"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

"Rearview Mirror" Volume II from "Windswept"

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

"Livin in the Fever"

livin in the fever
summer in texas
jalapeno days
margarita shade
ice in coolers
windows closed
conditioners humming
california nights
porch swings
cool mornings
lake afternoons
suntan sunburn
believing the breeze
mercury rising
looking for the cool
in the fever

" 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

"Morning Moonlight with Hadley"

early morning
before daylight
four month old
granddaughter Hadley
with grandma
on the queen bed
in the quiet loft
of the log cabin
the moonlight formed
a soft white blanket
in the darkness
on the bed where
I laid her down
we just smiled
at each other
in the dim shadowy light
and listened to the wind
whistle around the windows
Hadley was liking this
ahing and cooing and
playing with her feet
perfectly content
words were not spoken
the peacefulness
surrounded us
after awhile
I put her in her bed
she fell happily asleep
in the morning moonlight

"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

"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