reverse

The sunset was behind me
as I drove my submarine--
I spun my craft 'round backwards
so I wouldn't miss the scene.

But that just made the sun reverse
and set late in the east;
So I drive now in forward gear
and the sun does as it pleases.

second

A second chance came twice
to lead me from my bed;
I called it evil, trouble, vice,
and bade it leave instead.

It left but soon brought back
an option third, but same.
I took that third time's charm because
it now called me by name.

puddle

I stepped around the shadow, singing
'not yet' to the noise
and walked myself back the way I'd come.
In circuits, always climbing back,
sweating in the sun,
I watched that patch of shade:
a cool reward for work well done.

But by the end, and having mowed
the last of unkempt grass
the shadow of the tree had peeled back--

the sun had moved, and dried to dust
my small puddle of shade.

collage

The tree was tall, and grew thus so
the leaves could find the wind.
They fluttered, flitted--to and fro,
and tossed their blossoms down like snow
that summer couldn't end.

smile

A broken window shows the sun
with cracks along its rim;
I turn my head, to see instead
a ball of fire that wakes the world
with a crooked toothy grin.

a current

a current running through my head,
from ankles down to toes.
it sinks into uncharted spaces
in between my bones.

in recesses of ice and fire
where indulgences once lay--
the seven deadly sins
grow less fearsome by the day.

I come to know the sound of it
when midnight comes to call--
for without this vibration
I would never know at all.

the current running through my head
grows softer with each line;
I tune my poems, verse by verse
before I call them mine.

with another brought together
I am given right to rest
and the current running through my head
sinks down into my breast.

atop the pillar

atop the pillar stands a man,
he wears the mask of death.
he moves as if stirred by a wind
but never takes a breath.

we all stand in his shadow,
but never seem to see
the land that stretches in the sun
where we will soon be free.

the man looks down for each just once
to finally meet their eye
and in that moment, takes a breath
so we may calmly die.