Published Works

Saturday Boats



Yellow-gray sailboats
Caress the earth’s border
As bullet boats speed closer to the shoreline
Leaving gasoline fumes
To mix with their salty spray

Pleasure boats and single passenger kayaks
Slowly drift from sight as the Gulf
Casts ripples along the glistening
Sunlit blue surface
Like glitter sprinkled from the heavens

From the corner of my eye
I catch a glimpse of a police boat
Rounding the inlet leaving a bubbly path
As it speeds toward rescue
In the desolate enveloping limitless azure water

A balmy breeze soothes
My sultry skin as I sit ashore
Watching the blue herons
Scamper across the sand
In search of dinner

I listen as sounds blend and merge
Then slowly fade while the roar
Of a powerboat engine growls
Shoving its way through the
Gray-green waters

I am mesmerized by the boats
Drifting and bouncing atop
Gentle bumping waves
Swaying them to and fro
Like a jazzy rhythmic melody

Published Works

Storm From The Balcony


A dusk devoid of sunset,
An overhead grey dreariness
Coats my vision end-to-end
Yet lights twinkle afar
Reminders that in my solitary world
I am not alone;
Yet I bundle myself deeper
Into my fleecy warmth
Cowering down to my chin
And gaze across the stretch of
Watery immenseness before me
To the island beyond;
A sliver of golden lightning
Punctures the gloom,
Faint thunder tries to fight for control
Over the ripping wind
As it soughs through the phoenix palms
Around the concrete edges
Of the side-by-side variegated structures;
And within moments
The overhead lets loose its torrent
To pelt against the swaying branches
To drench the concrete below
As sheet lightning glows in the distance;
My windows are dappled
By fat raindrops
They ooze and smear rivulets downward;
The lightning intensity grows sporadic and jerky,
A light switch turning off and on
Without regularity
No pattern to fill the night sky
With brief irregular clarity
Even the thunder sounds lonely

Published Works

Release



I’ve kept myself to myself
Wrapped my arms around my thoughts
Held determined passions intact

I’ve found my own solutions
To vexations and complications
Shouldered the necessary and unasked for

I’ve battled changes, tides and winds
Determined to level me flat
And stayed afloat yet drifting

Until you found me swaying
To the music as a solo dancer
Without a partner to lead me on

You folded me into your arms
Grazed my neck with satin lips
Our feet matching step for step

A sudden release of emotions
Seared my fragmented soul
Leaving me breathlessly weakened

No longer needing to self-protect
Nor scramble to cover or hide
The imperfect pieces of who I am

Your smiling eyes and soothing touch
Reinforce reasons to trust and share
Past mistakes and future dreams

Dusk to Dawn


Here it comes again
It happens every day
This is how it all ends
And begins again
Long happy sunshine shadows
Erased by twilight’s dusky curtain
Corals bleed into blue grey shadows
That streak across an endless
Pearl grey sky
Vermillion blends against a granite backdrop
That darkens by the minute
And twinkling pinpoints of light
Erupt overhead
Silvery dots shimmer
Across the onyx blanket
Keeping the empty sky company
Until the pre-dawn eastern glow
Announces morning’s arrival
Its scarlet orb of light slowly peeks
Along the horizon’s edge
Scattering rays of brilliance between
The bloated hovering clouds
The glorious warmth
Evaporates dewdrops from
Magnolias and sabal palms
While beckoning sleep-filled eyes
Arise to love another day

Published Works

Pages


The years ago pages
Have been turned over
Lying face down
To the left

Another chapter
Has been written
Words and pictures
Of different times

When we were dream-filled
Life seemed endless
Possibilities limitless
Expectations realistic

We trudged on through
Work-filled days
Silent midnights
Sharing without caring

Now blank pages
Wait to be written
Of hopes and desires
Still unfilled

Published Works

Time Is


Time takes no vacation
Takes no break
Time has no friends
Has no enemies
Has no rewind button
To relive it
To fix it
To change it
Has no fast forward button
To speed past
The hurt and worry
Time’s a cheater
Time’s a liar
‘You’ll find out later’
‘Wait until you’re older’
Time’s a procession of waiting
You never really do find out
All you need to know
It’s up there in the distant future
A hairbreadth from your fingertips
You never quite reach
Time is not where
It is not who
Time is when
When is now
Time is smiling
It knows it’s won

October Summer



I watch the shimmering
Glimmering surface
Of the undulating water
Stretching from here to everywhere
As I slowly pad along
The soft sandy carpet
While oncoming waves
Gently whisper their arrival
The statuesque palms’
Feathery fronds gently sway
In the warm October breeze
Sunshine casts their lithe shadows
Across the green landscape
Beyond the island shoreline
Baby sandpipers trot
Through the surf’s edge
And flocks of chattering gulls
Gather in conference
Atop a sandy dune
Toddlers squeal as timid waves
Caress their ankles
And brazen teens paddle out
On neon colored boards
Hoping to catch an easy wave ride back
Picking my way through
The coughed up remains of the sea
I marvel at the Venus clam shells
Their shiny perfection entrances me
I revel in Nature’s awesome beauty
Scattered at my feet
Luminous, pearly, flawless
The sun’s heat wraps me in warmth
Until my skin weeps beads of moisture
Horizontal rows of seaweed
Tell of come and go tides
The all-encompassing serenity
Banishes technology and wizardry
To a different time and place
Far from my simple
October summer day