Out in the cold

Old age is a smarmy being that pushes you from behind, confusing you with multiple choices and dithering doubts. Cutting some strings, and tightening others, it challenges your daring of pain, and wants your attention during sleep. Ah, this life and its just desserts. *** Art by Remedios Varo

Goodnight

Mister whiskers, curled up in dream. You, in the faded recliner, the motors of your snore like a cheetah’s purr. The TV on mute in blue aquarium light. Outside the window, a borealis of feathering snow. And I, in a sated sigh, put my feet up too. We go gently into that goodnight.

By a brook

~Somewhere by a brook~I say. A Freudian slip. You say What? What was that? I say ~Nothing~ but can’t keep a leash on plodding thoughts that say ~Plant a small bush~ ~One that’s out-of-place~ ~One that will thrive on leavings~ *** Image: Flickr.com

The day before winter

A walk, shortened, in October bluster. Black branches flailing shake off leaves to the bonfire of fall. Escape, they do, in a tumble dry dance. Carpet the catwalks. Stick to the shoes. The future’s opaque. Carrying, carrying things. Stumbling towards rest. Knuckles of anxiousness push up, under the jawline. Boxes, unopened these years. A pair […]

Archangel

Once, within my hearing, and thinking himself alone, he said I wish I were dead. And I didn’t man up to that. I god damn kept my hands in my pockets and shied away from his tortured road. And now, in my time of life, I see to it that things are kept clean, most […]

Mutuals

~Fifty said to Fifty~ Time is growing short, growing cold. Know that i will be with you, all the way to the next time. Be on guard, lest I drift into the lock of sleep. Charge through the night, that you may play in broad day. Put away the fearsome fear, until another year.

God save the Queen

Dreams, I’ve had, and thoughts in broad day, now, of doors both shut and locked. Of bridges, burned or broken. Vision’s through wrong-way binoculars, cleverly cartooned. A safe distance. But listen…just… The clown is talking.

The church of research

May I do this with your arm, you said. Not ~Can I~, but ~May I~. And then, with your hands, you pressed down hard into the years, prying up stones that were cold and complacent. The roots of moles and strawberries. And “What?”, I thought. What are you looking for? This hurts, yes. *** [Image: […]