It Kills Me

Posted on by

I cannot remember the words

The top-ten song that found us there, together again that night

A vintage crimson string, tethering us to our wild years

All we knew in common, refined in the storm of them

I sang to you in the sheets we shared

That now escaped melody, I swear to you, sugar, it kills me

If you heard me, say you remember the words

Curtains

Posted on by

Unravelings rambled undetected amongst the two us

Made their way to a place in our hearts that our brains didn’t know to protest

You, now gone, as a breeze
I, here, in the still
Grasping devotion I do set free

Blameless, we
For the loving words we uttered
For the promises we made

Unaware of translucent thorns wafting betwixt our souls

No Sunshine

Posted on by

Driving yesterday, Friday
Suddenly, my periphery


I saw you
You saw me — singing, maybe


Our worlds, long since finished colliding


We, continued
I singing, still

“Why are you alone?”
The music sneaked up on me to ask


Caught me off guard


My voice was in another world
Singing of a lover’s soul


So I sang soul music to explain
Loud, because of my soul’s pain

Lofty

Posted on by


I remember temperatures
Made me rise to you
Every opportunity
I leaned in to melt
Never swept the sun away
I bid it come closer
That I would rain down
Begged it then to burn me
Condense and then confine me
Maybe we were clouded
But I couldn’t care
I wanted to be near you
In your lofty air

Things With Strings

Posted on by

See that small farm right there
See those young and old kids

Mine and his

Toys and mischief, solemnity and instruments strewn about
All things with strings — what heaven these things

Animals, there’s no choice

Alpacas, needing to wake us at dawn but, agreeable, settle in for the night before our dinnertime

Ebony dogs and snowy white chickens
No cows, but a cowboy

Keeps his white hat far back in our closet on a shelf and never puts my heart on a shelf

Comes home from work on time and Saturdays are his and mine

We get greasy together under the cover of some good old American steel

In the polebarn back there, muscle-bound memories we rebuild

Sundays are God’s, he says — how he leads the way, putting all striving aside for the day

On his knees each night in prayer

No need to prove himself to me ever again since he put me on a pedestal there in his heart of gold

Our house on a hill, our kids and our farm

His eyes and his time and his life

His gifts to me, Amen and Amen

Tomorrow Leave

Posted on by

I asked you then, come away

From pretending
From costume parties

To remove the mask
To wear your name proud

The name borne of your mother’s heart
The name I called you as a child

Remember who you truly are
Remember what you deeply love

Creatures, cars, cooking, calm
Comfort in my crazy arms

Leave behind the aged bones
Leave to find your first true home

I ask you now, come away

Forever Indigo

Posted on by

I was warned of the Yellow

The Yellow from the City

I liked its light, so

I defended it
Believed the best of it
Allowed it into my home, my bed
My sinew

I favored it
Fed it
Berries

I started to starve

Courageous, I asked for respect
Yellow, it fled

We stay silent now, Yellow and I

I was warned

But I still believe the best
For I’m forever Indigo