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03:47pm 23/11/2009
  The pain is patient, the pain waits.
It sits below the surface of the skin
Quietly, so you think it's gone
Until you move just a little
And the pain stirs into wakefulness

Insistent, unrelenting pressure
Of muscles trapped, twisted
Straining against the bars
Of their rib cage prison
An unknown key required
To set them free
And remove the pain.

"back ache"
23 November 2009		  
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09:19pm 22/05/2009
  Riding out, out of the city, into the hills
The countryside looks new, with this perspective
On two wheels instead of four
Not trapped in the metal box
Or stuck at a slower pace
A freedom I haven't felt in over ten years
Comes back to me, too long gone.

"new ride"
22 May 2009		  
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01:49pm 22/05/2009
  Fleeting bits of information which form texts
Instant messages that aren't quite as instant any more
Digital pictures on the screen are easily deleted
Six days of electronic romance that flickered
Across my LCD and faded to nothing.

"21st Century Infatuation"
22 May 2009		  
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08:54am 21/05/2009
  What noise does this accordion make, this traffic squeezebox
Space contracts between the cars, and then expands
Brakes squeal as the distance shrinks rapidly
Honking horns, a screech, a crash!
Dissonant percussion of shattered windshields
As the radio announcer punctuates this commuting score
"There's an accident on I-94"

"Commuting symphony"
21 May 2009		  
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01:40pm 20/05/2009
  How many hours in the day do I spend
In minute transactions that accrue no interest
Without a second thought to the balance
Of time left on the meter

"small change"
20 May 2009		  
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10:44am 25/03/2009
  Spring comes with expectations
and amnesia.
Each year I forget what March, April is really like
the rain
the cold
The grass isn't green yet
The flowers aren't blooming yet
Spring is impatience.

"Expectations, amnesia, impatience"		  
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03:57pm 04/04/2006
  My body aches
As it does each spring
I rise from virtual hibernation
Muscles weak, joints stiff
Blood slow in my veins
Congealed from cold, it's now thawing

I need to move! run! jump!
FLY!
Why walk when you can dance
The body can't keep up
And complains loudly that it's too early
Go back to bed

The calendar says
What the flesh does not want to hear
GET UP
From the long winter night
The days are already getting shorter
Year by year

Untitled, 31 March 2006		  
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03:17pm 05/11/2005
  Am I writing this
Or is it just a dream
These words lined up
Are my eyes open or closed?
A poem thought of while asleep
Or halfway there, typed
In semi-conscious, unsure
If I'm actually sending it to you
Or not.

"Sleep writing", 4 Novermber 2005		  
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03:16pm 05/11/2005
  What leaves are left outside my window
Are bright yellow in colour, clinging
To the tree with desperation, knowing
Their descent to the ground is imminent.

"Fall", 5 Nov 2005		  
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10:21am 01/11/2005
  A day is fragmented into moments
Which we snatch at desperately
Trying to hang on to that length of time
Seconds, minutes, hours
Keeping it in our tight grasp.

So tight that the seconds squeeze through
Our fingers, leaking out like mercury
Joining together in escaped minutes
We open our hands and find the traces
Of time we held so dearly, gone away.

Looking back, lost time puddles in our footsteps
Memories reflected in the surface
Showing faces, places, races lost and won
A story told in reverse, shimmering away
Like a heat mirage in the distance.

"Lost time", 31 October 2005		  
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10:20am 01/11/2005
  When I was gone, and you were left behind
We thought of each other, every day
With messages sent and a few brief chats
The time seemed shorter for me
And I was home, and we held each other.

Now you're gone, and I'm here waiting
For you to come back. Now I know
What it was like for you, missing you
Now, the way you missed me
When I was gone for so long.

You've only been gone a few days
I was far away for much longer than that
And we couldn't call each other then
Hear your voice and mine so clearly
It should almost be like you're not away at all

So why do I miss you so much?

"Missing you" 30 October 2005		  
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10:19am 01/11/2005
  Tonight was a whirlwind of booze and parties
Crowds of merrymakers stumbling in and out
Of houses all across the city, costumed plumage
Disguising their selves, releasing hidden identities
Aided by chemically lowered inhibitions, loudly
They celebrate. It's the end of year on calendars
Of olden days, and the party will go on
Until the new one begins.

Revel! Drinking in all the night brings to the door
And then, we'll drink a little more. Goblins rule
While dawn waits another hour to arrive, afraid
Of coming too soon.

"Hallowe'en approaches" 30 October 2005		  
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bus ride   
11:31pm 19/07/2005
  I took the bus across town
In a city I didn't know
To go to a bar
Because what else is there to do
On a Tuesday night
In a town that's not your own?

The bar was a little dive place
And there was hardly anyone there
I had a drink and left early
Maybe it got busy later
Maybe not
After all, it is Tuesday

I took the bus back from the other side of town
And sat behind an old man
Who drank his 40 on the trip
And got off the bus when it was empty
(The 40, not the bus)
I thought, "Now there's a way to spend
a Tuesday night"

"Bus ride", 19 July 2005		  
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12:38am 11/07/2005
  It's hot
So hot in my room
I can't sleep
Sticking to the sheets
Lying there
Uncovered
Vulnerable
Naked
Trying to stay
Cool
Finding that spot on the pillow
Relief
Maybe this year
I'll get AC

"Hot/cool" 10 July 2005		  
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Growing pains   
09:29pm 19/06/2005
  The city is growing taller
Getting bigger and hand-me-downs
Don't fit so well any more
You want to do your own thing
Not listen to big brother Chicago
and older sister New York
and especially not crazy cousin LA
You're still an adolescent, not thinking
Everything through, sometimes
A little self-destructive
But learning, and growing
Getting out of your awkward phase
Not so gawky, more graceful
But how much will you change
To get there?
Sometimes you have to just
Let it be

"Minneapolis", 19 June 2005		  
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08:25am 12/05/2005
  I was supposed to go out tonight
But something made me change my plans
A chance, a thought, a hope
Of a naked body next to me
It's not such a thing, no big deal
Nothing exciting, just flesh

His is so foreign, a different language
A mystery where I'm the detective
Looking for clues, whodunnit tonight?
Who's gonna do it, you, me, and daddy makes three
Finding Mr. Right, at the bar or on the net
Wherever he can be found

The clock keeps going, marking the hours of the night
It's early, there's no rush, plenty of time
MInutes tick by ever quicker
Not so early now, not as fresh, but it's not too late
It's past midnight, too many drinks, where is he?
I'm going home alone

A new bed, bigger than the old one
Will it always feel so empty as it does now
Fulfillment by being filled
Thrilled inside because of someone at my side
Should it be that way?

"Questioning my motives", 12 May 2005		  
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12:19pm 31/03/2005
  Light shines through the window by my cube
For thirty seconds each day
As the sun passes between
Two skyscrapers
I wake up from my corporate coma
Turn toward the warmth on my face
And glory in the brief natural light
Before it slips away again to shine through
Another window, another cube, another worker
Heads turn in a slow-motion wave
As the sun travels across the sky
Granting small moments of summer.

"Thirty seconds" 31 March 2005		  
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09:24am 31/03/2005
  Warm-turned weather has us hoping
For full-blown spring's arrival
My bicycle is pulled back into service
Though I wear a stocking hat and gloves
On my ride to work in the morning
Unnecessary for the return trip
Stuffed in my jacket pockets
Itself too warm to wear for very long
The temperature rose during the day
Nice day for a bike ride

"First ride of the spring" 30 March 2005		  
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09:22am 31/03/2005
  I kick off the covers while I sleep
Waking to find myself shivering
In the chill morning air
But in that half-alert state it seems
Too much work to get the blankets
And sheets lined up
And I doze off again exposed
Hoping that I'll somehow get
Tucked back in.

"Uncovered" 31 March 2005		  
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07:02pm 14/03/2005
  
heart bursts wide
          open
such feeling pouring out
                and out
                   and out



filled with beauty
       filled too full



can't hold any more
pounding, beating on the walls
so full need to get out
          need to let out
                  let loose




chest open breast bone revealed
glowing
       glowering
                flow'ring
from which life flows, creation
creating life, creative truth
pour out, a jug full of earth
                     of turf
                     of dirt



heart full of flame
artful burning
              yearning
                      to be set free

he(art) attack, 14 March 2005
  
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