Median Us

Median Us


We all deserve
the best

You and me

Can we
be happy?


We begin
the game
with such
high aspirations

These dreams
we wrap 
ourselves in

though 
over the
winding course
of life we traverse

we perfect
the art
of settling

Rationalizing
our dilutions

half ass solutions

that split the difference

between risk 
and settlement

In the end
we got to 
live with ourselves 

and our
comfortably
compromised positions

This Is Not Reality

If a poem posts
in cyberspace
and nobody sees it

Does it have impact?

Is it even real?

Maybe tis all a dream

Just a slight tear
in the fabric of time

That black hole
where missing socks
and sad memories reside

This will simply be
another unsolved mystery

A circular riddle devoid
of working clues

So file the disconnect away

For it matters not 
in the grand scheme
what gets read here today

Cause it will all
be forgotten anyway

Lost in the deep abyss
of semi literate history

Best accept
and let
the indignation
of literary neglect go

The written word
that punctures the author's
nerve fully exposed
probably
should not
have been 
displayed anyway 

Warm Front

Warm Front

Somewhere beneath

this pile of white

Our garden patiently awaits

the turning of the Earth

and the advent of Spring

We too have to be patient

as we battle the elements

Bundled up like Eskimos

Staying warm as best we can

Warmth being our natural state

It has been

since the beginning of time

When we were innocent

Children of the Sun 

Playing Hang Man

Playing Hang Man



Dawn of the day

A new beginning

also the ending

For the condemned man

Shackled and chained

Slowly walks
the thirteen steps
to the gallows

Holy man
walks with the
the soon to be dead

Reciting scripture
and empty prayers
that never registered
with the sinner

The killer to be killed
mumbles some
last words for 
all eternity to ignore

The noose slips tight
around his neck

trap door opens

dangling feet 
thrash about

A clean snap

The death sentence
is punctuated

Justice served?

Deterrent or revenge?

Maybe both?

Does the state
have the right
to take a life?

I don't know

Killer Klass

Killer Klass


Psycho theatre

Homicide time

How to execute
the perfect crime?

Sharp knife
slices clean

So much
more hands on
and personal
than a gun

Cold steel
pierces skin

Death scream 

Blood gushes red

Heart stops pumping
until there's no more

Victim drops to the floor

Murder so pure

Destroy the evidence

Flee the scene

Deny the crime

Stick to your alibi
and bury the guilt

Full Size

Full Size


A tangerine
ain't an orange
no matter
how you slice it


Clementines
may be be sweet
but 
it's still not an orange

Size does matter

if you want more
of what you crave

Good things
may come
in small packages

but

you don't get as much
of that good thing
as you desire

Maybe we need
to
downsize
our
expectations

Maybe we need
to be grateful
for the little things 

They all add up
and accumulate

The Detour Tour

The Detour Tour 


To get where
we need to be

we so often
have to travel
through calamity

Frustrating
as the detours
may be

They are a 
practical necessity 

These curves
of unforeseen reality

Forever testing
our resolve

Bolstered by
the belief
our patience
will be rewarded
someday

Well Connected

Well Connected


In the swirl
of this existence

we live and die
in our narrow slots

By day

you and I

dance in parallel worlds

We wave at each other
as we fly on by

Quick visual checks

Touching base
superficially

but 

come late night

in the still of
our solitude

we interact

our words in sync

a joyous interlude

when our worlds
briefly intersect

and we can link 
hearts

and be

cyber together again

Magic Waltz

Magic Waltz


In the moon drenched mist

between Earth and stars

We dance

the late night dance

to the rhapsody
only we can hear

Just the two of us

gliding in sensuous
innocent embrace

This is our moment

even though
we know


that in
the end

this is our
fantasy entirety

For tonight
the magic
is our thing

and the memories

will sustain us

for all eternity

Nest Remnants

Nest Remnants


Come to me
my sweet baby

Let me sooth 
your pain

Dry your tears

Ease your fears

You belong
in Daddy's arms 

Sleep under
my umbrella

Dream the dreams
of innocence

Soon enough

the day will come

when 

you will want
nothing to do 
with me

Dance away 
my love

Stand on your
own two feet

Leaving me 
thumbing through
the scrap book
pages of memory

Alone in your
empty room

As it should be

The Burning Twig

The Burning Twig


Wandering through
the urban wilderness

Indulgent pilgrims
from Sodom Nation
roll 
down the boulevard

Seeking another shot
of instant gratification

Amidst the glitz 
and revelry

I heard a booming
voice above me

from a source
that is a mystery


Was it God

or
just another
chemical hallucination?

The voice
that just can not be

by all scientific reasoning

Declared his love for me
and all his
wayward children 

And just like that
the force was gone

or was it?

I've got no proof
of my close encounter

and I told no one

lest I be stoned
by the doubting
humanist crowd 

but now I do know

Faith is an uplink 
required
by man


Even if we don't
fully understand

the eternal mystery
we are players in

The Unchosen Ones

The Unchosen Ones



In our play ground

where we run
around 

like wild 
little monkeys

a whooping and
a hollering

Order now required

organize the games

Captains anointed

To choose up sides 

The last one picked
always smiles

but

cries inside

Something they
carry within
throughout their lives


Don't tell them
tis just a game

These self esteem
crushing scenes
  

Tale of Two

Tale of Two 


In the city 
that never sleeps

tourists soak up
the scenery

Bright lights dance
in their dazzled eyes
as they clamor
to see the sights

Offstage

away
from the bustle

huddled in
the shadows

far from the view
of the paying crowd

refugees from our
jobless recovery


fight over the scraps

soon to be cut again
by their deaf government

Cost reduction clamor
from the entrenched
numbers mob

What better place
to slice than the
desperately silent
soon to be majority?

who struggle daily
and face a future
of obsolete uncertainty

smothered by depression

battling to
survive
the biting
winds
of poverty
that blow
defeat through
these dark
city streets

Ashes of History

Across golden fields
two forces assemble

The banners are raised
bugles blare the charge

Strangers in different
uniforms collide

Thousands of 
one on one
hand to hand
combat death dances

Beneath sulphur clouds

our blood
will be spilled

Generals peer
through 
looking glasses

safely removed 
from the carnage
they have set forth 

One side wins

but there are
no winners

Broken soldiers
carried back behind
the lines 

Their lives forever
shattered

The dead are
carted away

Names to be
scrawled on
future monuments

Just another
skirmish
in this endless
civil war

On to the
next battle

for the
cause we were sold

Dumb pawns we

Across the pages
of history

we fight and
die for a 
country
 
where love
once mattered

and will
again

Until next time

Getting Reflected

Getting Reflected


Mirror mirror
in my face

reflecting
all over the place

These reflections

Visual introspection

I now see 
myself
and my worldly
perceptions

What do I see?

I see a scared
child
pretending
to be a
man

Bluffing and
blustering
my way through
the playground

Desperately
seeking
validation 
from myself
and my society

The crew 
I play to
that views me
as a happy go lucky
clown

Harmless
burn out
fall out
free spirit
refugee from
the 60's

Which I guess
is my projection

so who am I
to blame them
for their
misperceptions?

Mirror mirror
now at my feet

I must stomp
you now
in order to
maintain
my self deceit

Mango Soup

Mango Soup


You and I

not as tough
as we think we are

nor as vulnerable
as we believe to be

You and me

always 
tend to skew
to the extremes

We can not see
our truth through
the trees

Cause we reside
inside
this thicket
of our own creation

Inside our heads

where
the real battle
rages daily