Meaow...

Morning hides beyond the hill Like a fuzzy yellow kitten Little tail twitching Waiting Waiting To pounce And you can choose to greet it As a laughing child Or a mouse

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Falling

A stark white feather Drifted Listed Twisted From the Parrish blue depths Of a cloudless sky Tracing a circle More or less More elliptical I guess Yes An oval Spiral To the ground

I wondered As I watched it Falling Rising Falling Dancing on air White against that iridescent sky Swirling Twirling Whirling on a sudden gust Of wind Was it bird Or angel lost This snowy zephyr Here

Depends I guess On what a man believes And if a man believes It matters But I believe It was just about The prettiest Softest thing I ever Saw

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Shhhhh!

I’m A mime I don’t even mind That whiteface Makes my teeth Look yellow The color of snot You see There’s this rope That I must pull Hand-over-hand But it always Pulls back Dragging me away Across the stage And endless stairs And ladders To climb And this invisible box This prison From which There is no escape And if I had a voice My scream Would blow down great forests Would demolish whole cities Would shake the very earth But every day In profound silence I lose This tug-of-war

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Common Ground

Face pressed against the action He smells gun oil and powder Scope sweeping far ahead Crosshairs seeking turbans He thinks about his children And believes

He fights for freedom The enemies of his leaders Are his enemies too He’s been ordered to kill And he will Kill

Across an open field Littered now with cast-off weapons Equipment and prone Lifeless men Another rifle glints in the desert sun Another man waits

Face pressed against the action He smells gun oil and powder Scope sweeping far ahead Crosshairs seeking tan helmets He thinks about his children And believes

He fights for freedom The enemies of his leaders Are his enemies too He’s been ordered to kill And he will Kill

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Summer Storm

I remember that night The moon and stars were shining And I was slowly walking home In the wee hours

Just me and that lonesome road In the shadow of the mountain A summer wind came howling Through the pines

Clouds sailed up around me Like ships upon the ocean Floating on a midnight breeze Oh holy night Oh holy night

Lightning cracked the sky As thunder shook the hillside I felt the rumble pounding In my bones

There within those torn clouds Run aground against the mountain I raised my tired arms To touch the rain

Lightning devils danced in time Flashing, thrashing, crashing Streaks of fire below me Oh holy night Oh holy night

Four miles from home On that mountain all alone I felt a change come coursing Through my veins

A change that seemed electric A subtle transformation\ And knew that I would never Be the same

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While I was busy

It’s like the hour hand On the big classroom clock That never seemed to move Until I focused my attention On something else Schoolwork Clouds scudding by beyond the big windows Thinking about recess Or the girl two desks away But then I’d look up at the clock To see that the little hand had moved

My life is a lot like that Day in Day out I do the same things over and over And there is a sameness to it all As though I’m not growing Or progressing And then I catch my reflection in a window To see that my hair has turned gray And I catch myself listening For the bell

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Hunger

A screech owl perches Precariously Upon a pitted Rusted turnbuckle Spying prey (Unwary Weaker adversary Below)

Bunching muscle Talons Sharp ripping beak Coiled spring he launches Into lubricated air Oxidized iron grinding Against oxidized iron As claws slip free

Squawk Squeak The mouse or bunny Heart skips once Delicate paws spray earth Disturb dry leaves In the fluttering dash For den

Parachute wings fold back Sleek missile dropping Unencumbered from the sky Feathers spread wide Just before the impact Greedy talons clutching Soft brown Earth

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Small Talk

Words dribble from our lips Run like water down our shirts Our tongues writhe like snakes In the space between Incessant hissing Bubbles bursting Murmuring Mingling With tears uncried Words unspoken Teeth grinding Clacking Snakes dancing Words flowing down down down Splashing puddles on the ground The heart’s cries The soul’s groanings Gurgle and spittle Ankle deep

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Destiny

Once I saw your eyes Peer through the window of my will Staring down the years To where my heart was calm and still Deeper than the ocean Where the water’s black as night I shivered with the cold And dreamed of light

Howling, raging winds Blew spray in curtains high above Huddled masses gathered Hoping body heat was love Far beneath their agony I dreamed of cloudless skies Waiting for the morning sun To rise

Still you stared unblinking As two tears rolled down your cheek One for those who wrestle And the other for the meek They put themselves through torture Each according to his need One afraid to fail One To succeed

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The Gift

I hike the hills of Iaquay Where colors steal my breath away A dusty road, a verdant ridge A golden field, a swinging bridge

Soft greens of every shade and hue A sky of iridescent blue An unexpected apple tree Where nature hands out snacks for free

The apple, round and sweet and firm (Try finding one without a worm) What caused this giving tree to grow? The seed was planted long ago

And tended by a calloused hand An act of faith I understand I learned it on the summer day I hiked the hills of Iaquay

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