THE PRECIPICE OF THE MOMENT

There is one
Floating thorough this cranial sea of bliss
There is one
Who has replaced them all
Replaced in questioning
Replaced in tap-foot awaiting phone’s jingle
Replaced in yearning and sea’s rising wave
Sunset shimmer of evening’s curtain
Replaced in pin-prick proddings of desire
Desire’s burning ember
Buried beneath fire’s end
Replaced by dancer’s shadow upon my closed fluttering eye
Flame’s reflection bare upon my skin
Replaced by knowing/unknowing/knowing
Un-
Knowing
Replacing all that is holy
With all that is unknowing
And content with that just now
Replacing lovers, memories,
Taste of other lips and touch of skin
Hair falling down onto my chest
The smell of her neck just below the ear
Replacing it all with the hope of the moment’s fragile grace
Replaced by this moment
This waiting
This moment
This being
This moment
This yearning
This moment
This discovery
This moment
Unknowing
This tightwire moment leaning
Over a precipice of its own design

Hurtling
Plummeting
Towards the abyss

Soaring
Soaring
Soaring

Towards uncertainty’s
Tempting grin --
“More”
“Different”
“New”
She mulls it over
A whisper over her shoulder
Not knowing quite what to make of me.
As if I had answers other then
“Yes”
and “Now”
and “Safe”
ans “Smile”

All are One
All are One
You
Me
Us
Them
All are One.


~ for Janine, October 22, 2008

WHAT'S UP WITH LIFE'S METRONOME?

Tick tock
timing is everything
so we dwell upon the things
that aren't exactly as we wish
and we miss what is really there.

And I don't want to miss you
waltzing through my life's
contentment
writing you off
no
more like
writing me off
and leaving you up there
precariously
dangling
all false possibilility
above my graying cerebral cage
and I count days
and I count words
and I count
moments
tick
tock
never
enough.
slippery
devil
that time.

~ for Janine, October 9, 2008

BARKING UP TREES

Each morning I crawl out from under the bed
Solitude hits me
as those dream people scurry back to safety
somewhere deep down into the sheltering blankets and sheets
tucked in tight
to hide all day long
and I step outside
sniff around daily
I bark up trees
beautiful blossoming trees
their branches and arms reach out to me
beckoning
as if they needed to hear my pleas
as much as their shade
their fruit
their sustaining filtering of the very air I breathe
keep me from harm.
And again with the squirrels
they scurry
like tiny annoying boyfriends
on to the next tree
no loyalty
no glance behind them
I run back and forth
putting the fear of dog into them
but they always return
taunting me
for I am an anachronism to them
long in the tooth
same old stories
same old songs
but the trees
every day
they see me coming
they reach out again to me
they comfort me
they show me the natural beauty of things
I protect them
make them feel special
but there is always that moment
that one small slip in time
when I wonder if today
I'm just barking up the wrong tree.

~ spontaneous poem written on Facebook contemplating the dating scene. 9/30/08