Halloween

Poe was the master of this day

in his gruesome accounts of

horror, the grotesque, the macabre...

nevermore we all remember

but never fully appreciated

the day became our own and

we tormented and tantalized

others with our words and

with our limited actions in

the hopes of scaring them...

and, when we did, it was not

enough so we continued

throughout the months and

years until those years 

turned into decades and we

found ourselves living in

Usher's house and drinking

from Amontillado's wine.

30 September 2020

Unfolding

A stillness

peaceful and serene

surrounding

graceful in thought,

butterflies

stop to look before

disappearing,

wet wood

from last night's rain

darkens,

shines in sunlight

drying

unhappily as it

changes,

life crawls by in

circles of

doubt,

leaves fall on a

deaf ground

cold as they

lay dying,

humble

are the birds that

sing

for their food

as if

prayers were

not enough,

sounds

tease the ears

unknown

silent

nor forthcoming

in appearance

stoic and

solemn to a 

fault...

watching it all

unfold.

30 September 2020

Written Down

our lives are like chapters in an unwritten book

that is written over times as our lives unfold;

no one knows how many chapter there will be

nor do we know the length of each chapter, but

we do know that each chapter will be in its entirety

as it twists and turns and shifts over the years;

our final chapter is never known until it happens

even those prematurely or by their own hands;

and, what happens afterwards will not be recorded

in anyway or written down in any format as it

is a sacred journey that is without precedent.

30 September 2020

Making Allowances

Our fate does not preclude destiny

nor does destiny announce its intentions,

so, we are left with speculation and conjecture

like the apostles creed identified those

willing to take a stand even when

double jeopardy no longer applied...

determined with our own indifference

we sidestep juris prudence,

taking into account our own lack of understanding

while we delay retrospection and the

intuitive nature of our souls and inspirations;

backpacking our thoughts to the nearest mountain top

in search of the oracle of wisdom,

knowing that none ever existed only those

who had lived beyond their destiny

resulting from intention mutations of that

which we knew came before us.

29 September 2020

Lasting Forever

haunted by past memories

silenced by old age

determined effortlessly

time leaves us all standing still

watching it pass exponentially

when age equals understanding

of the vulnerabilities

passed onto to by our children

whose manicured thoughts

leave us tantalizingly open to

recording errors as if we were

somehow playing baseball

and confrontation was 

the world's series...

nothing exists forever in the

vacuum of space except the

nothingness of energy

that bends and contorts reality

such that the known becomes

unknown and the unknown

becomes life's destiny

bestowed upon those survivors

who had no children at all.

29 September 2020

Life's Illusion

inside the illusion of life we live

as normal as can be expected,

we work, sleep, and love like

our responsibility dictates and

protest loudly if not heard when

we demand those rights taken

away returned in a timely order;

inside life's illusion we age as

we would have expected and

die as unexpected as our births

never did we understand our

lives were anything but faked.

29 September 2020

Ghost Writer

anguish lays on the mantel of creativeness

like an apprehensive hangman hesitating

to judge the one who is being killed...

treachery lays at the foot of the mountain

that guards the inner passage of the soul

standing in the ready to be hanged...

rain lays on the ground in puddles in front

of the thoughts that hide under the fall

leaves in the hopes of not deciding who

dies and who lives in the senseless

mindlessness of a dream that has no

reasons to surface this night or beyond;

we care for our dead in this town and

like all towns of our intellect, we cremate

what we cannot bury under the soggy land

that has failed perk tests for years even

though no records were being kept then;

we hunger for enlightenment and

despise the reckless of religious fervor 

that creeps around in graveyards

looking for bodies that survived the rope

and recording their glimpses into the

life ever after that did not arrive for them;

we slip and slide in the rain as we march

our ideas to the factory of abandonment

and reconciliation, reworking the words

that were not as created as believed

while others sit in lounge chairs, holding

their veins open for infusions of editing

that is never performed in the rain, but

has always been desired by those who

can only swim a few strokes at a time;

we are the widow makers of the world

is imprinted upon their foreheads as if

it were some badge of honor or at the

very least would catch the attention

of the ghost writer brought in at the

last moment to correct the ending...

28 September 2020

What Does It Matter?

tossed into the garbage like garbage

are the boxes of my career that

contain the remnants of my life

and all the passions of that time with

which I had constantly identified;

like the classes I had taken

like the courses I had taught

like the materials I had collected

like the seminars I had attended;

now is gone from my sight and

the sight of others as it has been

tossed and burned in a hasty fashion

as if too embarrassed for it all;

destroying the source of understanding

like some kind of compliance order,

living with its memory and its

relationship to a dead parent whose

trivial nature is not in question;

it is the nature of life and its death

to be honored or unremembered

as new faces, new deed, new ideas

take precedent and we fade away

like a distant setting sun disappearing.

28 September 2020

Perpetuation

our thoughts are never similar

yet we are together as if we

are united in every way possible;

we live in separate ideologies

pray in separate affiliations

will die in separate rooms and

be buried in separate domains;

we are uniquely qualified to be

who we are and who we are not,

knowing that it is not about us

but the life we gave another so

life could perpetuate itself...

28 September 2020

Forever

we are not the center of existence

but many light years away,

contradiction our own beliefs

we journey into the nothingness

of space as if its boundaries will

over us refuge and solace from

the turmoil we have created

by our present existence;

we consume that which we want

we take that which we want

we give back nothing in return

as if it is our forever and ever.    

28 September 2020  

Self Incriminating

the sun shines

a son is born

we all relish in our good fortune

and two thousand years later

hate instead of love

permeates the land

and ultimately shines brighter;

our attendance in church

does not overshadow our crimes

as much as we needed

and our children grow

into the contempt we provided

in the teachings examples

of our consuming faith;

and in our guided process

we wonder why we

have become so forsaken

and question the cross's death

in our prayers that never

seem to be answered anymore

but our behavior remains

and the sun shines

and a son is born.

27 September 2020

IF by Rudyard Kipling

 

It Is Tradition

coffee with cappuccino mix sits

in a paper cup getting colder...

thoughts infiltrate the breeze that

pushes them from the mind...

ideas formulate inside ideologies

that no longer seem practical...

words can not longer hurt those

who do not believe in them...

praise be to someone as long as

it does not follow me around...

lucifer lives a desperate lonely life 

in the bible belt rural south...

but life continues despite their critics

and belief in something remains...

27 September 2020

Understanding

clouds exclude the sun yet

there is light all around,

day excludes the night and

light is in abundance,

hate excludes love with prejudice

and sight cures the unseen,

souls excludes the mind without prejudice

and the unseen becomes our new light,

we dictate nothing and live free

to explore what we do not believe

in the hopes that our clouds

do not exclude understanding.

27 September 2020

Encapsulated

a wall of tall magnolia trees

dark green and bold

standing guard with indifference

between a future and a past

that has no interpretations

of the present that feeds

their existence and survival;

a wall of delicately fragile flowers

colorful and romantically red

grown in random patterns

fill the vacancies of doubt

and apprehension that linger

in and around my desperation;

a whole host of souls of citizens

past dwell in an abrupt juxtaposition

to the crimes of my emotions

preventing me from seeing the

daylight of my love for you.

26 September 2020

Synonymous

on the morning

of the day

we were one

and the world

showed 

its appreciation

we became

synonymous 

of life 

in between

hope and despair

and all the

feelings therein

as we lived

like we had

a tomorrow

and died

like we had

a yesterday

as life

in the middle

is safe

but cruel.

26 September 2020

Manifestation

alone

in my own mind

in my own space

in my own time

I see

and I become

that

which I want to be

failing to see

that

which I am not

simply because

you

want me to be

that 

which you see

and imagine

and pretend

that I am

as it make sense

of your reality

not mine.

26 September 2020

Nocturnal Dimensions

in the seemingly hidden valleys of the mind

lie the soft memories we cannot change or alter,

but in the mountains surrounding those valleys

lie the cisterns of a dark imagination that winds

its way through reality like a snake circumnavigating

a rocky terrain hoping to find the albino scorpion;

it is not nature that creates this journey nor it is

the false interpretation of the day's events, but

the unforgiving desire to see what one cannot

in the hopes of remembering the almost seen;

and in so doing, die a thousand deaths as that

journey continues to meander each night,

leaving the days to sort out all the differences

that cannot be reconciled with the indifference

that logic requires in order to be effective;

we have no wills nor do we have will's power

in our pursuits of the albino scorpion that

evades and eludes us nightly in the REM sleep

that is needed for our tormented salvation

only to find it had been misplaced long before

all the sleeping pills consumed to forget;

in these cisterns we mentally bathe, letting

the magical waters mentally buoy us as we

float in and out of the dreams that have been

created for us like some erotic simulation that

has no end or beginning as it gently pushes

us into one dimension after another dimension

until entering the dimension of awakened reality.

Corridors of Time

the past converges on the future

creating the present that is so often

misunderstood as being truthful;

the past lies so that the future can

proceed unmolested in its action

that so easily predicts our faith;

our present bends its will to 

accommodate its voracity while

protecting the unabashed fabrication;

journeys end and begin on the 

timeline of uncertainty and bow

only to the crowds who feed them;

we are the travelers of our past

hoping that our future improves

the conditions we live in today;

we are the victims of illusions 

that harbor no ill will other than

believing in our limited purpose.

25 September 2020

Settling In

a lingering rain threatens the day

blowing in on all sides,

letting us know our options are

being curtailed by the minute;

a dismal forecast preludes the

approach first taken and all

desired outcomes are in question;

a faint light in the distance

signals a life has survived the

night and well into the day, we

become even more determined;

a light fog covers our attitudes

and offers little consolation for

our souls as the deluge of water

seemingly appears out of nowhere.

25 September 2020

Life's Crisis

the sky is gray and quiet and forlorn

hanging in the balance of the day,

mystified and curious it looms over

the day and all its territories that have

been given to it without any debate

juxtaposed by the quality of life issues

imposed on its inhabitants whose

lives are independently as different

as are the rules governing existence.

24 September 2020

Remnants of Hurricanes

                                                                                                                                                       

smacking the ground lightly are
the constant drops of rain that fall
repeatedly and in succession,
hitting the ground like hail all
around our quiet environment in
the eastern part of the south as
the remnants of hurricanes flow in
a northeastern pattern across our
land simulating a bevy of birds;
listening to the sounds are cats
on perches as they gaze through
the screens and into the world
that they have been prevented
from visiting this morning, their
furry bodies protected from the
chills riding the pouring rain;
guardian magnolia, spruce, 
and pine standing willing and
able in case they are needed
and the wooden deck, dark in
colors absorbs the moisture
from which they cannot run;
green grass shivers in the onslaught
and holds its ground as it receives
the brunt of the attack from above
and as witnesses to the event,
we are fortunate to be blessed
by being inside our shelters.

24 September 2020

Reliving

housed in our minds are memories

some of which burn

while others delight

and as we remember we

acknowledge those differences

feeling concern that we

once that way or the other,

sometimes denouncing our past

as it pertains to us know

and sometimes reliving those aspects

that were reflectively enjoyable;

still, we are and will always be

that which we were and will

become that which was intended.

23 September 2020

On Vacation

dawn raises its head again and a

new perspective is collected in the

minds of those who have no collective

thoughts of their own as society

twists and turns logic into being

whatever it needs it to be at the time;

we live in social distancing cocoons 

that guard and protect us from stupidity

as we follow the leads of elders with

whom we seldom disagree or respect

yet trust their judgement in the

surrendering of our family values;

we are like children in a room of candy

from which we can eat at will and

have no responsibility over our actions

since it was stolen by our leaders who

have no need to protect and serve;

we float aimlessly through life on

parachutes of hate, pulled by the

political water boats as if we were

on vacation at Myrtle Beach and

handed a blank cashier check.

23 September

Outside Comfort

a fence of magnolias protects on the right

a privacy fence on the left

a road have been paved directly in front

and to the back is an acre of grass;

life in the country is quiet and serene

when it wants to be and otherwise

when certain holidays roll around as

seen in December, July, and October;

helicopters fly by to hospitals

construction crews build new houses

dogs bark behind enclosures

birds squawk at slinking yard cats;

coolness sweeps down into the valley

as we move from summer to fall

and when there is no wind blowing

sitting outside is rather comfortable.

23 September 2020  

Gentle Blue Sky

off in the near distance

it moves slowly

up and down

hiding behind houses

forward and backward

depending upon currents and time,

closer and closer

it approaches

and my gaze feasts

on its bright colors,

wondering how it might be

in the basket as it

hovers overhead on some

skyward journey aimlessly

never realizing who

might be watching 

and following

its progress 

across the gentle blue sky,

and upon looking up

it is gone...

22 September 2020

Looking Back

often have I remembered the past

and wondered about differences

in what might have been and 

imagined in that context life

unfolding in a new unseen way,

but reality lives inside my world

and dictates my life and the lives

of those around me such that it

is what it is and nothing more;

predicting is a fool's game and

is played by foolish rules that

make asses of us all if we believe

in a different course of action

to achieve the same results as

those we have already given;

life lives inside us all but is

masterminded by another whose

will is different from our own,

and when understood that way,

we have received his salvation.

22 September 2020

First Day of Fall

like so many other mornings recently

on my screened in porch I sit with my

Yeti cup or coffee and Lenovo in a 

chair of questionable comforts typing

out words and phrases that few will read

and even less will understand as the

magic of thought intertwines in my soul

and in my heart and in my mind while

the trinity of imagination formulates 

and the images are laid out like a 

string of corpses in a city morgue;

chills course through my veins and

on the surfaces of my skin as the

morning chilliness surrounds me in

my outdoor habitat and my body

stiffens to generate inside warmth;

Fall has arrived even though many of

the trees still hold onto their leaves

in an effort to stave off the coldness

of what will soon be approaching.

22 September 2020

Clues Missed

in an opposite direction, we run

hiding from the truth of time,

bending over backwards towards youth

in our actions and dress and in

our thoughts and compromises of

learned behavior and denial;

soft core porn sees us through the night

while others engage in reality, we

tend to our imaginations and movies

hoping the split the difference

of avoided consequences and the

perils of living longer than intended.

21 September 2020

Betrayal

wrapped in linen cloth

wrapped in a towel

wrapped in a blanket

placed in a leather satchel

placed in a suitcase

place in a trunk

shipped to a southern rural location

taken inside a house

taken to a back room

taken to a closet

are a lifetime of thoughts

written down on paper

in black or blue ink

leaving me empty of ideas

that were so easy to come by

when I was much younger

and my opinions were a solemn

trust between me and you

and now you want them all back

as if the words no longer

represent our bond and

age finally betrays me.

20 September 2020

All Creatures

playful is the caterpillar that inches its

way along a broken decaying tree branch,

like some ancient medieval warrior on

a sacred religious quest to find truth and

the long abandoned religious holy grail;

determined is the hummingbird who

gorges itself on red nectar while fighting

off similar competitors looking for food

before the long, lonely flight southward;

nature rules the domain of the ground

and all creatures great and small, giving

them the means to evolve and grow and

survive in areas where others find death

the last option that they must endure;

but who opened the door to such trivial

pursuits as those of life and death when

one's birth is no longer a matter of choice?

20 September 2020

Gone

gone are the hot sultry days of summer,

gone are the mornings on the porch,

gone are the sounds of birds singing,

gone are the moments of summer's past;

gone are the days of our youth and the

dreams borne out of our innocence,

gone are the memories of family and

the endless summer vacations we had;

gone are the happy days of marriage

and the dreams of being together forever,

gone are the sleepless nights wondering

if salvation somehow passed us by;

gone are the mysteries of life we learned

about in public schools by those who

have long since passed away unnoticed

and whose inspirations guided us all;

18 September 2020