Who Will Remember

A September afternoon

When the child was parked

And the inner child released

And the sky swung round and round and round

A giddy tumblesault

Head over heels

You are old Father William

And you Mother Mary?

You are gone.

Who will recall

The drive to the country

With the child all packed

And the driver washing his greasy brown hair

While we waited

And wondered aloud

And the hours that it took

And the starry blanket sky

That we found.

  

I must recount

Following a pink raincoat

On a girl’s Schwinn bike

To a store in a basement of a church

A Possibility Shop

Of endless possibilities

Treasures unearthed

Trinkets collected

In pockets and boxes.

I greedily clutch

Eely moments of time

That fight in my fist:

Gasping gills greasily glide downward

To watery depths

Of a cold dark lake

Where you hide

Tresses flowing

By your mermaid smile.

Waterfall (revised)

In my father's skin

I jump into its frigid flow;

Cold comfort indeed.

It’s icy embrace

My ecstatic exhalation

Love will sucker punch you in the solar plexus and

Leave you dazed and chilled,

Thin sliced on a plate.

Like a friend you’ve missed

You pick up where you left off.

“You’ve lost weigh you have”

“Love your new tattoo”

Heads bent low in elfin mischief.

“I wonder if he will even know that your hair is wet?”

Races up the canyon

Shrieking as it goes.

A chilly caress

Is better than none at all I

Whispered into my

Pillow late that night.

A damp sheet is Morphus’ bouquet,

A tender calling card to a midnight masquerade

Swirling in the dark

His kiss is eternal.

In my father’s skin

I kiss his dark blooming lips with

Interminable

Anticipation

Of falling off into the stars

That form a band that swings and sways in sensuous waves.

Saxophones over

Our bed of desire.

Waterfall

In my father's skin

I jump into its frigid flow;

Cold comfort indeed.

It’s icy embrace.

My ecstatic exhalation.

Love will sucker punch you in the solar plexus and

Leave you dazed and chilled,

Thin sliced on a plate.

Like a friend you’ve missed

You pick up where you left off.

“You’ve lost weigh you have”

“Love your new tattoo”

Heads bent low in elfin mischief.

“I wonder if he’ll even know that your hair is wet?”

Races up the canyon

Shrieking as it goes.

In my father’s skin

I kiss your berry lips and

Reach down to confirm

The mark has been hit.

Gooseflesh is baptized in sacred tears of Man

Trickling down cheeks

Of hard ancient stone.

Fog

A light grey goose down pillow
Settles on
Plush pink petals terrified.

Soft satin velvet drap’ry
Hangs limpid
And puddles into putrid

Pools on your neighbors lawn. My
Nostrils fill
With the stench of nature’s cold

Stagnant remains. You smile and
Laugh at it.
Shall it pass your house again?

Or embrace it in its long
Seductive
Tendrils, red tresses unfurl

To reveal their cold dark roots
Burrowing
Under your cracked foundation.

A strand of your hair is caught
In my mouth
And does not wish to leave me.

Shards and scraps of hallowed ghosts
Drop their veils
And blindfold the boat’s captain

Who moans, basso profundo,
“Woe is me”.
Clio combs her hair and laughs.

Years Are Stored

In a windowless warehouse

Of red brick and mud

That discounts us our youth

And says: Be not proud

Nor boastfully arrogant

When stating your premise of being.

States are transient

Passing from shape to shape

Solids liquids gases group

In interrupted quadrants

Of mournful disregard.

Why can’t I stroke you

Inconveniently slow

With others present

And the burning question afloat?

Our horns locked

Within masculine display.

Like Samson’s hair

One hacks away at its root:

Thick, manly desire

Plucked out piece by piece

From its roots.

Each hair drier

and whiter than its past

stands sentinel

and begs for forgiveness

from distant stars.

On-Line

In sometimes places we hide

Our shame of

Being lonely human souls.

Poem 1/13/11

Cacaphonous clams

barking

about themselves

and parties they hated.

In retrospect we,

analyzing

dreams of structure

and all that could be

Offer up nothing

trembling

about themselves

and life's great burden

self-centered straplings

subsist

in dark deluded fantasies

and hate themselves.

Organically grown

tumors

run raging & rampant

infiltrate your unworked gardens;

you plant seeds

tenderly

and leave them rage

to sky sun & rain

but claim no claim

offense-less

as they spiral skyward

bearing their barren brood!

Cacaphonous clams

clacking

at unhearing gods

shaking fists, aghast!

Ode to a Rock

Cantankerous crag

Ripped from the palatine Palisades

And placed

Thoughtfully

Gingerly:

A diamond set amongst coral and driftwood.

The end of a span of time

Marching forward

Relentless in it's plodding progress

To rise

Surge upward.

Oh rock of hills

You make my heart quicken

Steep

Deep desire

To enrobe you in purple silks

And maroon damasks

Your bridge

The diamonds for your throat

Basking in the glow

Of a tragic toll plaza.

They say they know you

At 50 miles per

Or from airplane windows

Or a senseless u-turn

Your enigmatic smile

Gives them no clue

Arms folded

Eyes unblinking

Staring forward

Knowing

Betrayal and lust

Floods and dust

Shiny hard and ruby rust.

A bush land of bird, beast and brother

Laying layer upon Lenape layer

Carnegie stalls where Vanderbilt rises

Horses trod victorious down your boulevard

Armadas defeated

Fleets welcome.

Engulfed in your regal robe

I hear the siren call

From deep beneath the Narrows

Sheltered behind

A blinding sky

Air and water

One and the same

Demarcated by a golden line.

Bearable to a mortal eye

On late Autumn afternoons.