Published Works

CHOICES


With all the decisions
I’m always faced with
Based on past experiences
Knowing ever still
What’s really right
Accepting the results
Of unseen failures
Trying to foresee
What lies ahead
Bypassing invisible obstacles
I’m not even sure exist
Playing with fortune telling
Without the tarot cards
And second guessing responses
To unspoken queries
Being so unsure of present facts
Enough to complicate the unknown
Then leaping ahead of myself
I convince myself
That having you for just a little while
Is better than not having you
At all

Published Works

Sandcastle Days


Like sand crabs scuttling across the shoreline
Gathering invisible plankton
Memories flit past my sight
Like pages of a half read novel
Riffling in an autumn breeze
Our sunshine days were long
And nights were longer still
A silvery suspended moon
Cast seaside shadows
While lazy palms
Idly danced to tango rhythms
I held your hand
You kissed my cheek
We whispered nothings
That meant everything
And greeted tangerine daybreaks
We searched for shells
And fused our colliding souls
Sidestepping driftwood and seaweed
As we sailed from day to month
Engulfed, infused, enamored
Building our sandcastle days
Along a khaki faded beach
Ignoring reality’s demands
Living on the ocean’s edge
While tempting the tide
Creating melted marshmallow memories
Sweet and softly warming my soul
I remember our sandcastle days
Not that long ago or far
From where we built our dreams
Hand in hand, dream on hope

Season Over Season



Shall I ride with you on a Summer breeze

Through green dewy forests at morning’s break

Shall I walk with you over Fall’s red leaves

Before evening’s sunset golden and peach

Shall we linger in Winter as snow falls

Waiting for a thawing time almost near

Shall we prance through Spring’s meadows of daisies

Then circle back ‘round season to season

And love one another days into years

Published Works

Memories of Edward


Over half a lifetime ago
When you were young
And I was younger
The words were said
And more were written
About love and longing,
Need and desire
Abandon on a floral print daybed
Time went by
You got lost or ran away
I can’t remember which
The tears were cried
And memories were stored
In dimly lit niches
Seldom visited
Shrouded in forgetfulness
And then one day
Your name leaped out
Completely unbidden
So I wandered through
Those unshared years
Between then and now
To capture the
“What If”
Did your hair disappear?
Have lines creased your brow?
Is your voice sand-papery?
Have our long ago voices
Ever resounded
In faint whispery wisps?
Did you ever replay our years
In thought or deed
With another?
And does it matter
In the grand scheme
Of ever changing cycles
It does; you did
The history we share
Afar, apart
Will always link us
As fence posts
At far ends
Intertwining diamond shapes
Between us
Of other times
And memories

Published Works

One Single Day



Light suffuses black
Ebony retreats
Yellow-white permeates
Lemony greens and peony pinks
Gentle bells tinkle afar
Echoing against
Crusted mountaintops
Day’s majesty reigns
Feeding, calming, surrounding
Awakening herons and palm fronds
Voices emerge, short and tall
Machinery grinds, motors hum
Scents arise carried aloft
Engine exhaust, strawberries
Steaming black coffee in ceramic mugs
Clouds drift like disjointed thoughts
Clocks tick forward
Whispering reminders
To get it done
Before the hours devour
Daytime energies that fold
Into dusky memories
And stars are scattered
Across an onyx
Blanket overhead
Once again
When sunlight retreats
Hides her hope
And patiently waits
To repeat it all
Another day

Published Works

Seaside Destiny


The water ripples and shimmers
A liquid mirror reflecting
My thoughts and desires
Light catches and diffuses
Bouncing sun streaks against an azure sky
The rhythm of the current
Against the rocks and seaweed
Scattered across a champagne landscape
Of shoreline
Dipping, ebbing
And leaving sodden footprints
Of those who tread along
In solitary thought
The water calls
It beckons understanding
Just beneath the turquoise surface
As minnows scamper
Into unknown depths
Swallowed by the whole
Afraid of toes seeking them out
The subtle splashing carries a gentle sound
As slowly I plod through ankle deep bath water
Scanning telescopically for glistening shell bits
Remnants of aquatic life tossed to shore
Reaching down, plucking a pink conch
Half sand-submerged
My fingers gently stroking its smooth perfection
Remembering, knowing the vibrant memory
Of long ago when we sought perfection
In one another
When lives were washed to purity
Like the salty sea to cleanse the snow white sand
And kisses lingered hot and blazing
Like a noonday sun in August
Everlasting summer in our hearts
Oh, to return to my seaside retreat
To rejuvenate the then
Remembering when
With every softened sand-step
Your memory lingers still

Published Works

The Old Man on The Porch


Old man sits on his porch
Rocking at sunset
And again at sunrise

Makes me wonder if he’s ever slept
Or ever dreamed
Of life beyond

That time-worn porch
Faded blue-grey paint
And sagging handrails

Grizzled blue-jeaned geezer
Budweiser in hand
Lucky Strike in the other

The scenes he has seen
Of life tumbling past
Season over season

That rusty graybeard
In a rickety rocker
Soaking up the sights

He’s been there for eons
Knows all the ghosts
Heard all the gossip

Yet he keeps on a-rockin’
Creaking floorboards music
Memories his company

It’s not what he’s seen
Or ever heard
It’s what he teaches in his eyes

Learn his lessons deep
Take life’s journeys
Past the front porch steps