I turned back to you and you rose, dancing away as I chased,
We were closing a distance, but still worlds away.
You skipped backwards with laughter tossing me baubles and coins,
The room started spinning, I found balance and calm.
You climbed up upon an ornate sofa, and with a grin you just fell,
Like you trusted me, implicitly, and finally in my arms you were held.
And I realized then, that'd we'd said not a word nor a stutter
As you pointed over my shoulder at something huge in the corner.
Near the dotted line door, stood something that amazed and surprised,
How does a thing that big get through a door that size?
But you looked me in the eyes, and put your finger to your lips,
For some things should not be spoken of when you're waiting on a kiss.

Serenity

Koi and lilies, cherry blossoms abloom

Calligraphic history engraved upon tombs

In a tucked away sanctuary, hidden from view

Was where I felt serene thinking about you

Stone, resin, stone, ancient fear of the other

Beauty in defense of the elegant structure

When time showed the barriers we build are not new

Was when I felt serene thinking about you

On a scale unprecedented in the places I've been

I sensed trillions of thoughts in billions of heads

A certain assurance that what I thought was true

Was how I felt serene thinking about you

In manicured gardens with lovers on laps

Came toil-aged smiles from mouths full of gaps

Sun-squinted stares reminding me that I knew

Why I feel serene thinking about you

Again

When you're doubting yet channel your heart
And let your sunlight shine upon dark
Take the opines with the slights and the trite
Tuck your chin and try as you might..

When you're alone in a world apart
And you're speeding to get back to the start
Take the new with the old and in stride
Take your hits as you fight the good fight..

When you realize that you've been here before

And the routine becomes the tiring chore

Take the blessing that comes from the practice

Someday you may get a different reaction

Reconnect

The things that we dared not say so early
Dormant feelings we caged for our reasons
Showed themselves in those early minutes
And the anxiety forgotten

The beer that we shared,
When we first dared to share judgement,
Then weeks spent hashing it out
And the long wait forgotten  

How you kept your chin up
Though those many times you endured
How proud I was of who you had become
And the heavy heart forgotten

A dare to hope for some kind of future
Where the past could exist aside
To two people who reconnected
And the feeling alive for now

The things we dared not say so early,
Dormant feelings uncaged for our reasons
Came to light to our wonder
And here we are.

Laundry

To be noticed, to be remembered;

Ambitions of everyday toilers.

And whether possible, worthwhile, desirable;

One wonders.

The desperate pursuit for daily meaning,

Which upon reflection keeps one up nights

Or lulls one to sleep.

Is a fleeting resolve, a forgettable determination;

Each night a promise, each morning an excuse.

Amongst everyday struggles,

Big battles, little rituals, the grind,

Are so few noteworthy days.

Yet we are each other's muses,

Validated by our shared humanity.

Tonight, in the taco shop, the laundromat, the dive,

One thing held true;

The glint in the eyes of strangers,

When they recognized those souls they knew.

Everyday heroines and heroes ask not whether their days and lives have meaning;

Rather, what gives meaning to their days and lives?

And to that we each have our answer.

Lagos

Waiting on the dusty stoop

Of a little hotel by the sea

A rotation of Senegali youth

Take turns keeping me company

Face still smarting from slaps

Head still pounding from drinks

Belly still full from laughs on our stroll

Before our talk revealed our different paths

Sun still setting on the edge of the world

The panicing Atlantic keeps kicking up dust

My new friends console me, but they know they can't hold me 

And invite me back in for their drugs 

These Senegali men have seen this before

The harsh realities of a man come apart

On a lover's lane, where lovers still wait

In vain, for their lovers who never return 

China

Not once did it occur
To the bull in the shop
That he should be careful
Or that he should stop

Heart

Deep in the folds of the mind

Behind imagination and memory and fact

Are the sugar sweet grains of a feeling

Next to nightmare and faith and a laugh

The feeling's as complex as the stars

And grows like the flowers in spring

It makes less sense than disaster but all that it's after

Is to match you with that one other being

In front of the lobe and behind the eyes

There's a transfer of sight into spark

And the deeper it goes, the less you will know

About the light you make out of the dark

Past the lips and the clavicle and the skin

There's a sentiment a world apart

Not on the brain nor the eyes does it rely

That's why we emphasize the strength of the heart

Ants

Walk carefully so you don't step on ants

A grandmother told her grandson.

And the grandson did, but he grew

And his head became further from the ground

And the plight of ants seldom troubled him,

Though, in fairness, sometimes it still did.

They are not special, his textbooks implored,

And his professors confirmed

And his girlfriend wanted his attention

As did his friends and his bosses

And he grew to learn that he was not special either, 

Not to strangers

Nor passing comets

Nor the impersonal forces of the universe

But to those who stopped to notice him

He meant at least a little or some

And from that he prospered and grew older still 

And when he watched his granddaughter play

He told her 

Walk carefully so you don't step on ants 

Rituals

Chopping vegetables

Walking every isle

Walking alleys at midnight for the stars

Looking up, downtown, at the skyline 

Some are too jaded to admire.

Waiting on you, like the seasons

Cuz some people change

And some people never do.

Dreams from Frank Lloyd Wright

Aspirations of a baker in the big city

'Change your life, it just takes time' 

Watching your smile

From the park, on a park swing

Earth, food, people

Our rituals

Are everything