Come Home to You (a poem)

Come Home to You

Written on June 12th, 2013

When I was a child

In days I cannot remember

I dreamt of planting flowers on the moon

As I looked up into the night sky

In early September.

I envisioned a career in agriculture

Working long, gratifying days,

I dreamt of artistry and sculpture

A menagerie of colors and paints.

As a veterinarian, I would mend and heal

Make loving pets out of the sick and faint.

Letter to a Ten Year Old (a short story)

Letter to a Ten-Year-Old

Written March 1st, 2012

It was a radiant summer day when I skipped down to the end of the driveway at the bidding of my mother to fetch the mail. Birds sang and butterflies danced, their performances filling the pleasant golden air decorated with sunlight.

            I was only ten then, my proud first year of double digits that I had long anticipated. In those days, the world was so small and simple, consisting of only a fence that I frequently jumped to reach the field and woodlands, my house and family, and above everything a sapphire sky with rabbit tail clouds. What lay beyond those boundaries, my small microcosm, were only distant dreams and aspirations that I still had a long time to wait for.

            I hadn’t the slightest clue I was in for a big surprise when I delved my hand into that black metal box to claim what the world beyond my boundaries had sent my family.

            I was delighted to find that the letter on the very top of the pile was addressed to me. My wondering eyes poured over all the stamps and markings decorating the envelope, announcing the many distant incredible places the letter had journeyed through to reach me. Me, a simple, unimportant American ten-year-old.

Wishing for Sleep (a poem)

Wishing for Sleep

Written January 5th, 2012

How I wish I could sleep at night

But my waking dreams keep my eyes wide

And the stars shine so bright

Tires hiss on wet pavement

Passing like tumbling leaves, a phantom sigh

The music spins and twirls with the shadows

Singing with the lonely midnight train that calls goodbye

How I wish I could sleep at night

So worn out from a crowded day

That made my mind so dusty and numb

And changed my feet to sore old men

Yet energy still flows in my veins with a soft hum

I see snippets of the future on paths unchosen

Scattered across starry skies and stormy oceans

How I wish I could sleep at night

But my head is bursting with you

My ears full of a voice of warm velvet

A smile so wide and eyes so blue

I remember the heat of your touch today

And dream of the flames of tomorrow

A familiar wandering spirit fills my heart again

The Light in the Fog (a poem)

The Light in the Fog

Written June 20th, 2011

I can see you there

Shimmering somewhere in the shifting abyss

Inviting me with little hands

Materializing, then with a twirl disappearing

Leaving my heart warm

And my cheeks full with a smile

I hang on to this flickering daydream

Like the sunshine dancing on the ocean waves

Crippled (a poem)

Crippled

Written May 27th, 2011

Scared and alone here

Surrounded by white

And blinding fluorescent light

Close my eyes against the rising fear

I don’t want to believe it’s true

I can’t see the future anymore

My dreams are dead, my hope buried beneath the floor

Where my leg should be; just hospital sheets colored baby blue

*Remote (a poem)

Remote

I wish I had a remote

With buttons for pause and rewind

I could use it like a boat

To sail across the oceans of time

And re-visit the moments in life I've left behind.

My remote wouldn't have a fast forward button

Because what would be the point of life

If I saw it all in a moment of curious glutton

And knew every joy success, downfall, and strife?

And if I skipped every obstacle

I'd never become wise.

So let the future be a surprise

That I carve out for myself

These Are the Days (a poem)

These Are the Days

These are the days
When everything you eat falls to ash
At your lips
And even after you swallowed
The taste you wish would go away most
Remains
And your stomach is in pain
From digesting the delicacy
That was your favorite yesterday
Or any other normal day
But not today

*Death on the Horizon (a poem)

Death on the Horizon

Horizon turns gray

Banishing the black

And so appears the first ray

Sending the stars back

But the light does not shine

On a single river or pine

No- just a forever wasteland

Endless expanse of dusty-dry sand

And from a cold mountain cave appears

A young girl, small for her years

She sits at the very edge

Of the miles-high ledge

*The Ocean of Empty Souls (a poem)

The Ocean of Empty Souls

As the bus turns into school
I see the kids on the corner
Smoking their life away
Flirting with the technicalities of law
Where will they be in ten years?