"The Porch"

our porch holds the story
teaching our tale
held by circumstance
wanting understanding
seeking validation
losing the flight
where others fell
lost in the woods
grasping for what was
searching the future
finding its offer
unable to call
afraid we might fall
searching ourselves
out on our porch

thunder and lightnig
the storm is here
watching from the porch
in the darkness
flashing like a TV screen
after the movie ends
motion as we sleep
never stopping
no place to go
pictureless minds dreamimg
not reading the footnotes
no time to waste
watching from the porch
seeing yourself
before it's too late
our hopscotch fate

white winged dove
finding a path
into Gypsy's mouth
brought to me
on the cabin porch
hunting dog hunting
proud as punch
for all to see
feathers do not lie
certainty exists
she does not know
she is free to be
a bird dogs job
a good girl you see
Like me

Gypsy killed a lizard
it made a mistake
leaving its dark place
under the log
in the Angel Patch
my secret garden
near the porch
where lizards live
playing dead to survive
fooling her mind
in the secret part
where arrows don't point
and roads don't go
Where we all survive



wasps in the bedroom
on the warm windows
overlooking the porch
scratching at the glass
seeing escape
trapped in life
cinnamon and clove
leaching their effort
usurping their lives
a ryhthmic cycle
their syncope
intermediate death
like us

bees on the flowers
in pots on the porch
play around my hands
buzzing their story
we don't hear
as they disappear
where are they going?
why are they going?
chemicals to protect the crops?
For us to consume?
From deaths loom
woven in the cloth
that wrap our bodies
straight line for life
a story of doom

ringed turtle dove
California refugee
pushed by earthquakes
singed by fire
slopped by mud
leaving the searching tsunami
sure to come
for a higher perch
alone flying to
our hill country cabin
viewed from the porch
sleeping is a tree
journey exhausted
with whitewings returned
changing, surviving, searching
california dreaming
Like us

mom amd pop cardinal
going about life
not hearing the changes
muffled by alien clouds
scratching the edge
of uncertainty
against the back
of a fading blue sky
hung by clothes pins
on the line of smog
flown to us by TWA
belched from GM
we do it all for you
we watch from the porch