Dogs of War [Lyric Poem]

The dogs of war are slipping.
  The ropes they are a ripping.

The palms they are a bleeding,
  as citizens are reading

of risks that led to slippage:
  of quips and of equipage,

and how it wasn't expected,
  and courses were corrected,

but still it all goes wrong.  

What I Don’t Know… [Lyric Poem]

I know nothing
         of the sea-bottom,
         or of the darkest void.

I know nothing 
         of the ancients' lives
         or how most are employed.

I know nothing 
         of an atom's look,
         or how works, gravity.

I know nothing
         inside my organs
         or nasal cavity.

I can but know
         these simple truths
         that live within my mind.

That it's better
        being together, and
        to err toward being kind.

A World, Too Fast [Common Meter]

I stand upon the cobbled walk
 as scooters whiz on by,
and think this world 's too fast for me,
 and tilt my face to sky.

But there's a contrail gash up there
 made by a hurtling sky-tube
that jets its way to who knows where -
 while I'm the slack-jawed rube.

To match the world to my breath's pace,
 and watch the blur lines form,
and hear each note of music played...
 We'd sync to my waveform. 

Open & Shut [Common Meter]

I pause in woods one winter day 
 when leaves stick to the ground,
and twigs and trunks stand stiff & straight -
 a breeze the only sound.

It's a world without walls or bounds,
 but one can't see a mile.
One's sightline is obscured by trees --
 their trunks not single file.

A world, at once, open & shut
 to eyes and ears and mind.
But I've never felt so at home,
 for i'm no lonesome pine.

Painted Forest [Lyric]

The forest looks painted
with dabs of bright color,
a pointillist mural 
of the leaves' last hurrah.

Soon, it'll turn twiggy,
and sing desolation,
and invite the fog in
to soften sharp lines.

Then one day you'll notice
leaves glowing in sunlight.
Their green will be golden
from warm yellow rays.

The maturing forest
will darken its greenness, 
turning to sober tones
that blot out the light. 

Yellow Shadow

The fallen leaves
of a sheltered tree

form a shadow
made of yellow,

a pointillist shadow
painted yellow,

‘til the wind blows
angled and low

to send that shadow
on its way -

or ‘til the leaves
turn brown and crisp…

whichever comes first.

Asylum Mind [Lyric]

my mind snapped
with attention rapt
staring out into the world

i'd hoped for the best
devoid of sweet rest,
despite being fetally-curled

where was the shore?
or the thirteenth floor?
they were absent in life & in dream

i searched all about,
calling names out, 
but all I heard was a burbling stream

but with no water -
just someone's dear daughter
wading out on bone-bleached rocks

she seemed to know all
like how we all fall,
and who keeps the keys to the locks

but I was tied down
screaming at clowns,
too far gone to see her wind-blown hair

what pulled me out?
not a shake or a shout,
but some stuttered nonsense of prayer

Morlock State of Mind [Lyric Poem]

Living like a Morlock,
outside the shaft of light.
Lured beyond walls of rock.
Mesmerized by blue sky.

Loving the thought of blue,
but burnt by the mere sight.
Praying for an Eloi view,
but feeling it's not my right.