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| Dance While you can, For the chorus will not save you. You'll become another rung, in their own ladder to climb. Dance While you can, Before your body betrays you. Till your bones are all gone And all that's left is the song. Dance Dance till your feet have no feeling But your heart is still reeling From your hours off the ground. When you feel this last breath Burning in your chest Search for one more muscle Raise your head And dance. --August 2001 |
| Exotic Pets Prized words, Kept in cages Polished and placed for company (great for dinner parties) Shelved when not shown. Some wear small versions Of designer clothing Others, stare out Of their remarkable rawness Please don't touch these words They are not to be toyed with Or handled, or held, too much. The time and money gone into their acquisition Is an investment Some day your children may inherit them. Be careful not to let them out. It's not safe to have words running about the house. You never know What kind of mess they might make. --April 2001 |
| Hush now, little one Listen to the song the oceans sing Cradled in your mothers arms There is a lullaby the wind will bring Listen to the song the oceans sing Hidden under its clear cold blues There is a lullaby the wind will bring A haunting tune of what's to come Hidden in its clear cold blues Traveling under waters deep A haunting tune of what's to come Disrupting the peaceful Arctic's sleep Traveling under waters deep Slowly crawling up the food chain Disrupting the peaceful Arctic's sleep From desires to cure disease. Slowly crawling up the food chain Persistent organic pollutants nest From the desires to cure disease We are poisoned through our mother's breast Persistent organic pollutants nest In the toxic tainted Arctic animals We are poisoned through our mother's breast Injuries shrouded in genetic code In the toxic tainted Arctic animals We only now are learning Injuries shrouded in genetic code Whale songs silent when skin is burning We only now are learning Killed the canary in our mine Whale songs silent when skin is burning Harmonies lost within the waves Killed the canary in our mine Slowly realizing with each tragic birth Harmonies lost within the waves Truly the meek shall inherit the earth. Slowly realizing with each tragic birth This lullaby is soon to end Truly the meek shall inherit the earth Hush now, little one. ----March 2001 |
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| Ventilation Deflated by sighs these brightly colored balloons have abandoned ideas of flying free. I too, sit heavy in my chair minutes in a slow stretch pulling my taffied thoughts while the overzealous air conditioning Shiver blasts the brain toward brief moments of clarity: Try not to assimilate into these motivation posters artifices of positivism in plastic scrambling all identity with someone else's scheduled plan of upward mobility. Is there rebellious artistry in phone cord curls Or perhaps these power cables point to possible escape? I have to think that resistance is never futile Before these brief stirs lapse idle Dulling this cold awareness That even the balloons have stopped struggling against their leashes. Joint poem with Tonya Derrickson Fall 2004 |
| In Process Autumn arrives too quickly Pushing Summer to hurriedly pack. A whorl of warm memories fastened to bursting in tidy bundles of ripeness. Fall dances it's colors in the flurry of leaves and scribbles on the wind, leaving us love notes of journeys, not destinations. The promise of crisp beginnings with its elusive hint and kiss of white. Joint poem with Tonya Derrickson Fall 2004 |
| HUH? blink, blink... my little brain uh... malfunctioning a soulful strain hmmm.... haunted by that lone oboe shoooooooooot..... tugs at and on sputtered blink blink... busy words thrown out gutted oh mi god, I'm... sorry Joint poem with Tonya Derrickson Fall 2004 |
| Beckoning Kisses foiled by orange holiday bondage Gorge! Gorge! Gorge! Piling harvet fruits and gourds invoite submersion GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE! Greedy turkeys in corporate regalia begging Like demented carol singers. Christmas decorations too early seen. Blinded by a fall flurry of brittle celebrations We cling to what we can hold: Fleece drawing the essence of a leaf pile spiraling smoke Dogs by fireplaces, snuggled circles of warm fur Kites slice the chilling air in daring swoops of color Turkey famrs buzz with growing, unrecognized doom. Joint poem with Bob Blazek Fall 2004 |
| Why we bleed Playground transiet Tethered to my fear Exposed within the jungle gym I learn to swallow hope a longing for belonging choke down the jabs and taunts childhood's merciless tease of wants I swallow deep wounds and words swill the years and walk the halls reaching for the paper recognition :ticket to ride: destination uncertain (but certainly away) growing dread of daily eyes reflecting my changing landscape. Blushes draining from my sallow face internal daggers retreating deeper... tranforming to a monthly stain, a reminiscent shadow of the pain. Fall 2004 |