The Prettiest of Ponds

The frightened pheasant flutters
Flying in a burst
Startled by the panting fox
Who came to quench her thirst

The female fox is furrowed
Shorter are her days
Lacking will and drive to hunt
On eggs and fruit she’ll graze

A fearful fish feels furtive
Peering at the shore
His gills grow still and silent
For he’s met a fox before

The frog floats on a flower
Singing strong and proud
From time to time he nabs a bug
From the thick and buzzing cloud

The flys all flit and fumble
Done in by graceless genes
You could say they move swift
Though more akin to a careen

The flourishing fans of ferns
Reach widely with their fronds
They add their rich green hues
To this, the prettiest of ponds

Defeater

The gargantuan footsteps
I have made in my sleep
Turn into promises
I have failed to keep
I need to do more
I want to do better
but my heavy mind
is an anchor, a tether
Reaching and stretching
almost torn to shreds
I swear to reanimate
dreams that lay dead
a perilous ledge
upon which I teeter
My quivering mind
my greatest defeater

Errant

Dancing at sundown
rising at dawn
Stopping to stare
at the flowers and fawns
Dressing up dapper
for your own amusement
Contemplate those things
that cause you bemusement
Roll down a hill
like you did when once young
Don't shy away
from what looks like great fun
Try to say yes
more then you say no
Find joy where you are
when you've nowhere to go
Pamper yourself
spoil a stranger
Try to see love as a gift
not a danger
The meaning of life
becomes more apparent
When you do the things
that others call errant

Bad Jokes

Why does one get so defensive
when they are told they've been offensive
this reaction leaves me pensive
I have felt it too

It could be they just didn't know it
Lest they'd be afraid to show it
Fearing they would likely blow it
what is one to do

Some don't feel that it is wrong
If you don't like it move along
You hate my joke then bang a gong
Why are you so serious

If one you love or like at all
looks at you as if appalled
or maybe just their posture falls
It isn't so mysterious

So choose your words just like your friends
For they can help you in the end
When you mess up then make amends
perhaps they'll understand

You cannot know all that they've seen
Few folks have spent each day serene
Many more see hate obscene
so help them if you can

Merriment

Do not seek your bliss
in only a kiss
Sometimes laughter can bring on the feeling

A beautiful face
A form full of grace
will not always turn out so appealing

A turn of the word
from straight to absurd
can live in your mind all your days

Sun rays in your heart
to break clouds apart
in the most unexpected of ways

So love if you must
in earnest and trust
but make sure they seek out your smile

For an edifice falls
with each drop of the ball
but a good laugh will keep all the while

Refill

Pour out the pitcher
Shake out the dregs
Give your mind peace
Give your dreams legs

Rinse out the residue
Scrub the sides clean
Live as a pauper
Live as a queen

Let the air enter
Let the drips dry
Find depth in each day
Find love in each eye

Refill your vessel
Drink deeply with friends
Don't wait 'til tomorrow
Don't wait 'til the end

Swallowed

Swallowed up by the world
with a suck and a swirl
and a deluge that carries you down

You float through each day
drifting farther away
and your feet miss the give of the ground

Grabbing tight with your hand
what can help you to stand
and pretend you can feel the rich soil

Still those buzzes and beeps
take your time and your sleep
and your days seem to reek with the spoil

Swimming upstream is tough
but enough is enough
so you thrash 'til you break through the surface

On the shore you collapse
and your weary hand grasps
what you sought all along, your true purpose

Son(s)

Fresh and clean
smooth and soft
murmuring
eyes aloft
A shine emits
from his new born soul
A story starts
his tale unfolds
Spectating joy
with endless wonder
his tiny spell
I've fallen under
and all my wishes
are now devoted
what once was dreams
has been promoted

The Endless Round

My thoughts like a pugilist
knocking me airless
my thoughts are so heavy
but my actions are careless
Ducking and swaying
and doing the dance
but I still feel the blows
and the dumbfounded trance
can't get my focus
can't dodge the fist
the mat is so bloody
from the knuckles I've kissed
but I must stand again
cause the bell just won't sound
and perhaps lumps and gashes
are where answers are found
so I rise once again
and I let the hits come
for this all will resolve
when the pain has gone numb

The Most Important Questions- A Rare Disease Day poem

When you stare into nothing what do you see?
Do you think of the person that you used to be?
Are you wondering in time just what you'll become?
Do you think of the day that this fight will be done?
Do you dwell on the memories of what made you smile?
Do you miss all the words you've not said in awhile?
Do you miss that though wobbly your legs could once run?
How many times have you redefined fun?
Do you even know you're the meaning of brave?
Do you lose hope, like me, that you still can be saved?
Is it wrong that I ask that you always return,
So that through your example I continue to learn?
Patience and value for each gifted minute
Joy and connection and love with no limit
Just how do you do it, Also how can I?
But most of all how do I get through goodbye?

I Am She

I am she who wields the sword
to fight the rut
to cut the cord
to dominate my universe
to carve the path
I shall traverse

I am she who casts the spell
to turn my mind
away from hell
to find joy in the tiny places
and see the love
that hides in faces

I am she who bears the load
who likes to choose
the untread road
life's lessons guide me ever farther
when life gets hard
I get harder

I am she who roots in love
who digs in deep
removes the gloves
I shed the cage that holds my heart
I'll risk the chance
it's torn apart

Alarm

The yawn of boredom the alarm
The day we live grows very late
We fear the loss we fear the harm
and the happening on which we wait
Willing victims we are in time
even the sunshine is a curse
our spirits scream and weep and pine
o'er the stagnation we proudly nurse
only seized by fear and anger
not the sea and stars and sky
everyday we feel in danger
though we cannot be sure why
feed your mind a different flavor
something happy something sweet
there still are moments yet to savor
there still are journeys in your feet
jump and climb and go exploring
scare yourself and hug your friends
hear the way that life's imploring
for even great tales have an end

Seek

Embody the magic within you
Go conquer and conjure and fly
There isn't a thing that you can't do
Except for the things you don't try
Go travel the ways of your spirit
Find it's freedom and make it your own
It's calling you now can't you hear it?
and if you must go it alone
Don't be the size others make you
Instead be the size of your dreams
It's not up to others to take you
For we each swim within our own streams
So go find your way to the river
The place where you truly feel whole
Til your there you may stumble and shiver
but the finish is where lies your soul

The Work of Art

A head holds words as can a page
Of any color and any age
A galaxy or grain of sand
A cannon or a shaky hand
But with these worlds come other thoughts
of times we blushed and times we fought
When devastation was our flavor
be it choked upon or swished and savored
So then blue skies become monsoons
and manors become tiny rooms
much like the dust upon our shelves
the walls that stand we built ourselves
Time now to lay askew the stones
that snare our souls and bind our bones
Our minds are meant to drift and soar
not fester chained to others bore
We've suffered sin and forged our follies
Faked our smiles through others jollies
but now we heal through reckoning
the truth in you is beckoning
so find the art that lives inside
and tell us why you've smiled or cried
it's not a burden you must hold
release and let your wings unfold

Becoming

The mask has slipped
The covering torn
so tightly gripped
so avidly worn
but then a breeze
a patch of light
it's shed with ease
no more a fight
The costume falls
the bareness felt
A new form calls
No clasp no belt
Free and flowing
Wild and strong
A look of knowing
A magic song
A step toward power
So unashamed
Feel them glower
then step again

Wobegone

Prop me up today
I feel I've reached my limit
Make it go away
before I'm swallowed up within it
Hide me in a cave
and seal it with a boulder
It's solitude I crave
as the frozen world gets colder
Drop me from a plane
into a thick deep wood
So I can shed the pain
and remember what is good
Shoot me to a star
so I can miss the soil
where I'll be out too far
to resent the mortal coil

Fragmented

I'm not used to this,
the feeling of an open wound
hemorrhaging and yearning for unguent calm
The feeling of a mannequin left naked in a main street window
The sagging wallpaper threatening to fall and expose my scribbles of madness
to a room full of prim and pomp
The heat leaves me writhing my clothes
The anxiety no longer needs this costume
The stray hair loosened from my meticulous bun,
savagely hanging, mocking
My sweet smile and tight neck challenge one another
The spreading pink hue of realization
emblazoned on my neck and chest
The betrayal of it all sinks deep inside

"Is anyone else warm?" has various meanings right now

'Can anyone else admit that playing a role for the sake of being liked and accepted is absolute fuckery and an abhorrent deviation of human nature?'
The wallpaper holds much more effectively then my tongue despite it's age, and mine.
I slip, I expose to them a true taste of who I really am.

The gasps are amusing, the sudden exodus a hilarity. The remaining solitude is golden.

Just the evening shadows and I, the way the universe intended.

Celebrate

Here begins a brand new story
An exciting tale of truth and glory
Promises of a shining year
Plots unfolding, future clear
Youth and age begin a dance
Brace yourself within your stance
Incite your dreams now, cast your wishes
Reel them in like thoughts and fishes
Try a new thing everyday
Hear the things your heart will say
Daydream often as you can
Always hold tight helping hands
You can always try once more
Reach up higher then before
Every moment make it better
Eat some ice cream, write a letter
Seek yourself somehow someway
Enjoy who you are everyday

Destination

A peak so high there seemed no top
and yet he still would climb
He never showed a need to stop
He never had the time
The clouds that ringed the precipice
Were ones he could see through
His arms would ache, his aim would miss
Yet his distance grew and grew
The path he used would peter out
He'd pause just for a minute
And with an effort and a shout
He'd find his footing in it
Though slips occurred he never fell
We'd watch him as he rose
His hands would bleed, his feet would swell
But his eyes would never close
He knew one day with certainty
The peak was his to claim
And at the zenith he would see
The peak did bear his name

Beyond Survival

When life itself plays that perfect chord,
When no more cuts the rusty sword,
When eyes reveal that they understand,
When even fate is a helping hand,
When crushed insides begin to heal,
When circumstance won't make you kneel,
When weight is shed from tired shoulders,
When gravel sits where once were boulders,
When the words means joy instead of pain,
When the maestro plays a bright refrain,
When escapes your heart rather then chances,
When the you inside now preens and prances,
Let it in, this glorious arrival,
and enjoy the world beyond survival