Looking

Toe tips off the ground
Skidding softly
Flying through the passage
A maze of endless corridors
His eyes forward
Mine backward
Mine closed
Mine peering up at his unknown face
In childhood a stranger
Hidden by the mirror in pitch black
Please don't find me
Please don't drop me
I trust you
It's me

Only Four

eyes up, feet down,
full body across the tracks.
you beside me,
your head a mess with flowers.
the sun is bright in my eyes.
"roll off the tracks! roll off!"
the train blows up grass and dirt,
throws my shoes in the air.

It's then I see the blackberries.
only four,
hanging gently from the bush.
you long to pluck them,
but I am sure you should not.
Let them hang undisturbed,
their beauty is enough.

The Gall of Youth

He is walking quickly up the hill,
puffing like an old steam train.
She is climbing up those narrow winding steps.
At night, he is playing the melody and listening for it's echo.
In the basement, locked doors speak to her,
in whispers belonging to another time.
His weapon poised and poison,
dipped in the black well.

What did you speak of in your sleep?
Ripped paper sacks - empty.
Their champagne bottles smashed on the pavement.
How we paid for a child's mistake.

Before the End

     I’m running down the lampless road toward the bus stop. It’s a dry, cool night. My backpack is heavy, full of the essentials, thudding rhythmically against my back. All the world seems empty, is empty. Everyone around has left their homes. No time to pack, just a bag each. Throw it into the car, leave the house unlocked. Why bother when soon enough it will all be fractured like broken puzzle pieces. “Does this screen belong with this window frame?” Who will be there to ask, pick up the pieces and glue them back together? I think of all those people, driving through the night, safe in their cars. But I am still here. Not to loot, I know running away isn’t the answer. Just running right now, down the silent block. Will I make it to the bus stop? It’s light shedding the last chance for safety.

      The air pulls heavy into my lungs, my eyes scanning from side to side as I run. All the houses are dark, but not everyone is gone. Rustling bushes and strange noises make my speeding heart jump, I am not alone anymore. I can feel the eyes watching me.  She creeps unseen through the darker shadows. She has probably been with me all evening. And now, suddenly she is right behind me. I have to get away, I have to hide. I dash into the nearest empty house and quickly scramble into the bedroom closet. She flashes through the door, right on my tale. I glimpse her full frame for the first time, she is small, like a child. She is not a child. I know she has come to kill me. Her image fools others, but not me. I know what she truly is. She lunges at me, arms out as if in embrace. I grab her around the neck with both hands, I am stronger than her. I hold tight, our faces close, I look into her eyes. They are not evil, as I thought they would be. Dark and dull, she is not all there. I understand then that she is only trying to survive, like me. But she is not like me, she has killed and she wants to kill me too. I keep holding her neck, tight, just so she knows I have the power. Suddenly I realize the life is fading from her face. I let go quickly, but it is too late. She is blue and gray and dead. I didn’t mean to, I only wanted her to know she could not hurt me. But now it is done. I am all alone, no one to punish me. But it’s weight is already stifling and it can never be undone. 

Ode of the Obstructed River

Grasping and nodding, side to side.

Meandering among the trees.

The water does what it’s told.

Dipping and falling down the riverbed.

It’s course is known, understood for one thousand years.

Every blade of grass, corrects it’s path.

It’s time is not long.

The river’s age old.

But the blade doesn’t know, the animals don’t know,

How deep in flows.

At the bottom, hundreds of tree limbs, tree stumps.

The river shrinks, the river grows.

But there it is.

Moving, pushing,

grinding down, hollowing out,

everything in it’s path.

Massive valleys.

Proof of water, proof of sun, proof of rain,

Proof of life beyond.

Abundance, the wild green.

Proof of itself.