In Transit

The thrill of the unknown
the vastness of potential
my life spreads before me
each path a silken web of choice
but I have no need to tread lightly
for I am the spider.

Cold Camera

The camera
takes a picture alright
but just a picture
because it can only see with photons
and flashes of electricity.

We see the picture
because we record the scene
in our memory.

Ambition

Flails about like sails
at full bloom
and them some
during a ripping storm
three options:
"Let them out!"
"Cut the mast!"
or "full speed ahead!"

The last is the most foolhardy
and rarely the wisest,
But its my favorite.

The First Hippie

Saint Francis of Assisi
-and he was a saint-
traveled on the fifth crusade
as the only true Christian
and did more to make the land holy
than the blood of a thousand Turks.

And brought more to bring peace
covered in sores
brought on a stretcher
than an army of ruddy youth
on horseback.

The Middle Ages

I always thought the times between light were static-
people stuck in a great intellectual rut
where nothing new was created,
crafted,
or discovered.

I find that I am wrong
and during my middle age
I hope I do the same.

Change

Drifting in the squalor of mediocrity
my nose catches a new scent
riddling through a haze of contentment.
It comes from somewhere new-
and familiar at the same time.

I don't know where it comes from,
but I like it-
and both fear and hope
that it leads me on.

Change is in the air.

Roads

When I think about the paths I've left
paved with broken promises
I wish that it was enough just to be
and not to do.

Deep down I know
that it is impossible to be
until you've done.

A Million Poets

How many poets
artists and writers
have lived
and died
with silenced pen
and invisible brush
because they never
learned how
to plaster their souls
on a blank page?

Essex

The crew of the Essex
Sailed east
for fear of the cannibals
when their ship got sunk
by a whale.

And on the journey home
cramped in a boat
with little water
and no food
they became cannibals themselves.

Time

Time is all relative, right?
As relative as daylight savings
where a single finger
can turn back
or forward
the cosmos
for an hour
or a day
or an eternity?
We forget that seconds where not made for man
we just thought up something to call them.

Out of Range

The first person
to fly around the world in a helicopter
was Ross Perot

Strong

When I tell people
that I do not own a TV
it is a source of pride
it makes me feel strong.

But the truth is,
that it is because I am weak.

Moontouch

I touched the moon today

it sat split open

under a light.

One of the most expensive

rocks on the planet

a black gem

polished by saw

and hurled through the cosmos.

And when I touched it

it touched me.

Mermorials

I read
the Gettysburg Address
carved in stone
by the tired marble gaze
of a President
bearing the weight
of two nations
on a broken back.

Kids laugh,
teens kiss,
and parents look anxious for a smoke.

And I hope I get it,
Because blood ran
and bones shattered
to get me here.

DC

The District of Columbia
is a place
with many secrets.

Now,
it has one more.

Golfballs

I heard

That they used to make golf balls

from boiled feathers

and they made them round and smooth.

The pros would play with them

until they were battered

unusable,

no longer smooth,

dimpled.

So they would cast them off

to the caddies

to practice impossible dreams.

Guess who hit them further?

Reed

Strip me of my flesh
plunge me
into the river
to soften my bones
so that you may bend me
through, around, and across
my brothers
and my sisters
without breaking.

All that so we
can help you carry
fruit, roots, and keepsakes
from place to place-
Do baskets still grow?

Friendship

When we went to Zion
a rare zodiac
painted its streamer
across the desert night sky.

An argument launched a race
panting to the top of Angel's Landing
and you won.

But hope
is a teasing mistress.

Birthday brought
a painting
entitled
Friendship

OK
I can take a hint.
It's nice to be friends.

Global Kiss

Kiss me
as you lay down
in your great western bed
with stubbled blankets
of last year's harvest
quilted earth stitched
with fencing and road
red passion fading
to night's inviting shadow-
Kiss me before you sleep.

Void

Nothing seems to come today
too occupied by thought.
I could recount the story
of a Nepalese man
who might be shady,
or talk of a power struggle
gone South.

But both would be
without emotion
like I feel now
But I have a promise to fulfill.

A Rhyming One Today

I've caught the word
that people think
My poems I cannot rhyme.

So I respond
with verses sweet
To quiet those that snide.

The truth be told
In lyrics I
Began my first attempt

At forcing thoughts
to fit the mold
of grammar so unkempt.

We squeeze them yes,
these verbal queues,
to end with sounds the same.

I can do that
I will indeed
It's just a game to participate in.

The non-rhyming ones are just so much cooler sometimes.

Snowflake

Every snowflake
needs a place to start
a tiny floating speck
to kick things off.

Pseudomonas
turn out to play a role
oft times
in this nucleation.

A bacteria!
Becomes a seed
so you can ski
and dams have jobs.

Think about that next time
you catch the first snowflake of winter
in your mouth.

Chaco

Chaco Canyon-
the center of a universe,
I wish I could take you there.

You would understand me
so much better.

Creativity

I hope
that if I were to place
a firecracker into my brain
with a lit fuse
until my thoughts
splattered through my ears
like a muddy geyser
onto a page
that it would look
just like
this.

Sucks to My As-mar!

You had the worst asthma
(Mom explained)
not Troy
we bought our first breathing machine for you
and drove an hour to Boulder
to visit Dr. Bach
the allergist.

Nice story
She must be mistaken though
because I am strong
and don't need an allergist.

Thermal Time

Winter wheat-
like a molding fuzz
you frost the hills.
A green surprise beneath the thaw,
how do you breath
under choking whiteness
and bitter nights
to meet the reaper
for an early harvest?

Thermal time
you answer.
My days are degrees above
and my nights below
a threshold for growth
I take heat when I can
to make my leaves
and my fruit.

Ah,
thank you for that advice,
because I need to grow too
and only get three vacation days
for each quarter.

Dry Clean Only

Our neighbor-
successful
probably happy
paid for home,
cars
and grandchildren
by selling the fabric
for the labels
found sewn to the collar of your shirts.

Does that mean
that I can find my fortune
in cloud, butte, and Mullen?

Because we need those much more
than we need washing instructions.

Scabby

Restless heart-
you fill me with hope
dreams
and fantasy.

All the while
peeling away contentment
chunk by chunk
like a bleeding scab.

Its worth the trade
if you ask me.

Pretzel

I bid
one-thousand-five-hundred and fifty dollars
on a pretzel reminiscent
of The Virgin Mary.

I was going to make
a shadow-box
to put it in
To show my friends

But five-thousand one-hundred dollars
was way too much.
Don't ask why.

Love?

Take my breath away
like a kick in the stomach
-viscously-
when I'm not expecting it

And when I am on the ground
tell me the things that I long to hear
the promises I can't make
impose on me.

Then drag me by my hair
to a chapel of broken hearts
bend my knee
and take my soul.

Isn't that what love is all about?